The Most Painful Thing Thus far in my Life

So this email will probably be sort of shorter. I hurt the tip of my right pointer finger and it makes typing a little annoying. It isn't a great story really, just that a bungee cord came undone and the metal part whipped my finger. It hurt sooooo bad. I would venture to say the most painful thing thus far in my life. If you're queasy, stop reading...when it hit my finger, blood started coming out from under my fingernail. It was so gross. I've never seen that before! It didn't cut me or anything, but the force just bruised my whole fingertip and it's so swollen. The ridiculous part was that this happened at 10:30pm...when we go to sleep. So we flip on the lights and I'm just a mess because it hurts so bad and our half of the house is sooooo hot. After a while when it just kept getting worse we decided I needed a blessing. Well for a sister to get a blessing in the middle of the night in her apartment it involves waking up like 15 people. The whole order of things for a blessing is a little ridiculous in the middle of the night. But the ward mission leader and the 2nd couns. of the bishopric came finally and gave me a blessing. Bro. McClellan (WML) was telling his wife about it and he was saying that I would probably lose my fingernail and she thought he said I would probably lose my finger! Haha. I guessed she was concerned that meant I would have to go home. No, I am not going to lose my finger. But I may lose my nail. Gross. So finally around 12:30am I got to sleep that night. Sis. Dunn is a trooper and was awake the whole time too. The next day people kept trying to give me ointments and bandages and stuff. Sister Long (who made us the best cheeseburgers ever) wrapped it all up and it made me have a permanent boy scout sign. Haha

So that's my long saga of the night I hurt my finger.

We have been helping this lady Nicole in the ward and her husband pack and move stuff from an apt that has no air. Wow, I didn't know I could sweat so much. Luckily she is moving to a place with air! She is so cool. She is starting to come back to church and she just got married and her husband wants us to teach him. I'm so excited because they are so great! We showed up to help her pack the other day and she was running a little late, so we made a few phone calls. I called this lady Debbie who we are teaching and her son is a member of the ward. She just had back surgery, so we were calling to see how it went and etc. She says "not well, I'm not going to make it." So of course my heart drops and I'm like WHAT? I tried to be positive and then I asked her if she wants a blessing and she does. So we send the EQP and the 1st couns of the bishopric to go give her a blessing. I called her back to let her know they are coming and I decided to ask her what why she thinks she isn't going to make it and try and find out what they doctors were saying. Here's the good part... "I haven't talked to the doctors all day. But they are taking bodies and I'm next." "What do you mean Debbie?" "Well they just hauled the person next to me away and I'm next." So at this point I'm like duh, she is so drugged up she's not thinking straight. Haha. It was so funny to have this conversation. Esp cuz I called the EQP and relayed that she might not make it. Haha. We still get a good laugh out of that one. But the first time I talked to her I was so sad because I thought she really was going to die.

Anyways, here are the funny stories for the week! Enjoy!

Love ya,
Sister Talbot

Norfolk is HOTT!

Norfolk has been HOTT (yes with 2 t's) this week. And super humid. Can you do something about this please? Haha. It's been so hilarious because S. Dunn hates hot weather. We did a service project helping someone pack yesterday and the apt didn't have air in it. We sweated through our clothes. Literally! We went home and we had to hang our clothes to dry. It was so funny. Yesterday made for the first 2 shower day of my mission. What great memories I'll have of this place. But I do feel pretty lucky though. Because we are near the water, we get a little breeze randomly throughout the day. Newport News definitely didn't get many breezes blowing through unless it was a storm. We've enjoyed some pretty nice night storms these last few weeks. My favorite! I've thought a few times how nice it was being in Eagar last summer for those awesome summer rains. Wow, I cannot believe 4th of July is right around the corner. Time is flying by so fast.

Well I didn't make it to Ramnine's baptism :( I was pretty bummed about it, but we had a meeting for stake conference in VA Beach, so there was no way to do it all. But the exciting thing is that she did it! Well I wasn't there, so I think she did :) Stake Conference was really good. In all the meetings they repeated 2 themes. Being prepared for an emergency (could it be hurricane season? haha) and eternal families. Those are excellent topics to speak on and I heard people say this was the best they'd ever been to. Something I never had before my mission was a 72 hour kit. Do you all have one? It's something very wise to have because it's something with the last days that we will realistically use. So if you don't have one... :)

How was Father's Day? What did you all do? We had dinner with a family in the ward. The lady is divorced, so there was no father's celebration. But I thought about you fathers!

We are teaching this man named Stan. He is so cool. He is a retired religious petty officer (RP), so he knows about all religions and faiths pretty much. He's read parts of the Book of Mormon, but never in a spiritual growth sort of way. Yesterday was our 3rd lesson with him and it went so well. The Spirit was strong and I felt it as I was able to share testimony with him. We went with the plan to teach Plan of Salvation, but ended up answering some questions that he came up with during his reading. It was a really neat lesson. He is having jaw surgery today, so his mouth will be wired shut for awhile. He is a talker, so we always joke how that's going to be a good thing. I really have a good feeling about Stan.

We also met this lady who has been less active for most of her membership and grew up JW. She still refers to Heavenly Father as Jehovah, so I am excited to teach her. First order of business...a KJV bible, not a JW bible! Haha

The new comp is working out good. She's a lot different from S. Woodruff, but there is always a transition from comp to comp. I just got an email from Sister Cox. She got home last week. I cannot believe it! She is doing so well it sounds like. I am at the stage of the mission that she was when I got here. I remember her talking about what she was going to do when she got home and all that good stuff. I have NO idea what I'll do, so I doubt I'll be talking about it anytime soon. Haha. I just get confused when I think about it.

Well I love you all and hope all is going well back in AZ. What's it like 75 degrees there now ;) haha

Love ya,
Sister Talbot

Email from June 16, 2010 - Transfers again!

So these last 6 weeks have flown by sooooo fast. Probably the fastest so far. So I am staying in Norfolk 2nd Ward and will be companions with Sister Dunn. When we had exchanges last transfer and I went to NN1, she was my companion. So it'll be fun to serve with her! She was also trained by Sis. Cox. I haven't served with anyone trained by my trainer yet, so this will be sweet. Sister Woodruff is going to Newport News 1st Ward! So cool huh! She is being sent in with a missionary that is going home at the end of next transfer, so neither of them know the area. It's called being "shotgunned" into an area. Basically fresh eyes in an area. So Sis. Dunn and Sis. Woodruff are swapping out. I am so bummed to have Sis. Woodruff leave, but I am excited to have Sis. Dunn come. The area needs a change and their is so much potential.

We had our first harmonica lesson this last week. We learned part of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. It sounds pretty good, but I have a feeling it might die out with transfers...we'll see. These are the times when I wish I had a recorder :)

So something we've been using a lot this transfer are the mormon messages. Have you all checked out mormonmessages.org yet? There is some really good stuff on there! I love the one called We Are Christians by Elder Coleman. We used that one at Shekaylia's baptism. There are so many gems!

Last Thursday we had a mission conference. It was the last time to see Pres. & Sister Millburn because they leave in 2 weeks. Sad :( I know Pres. Perry will be awesome, but big changes are always hard. Missions are full of change, so you'd think we'd get used to it, but nope not really.

The Norfolk 1 sisters had a fireside last Friday night titled "Why I Believe". It was really good and we had some of the people we are teaching come. The fireside consisted of some recent convert testimonies, 2 musical numbers, and the high councilor over missionary work speaking. It was so good. We are going to try and have one a transfer from now on. But it got me thinking for myself why I believe. It's such a good question. The main reason is because it's true. This is Christ's church! The more I think about it the more I know that it is. In every way and every aspect it is the Lord's church. It just makes sense. I get so confused when people reject our message.

I was reading in Moroni 9 this morning and came across a few lines I really liked. In verse 6 I like "...nothwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation;..." I like this a lot because as a missionary I have to keep moving forward trusting the work is being done how the Lord wants it to be. That every person I meet and every u turn we make was for a reason. Okay, if you haven't yet, read in Preach My Gospel under Hope.

Well I stink at updating you at what is going on with specific people. But at the mission conference I did get to talk to the elders who are now in NN2. They said that Nunez finally got baptized and Ramnine is getting baptized this Saturday. I hopefully will be there!!!! I am so excited for the elders to keep working with these people.

I love you all!
Sister Talbot

Harmonica playing has begun!

Hola! So the harmonica playing has begun! It's so much fun and I am terrible at it. But we have a good time. We attempted to play Happy Birthday to Sister Jacob who shares a birthday with Neely! We snuck into her room early this morning and left a bunch of balloons for her and then ran back to sleep. It was fun!

We had exchanges this last week for 2 days and I went with Sister Jacob to Norfolk 1st Ward. I really enjoyed it. They cover the downtown area, so that was my first time being in a downtown since Phoenix. I forgot how fun it was to see big buildings up close. Well we didn't get too close. We got sidetracked  doing some tracting :) While on exchanges we taught this man named Ed. They'd been teaching him for a little while, but never taught the Restoration lesson. So we decided that's what we were going to teach him. We had a couple from the ward with us and his son and daughter in law (members) were there as well.

So we were walking up to an appointment and we see this grungy worker man sitting on the back of a truck across the street and as we walk up the house we hear him whistling Called To Serve. Sis. Woodruff was about to knock and I lean over and say, he's whistling a church song. We looked at each other and were like what? Who's he? So of course we go talk to him and found out he "used" to be a member and is an RM. His parents are in our ward actually. It was so random to hear him whistle that. It's such a good song to hear!

Can you believe I am out of time and I have hardly shared everything I wanted to? Lame. But that's how it is. Sorry!!!

But I love you all and am looking forward to your letters.

Love ya,
Sister Talbot

Fun times in Virginia

At Botanical Gardens with the Duncans...the boys in this pic. Norfolk's theme is mermaids, so there are mermaids all over the city.

Rose garden at the Gardens.

Gardens

My super cute ring! Thanks Cody, Jen, Ashlyn, Haze, and Rigg!!!!

Thanks mom and dad for the scarf! I love it!

Sister Carbajal and Sister Woodruff holding my birthday whoopie pie.

The cake Sister Shumaker made for me...red velvet

Our cute toes

Picking strawberries in Pongo

Bad picture, but you get the idea. There is a bunch of Talbot stuff in Norfolk. Weird.

Skekaylia's baptism...Her dad is on the end and Elder Shelley baptized her. He is serving in Kempsville, but used to serve here and teach her.

Bro.Maldanado (the man with the glass eye) and his gigantic cake

It's Wednesday again! This week flew by so fast. I sent a bunch of pictures (3 emails), so pictures will say 1000 this week.

We are working with a member named Nicole and she is so cool. She makes wigs and does hair, so she is going to braid us in a fake strip underneath sometime. That's not just why she's cool though. When we first met her she was pretty angry and had a hard heart. By the end of the first meeting she softened up a lot and then the next day she showed up in the church building at the end of Bible Study to tell us she had a break through. It was so cool! Then we went over a few days later for a lesson and to help her pack (she's moving to another place). We shared a 20 minute lesson or so and then when we were done, she's like "that's all?" She wanted us to keep going...so we did! It has been so cool to see her change so much in the few times I've seen her. Her fiance lives there too and so we told her we would help her get the wedding underway and she wants us to be her witnesses. haha, we don't know how that works, but sounds good to me!

We had a dinner and lesson with the Mitchells. They are such a cool couple. They remind me a lot of Cody and Jen actually. Similar personalities. When we were leaving he challenged us to learn to play some hymns on the harmonica. Remember when I wanted to learn how to play for a resolution in 2009...or was it 2008? Oh well. So we are going to try and find some today and learn to play. Haha

On Sunday Shekaylia was sick so she couldn't come to church, but we looked outside right before church started and we see her dad walking up. He came and stayed for 2 hours! He told us he would stay all 3 this Sunday. How cool! We haven't taught him or anything, he just has been showing up. We hope he keeps showing up, so we can teach him.

Memorial Day was fun! The Books (who we live upstairs from) had a block party, so we bbq for dinner. And then immediately went to another members and they had us eat dinner. I was full when we got there. This has been happening a lot to us. We have 2 dinners or we have a big late lunch and then a dinner. Wow, I am getting fat and I don't like it. Well I've really only gained around 10 pounds. Anyways... When we were stopping by an investigator's house we started talking to this group of people down the way and this drunk man kept telling us he needs the message and yada yada. Then he's like you could come over and I could cook you dinner and we can talk. We start laughing and his friends were just like he's ridiculous. Haha, it was a hilarious Memorial Day experience.

Norfolk 2 is doing great. Lots going on and the days are flying by. It's been super humid this week, so the weather of ponytails has begun. It's a good thing my hair is now long enough to rock the ponytail and it not look ugly :)

Well I love you all and hope things are going well. I love being a missionary and am grateful I have a family like you to support me!