Missing y'all on Thanksgiving

so many things to say, so little time :(

p-days are crazzzzzy. it's hard to find time for everything you need to do, but I'm alive & happy and that's what counts :) I've decided that today I'm going to add some really random things in here, but hopefully it'll keep you interested lol.

^i got told that i look like Barbara Streisand when she was young this week...that's  new one..luckily she said it was a compliment haha

^SUMMER GOT BAPTIZED SATURDAY :D i had the opportunity to teach her the whole time she was learning and it was amazing to see the changes in her from that first appointment to her baptism. we met with her Friday night and she was glowing. she knew she was doing the right thing. while we were going over the schedule for the next day and she goes "hey, can i talk at my baptism??" we were like heeck yeah! so after she got baptized she got up in front of everyone and says "i just wanted to say thank you to Sister Toolan and sister havens for teaching me about the church. i love you guys and thank you everyone who came!" it was THE sweetest thing ever. at that moment i realized, even if this is the last baptism i have before i go home, it will have been enough. to hear that being said made the horrible week i had worth it. it became real to me at that moment that i am a missionary. i only have 17 more months to do this! i got to get to work!!

Summer and her mom

^if anyone gets a letter from me with a johnny cash stamp on it, I'm going to apologize in advance lol. i went to the post office and they only had like 3 different stamps i could choose from and the other two just weren't workin' for me. on the bright side of things my daddy loves johnny cash so it makes me smile every time i go to use one :)

^i just about when GHETT-TOE on the lady working at McDonald's this week. I'm a missionary, therefore, i am broke. so i paid for my meal and when i look in the bag she had given me like 6 fries!!! THE NERVE. hah jk, you know me though, i love my food so i got kinda heated. then i realized i wear a name tag now and am a representative for Christ so i don't need to cause any scenes. i wasn't actually mad, but i did turn ghetto for a little bit. it gave my comp and i something to laugh about for a while :p

I do love to eat!

 this week was...not easy. I'm not going to lie and make it seem like everything is always smiles & giggles. it's not. it's missionary WORK. it's WORK. it's hard. this week was hard emotionally for me. on top of everything going on, it was thanksgiving, my favorite holiday. things were getting hard with my companion and i asked "what can i do to make this work? what can i do better? i want to know these things so that i can learn from them and grow. i want to better myself so i can be the best daughter, sister, mother, wife i can be. please tell me." but my comp is super easy going so she couldn't ever think of anything, but i KNOW I'm not perfect so i knew there was something i could do better. finally, i took it to the lord. i prayed and prayed asking him to help me recognize the things i could do better and the things i need to work on. after a few days the thought occurred to me: "sister toolan. you are HORRIBLE at communication. especially with those that you spend a lot of time with." not even a day later my comp goes "so the only thing i can think of is maybe talk to me more, like communicate with me more."

i am thankful for a loving heavenly father who not only hears our prayers, but answers them.

^i now know a woman. also now know that she is married to her cousin...guess it doesn't just happen in the south, huh? hahah jk. it got me pretty tickled though :p

^this week i was reading about King Noah and it made me realize how much of an impact our friends have in our life. this can be a good or bad thing. when it comes to friends i always think of this saying "if it doesn't help you grow, let it go." just food for thought.

hugs- sister toolan