My Companion: The Car Murderer

Transfers were this week and they went off smoothly. Sister Jones and I managed to stay together, yet we traded in our dinky gray Toyota Corolla for a monstrous Dodge mini van. Yes, we are officially soccer moms. The Elders in our district gave us soccer mom keychains and everything. But as things seem to go in this mission, the joy was short lived.

On Wednesday, the Zone Leaders came up to do exchanged with two of our elders. We all decided to pile into the van and go off to lunch at La Chula's. Typical to the Mississippi way, the streets were completely flooded - but we didn't think much of it because it always happens! Halfway through driving in this giant puddle, the van slowed down to a stop. We were all asking Sister Jones why she stopped driving, since we had no idea it wasn't her idea. She turned to us, eyes as wide as dinner plates, and softly said, "I am so dead."

We all clamored out of the van and pushed it to dry land and attempted to start it again. No dice. We tried jumping the car, thinking the battery had died somehow. Nope. So, we decided to go to lunch anyway and hope that the car was just wet and needed to dry out.

After lunch, we came back and tried to start the car again. It just sat there. Finally, after numerous calls, a member came by and checked out the car. He wisely told us to let it sit there over night and see if it has dried out in the morning. By this time, our day was almost completely over because we had been in meetings all morning and spent the majority of the afternoon trying (in vain) to get our van to run. So we all split off to proselyte for a little bit with plans to meet up again at the end of the night for Missionary Correlation Meeting. Sister Jones and I were loaned the Elder's car so we could get around the area since we had the most miles to cover - which was quite sweet of the elders to do so. 

We took of to go tracting and then returned to our apartment to shower quickly before Correlation. When we came back to the car, it was dead. Yes. Another dead car. In the space of THREE HOURS. After a little looking around, I saw that the headlights were on. Yes, Sister Jones had left the headlights on. My companion. The car murderer. Luckily, the Turfitts (our Ward Mission Leader, Baxter and his awesome wife, Kaley) were willing to come pick us up for Correlation meeting. Normally, we hold Missionary Correlation Meetings every Wednesday and talk about what we are doing and how the work of the Lord is coming along in our area. This week, we changed it up a bit. Instead of meeting at the church for an hour, the Turfitts  let us come over to their house for a dinner and to watch 17 Miracles - the only movie that our mission president has approved. It was one of the best nights I'd had in awhile simply because it was so relaxed and laid back. I highly recommend that whomever hasn't seen 17 Miracles to go and see it! It's one of those movies that makes you realize how truly blessed you are to live in this day and age. Baxter and Kaley were kind enough to give us a ride home that evening since our car was still drying out over at the church and the other car was sitting dead at our apartment. When we got home, they jump started the car and Elder Green, our district leader, took it back to his place.

The next morning, we woke up with high hopes that our van was up and running once more. We sat there, staring at the phone, waiting for the call from Elder Green. Finally, he called and all he said was, "Sucks to be you." Our car was officially dead and was being towed all the way to Slidell. Once more, we were without a car. 

Yet, we had to get over to Bay Saint Louis to do some missionary work so we decided to brave the 20 miles bike ride over the bridge and into the city. Halfway through biking the bridge though, I started to feel light-headed and sick. I had a pounding headache and my arms started to go numb. Before I knew it, I fell off my bicycle and blacked out.

The next thing I remember is Sister Jones kneeling next to me, anxiously calling our district leader and patting water on my forehead. After lying down on the hot pavement for a long time, I finally found the energy to walk to the nearest member's house three miles away to get some food and water. Needless to say, we didn't get much work done that day.

The next few days were pretty disappointing missionary work wise - somehow, every single one of our appointments fell through, none of our investigators showed up to church, and we were barely able to place 4 Books of Mormon. I am optimistic for this upcoming week though - I know that the Lord is mindful of our hard work and dedication to sharing the gospel. I am positive that things will work out the way that our Father wants them too. It may be difficult right now, but everything will be okay in the end.

I know that what I am doing is truly a divine work.

Now is a time for faith, not fear.

--

All my love,

Sister Sarah Michéle Durrant

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