11. Blackberries And Beef Hearts

Hello my people!

This week was everything I ever hoped missionary work would be! To jump right in, I love the people here. I think I've learned how to talk to people and get to know them better so I can love them on a deeper level. That is honestly a miracle since I was really awful at being so open when I first came.

We did service for our friend Jessica, who needed blackberries removed from her yard. Let me tell y'all. Blackberries are the devil. They can grow anywhere, they are ugly, they have massive thorns, and they grow as huge vines that wrap around everything in sight. Plus, they can grow large enough to take over a house; they have to be taken care of when they are small, or it can become an impossible task to clear them out.

We also got our friend Dias to come to church with us! Dias is an old school thug; he has the deepest voice I have ever heard and the biggest belly laugh known to man. He was interested in joining the church before, but kind of stopped when he got really sick. Well, it had been a while since anyone reached out to him and when we met him, he was super excited to come along with us.

My favorite evening of the mission so far happened on Sunday as well! Our good friend Ibrahim invited us over for dinner, so we told him we would make some Tongan food to share with him. We made shrimp rolls, octopus, sweet potato, and some kind of baked spinach dish. When we showed up to his house, there was a party going on! All his friends from Burkina Faso were there; I have never been around people with such infectious smiles and good vibes. They fed us beef heart kabobs and goat! We got to have some awesome missionary opportunities with them to share what we believe and why we are here. Overall, it was a good night with good food, good friends, and good music.

Well, as happy as Sunday evening made me, Sunday night made me really sad. We got our transfer news. Every 6-weeks is considered 1 transfer, and for each transfer you have the possibility of being moved to a new area, getting a new companion, or staying right where you're at. For me, I am being moved to Eagle Point tomorrow and I will be training a new missionary. To be honest, I am very nervous; I hope you guys can pray for me and for her, because I am barely getting the hang of missionary work myself. I will also miss my girls here and the people I have come to love so much. However, I trust God's plan and I'm excited to see what He has in store for me!

As for my spiritual pondering this week, I have been thinking a lot about the idea of growth. There are wonderful things that can grow in our lives: we can grow our faith, patience, charity, etc. On the other hand, there are bad things that can grow too: negativity, self doubt, bad habits, and hate. Just like the thorny blackberry vines, these are easiest to cut back and throw out before they have the chance to spread. We have to choose which things we want to grow in ourselves: the good or the bad. Nourish those important, good things in your life and have the courage to weed out the things holding you back from coming closer to Christ. Sometimes it's scary to get stuck by a thorn while clearing out the bad stuff, but it is so worth it in the end!

Have a blessed week, catch y'all on the flipside!

Hermana Thrasher

PICS!!!

1. Blackberry vines.....

2. Okay, I'll admit that the upside to clearing out the unwanted blackberries is getting to snack on a few of the ripe ones

3. My beautiful district (small group of missionaries)

4. A picture from zone conference! So many awesome missionaries in one picture!

5-7. My friends on Sunday! I am sad we didn't get a big group picture with everybody there.