California Sister Entrikin: It's not okay to look like a scrub 😤

All of the sisters in the mission with President and Sister Basha
Photo from President and Sister Basha's Facebook page Aug 11

It's not okay to look like a scrub 😤

August 14, 2023

Monday my companion and I raged against the so called "leadership" in this mission. Everyone was in the gym, and I walked out to call my family. Come to find out, the APs kicked my companion out because I wasn't in there. And she was in the middle of a card game!! Boys 🙄

Tuesday we got to do one of my favorite activities ever, Days 4 Girls! It's a service project for girls in Africa who don't have access to period products. Basically I get to do crafts for 2 hours and help someone in Africa go to school no matter what! You should look it up because it's really cool 😎

On Thursday we had exchanges with the STLTs (Sister APs). Poor Hermana Glum is just one big stress ball. They are in charge of a lot of the technical aspects of the temple open house which is coming up. But we had a good time! We went and did some of our studies in the library, and they were having a used book sale... I didn't get to buy any 😥 Being a missionary is hard work.

I also told her how vehemently against "overtime" as missionaries I am. We have an hour each for lunch and dinner, and then we stop our working day at 9. And missionaries for some reason like to keep doing work during break times. Not on my watch. We took a full hour for lunch and we did her administrative work on the clock (she wanted to take time during dinner, no sir) But it was a good day!

We also got some new pots and pans for our apartment because ours were all scratched up and the lids didn't match any of the pots. Hallelujah. My legacy of improving the apartments I live in continues. Today we're getting cooking utensils that aren't melted 🤘

To continue with the apartment stories: Yesterday morning I hear yelling coming from my companion's bathroom. What's going on? There's a cockroach 🤢😱 She ran out (barely dressed) and told me that I needed to kill it. It's hard work being a husband. We were told to buy roach traps and spray, and that "the roaches won't hurt us" Ah the joy of California living.

On Friday we had a big meeting with all the sisters in the mission in Yuba City for the temple open house. This is the first time I've actually seen the Feather River Temple in person! It's gorgeous 😍. AND we all got a tour of the inside! That was a surprise. It is beautiful. I'm so excited for everyone who gets to come and see inside! You'll definitely have to look up some pictures of it!

We had a big long training about how to press play on a remote (our job is to show people a video explaining what temples are before people go and walk around) I'm not even kidding when I tell you the entire training was about how to press play on a video. I guess they just really don't want us to mess it up.

Sister Maughan and I get to help out with the VIP tours, so we're heading up to Yuba again tomorrow! Pray that I'll be able to find the start button 🙏🙏

We had a dinner with a large family that reminded me a lot of home. It was loud and crazy and the kids were everywhere and the parents were exasperated. But I enjoyed it. That's my element. Especially when the youngest came up to me like he was going to say something and instead burped in my face (Al and Dal is that you??) It was hilarious; he was quite pleased with himself. I enjoyed myself immensely. And then we got to hold little kittens! That was interesting because I was trying to keep the 4 year old from unintentionally murdering the cat with his "petting" and the kittens did not want to hang out with me. But it was fun! And Sister Maughan loved it.

We had a big dinner (our whole zone was invited) with the Justensen's. They're an awesome couple who work with the missionaries a lot. Sister J is the stake/mission representative for Family History work, and she's awesome! It was a good time 😊

Of course, to finish out the week strong, we had a big Zoom call with all the sister missionaries last night. Here are some highlights:

-They said "you will be doing 12 hour shifts, taking care of your areas even when you're gone, you have no time to do personal study but you have to find time to read the BOM, and you only get 1.5 hr break for 12 hr shift. But make sure to take care of yourself 🥰🥰"

-Also they totally trust us to take care of our areas even though they talked about us making sure to do so for half an hour

-It's like normal missionary work, EXCEPT we have to do normal missionary stuff AND a 12 hour shift at the temple on top of that (because that makes sense)

-Oh not to mention, we have to be at our shifts ready to go @8:30am, but we have to travel down the morning of, and cannot come the day before.

-Also, please don't dress like you have been because we don't want to look like scrubs at the temple open house

-"But if anyone can do it it's the sister missionaries:)))))))))))))"

Kill me now.

I will say, I think it will be better than the Armageddon they were selling us last night. Hopefully. But on the bright side, I know how to press play on a remote!

Anyways, now that I'm done being salty. I hope you are all doing wonderfully and I adore each and every one of you 🥰

Oh also, It's my birthday 🎂 🥳 I'm 21 🤪🥂

Spiritual Thought

Mormon 9:31 "Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been."

We are all just imperfect people trying to do our best in an imperfect world. Even though I get frustrated at times, I recognize that sometimes our best isn't very good, but it's still the best we can do. And that's all that God expects of us. We don't need to condemn the work of God because it's being led by imperfect people. (That's a reminder for me more than anything as I practice patience and understanding this week)

Pictures

1&2) sunset pics - a car drove by after we took the picture and yelled "say cheese" very loudly 💀

3) a snac 🍩

4) 3 teenage boys and $60 worth of Ramen - #throwback to last week

5&6) we got #turkeyed 😱

7) #idahome