September 26, 2009 "Start spreadin the news......"

So! Surprise of a lifetime! We were supposedly going to clean the temple last night so we all met at the mission home at about 8 pm and then President started reading us all these scriptures about preaching the gospel all over the world and I was sitting there like, "hmmmmm this doesn't sound very temple-y" and then! He told us that he was going to let us know where we are going! Let me just say- I am so glad that he decided to just blind side us with it. It worked out much better that way. I didn't even have time to get nervous. So now the exciting news I suppose! For the next six months I will be serving in.......


MORRISTOWN NEW JERSEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know what you are thinking- what the what the? where is that?!?!?!? That's at least what I thought. And still kind of think. But- I pulled out the atlas this morning. So I know it's by New York. And from what everyone keeps telling me I'm going to the hood. But- apparently everyone thinks I'm pretty hood because they keep saying "oh you'll be perfect there!" But Sister Goodrich says they only say that because they know I can handle it:) So! That's the word on the word. So e-mail everyone and let them know. And if you find anything out about it- let me know. LOVE YOU!

Sister Picard

September 24, 2009 "3 days left....."

Family-

This will have to be a short and quick note because I am leaving in approximately 10 minutes to go to Quincy with some of the Senior missionaries. I'm REALLY excited! It should be a lot of fun. We had transfers on Sunday. My new companion is Sister Goodrich. I love her SO much. Oh my goodness. Life has just been good since Sunday. I'm really glad that we are companions before I go out in the field. At the same time I'm sad that we're only comps for two weeks! Oh well:) So! This Sunday is the big day! We find out where we are going on our field transfer! I'm SO ready to know. Not that I have been counting down or anything, but let's just say this is a day that I have been looking forward to ALL summer. Have any guesses where it might be? Sister Goodrich and I both had dreams of where we are going, so we'll see if they're right:) I just so badly want to just feel like I'm going where I'm supposed to go. That's really all. I don't care where it is, I just want to know I'm supposed to be there. And not have a minor freak out like I did when I was sent to Nauvoo. So! I suppose we'll see:) I just am so excited. Not that Nauvoo isn't great, but I'll finally be able to start doing what I signed up to do. Which is preach the gospel:) AHHHH!!!!! I'm just excited. For these next 6 1/2 months or whatever it is I just want to work SO hard. Because I have all of this bottled up inside me. And I only get to do this for 6 months! So I have to make the best of it! I'm excited.
Ok, I will try to stop speaking about my field transfer so much. I still have a lot left to do in Nauvoo. We've been trying to get all the loose ends wrapped up in the Call Center. Sister Goodrich and I were calling last night and something really neat happened. We use the same program that goes through BYU as the missionaries in the MTC use to call people. So we were using the Call Center and I got a message from one of the guys at the MTC that said "we're swamped will you take some calls?" or something like that and we were like "HECK YES WE WILL!!!!!!!!!!!" So! We were able to take some of the inbound calls from the MTC. Which was really good for us. Because those are all the people who call in because they want a copy of the Book of Mormon or something. So they're already interested in the Church. And everyone I spoke with accepted having the missionaries over. So it was WONDERFUL! It's funny thinking back to the MTC. Not that I didn't love the Call Center then, I just appreciate it so much more now! Those calls were so easy compared to what we do now. So it was a nice little refresher:) I was able to have some really good discussions with some really good people. I appreciate that. I am slowly coming to terms with my role in the Visitor's Center. It's a big matter of faith. I just have to trust those missionaries that I send to all of these peoples homes. But! God trusts me. So who am I to have qualms with trusting huh? :)
Well! I love you all a lot! Sorry I don't have that much to say. Sister Goodrich and I were going to ride our bikes around today because we wanted to be like "real missionaries" :) but they said we couldn't because it was raining too hard. She likes to be hardcore like me. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow. I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Be good. Get excited for Conference! It's going to be AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a perfect thing to send me out in to the field! That will be one of my last days here in Nauvoo. I'm SO excited. I'm just praying that I will be prepared for the messages that will be shared. I'm especially excited to hear from good ol Elder Perry now:) LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

Sister Picard

September 19, 2009 "Oh how I love my Saaaaaaaavior!" (it's a song on the come thou fount motab cd)

Dear Family of my life-

Well- I'm going to try and write a really good e-mail, but to be quite honest with you, sometimes I just don't :) BUT! This week we have an exciting topic! We just hosted the North America Central States Mission President Seminar! Wooo! Big long name. Elder L. Tom Perry came as well as Elders Rasband, Hallstrom and Snow of the 70, all of the area authorities, and 18 mission presidents and all of their wives. Lots and lots of people! Well, first of all let me just tell you that I debated about how much detail I am going to go into about the whole experience because you will probably just laugh at my mission even more and degrade it, but! oh well. It is what it is. I am a Visitors Center sister. I may as well own up to it huh? So, our main job was to feed everyone while they were here. This meant that we set up the cultural hall in the stake center with all of the place settings, center pieces, etc etc etc and help with preparing and serving all of the food and then take down everything and wash it all and make more food all before the next meal. I know you are probably all laughing but I do not think I have ever been that tired before on my mission. We had to be ready to go at six in the morn and we had special orders from our mission president that we had to "look good." So sisters were getting up at like 4:30. Crazy crazy. We also had color coordinated outfits dependent on the day, Sunday through Wednesday.Then we were at the stake center all day until 9:30-ish. At first I thought, "wow I kind of like all of this craziness- doing events like this would be fun." I still kind of think that, I would just like to be the one in charge:). And- no offense to the lady who made the food, because she is a very nice lady, but everything that was served had approximately a bajillion pounds of butter and mayo and fat in it. I wanted to be like Izma and say "is there anything on this menu that isn't swimming in gravy?" But I didn't :) I was able to learn a little bit more about how to be a waitress. That was fun. I got to "wait on" Elder Perry. He sure is a funny guy. I kept thinking I should have been all flabbergasted to be in his presence, but he really is just a normal person. Imagine that huh? It was interesting because our future mission presidents could have been at that conference. We were able to find out a couple of the missions that people will be going to. We know that someone is going to Billings MT (yay Gussy! :) ) and 2 sisters are going to Denver South. Denver South is where all of my district from the MTC is. So! Yes- I am very anxiously awaiting hearing where I will be for the next 6 months of my life. I am trying not to guess. I am really hoping I'll just be happy wherever it is and that I'll know that's where the Lord needs me. I wouldn't mind any prayers you might like to say for me though :) I suppose I could always go to Riverside and be with Gussy! Actually- I think chances of that happening are slim to none- but hey! So let's see what has been awesome. OH YES! Ok- I will tell you this experience then I should probably go. So! There has been this one Visitor's Center referral that I have been calling on. It's a boy named Christian who just lives a little ways from Nauvoo. He came here and wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon so I called to get missionaries to deliver it. He is still in high school and lives at home and his parents didn't want the missionaries over so it's been hard to try and figure out a solution. It's really really REaLLY hard for me to not want to just teach him everything over the phone by myself. It's hard to realize that my purpose right now here in Nauvoo is to help other missionaries to be able to teach people. But! Nonetheless, that's what I was trying to do. So! We figured out that we could have the missionaries come over to his friends house and teach him there. But then when he left a message for me (since we haven't been in the Call Center for awhile) the number for his friend got cut off and all this blah blah blah drama and I was just like "oh please just let us somehow get the missionaries to Christian!" But! I finally got in contact with him on Thursday night and come to find out that the Carthage proselyting sisters had tracted in to him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He doesn't even live in Carthage! It's like seriously- the biggest miracle ever. I was just so happy! And he was kind of apologetic that I didn't get to help him or I don't even know whatever and I was just like "Oh Christian- you have NO idea how happy I am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" And I just continued to flip out. So I was happy the rest of the night:) Moral of the story- life is good. I am SO excited to see what will be happening in my life in the next little bit. I just love being a missionary. God loves me. He is even helping me to not miss football so much:) Well! I love you lots! I might try to get some letters off- but- I am sending pics through e-mail. Also- I don't know when prep day will be next week because we have transfers tomorrow. Yes- transfers for like two weeks. Crazy. So! We'll see what happens. LOVE YOU LOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sister Picard

September 10, 2009 "Proper Picard"

Family-

So, I was reading in the white handbook that I'm supposed to be more professional in the way that I communicate with my family. To be honest, I have actually read that section several times. I just now started feeling guilty about it. So I will try and remedy how I usually express myself in e-mails. Instead, I will try and be more "sister mish" and when I say sister mish I mean sister missionary. Since I was also scolded for my excessive use of "slang" or "abbreviated terms." So! Let me see, how do I write to you now? Well, first of all, life is good. Life is great. Life is WONDERFUL! Everything here in Nauvoo has slowed down. We only get a fraction of the visitors that we used to. We are still staying busy doing a lot of calling and what not. We also teach the senior couples every night usually two or three appointments. It's been a really good experience because I really needed practice on actually sitting down in someone's home and teaching a whole entire lesson. Usually I just try and teach principles from lessons while giving tours. Which is definitely different. Well, I'm trying to think of anything terribly exciting to write about with out saying any slang terms or abbreviations. I love speaking with non-members. We have had a lot of them come into the Visitor's Center (not VC :) oh man this is killing me) lately. I most of all like showing people that Mormons are definitely not weird. OH! Did I tell you about this? I forget. I went to this place in Iowa called New London on "Nauvoo on the Road." We load up a whole bunch of pioneer-ish type things in this big trailer and go to county fairs and such in the surrounding area. Two weeks ago I think? I went with Sister Alexander and some of the senior couples to New London. It was pretty SWEEEEEET! Oh I mean it was a very nice experience. Well- it was a funny experience and I'm just going to speak from my mind about all of this ok? Ok. So! We get there and first of all I had to be wearing my pioneer dress which a) already makes the situation salty (right hann? :) I'm sorry I'm a dweeb) and then b) I totally didn't do my hair and I just put on mascara but I told everyone I was trying to look "historic" AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHA and lets see what else. Ok. So I'm not sure if I was ever aware of how hick this part of the country is. Example one. So we were talking to this family. They kind of reminded me of the Duggars because all the girls wore skirts and the mom had big poof hair. Except they were more farmer version of the Duggars. And they thought that we were all polygamists from Salt Lake. I vote that having to wear a pioneer dress probably didn't help their perception of us at all :) HA! Anyways- so after we were telling them about the Gospel (since that is what we do) they sounded pretty good with all of it and we gave them pass along cards and everything. But! Oh yes. Man- I have to tell you about this you are going to love it. So out here- at all of these little city/county gatherings or whatever they have what are called "tractor pulls" and in these tractor pulls they have this mini-tractors that are kind of like a tricycle or big wheel or something but you pedal it. That's the point. So they stick little kids on these tractors and then they strap on weights to the back and see who can pull the most. That's what they do. And it's a HUGE deal. The pseudo-Duggars came from like 2 hours away just to do the tractor pull. They like go all over to do these things. The kids get trophies. It's a big deal. And let me just tell you- it's crazy. There was this like 8 year old girl who was pulling like 260 pounds. And this 10 year old boy who broke 300. And this little baby pulling like 200. Whatever. It was crazy. I figured that back in the day I probably coulda just thrown weight around with my man thighs and everything. I was probably built for tractor pulling glory. Too bad we didn't live out in the mid west...... :) Ok. That was a big tangent. I'm sorry. My comps still writing though.... so let's see what else. We find out where we're going on our outbounds in about 2 weeks? I think. I'm not good with time anymore. It just.... all runs together. Oh I know. This is a big deal because my prep day might be different next week. They are having the mission president conference for the central USA and so we're having 18 mission presidents come in and three 70's and L. Tom Perry. I'll write more about that next week I think though. It's a pretty big deal. We've been planning it for years.... hahaha name that movie. Well we have known about it for awhile. I can't remember if I told you about it or not. But! That's what I'll write about next week. Should be AWESOME!!!!!!!! I'm excited:) And now you all probably think I have even more of a cushy never do any work mission. Well- think what you will. I've officially decided that no one will ever know what my mission is like unless they've served here. And everyone else will just mock me the rest of my life. Alas:) OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just even remembered! BYU STINKIN BEAT OKLAHOMA!!!!!!!!?!?!??!?!?!?!??!?!??!?!?!?!? DUH!!!!!!!!!! Where am I at even? Goodness. I just have to tell you. I was so just having to try SO hard to focus all day Saturday. And I resisted the urge to call any of the senior couples on Saturday night and find out the score. So I walked into church on Sunday and Pres. Reber comes up to me and says, "have you heard yet" and I was very anxious and said "no what happened?" and he has this really dead serious look on his face and goes "well Oklahoma 13.... byu 14" and then I flipped out in the middle of the foyer and started doing a happy dance and doing some air punches and I didn't scream or anything which I thought was good. But! I was. very. happy. And then like 8 other Elders came up and made sure I had heard what the score was. Apparently word has gotten out that I like BYU football?? What? Weird. Anyways. I did hear that Bradford got messed up. That's rough- he's such a cute little indin heisman winner. But! Win some lose some right? I'm going to really have to try and focus myself when we play FSU. OH man. I'm going to try very hard. We'll see what happens. Well! Much love! I need to jet! Isn't that Jimmy Neutron or something? I don't know anything anymore. Oh shood. I totally did not meet my goal of writing eloquently. Dang. Well. Next week:) LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sister Picard

September 3, 2009 "Rise and Shout"

Hello everybody! It's so good to see ya- we hope that you enjoy our shoooooooooooow!!! That's the opening song from Sunset by the Mississippi. It's stuck in my head right now. SO!!!!!! What has been going on this past week may you ask? Well- let me just let you know. Life has been AWESOME! That's right- AWESOME! But- isn't it always when you are a missionary? I was actually just speaking with one of my girls Sister Johnson yesterday about how if you would've asked us a year ago if we'd be on missions we would be like "heck stinkin no" and then if you would have shown us a pic of what we were wearing we probably would have passed out of shame:) hahahahahahah You should have seen me yesterday. I was in rare form. So I have this favorite outfit of mine- it's a black skirt with a white shirt and that black J Crew like wool jacket thing and I wear it like 5 times a week. And I look absolutely shapeless- like the white handbook tells me to:) hahahahah but! It was really cold in the VC yesterday so I had to put on another sweater. And it was this total old lady sweater that was this pukey shade of brown that is way wide and short and boxy looking and all crocheted looking and pretty much if I were to see it I would say "cat-lady" So I was wearing my sweet outfit. And I've been doing this thing lately- I think that my hair has gotten curlier in the humidity or something. So I never have time in the morning to get ready. Correction- I don't want to get ready in the morning so I've just been diffusing my hair and yes mom- I still do wear makeup. At least eyeliner and mascara. But! I will say my hair has been looking pretty "historic" as of late (that was for you papi:) ) So---- I just know I was lookin pretty good yesterday:) AAHAHAHAHAHAH I'm sorry. I don't know why I felt the need to just tell you all of that. It's not really important to the work. The work by the way is AWESOME! We're almost there with all of our calling. We still call at least 3 hours a day. I don't know about you- but I will never want to talk to anyone on the phone ever again in my whole life. And the thing of it is- every time you call someone- you HAVE to take it seriously. Because you know how much the person that referred them loves and cares about them. And I just think of how I'd want missionaries to treat any of my referrals. So that's helpful in keeping perspective. OH man. So I got this one ringback tone- and let me just tell you- ringbacks tend to be the highlight of your night when you're in the call center. And I think it's a new BEYONCE SONG!!! And I'm pretty sure I would love it if I ever heard more than just the chorus. So I just had to dance it out. My comp was like "Sister! Sister!" and I was like "I'm sorry I just have to dance it out right now" So- if that song is any good- I'll be obsessed with it in a year when I get home:) Ok! This was a sweet experience! So- I'm pretty sure that I got a wrong number or was calling the wrong thing or I'm not exactly sure what had happened but! I just started talking to this guy named Jose who had no idea about Nauvoo or anything and so I just started talking to him about the CD and guess what?! He totally wanted the CD. I am really coming to terms with my calling as a VC sister. Which is a good thing. I realize that right now, my biggest responsibility is to get these people I'm calling to accept missionaries- and then I just need to put faith in the missionaries that will go and actually get to teach them. So I just do my best at what I'm supposed to be doing now. BUT! Let me just tell you. Ok- so! We go on our outbounds on October 7th. Yes- that would be a month away. CRAZY! So- what they are doing here is a program called "Angels in the Outfield." ps- things here have slowed WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY down. We are lucky if 200 people come through the VC. Crazy crazy. Summer is definitely over in Nauvoo:) anyways. SO! Angels- what it is. All of the senior couples sign up for appointments and then all of us young sister missionaries go over and teach them every night. They are given different scenarios and then we are teaching them as if they're progressing investigators. So- it's pretty much like the MTC for three hours a night where we just go and have teaching appointments all night! IT'S THE SWEETEST THING OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It gets me SO excited to actually be able to teach people. I just like do little dances walking up the sidewalk to their houses. And then I do little dances coming out of the house. And then I sing songs about how much I love teaching the people in the car. It just feels so good to teach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man. So good. And I know that it's just a "role play" but at the same time I know that I'm getting important practice in. And that I can really still teach the senior couples as themselves. And that it's still my job to strengthen their testimonies. I just love it. I will also admit- it is weird to not be going back to school. But! Have no fear!!!!! I've found my kindred spirit here in Nauvoo. Sister Sandstrom is probably the only woman in a thousand mile radius who might love BYU football as much as I do. And she's going to be keeping me updated:) She wanted to say she had important business in Dallas this weekend to go down for the game. But then she figured the camera would pan the audience and there she would be sitting with her little black tag on waving:) hahaha. I just love all the senior couples here. They are amazing. Well! I need to get to getting. BUT! I love you all!!!!!!!!!!! Be good. I'll try and get some pics in the mail today. We're going to wal-mart- so I may actually print them off:) love you lots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sister Picard

August 27, 2009 "Just two kids having a good time"

Well Familia- let me just tell you something. Today has been CRAZY!!!!!!!!! But SOOOOOOOOOO fun. We went to Hannibal MO with three of the senior couples. These senior couples are seriously my three favorites. Or I should say three of my favorites. But really- my three favorites:) Hannibal is Mark Twain's childhood home (his name is sam clemens you know! bodee ba john-o bodee bodee! --my girl hann;) ) It was pretty sweet. I made everyone hike up and see this lighthouse with me. We went and saw Mark's "childhood home." We saw a lot of touristy stuff. We went and ate out for lunch that was SOOOOOOOOOO tastay! I had the best salad. OH man. It was so good. Real food. SOOOOO good. And there was this cute little boutique/salon that I got to go in for like one second. But it was just fun to feel like maybe I was a girl again for just a minute:) Then..... we went to the Mark Twain caves! I have to admit- I didn't know how much I was about this whole cave business. I don't like the thought of being underground. It creeps me out when I think about being 30 miles under the ground or whatever we were. Actually maybe that was more like ft? Miles seems a little bit much now that I'm thinking about it:) ha! well! Yes. And my equilibrium was all off- like I was almost sea sick or something. My sense of direction was just all whacked out- even though I'm native:) And then! They did this thing where they turned off all the lights so we were in complete darkness blackness whatever and we first had to make the comparison to the gospel being a light in our lives - ha we're missionaries:)- but then! They were telling us that if you were to be in complete darkness for 6 weeks you would go blind. So then I started thinking about Gollum. And how he would have gone blind just chillin under that mountain for hundreds of years. But... then I also thought that was fictitious :) Anyways! So that was a neat experience. I'm SOOOO grateful for the senior couples here. It was such a fun day. All three couples are such an example to me. The elders are seriously just the funniest people ever. They know how to have fun and how to be serious. And the sisters are just amazing. I love them all so much! But! In other news- we've just been calling calling calling calling!!!!!!! I did have a way sweet tour the other day. I was tag teaming it with Sis Aston again for some reason. Good things happen when we do that though:) And we taught this guy from Fort Madison and his friend from NORWAY!!!!!! It was SO good. We didn't get them to fill out a referral here- but they did take cards. Which was an improvement. Because they were so hesistant at first to listen. OH YEAH! I had this SWEET tour yesterday with a mom and her son (who was like in his 40's) from NC. I love talking to people from the south:) And they were so good to talk to about the gospel. They were really good to hear me out- which I really appreciated. And I always try to be very respectful of other peoples religions as well. They were baptist. I always try to highlight more of our similarities than to focus on our differences. Like Pres Hinckley talked about- bring what good they have and let us add to it. I felt SOOOO close with getting to them to have missionaries over but they didn't feel that it was a good idea. They did say at the end of the tour that I was just the person they needed to talked to them and they were glad they talked to me. It was good because SO much of the time I just feel like I don't do anything here. And I keep trying and trying and trying and I always feel like I should be doing sooooo much better. At everything. And that I'm very inadequate. And I think I still am. But I was glad to have that tour. So yesterday I was in the Call Center for 6 stinkin hours. That is a looooooooooooooooong time. Especially if you know me well enough to know how much I love being on the phone :) But! THe work is good. I'm pretty sure we've passed the thousand mark for missionaries being sent. I know the other night we sent out over one hundred. It makes me feel good to know that even if I'm not the missionary getting to teach- I'm at least giving some other missionary the opportunity to. Which is a neat feeling. So! Just pray for me. Sometimes it's hard to keep calling. But I just have to psyche myself up "I love being in the call center I love talking on the phone I love talking to the people I love talking to the people I LOVE talking to the people" and then just do work. I have to be diligent. It's easy to get distracted. Sometimes when I start slurring my words or being incoherent I'll just go run around out in the hall for a couple minutes to make my head start thinking again :) Well! I have to go- sorry. We got back way late. And pday is over in 8 minutes! And then I'm going to go call for three hours:) I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE YOU LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!! I'm SO proud of Daniel. He sounds like he's tearing it up in football. Well duh:) How's the eating? Thanks a bunch for the letters from Baby and Daniel. It made my day. The pics are awesome. The pic of baby doing her thinking pose I think one of the sisters saw and said "that's SO a sister picard thing to do:) " so they all think she's little mini-me. I also liked the pic of baby and daniel in the front of the boat "just two kids and they're having a good time" :) and dad in his superman cape!!!!!!!! it is... his superman cloak! I love you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!

August 20, 2009 "I love the Indiana Pacers"

First and foremost most important thing of the world. AUBREY POTTER IS THE COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So! Right on Monday after transfers and just everything crazy I was needing a little pick-me-up. I didn't get home until like 10:15 and what was waiting for me? A lil package. And what was inside that package!?!?!?!??!?! AN OFFICIAL STINKIN MUG FROM THE OFFICIAL STINKIN NBA STINKIN DRAFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And what was also in that little box (I'll put that box inside of another box... and then I'll smash it with a HAMMA. sorry- it was just in my head) TYLER HANSBROUGHS OFFICIAL LITTLE NAME PAPER THINGY THAT HE MOST DEFINITELY TOUCHED!!!! aaaaahahahahahahahahah. I peed my pants. I loved it. I still love it. I drink everything in that mug. No one else is allowed to use it. Because I don't want it broken. And everyone thinks I'm crazy. As if they didn't already:) Well well well...... What to say about the last week hmm? It was actually kind of crazy now that I think about it. We had transfers. I'm staying in Nauvoo. My prep day is still Thursday- obviously:) The YPM's all went home on Tuesday. It was kind of a big deal for everyone. I'll miss some of them I'm sure, but! just as a general rule I'm not much into goodbyes and being emotional:) They had a YPM Talent Show on Monday night which was pretty fun. One of the Elders sang "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof. He even did the Tevye shimmy thing. And one of the sisters just about peed her pants she could not even handle it. It was fun watching everyone watch. Ohhh such awkward sister missionaries- gotta love it! It was good laughs though. You need to laugh like that every once and awhile. I will tell you what was really sad though. Two of the 2nd summer sisters went home this morning :( Two of my most favorite sisters of all time ever!!!!!!! Sister Granja and Sister Ahrendsen! Granja is my cute little Brazilian. And Ahrendsen was one of the Assistants. So- it was a pretty big deal. I will admit I even got a little teary-eyed this morning when they left. It was just sad knowing I could never see Granja again. Don't worry- I gave her a sweet present. And I gave Sister Ahrendsen one of my bows. I told her it's super lucky and will get her lots of dates :) It's kinda crazy knowing that we'll be going on our outbound soon. It's actually really crazy. I guess President maybe already knows where we're going? Crazy business. I try not to think about it. It's just- I just don't even want to have an opinion so that I can just be happy wherever I go. I have lots of places visitors have told me I should go:) Tacoma WA, Mississippi, Louisiana, Colorado...... so I have friends everywhere now:) I got to watch part of Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration in spanish yesterday! We had this family from Chile come in- of course they thought I spoke spanish- and then part of my heart got ripped out like it always does when I had to tell them I don't speak spanish- but! I did get the spanish Joseph to work for them. It was sweet. Probably the coolest thing of my life continues to be calling. I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE calling. We're trying to get through all the referrals and it's coming along! I don't know if I'm allowed to say or not but Sister Brinkerhoff was saying yesterday that we've sent out about 800 referrals so far. That's INSANEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!! That's 800 people that are having the missionaries over. Do you even know what that means!?!?!?!??!?!?! 800 PEOPLE ARE HAVING THE MISSIONARIES OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And we're no where close to be done with actually contacting everyone. The hardest/most frustrating thing is trying to get information from the members of the church. A lot of times they just put down their own contact information and then a name so that we have to call them and get their friends phone number so we can then call the friend and make sure it's okay that the missionaries are coming over. Wow- long sentence. Sorry. So! Actually getting the non-member info can sometimes be a pain. So! now you know when you refer- just help a sista missionary out. And if she leaves you a message- call back. Thank you very much. Things have slowed down a lot here with all the shows being over for the summer. It's kind of weird. I've just been so busy for so long. And we still stay really busy with calling- but still. It's different not talking to a bajillion of people everyday. Instead- maybe only like a million:) The thing that makes me happiest is when people say yes to receiving the CD. The thing that makes me saddest is when people tell me I don't believe in Jesus. Another thing that makes me happiest is thinking about my family. I'm trying really hard to get all prepped for the outbound. I need to know the lessons better. I don't want to be a total dweebo when I go out in the field. I mean- I'll have been on my mission for 7 months by then. It's not like I'm a total greenie. But I'll still be trained and everything. Because it will be very different. But! I want to make the learning curve as easy as possible. So I've really been trying hard to practice lessons and study them and memorize all the scriptures I can! Because we all know- when I finally get a chance to be out in the field........ daaaaaaaaaaang:) Well- hopefully by then I will just be able to do whatever it is that God needs me to. So! I need to be as prepared as possible. I'm not sure of anything else cool to tell you. Oh. Here is a story for you. So! Last night as a farewell/departing treat some of the sisters- we decided to have a little dance partay. And we dressed up like idiots. We always tease Granja about not being American- so I got plastered in this American flag streamer business and was lookin pretty good. We were just being crazies. It honestly doesn't happen very often. Mostly just because the sisters were leaving and we needed to just dance it out one last time to our favorite jam here on the mish----- that would be "The Light" from the stand in the light efy cd. I'm telling you- classay!!!!!!!!! It was fun. You just have to have fun sometimes. Especially if it's to prevent you from being sad:) Well! I love you all most dearly. Keep up the good work. Do work. :) I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!

Sister Picard