Phone Call: Memorial Day! Monday, May 31, 2021

Happy Memorial Day! I was up and ready to chat with my sweet girl today and when her first message hit at 6am I was thrilled to have my day begin. :) Sister Garcia and Sister Parrish decided today to hit a cute little cafe for breakfast which I absolutely loved hearing! They are out and about and taking this day to enjoy themselves. Sister Garcia said it reminded her a lot of the little diner in Oakley with weird operating hours which was a factor in them doing breakfast. 

I won't lie! As I was getting stuff ready for our bbq/pool gathering in the yard I was quite jealous of this breakfast. It looks absolutely delicious! After breakfast they headed off to the church, which is also conveniently right across the street from their apartment. She said that she checked her personal email (her mission phone won't allow it to be on there) and there were more than 400 emails!!! She said a lot of them were duplicates that come into her mission email and then there were some subscription emails as well. Nothing real pressing but she said she will now make it a regular stop to just check in and clean it out so it isn't super overwhelming when she gets home. Good thinking!

They also had a chance to swing into an Asian Market. Ummmm...and then when she was telling me about it I almost could have barfed on my end of the call. There were live fish, there were geese that some guy would chop their head off, there were huge dead fish wrapped in cellophane ready to take home. SEE...gross! She also said that is smelled horrible and she only saw one other white person...and that was her companion! Funny but so gross. So so gross.

They had district counsel again this week and President Mav said he was going to have an announcement on Saturday. So, when I asked her what it was she said "he hasn't said anything at all!" I guess he isn't quite ready yet? I have to admit that I was hoping it was that masks have been removed, she can be out knocking on doors, having dinners with the members, etc but because the MBM covers 3 separate states they have to take into account each state and what their restrictions are. For example, Rhode Island is pretty open but because Massachusetts and Connecticut are not, Rhode Island missionaries  have to play by Massachusetts and Connecticut restrictions. Super frustrating but In the end I will continue to pray for the governments in those areas to alleviate these so my sweet girl can get back out there and do her thing!

Still no word yet on Brazil but Sister Garcia seems to be doing okay with it thus far. I know her heart longs to be there and I cannot imagine knowing and seeing that some of the missionaries she served with in the home CTM have arrived in Brazil. She did say she finally broke down and read Sister Tegerdine's email from last week. She said she is in Brazil and her companion speaks zero English and that it is hard. (I cannot even imagine!) Sister Garcia said that maybe that is why she is still in the US is to learn more of the language so when she does arrive in Brazil she will be able to hit the ground running and immediately be able to go to work. 

Because it was Memorial Day there was a lot going on here at home and people were starting to show up as I was talking which meant it was also bringing my phone call to an end for the week. Today is a day I feel almost robbed because of a holiday and celebrations. But I get it and I will be fine. I just need to tuck away my feelings and be grateful for all the things.

As our call ended and I checked in to make sure there were no needs or wants this week I couldn't help but look around at my surroundings. I am home, in a great backyard, sunshine is HOT, pool is going, friends are here, family is here, and yet a huge piece of my world is in Rhode Island. And I felt it heavy today. Life with Kaitlyn is sweet and so so good. Her smile can change a mood in a hot second. Her laughter is contagious. The love that she emulates is felt the moment she enters a room. There is so much good that comes from having her in your life and today I am missing it more than ever. I cannot wait for the day when she is home and can be a part of all of this crazy here again. I am still counting down the days and cannot wait for the hug at the end of this journey.

I miss you oodles, 

Missionary Momma

Brooklyn was poolside with me and got to sneak in on the call with Sister Garcia this week!

Tyler showed up for a minute in the call too

Missionary Monday...my most favorite day of the week.

PS...I got a cute video from Sister Garcia and Sister Parrish at the end of their night. They had some updates from a meeting that took place that included as of June 13 masks will be optional (yay!), they will be able to have dinner with members in their home as long as a non-member or friend will join them, they can talk to people outside of homes as long as it happens naturally and not forced, and overall little by little things are changing and life is going to start looking more like the normal they are used to. These two girls together are so cute and I loved that at the end of our busy day I was able to see their sweet smiling faces and hear the joy in their voices!