Sister Abbie Robinson: Trio Life and SIX MORE WEEKS OF BEULAHHH!!!

Oh man oh man, what a crazy week! We're officially in a trio, and it's been pure bliss! Sister Boyack is pretty much my spirit companion, we're just two peas in a little pod! Yahooooo!! She's from Tuscan, Arizona, went to BYU-I the year before her mish studying Communications, and looooooves reading and watching movies- we're already compiling a list of movies to watch together once this adventure comes to a close! We both also loooooove Les Mis, and we're total kindred spirits. I'm loving it! It's a little weird to be in a tripanionship (and we're still experimenting with what exactly to call ourselves, haha), but it's a lot of fun. Sis. Boyack has all kinds of amazing ideas and insights on how to get the work really solid here, and I am forever grateful that I get to stick around! HUZZZZZAHHHH for one more transfer!!

our sweet new trio

My comps, being cray cray and adorable

But anyway, this week has been amazing. Life is just so good out here in good ol' Beulah, and being in a trio isn't even as much of an adjustment as I thought it would be. Man, Sister Boyack is so cool! We're the dream team! I can actually call our little gang a team, which has been a total dream come true. Man, it is such a party! I'm quickly learning that my mission is really all about acquiring besties and earrings, lol. I'm loving it!

I think my intros continually get longer and longer, haha...I can't help it! There's so much to intro about! But, let's get into the meat of this dear email- the weekly report!

We kicked off this glorious week with a beautiful holiday Monday, and it was crazy productive! Yahooooo!! We started off with studies, and we randomly felt like we should text Becky...and she told us that she is watching Beau's (yup, her ex-boyfriend) house while he's outta town, and that we could meet her there at noon, haha. Luke came along and it was mildly awkward...we taught him and Camren about the Anti-Nephi-Lehies and getting rid of the swords in our lives. It was sweet! Becky wasn't super feeling it, but it was so nice to finally see those sweet boys after eons of not. They're the bomb! Camren even told us that he's missed a lot of his Young Men's meetings and that he wants to come to church- man, such faith! I love them so much!

After the initially weird but overall pleasant meeting with the Moorhead clan we sprinted over to Barb's, where we watched "Courage" and chatted about relying on Christ. It was great! Mostly I just adore Barb, man oh man. Such an amazing lady. The good ol' Zone Leaders called as we visited- it seems that Barb always happens to be around during crazy mission times, haha- and gave us the travel plans for transfers, juts driving up to Bismarck on Thursday. Barb is so jazzed that neither of us are going anywhere, and it's pretty adorable. I just love her!

We tried all the people after chilling with Barb, and we coordinated the great bed exchange of 2k16 with the Johnsons. At dinner last Sunday, the Johnsons offered to give us the random extra bed they have, and we planned to meet them at our place on the morrow. It just so happened to all work out that the Johnsons dropped off our third bed and then drove us over to dinner at the Wieland's- yahoo for perfect timing! ANNNNND, Sis. Boyack has a bed! It all worked out pretty well.

Dinner at the Wieland's was a total dream- it's been too long since we've dined with our faves! We ate enchiladas and had a glorious FHE about missionary work, because the Wielands are the greatest. Man, I just adore them!

We headed back to home base after a beautiful dinner, tried all the people again, and headed in for the night- such a good Monday!

We chatted on Tuesday, so you know a little about that wonderful day- man, I adddddore Tuesday p-days! And this week, we only had a halfsie p-day because we went to the temple last Friday...it was so nice! No weird hours of being lazy, which I loved, and we still had time to browse all the random stores and find gems left and right- such a dream!

We emailed and laundry'd and wandered...and there were treasures around every corner! We found clearance cherry cordial kisses at Beulah drug (which have officially become my favorite Christmas candy, so delish!), a killer North Dakota cross stitch at the thrift store, a perfect Bro. Billman Valentine tie at Hazen drug (because he always wears the goofiest ties and he NEEDED this one, dontcha know), AND AND AND AND a perfectly beyond perfect apple and peanut butter holder IN THE SHAPE OF AN APPLE from Hardware Hank's! We went in there to scope out popcorn makers (don't even worry about it) and left with an amazing apple holder that I didn't know I needed. I OBVIOUSLY NEEDED IT. Man, it's already changed my life a thousand times over! What a perfect time!

We've got me and my new apple container (seriously perfection, people!)

After our p-day adventuring, we sprinted over to the Lee's (after tracting for a spell, holla) and taught our dear Bro. Lee a killlllllllller lesson!! It was glorious!! We watched "Reclaimed" and chatted about prayer...and he told us that (and this is LEGITLY a direct quote) "everything would change" if he knew Joseph Smith was a prophet!!! Such missionary pride, oh my goodness. My dear Brother Lee is actually progressing and SEEEEEKING, and we committed him to pray about Joseph Smith before our dinner with their fam on Saturday. ANNNNND, he totally asked when he said the closing prayer. Man oh man OH MAN, this is getting good! CRAZYYYY things are happening!!

We dined at the Cline's on Tuesday night, and left their place with oodles of goodies, caramel apple cake mix included. I adore that family!

Sis. Luker and Sis. Cline dancing away

Wednesday was crazy town as well...mostly because we kicked off our day with a ten o'clock ASHLLLLLLEY lesson!! YAHOOO! We texted her during comp study and she told us to come over right away...so we sprinted over and watched "The Hope of God's Light" with her- and she totallllllly cried and told us that she needs us right now. Man, it was incredible! I love that sweet lady!

We ran over to the Roundy's after that amazing and random visit, where we watched the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast- incredible! We pretty much drooled the whole time at all the awesome things being said- such an out of body experience to be sitting in Beulah, ND, in the home of your fave, watching a worldwide missionary broadcast. I don't even know. It's just crazy! Sis. Roundy threw food our way all the while, which was a lot of fun. Burgers and fries for days!

Briggy and Hyrum Roundy dancing along to "The Sound of Music" as we were watching the broadcast (oh man, such cute patooties!!),

We texted Faye when those glorious two hours of broadcast were over- and she and Kevin just happened to be in Beulah! Yahoooo!! We met them at the laundromat, helped them do their (six loads of, of my goodness) laundry, and chatted about the gospel. After the broadcast, my fear of baptism has been miraculously lessened- and we talked with Faye about it! She and Kevin are headed out of town for a couple weeks, but she told us she is going to bring it up in their years in the car to New Mexico- huzzzzzah!! It pays off to feel the fear and do it anyway!

We tried Gayle and Martha after our glorious and impromptu Faye visit before heading over to the Johnson's and having dinner with them- goodness, I adore that fam! We had a late week FHE (my favorite thing eva, donctha know) and Alissa taught me a couple diddies on the piano before we ate spaghetti pizza- it was such a perfect Wednesday night! Sis. Johnson also printed us out some beautiful new exercises and told us to start collecting Beulah recipes (the end is near, AHHHHH)...she's just the best!! We chatted about our fave dinners of hers (basically everything, haha) and laughed obscene amounts, and I found myself so blissfully content. I am so blessed to be on a mission! I am so blessed to know and love families like the Johnsons and the Wielands and the Roundys- I'm a lucky duck!

It was just so nice to have a perfect Johnson dinner before everythiiiiiing changed...haha, just kidding! I seriously thought being in a trio was going to be the weirdest thing, but we all hit it off right away! We needed her in Beulah- best thing we never knew we needed! We ate soup together at the Stake center, chatting about life all the while, and we sprinted back to Beulah after lunching.

Once back at homebase, we commenced the dreaded weekly planning, and mail from my dear Sis. Finlinson kept me sane. I adore that trainer of mine! We let Sis. Boyack unpack as we planned, and life was good. We dined with the Cline's after all our planning and unpacking was done, and it was such a good time!

Our last stop of our Thursday was Bobby's- and, with our new-found trio magic, we were able to teach him! It was gloriouuuuuuuus!! We chatted about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and we found out that his biggest concern is prayer. He doesn't trust himself enough to recognize answers, and we chatted a lot about trusting God- we even gave him a sweet chunk of Book of Mormon to read! We'll try him again next week- good things are coming!

Friday was perf as well- happy six months to me!! We celebrated by going to Dickinson, haha! We rode up with Sis. Kraft, such a party, and hit Walmart before going to district meeting...where I may have gotten mildly expensive white chocolate peanut butter. I was on the hunt for honey peanut butter but I realized that white chocolate peanut butter is actually what I needed all along- especially because my dear BYU jar ran out (hint hint)! Oh man, best purchase of the day! I also got apples (to put my new container to use, of course) and hair clips and random groceries- successful shopping trip!

District meeting was great- I'm the lone survivor of transfers! Sis. Shutt and Elder Beeson have both moved on (such drama, haha), and I'm now the oldest missionary in our district- AHHHHHH!! But, it was really good nonetheless. Elder Madsen is our new district leader, and it was pure bliss. He's all humble and adorable, and he's going to be so good in there. I'm jazzed!

Upon our return home to Beulah, we ran over to Barb's and had a wonderful visit with her, wherein she asked if we would help clean her childhood home on Saturday and we shared "Patterns of Light". Such a party! I just love that lady!

We ran over to Hazen after that, and tried our hand at some trio tracting- it wasn't tood bad! We met Jennifer, who listened and nodded along as we taught her some porch Resto and gave her a Book of Mormon. It was sweet! Turns out, missionary work is still the same game, even with another comp. Weird.

We dined at the Bertoch's Friday night, and ate yummy pizza and chatted with Sis. Bertoch about knitting. Turns out, she spins her own yarn and knits her own socks- so cooooool!! She's one of those people that you know are cool from the moment you meet them but you can't quite figure what why...until they show you their spinning wheel and convert you to homemade socks. She's a dreamboat- and she's going to teach us how to knit socks one of these pdays! Yahoooooo for another bestie acquired from this mish of mine!

We sprinted over to Adrienne's after dinner, and chatted with her about the Restoration...turns out, something in the pamphlet offended her and she had decided not to talk to us anymore...until Bro. Schellenberg chatted with her at work and convinced her to keep learning- go Brother Schellenberg!! We scheduled a time to come back and said a quick prayer- I'm excited to see what happens with dear ol' Adrienne!!

Our last stop for our Friday was Jeff's, where we chatted about the Plan of Salvation over a bowl of peanut butter M&Ms. It was glorious! Jeff thinks a lot (we're kindred spirits, he even told me so), but he's so open to the gospel- it's amazing! We talked a lot of the pre-earth life and our views on incarnation...and somehow, we ended up teaching him about prayer and personal revelation. It was so sweet! He invited us back and told us he would pray- man, he's so readyyyyy!! I love teaching prepared people!!

And, as usual, we're running low on time. My poor Saturday and Sunday always get the short end of the email stick! The highlight of our Saturday was helping Barb clean her childhood home, just south of Golden Valley. It's the most beautiful home I've ever seen, but it's slowly falling apart because no one's living there anymore. We moved all the things in the attic down to the living room, and it was just heartbreaking. Barb is trying to get everything out before it falls apart, and then she plans on burning it down before it crumbles on its own. It was just so awful, but I'm grateful she let us into this heart wrenching part of her life. We went out to lunch in Golden Valley afterwards, and I got a burger and SO MANY sweet potato fries...which lessened to general awful of the situation. Oh man, my sweet Barb. It was the worst and also the best- bittersweet to the max!

the sign on Barb's childhood room door

chilling in old farm houses and trying on hats

laughing outside Barb's car (because I kept slamming my door shut and it's one of those fancy trucks that the back door closes first- it was making Sis. Luker laugh everytime, haha)

an old picture of Barb's house (it's all dilapidated and icky now, but it's still got something special about it)

We dined with the Lee's on Saturday (after scheduling an appointment with the Pippingers, huzzah), and it was good...Bro. Lee was mildly not in the mood and we suspect that it's because he got in answer...yikes. Man oh man, I'll keep you updated!

We also had a crazy incredible Sunday, of course of course, complete with helping Becky clean her place (oh man, she looked amazing and we met her new boyfriend Nate- he's such a nice man!! So pleasant!), teaching the Furr fam, running by Ashley and watching "Come Unto Christ" with her (and teaching her random friend that was there about the Book of Mormon- who have I become!?), teaching Gayle (and using our trio magic to finally go in his house, huzzah!! He totally played the piano for us and it was adorable.), and dining with our dear Istilarts (and eating delishhhhh Swedish birthday cake- happy birthday, Bro. Istilart!). Such a good day!