The REAL First Day of School!

Katelyn is headed off to REAL in-person learning!  It's her first day back to school since all heck broke lose on March 12th!  Hopefully everyone will stay healthy and there won't be any outbreaks... this is my prayer!  I really want schools to stay open!  I sent Katelyn with her masks (of course... they're mandated) and a bottle of hand sanitizer.  Let's keep our fingers crossed... Yay for some normalcy in our lives again!!!  

Food fights, bees, & ding dong ditching (Brooke's Letter)

Heyo! Hope you are all happy and healthy!

This week has been lots of fun!

>There was one morning this week where a couple random fun things happened right off the bat and we just got a distinct feeling "Today's gonna be a good day" and then it WAS! Attitude is everything!

>Training a new sister has been a wonderful excuse to binge watch the District and wholly moly it is so good!

>We did a flip and point in the Book of Mormon with one of our friends and the verse we got was SO random but we kinda just tried to explain it a bit to her and didn't super know how to apply it to her question but then she just went off on how it answered her question! God knows His children and EXACTLY what THEY SPECIFICALLY need!

>We made cookies for our neighbors since we just moved in and we ding dong ditched all three of them at the same time! Haha triple ding dong ditch!

>Church this week was lovely as always but... Okay so we keep all the doors in the building open so nobody has to touch any surfaces to walk in... Well this week a BEE wanted to join us! Okay not gonna lie it was reaaaally funny to watch this bee go from person to person and people like see it and are surprised and scared and shew it away-- it literally felt like something that should be in a movie! ANYWAY it came over by us so it caught our eye and then it flew away but I was still kinda watching it and it flew and landed right on this sweet old lady's finger! I literally had a heart attack right there! But she didn't notice so this lady is just sitting there with a bee on her finger! Anyway another lady in the ward also was watching this whole thing and she nudges the lady and points at her hand and she gasps "oh!" and moves her hands and then the bee flew away! Miracle it didn't sting her I guess! Wow it was really funny! Thanks Corona!

Haha ok so some other funny stories:

> We made a video this week about baptism that involved us throwing food at one of the elders while he walked backwards so that he ends up really dirty at the end and then we put the video in reverse and all the food comes off --super dope. We rehearsed this video several times before adding the food... Then we did the final shot and threw food and holy cow it was CHAOS lol! It didn't go as planned at all and poor Elder Bloomquist couldn't even open his eyes! He got WRECKED BUT the video still turned out SO GOOD!! Kinda helped me see that even when things don't go "to plan" God can still make them work out for our good! And maybe even better than we thought. (*pictures at the end and be looking for the video on our Karen page*)

>Okay so the other funny story also has to do with Elder Bloomquist. Poor guy just got wrecked this week I guess haha! Anyway we were at volleyball and E. Morris had a bug on his shirt and E. Bloomquist was like, "Is that a bug?" And E. Morris was like "nah" but picked it up and then E. Bloomquist was like "oh ya that's not a bu-" and right as he said that the bug flew into his mouth so he started gagging and laughing at the same time! Wholly moly it was so funny I was just standing there watching the whole thing go down haha --good memories...

Well anyway! It has been a fun week!

One of the lady's in our ward on Sunday bore her testimony and it really hit me hard! She talked about how hard this time has been for some and how much things have changed in all aspects of her life and then she quoted one if my favorite hymns, Be Still My Soul where it says,

"In every change, He faithful will remain." Jesus Christ is with us through out this time and at every unexpected turn! And He is a source of comfort and peace to be able to keep going! I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and for our Savior Jesus Christ! "All of these experiences, every single one, good and bad, is part of out earthly experience so enjoy the ride!" That's what another person bore testimony about on Sunday! This life is good and it's so good because God has a plan for us! So turn to Him to see the good when it gets hard!

Love you all! Have a great week!

Love, Sister Freeman ဖီပြံဝါ
Pictures:

1-2. Elder Bloomquist...
3. Beautiful Minnesota!
4. Gave one of our friends her favorite picture of Christ! (when He comes to the America's)
5-6. Volleyball
7. ICE CREAM! Gonna be too cold here soon.
8-9. Beautiful Minnesota part 2!

SMHS Swim Meet @ Notre Dame Prep... Boys and Girls WON!!

It was a super crazy and very disorganized meet today. We were told that we could attend the meet if we came in with our swimmer on each of their events and just timed for that event, so we could see it. Well they were hugely understaffed and Bill and I ended up being permanent timers for the entire meet! AIA officials (3 of them-- there are NEVER that many at a dual meet) were there and being super stinky about Covid regulations... They are always kinda stinky, but today was WORSE!! It was HOT and there were NO EZ-Ups for shade over the starting blocks, so we melted with our masks on for 2 hours! BUT, at least we got to see Katelyn swim! She swam the Fly in the Medley Relay, the 50 Free, the 500 Free (no one else wanted to swim it, so she volunteered), and the 2nd leg of the 400 Free Relay. (The Freestyle pictures below are during the 500.) She is one of the top 4 girls swimmers this year, so she will always be in the fastest lane for her 2 relays... and keeping with Freeman girls tradition-- we are there at the beginning of the meet for the Medley Relay and all the way through to the end for the 400 Free Relay! That cute little tradition started with MEGAN!! Meggsssss!!! But we love it! We were so grateful to even be able to be there for Katelyn's races, but got to be there for the whole meet. Our team looks good! 

 

FALL!! :) PART 2?? (Brooke's Letter)

Hello friends and family! I hope you all are happy and healthy! I can't believe how fast time is flying! I really just can't believe it! I remember when the leaves were changing colors and falling off the trees a year ago! Now I'm still here in St. Paul, still a missionary, still serving in the same area but it's crazy to realize, at the same time, how much has changed! How much has happened! It's also crazy to think how things could change by next fall. Time is a strange thing, am I right?

ANYWAY

Here are some more updates from this week!

> We got a new car! This car doesn't have a Tiwi yet! (It's like a driving monitor for missionaries.) So that's wack but we have been even more careful I think now. Funny how that works!

> Okay Facebook has been bringing MIRACLES! OKAY so on Thursday morning this week, the missionaries in charge of the Facebook page call us and tell us that a KAREN person responded to the page and wants to get baptized!!! And we were like whaaaaat and this was on the English page! So then we got in contact with her and have started teaching her!! Hyyyyyyyype! Ok so then we said we would meet her at a lake park thing for a lesson and she was down so we told her when we got there and then she said she would walk to meet us! Well she finally got there a half an hour later and we come to find out she literally lives on the EXACT OPPOSITE side of the lake and walked ALL THE WAY AROUND the lake to meet with us and said she would do it again! Wow.

THEN the next day!! They call us AGAIN to tell us another Karen person messaged the page and wants to meet with missionaries asap! So we called her and SHE WAS SO COOL! Wow so ready for the gospel! And at the end she said, "Wow that was exactly what I needed!" (We shared from the Book of Mormon.) Oooooo CHILLS!!

> Okay haha kind of a funny/weird story! We went to see a member (outside since we aren't allowed to go in houses yet) and we were showing her a video and I was holding the video and facing all of them. Anyway apparently they could all see this random Karen guy kinda walking around behind me and start to come toward us but I had no idea. Anyway then I just see this figure come out of nowhere and plop down right next to me and he just started watching the video with us. Lol it was kinda funny but also kinda scary! So then I'm like not sure what to do and plus the video is in English so he's literally not understanding anything but he was just watching so intently. But I said a little prayer in my head asking if this was okay and if we were safe and then I just felt the sun come out and warm me all the way through and knew it was ok! After the video finished he turned to our friend, who is also Karen and asked if she understood any of that lol... He was just a funny little probably drunk Buddhist Karen man that loves to worship--doesn't matter what and doesn't matter if he can't understand! I just love all Karen people! They are all so unique but also just such kind and open people!

>Sister Moeck introduced us to the "Got It" game and I think it is one of our favorite things! So many fun laughs...

>KAREN IS ON GOSPEL LIBRARY! Woot woot!!

Okay so something I read for my studies this week that is standing out actually has to do with spring! Which is kind of ironic because we are going into fall and winter haha but I was reading a talk this week called "Walk in Newness of Life" and it talked about new beginnings and fresh starts!

"Who can witness the emergence of colorful blossoms on limbs that seemed so dead and barren all winter without marveling at the earth’s miraculous regeneration every year? The arrival of spring after a long, cold winter is a bold declaration that rebirth is always possible. It is an annual reaffirmation of our hope in new life and renewed life, a sweet and tender reassurance of hope centered in Jesus Christ. I suppose it shouldn’t surprise us that the Master Teacher uses the largest visual aid in history—the world He created—to teach us about His Atonement."

I am so grateful for this knowledge! Can you imagine a world where there was no backspace, no refunds, no spring after winter!? That would be so miserable! Though it is kind of ironic that this came up the week we are going into fall and winter following, I also think it is kind of a cool point! As we go into hard times or maybe are already in the thick of it, how comforting it is to know that spring WILL come! For sure! No doubt about it! It may come later than we'd like or maybe winter holds on for a couple mid spring snow storms that throw us off but Spring. Will. Come. And winter will end! That goes for all things! Because of Christ's Atonement we can hope in new beginnings and fresh starts! We can look forward to overcoming with FULL faith that WE. WILL! We can become all that we so desperately want to become! And it is through our Savior that we will get there! Turn to Him :)

I love you all! Also! I would love to pray for you! If you have anything that you would like someone to pray for please send it to me!

Have a blessed week! God loves you and has a plan!

Love, Sister Freeman ဖီပြံဝါ

Pictures:

1-2. My cute companions :) 

3-4. Love this girl so much!!!
5. Do you ever just eat a TON of blueberries because there's nothing else sweet to eat?
6. Lesson with our bro Jaw Law essssss
7. Karen fam

8. Love this girl with my whole heart!

Week 2 Day 6 @ Unite-- Bill

"We went on an amazing hike today. It was a steep 2 mile hike up in Alta and Snowbird. The lake on top was beautiful. It started snowing on us coming down. We just finished bowling. Had fun. What a fun group. Heading back to the hotel to pack and go to my last dinner here. I got my final numbers. I lost 12 pounds of fat and lost 5 1/2 inches around my waist. I increased my muscle mass by almost 2%. Thank you for setting this up!"