April 10th, 2017

Hello family! 

 

Well this week was crazy and hard. 

 

I'm not a big fan of being emergency transferred. I really do miss St. Helens. So now I'm in Cathlamet and boy is it small!!! 

 

We live in Longview and then drive 30 minutes to get to our area! It's a pretty drive just a little scary and narrow. And at night when it's raining I feel like we are driving down into a black hole haha. It's intense! 

 

Alright so let me tell y'all about my branch, or as much as I can remember. Our church building is TINY! Basically it's a hallway with a few classrooms. Our chapel is about the size of a relief society room. It has those accordion walls so you can make it smaller. So sacrament meeting it's all open. 2nd hr we divide it in half for Sunday school, and for 3rd hour we divide it in 4ths. In relief society we had 10 lady's. Including us. The relief society president gave the lesson and it just blew my mind because there was no one! Lol. Oh and I counted and there was only 27 cars in the parking lot, again including our car. I'm guessing about 40 people came to church, including kids. So so so strange! 

 

The town is also VERY SMALL! 2 restaurants. No stop light. 1 gas station. And there are only 3 streets for what is considered, "in town Cathlamet". And I thought La Center was small. That's considered city in Cathlamet! It's crazy. Very much an adjustment. Lol. I miss the city so much!!! 

 

Okay so let me tell you about my week. 

 

Monday was just so hard. It was my last day in St. Helens with Sister Carrisoza and Sister Proctor and I had to pack. My stomach was in knots all day. It was really sad. And we were told at 6 the other sisters would be at our apartment to do the switch so I was dreading 6 o'clock. Well 6 o'clock came and the tone just turned into somber. We were all so sad but no one was really saying anything. The other sisters came and we started to say our goodbyes and it was so sad! 2 weeks isn't enough time! Tears were shed and then I loaded my stuff and we left. Took us about an hour and a half to drive to our apartment. We got there and I started semi unpacking. Didn't really do much except the necessities lol. I'm not about to pack and unpack to pack again. So everything is still pretty much in my suitcases. The nice thing about this new apartment is that there is an extra bedroom. So I put all my suitcases and stuff in that room and use it as my closet and what not. Haha. It's a mess but I'm trying to get things ready so it works. 

 

So my new companion, her name is Sister Babcock. She is from Eugene, OR. Has a lot of health issues so she needed to stay close to home. She is 20 I believe. She went to University of Oregon for a semester before her mission. She's the oldest of 4 I think. She's pretty tall, as you can tell haha. Oh and she's been out 7 months. This is her 2nd area and she is pretty new to the area too, so we are basically whitewashing it. It's been rough but we are trying! 

 

Tuesday we had Zone Conference with half the mission. It was a really good meeting. Plus I got to see Sister Carrisoza and Sister Proctor:) haha so our goodbyes the day before we're short lived haha. But it was much needed on my part. So I'm glad I was able to see them. The meeting was really good and the beginning of it I felt was for me going home. I really enjoyed it and was grateful for the guidance. 

 

But I was also really nervous because I had to give my departing testimony at the end of the meeting so the whole day I was freaking out because I had no time to think about what I wanted to say because of all the craziness with the emergency transfer. I was the second one to bare my testimony and it was really crazy! Every transfer I listen to these missionaries who are going home give there testimonies and it was really weird that it was my turn to give mine. Hopefully I made since haha, I was a little scatterbrained! Lol

 

So Tuesday night was actually the first time we went to Cathlamet so it was pretty weird. We had dinner with a couple and they were sweet. But lol, we had a lesson with a man named Bob, and when we walked into his trailer he was wearing these tiny tiny white shorts (bob is a big man) and they were all bunched up and from first glance I thought they were just white underwear! Omg I was dying the whole lesson. It was so gross! Haha plus he pretty much just talks the whole lesson so it was rough. 

 

Wednesday morning we have song practice with the zone of missionaries. Apparently the missionaries are singing at stake conference which will be this Sunday. Kind of weird but should be good. So I had to learn a song real quick because now I'm in the choir. Haha it's weird but I'm glad I'm not alone lol. 

 

Wednesday night we had two more lessons with some less actives in the area which were pretty good. Trying to get to know everyone is a little crazy, especially when I know I'll only meet with them like 3 more times. It's weird. And I hate when they ask me how long I've been out. I hate telling people I'm almost done. I try and avoid the question haha. But speaking of, YOU GUYS MY 18 MONTH IS ON FRIDAY!!!!!!!!! WOW WOW WOW🎉🎉🎉 

 

Anyway, we don't have a lot of teaching going on here. The town is so small that we don't go tracting because everyone already knows who we are. And the past missionaries have been tracting for years because there really isn't much work to do. We are really trying to find things to do, so if anyone has any good ideas, let me know:) 

 

Thursday was a long day because we didn't have much to do. So we were trying to find people to meet and such. Did a whole lot of driving that day! 

 

Friday we had weekly planning, which basically consisted of me trying to get to know the area. lol I asked a million questions haha. 

 

Then we found some wigs in the closet and took some pictures in them haha. I'm really trying to have some fun, so I have to do weird things with Sister Babcock to get her talking and loosen her up. 

 

Friday night though we went on exchanges with the STLs. I went to Rainier with Sister Grant. It was kind of nice because I've been in that area on exchanges before so it was more familiar than Cathlamet. Lol. Anyway, so I spent the night in Rainier and then all day Saturday I was in there area. It was fun. We had a lesson where we put someone on date. It was really cool! Then after wards we went to the stake center (and just FYI, so I'm now in Rainier, OR. Back in the stake where I just came from) so we went to the stake center for a stake service project they were doing and it was such a tender Mercy because I got to see two people from St. Helens:) oh I was so happy to see familiar people again! Definitely a blessing! 

 

Then the rest of the exchange was fun because we got to watch a church movie with a less active they are teaching. It was the Testaments. Such a good movie! Made me cry haha. You should watch it! It was kinda weird watching the movie though because I felt like I should be doing something else. Hopefully I'm not always like that and I will be able to enjoy movies when I get home. Lol

 

Then we went and helped one of their investigators get ready for prom! lol she's 17, her name is angel, and she wanted some help. So it was kinda fun. Kind of weird though because it was such a normal person thing to do. Lol. I'll send you pictures of what she looked like. She could of used a jacket but oh well. Hahah. I did her nails and her makeup and it was fun, but I honestly had no idea what I was doing. Lol

 

Sunday, I pretty much already told y'all about church. Haha it was crazy. Trying to learn the people, which shouldn't be too hard since it's so small. But we will see. Apparently from looking on the dinner calendar we eat dinner with the same people every week. lol should be interesting. 

 

Well today we will be going to a member of the mission presidency's house for pday. Apparently he has a big house with lots of games and things to do so it should be fun. I'm hoping lol. I will have wifi, so please email me:) I need it! 

 

This week I've been focusing a lot in the spirit. And it was cool because in Relief society we had a lesson about listening to the whispering of the spirit. It was such a good lesson. I'm trying to put into my head that all of this is happening because of the spirit whispering to president and I'm also trying to trust that Heavenly Father needs me hear. It's hard but it's doable. I'm praying a lot and turning my will to his. I want y'all to know that I still love this gospel and it's still true even when things happen and you feel like you've fallen down. Get back up and trust God. Everything will be alright in the end, if it's not alright, it's not the end! 

 

I miss you all TONS!!!!

And I love y'all to the moon and back!!!! 

Don't forget about me;) especially on Friday:) lol

 

"Have faith, have hope, live like His Son, help others on their way."

 

Xoxo

Sister Batey

 

This group of Sister Missionaries will all be going home May 2nd!!

McKenzee and her new companion, Sister Babcock.