Words from Sistrt Elese Hauser in Illinois

"I've survived the next best week of my life! Sister Bird and I had
many, many interesting experiences as we usually do. I for one, had
some more embarrassing moments to add to the list. I know, you're all
shocked that me of all people would have embarrassing moments! Don't
worry, I didn't fall down any stairs or step on any sprinklers. Yet...
On Tuesday we taught a lady named Cathy. She is from the Philippines
and her son Dan is a recent convert of 2 years but he goes to the YSA
branch. So since she'll go to the family Ward, we got to teach her! We
took this member from Utah who is out here visiting her daughter and
she's never been out with the missionaries before so she was very
excited! She was so excited in fact that when Cathy asked the golden
question of what makes our church different from any others, the
member just jumped in and started teaching about the apostasy and
restoration except she was so thrilled that she was making no sense.
So we were finally able to stop her and we started from the beginning.
It was a good lesson after that! She said that she knows the church is
true because of the change she's seen in her son! And she just got a
new job that won't require her to work on Sundays. Miracles happen!!
But if you remember, she's from the Philippines and so of course we
couldn't leave without eating a five course meal on the way out the
door! She had a cook in the kitchen the whole time preparing things
for when we were done with the lesson. So here we are sitting in the
couch and she just starts piling food in our laps. Egg rolls and
empanadas and then she randomly gave us jelly filled donuts! Haha! I
don't think those were Filipino but what do I know! And then she gave
us all the leftovers:) I'm beginning to think the Philippines would be
a nice place to go:) But Elgin has a huge population of Filipino
people! So it's close enough:)
We gave 2 trainings this week and went to 2 zone conferences. First at
Schaumburg and then we went to Rockford. I got to drive by Belvidere
and i almost started crying! Word is that Bennie Rivera will be going
to the temple soon! That would make my life if I could go see him take
out his endowments while still on my mission! But anyways, we trained
on Helping investigators make and keep commitments. We had 30 minutes
each time and I think it went alright. I can still improve a lot so
I'm grateful for the time ahead of me that I'll have to do that. So
this week I got a wonderful package from Mom and it had this super
cute orange shirt in it! As you can imagine it almost brought tears to
my eyes the fact that I have one new thing to wear! So I wear it to
the Rockford zone training. Well I also eat before the Rockford zone
training. Can you see where this is headed? So I ended up spilling
some of my breakfast on my new white and orange shirt. And of course i
forgot my tide to go pen at home! And we gave a training in front of
20 or so missionaries. Luckily it wasn't super noticeable but I felt
like it was screaming at me. Just my luck.
So we went on 2 exchanges this week. I got to serve in the Schaumburg
YSA branch for a day and that was super awesome! And then a sister
from Rockford came and served here in Elgin with me. When I was here
in Elgin with this sister we had taken a member out with us and we
were dropping her back off at the church. Well I was in a hurry to get
to our next appointment so I whipped around in the parking lot and
started heading for the exit. Well I'm about to turn down the lain
when I see a car coming so I turn the wheel to move out of the way so
the car could get by. But apparently I turned the wheel a little too
far and was still going a little too fast because the next thing I
know our car ends up going up and over the entire curb before coming
back down. So here we are bouncing over the curb and I know I look
like an idiot but chances are I don't know the person in the other
car. Right? Wrong. To my utter horror I see none other than President
Fenn is the driver of the other car. He slows down, stops, peers over
his steering wheel at me with a look on his face like
what-are-you-doing?! And gives an awkward little wave. It was one of
those slow motion moments because it was so embarrassing! Meanwhile,
I'm sinking as low as I can possibly go behind the steering wheel and
hoping my sunglasses mask my identity. Before I can do any more damage
to my pride I finish our journey over the curb and try to get out of
there as soon as possible without making too much eye contact and sulk
slowly down the long and dreary lane of embarrassment. My companion at
the time about died of laughter, I about died from embarrassment. Of
all the people that could have been, of course it was President Fenn!
And I'm the worst at hitting the curb, just ask any of my companions!
So that was my funny story of the week:)
We are still teaching Mercedes but she's been sick so we've had to
teach them over Facebook. And Brother Laine came to church again
yesterday and our lesson this week was awesome! We were only able to
teach the first half of the plan of salvation because he had so many
questions. He always does his reading assignments and is so dedicated.
It's weird and rare to find people like that! Do you all remember
Catherine from Pekin? Well she still hasn't gotten baptized yet and
Sister Clayton told me that had to drop her because she isn't going to
move out any more:( My heart was broken when I found that out! She was
so close, so close!
This week is going to be crazy! Tomorrow we have a new missionary
training meeting we have to train at and that's from 9:00-4:00. And
then we will leave at 6:00 am on Wednesday morning to head down to
Bloomington where we'll do exchanges. Then go to Morton and do
exchanges with the sisters there on Thursday and then we'll go to
Pekin and be there on Friday to do exchanges. We will get back Friday
night. Since it's 3 hours away we both go to their area and stay
there. It's really stressful for them because they have to plan 2 days
worth of stuff in one day and since it takes so many miles to get down
there we won't be driving at all while we are there, so I better break
out my walking shoes! But it's a good thing we have iPads and Facebook
because we will still be able to teach our investigators for those
days we are gone over Skype or Facebook. Sister Bird describes this as
the most tiring week of the transfer. That's comforting. But I'm
excited to visit Pekin again!
So life is wonderful! It's crazy, it's overwhelming, it's stressful,
but I love it so much! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve a
mission. This is the best decision I ever made. I don't know where I
would be or what I would be doing if I hadn't gone on a mission. I
hope everyone has the opportunity to serve a mission in their life
because there is nothing that compares! Stay safe and be well. I love
you all!!!"