"Put some ranch on your crab cakes!" #notJehovahWitness

HELLO HELLO welcome back to another absolutely insane week here in Anacortes! 

Giant hills we speed-walked: like 4

Pistachios eaten: a lot

Late night boat rides: 1 very nice one

Glasses of the best Sprite I've ever tasted: 1 glorious one

Mondayyy we had Zone pday down in Oak Harbor! It was super fun! We started by finishing the pottery that we had made the week before, and then realizing that I locked our keys in the car! 🤩😘😍 so we called Elder Larson, our Vehicle Coordinator, and he and Sister Larson drove up while we played games with our Zone. And then when they'd made it up here, they realized they had brought the wrong key HAHAHA so then we all sat in the truck and waited for the locksmith. It was hilarious, I love the Larsons! That night for FHE we carved pumpkins which was fun!! And I said goodbye to one of my FAVORITE missionaries, Elder Schad :(

Tuesdayyy we started the day with a lesson with James! He's awesome we love James. Then we drove down to Oak Harbor for a Social Media splittttt woo hoo! It was so fun, Smithy and I are getting everything ready for when we leave, so we were busy, busy. We drove back, and made some visits and that night, we had dinner with the Gapps! They live on Guemes Island so they took us to a fun Chinese restaurant! That night we had just some visits planned, and all of a sudden we got a text from our friend Renee! We haven't seen her in FOREVER and she wanted a Bible! We just so happened to have one in our car, so we were able to go to Renee's and read with her! It was awesome, I love Renee! 

Wednesdayyy we went out to La Conner, and we were finally able to have a lesson with Natasha!! It was really good! We found out that she's moving to Anacortes so we'll be able to see her more!! #blessings and then we went to Annette's! After that, we got to go to Marianne's and visit with her and read some scriptures! We also helped her with her firewood, and I learned that Sister Pettit is very afraid of Spiders, oops. Anywayyyy then we went to dinner with our 12-year-old friend Raelyn! And I had the best Sprite of my life, genuinely, as well as some bangin tacos. It was super fun! She's hilarious lol. Then we met this guy on the street named Angus who was awesome, and he wants to come to Church! After that we went to Young Women's which was combined with the Relief Society, and we did a diaper drive! We sorted all the diapers into bags and made cute little cards to send to new mothers!! It was awesome. 

Thursdayyy we got up EXTRA early and went to Seminary!!! It was super fun! We have some awesome youth. After that, we had District Council which was good, and then we were supposed to have a Social Media meeting but that didn't happen lol. So, we went and knocked some doors!! We weren't having much luck, but then the last door we knocked on the street was answered by a very nice man named Glenn! He told us that he had met the Elders on the ferry the day before! He let us in, and we met him and his wife, and they told us they were Jehovah Witness. We ended up having an hour long discussion with them about the Restoration and the importance of the Book of Mormon! He was so nice and it was cool to share different thoughts about our faiths! I learned way more about what Jehovah Witness's believe! And he took a Book of Mormon and said he would read it! It was super cool! I left feeling so grateful for the restored gospel. Being able to testify of truths to people is my favorite :)) then we did some Facebook work and went to Yoga and Volleyball that night! It was a good day :)

Fridayyy we had some training meetings in the morning, which was good, and then we contacted some people! One of the people we were trying to contact had a CRAZY dog. We drove up to the property, and there's this SUPER old empty house, and some cars and a dog, who began jumping up on us as soon as we got out of the car. I got to teach Sister Pettit all the tips for dealing with psycho dogs haha! But all was well. Then we got to go to Debi's!! It was soooo good to see her again! We got to talk about Family History with her, which was awesome. 

Then, we RACED back home, packed our bags as fast as we could and walked SOOO fast to the ferry terminal to go to Friday Harbor!! Luckily we made it on the boat (thank goodness!) And had a very DARK ride to the island, but it was fun. We made it to Friday Harbor and met the Miller's (our Senior couple) at the apartment! Of course, Sister Miller had already made dinner and so we all ate crab cakes and just had a grand old time! I LOVE THE MILLERS!! 

Saturdayyy we got up and got going because we went to the Friday Harbor Branch Activity!! We met the Branch members at the building and spent the next 3 hours clipping trees, unloading branches, raking leaves, and getting dirty!! But the building looks so nice now :) and then, we had a chili cook-off, so we all took our muddy boots off and ate chilli together in our socks :) it was just the best time! I love the Branch members out there, they're the sweetest! 

We did some finding in town, visited a few people, including Sandy Leschine! She's the cutest lady! She's got a wild conversion story that she told us all about, and then gave us gingersnap cookies in true grandma fashion. And then we found someone for the Spanish Elders named Antonio! Then, it was time to catch our boat back to Anacortes. Once we got back, we grabbed some dinner, and visited with Rebecka! We hadn't been over in a while, so it was good to see her, and Carson was there too! We had an awesome discussion about coming unto Christ with them! It was super cool. 

Sundayyy we had a CRAZY day! The 2 Wards were combined for the day because it was the Primary Program, so we had our 2^nd  hour meeting before Sacrament so the kids could practice which the missionaries led! We had all the adults and youth from both Wards there and we gave a presentation on how to better love, share, and invite! It was great! After 2^nd hour, we went to Sacrament which was SO BIG because everyone was there. During the meeting, the Stake President gets up and tells us that they're COMBINING THE WARDS! WHAAAAAT!!! So now we will just have the Fidalgo Island Ward! The two Wards used to just be 1, so everyone is excited to be together again. Then we had the Primary Program which was just one of the sweetest I've ever seen. I love these people so much I can't even believe it. After that, we had YSA Church, and there was a whopping 8 people! But it made for a very special Relief Society lesson :) 

On our way home from Church, Sister Pettit and I had a good conversation on how we can better connect and work together as companions. Being put with people that you're totally different from for 18 months is tricky, but I'm so grateful for all of the things I've learned :) That night, we had dinner with the Eatons, who are some of my very favorite people!! And then we drove down to Oak Harbor for the Worldwide Youth Testimony Meeting because our friends Raelyn and Leila were there!! It was awesome!!

Today we played some Frisbee golf and hung out with Bishop and Sister Khol from the YSA Ward!

OKAY LETS GET SPIRITUAL

This week was tough. There were lots of things that I couldn't control and lots of long days. Sometimes you wonder why you're doing what you're doing. But as I sat in Church on Sunday listening to the Primary children sing and share why they follow Jesus, then listened to the testimonies of the youth in our Stake on Sunday night, I was reminded so strongly why I live the Gospel. Because there is so much confusion in the world and so much hate, that we need to cling to the simple truths that we know. Love one another, miracles still happen today, God knows you and he is aware of you. And that's what faith is built on, those irreplaceable truths that a child yells into a Church microphone. 

Remember why you live the Gospel. Let it change how you live it.

I love you all a WashingTON ❣️ 

Sister Gibb