Claudia Is Back

Hello, dear ones! How is my fabulous group of loved ones back home

doing? Can I just say that I really just need to SEE you all already?

My goodness. Time is hastening. I'm hastening my butt into gear as

well because six weeks to sexy is going to be over before I even have

time to mentally prepare for it! Today we went on a beautiful morning

run along the St. Lawrence (St-Laurent) river. It was breathtaking!

It's definitely motivation to get me out to run more often, but...

something about yoga and not leaving my house at 6:30 in the morning

is just SO tempting. It's game time though. The Relief Society has

somehow gotten a hold of my arms and I'm a jiggly mess. No more

excuses. Nike... JUST DO IT!

Okay, so this week was just as stressful as all get out. Not to

complain, but yeah. I was really stressed. On Tuesday we did EXCHANGES

with the dear sisters of Montreal South. I LOVE going on exchanges

with Sister Jordan because we have scarily similar tastes, so the

majority of the split is spent jabbering away till the cows come home.

And that is EXACTLY what we did. We stayed up WAAAAAY too late talking

about our fears of dating and men and being married for eternity. She

has this plan that she's going to apostatize and start a Mormon

nunnery, and I am SO in. It's just terrifying to think that one day

very soon I'm going to have to make eye contact with boys my age and

give them friendly hugs instead of handshakes. Hm. So we cried over

that for several hours until finally drifting off to sleep. The next

day we worked in the mission office together and I shredded paper for

literally four hours straight. Put that on my job resume! I'm a pro

secretary.

Then on Wednesday we had a combined birthday party after district

meeting for Sister Orozco, Elder Lanning, and Elder Hastings. Everyone

had birthdays back to back, which meant that we all had to eat Tim

Horton's muffins, Krispy Kreme donuts, and chocolate chip cookies in

one sitting. "YUMMY!" said my stomach an hour later... NOT. It was fun

to be with the best district in the world one last time. We took a boy

band picture together that I WILL be sending home. We're all too

good-looking for words. It's just something you'll all have to gaze

at. Afterward we went and helped our ward mission leader with his

garden, which is literally my new favorite hobby. I love gardening!

Mom! I'm going to weed the garden for you and plant for you EVERY DAY!

I promise! Maybe I shouldn't announce this publicly in case I change

my mind later...Intheeevening we went and had dinner with the Bishop

and his family, my favorite Londoner family EVER. Their daughter

Sister May is coming home this transfer, and I have no doubt in my

mind that she is going to become our third companion for the rest of

the summer. I certainly hope so! Anyway, the Bishop is basically a

British-Jamaican version of Dad. It's uncanny. Haha. Every time I see

him I just miss my pops.

On Thursday it was back to exchanges, this time in my old area of

Montreal West! Heavennnn! I absolutely ADORE going back there. I knew

my way around perfectly, which made me excited for the day that I get

to take family or friends or whoever wants to come back  with me on a

grand tour of Montreal. And you'll never BELIEVE who I got to see...

eh hem... does anyone remember the adventures of Claudia and Haseem?

Well, in case you don't remember, Claudia is this insane less active

that I absolutely love to death that tells the most... interesting

stories. Last year when I was in Montreal she had this imagined love

affair going on with her helper, a man more than half her age named

Haseem. Watching all of it unfold was literally the creepiest/most

delightful experience of my life. I can't wait till I'm a novelist and

I can write my own version of their story. Anyway, this woman loves

me. And on Thursday I got to go back and see her!!! Oh, how I

REJOICED! Nothing has changed. NOTHING has changed. Except for the

fact that Haseem busted out of there and she is now able to walk

around, whereas before she was supposedly on her death bed. We walked

arm and arm for a mile to the grocery store, and she recounted the

same stories that I had so dearly longed to hear this past year. Ha

ha. The best moment of my life, even if my arms were tired and sweaty

from being chained to her for an hour. It was nice to know that she

missed me and talked about me often while I was gone. I guess I made

an impact in someone's life since I've been out here? That was

encouraging! THEN the day just got even better. After Claudia Sister

Canady and I jetted over to see the DeSerres family (literally my

FAVORITE family ever) and spend some time with them. I honestly feel

like I never even left Montreal! Except for the fact that their

daughter talksnow, whereas before she would just lie on her adorable

belly and look like a cute little angel. Ah! Time flies! I don't like

it! But it was a joy to be with them. I also called my old

investigator Vince just for fun. Ha ha. He was nice, but he says he

wants to go to the Catholic church because they aren't as strict as us

Mormons. Lol. He invited me out for coffee and then he said, "But oh

wait, you don't drink coffee." And laughed his head off! Grrrr... haha

it was funny, I wasn't offended. I don't get offended as easily as I

used to. You're all about to see a new me! Anyway, it was a super fun

day. I'm glad I had the chance to go back and see some of the people I

love.

By the time Friday rolled around Sister Orozco and I had a million

stressful things happen, so we decided to consult OUR sister training

leader, a little someone named Tim Horton. Ha ha. We binged on muffins

and then took a peaceful walk by the river, because honestly, we were

just exhausted and emotionally drained. Whilst destressing though we

actually met a SUPER cool potential named Ed. He was like a Canadian

version of Dan Sanberg. He was on his way to his writing spot where he

is currently in the process of writing a screenplay. He's seriously

awesome. I'm sure now he's going to include a part about two beautiful

sister missionaries crossing his path. After our chat with Ed we took

some fun pics and just relaxed from a ridiculously stressful week.

That evening we were BLESSED to have the opportunity to meet with our

new friend Marina! We stayed there for... well... awhile... and she

told us her life story about living in Israel. She is honestly the

coolest person I have ever met on my mission, if not my LIFE. She is

super interested in our message and is now reading the Book of Mormon.

We'll let you know how that goes. I just love having these

opportunities to meet fascinating people 24/7.

THEN on Saturday we went out with the infamous Cedric of Montreal to a

birthday lunch for Sister Orozco and another sister in the ward.

Cedric refers to me as Sister Feminist and is always trying to bate

me. I honestly can't explain this man to you all, but if you served in

the Canada Montreal Mission and don't know who Cedric is, well, then

you're a nobody. ;) Ha ha. So.... there was that. Then we had our

transfer calls.... and.... DRUM ROLL.... I'm DYING in LaSalle! With

Sister Orozco! I could not be happier. I've been herefor SIX months. I

still can't believe it. My time in Quebec seemed sooooo much longer,

but both will end up being the same. This ward is like my family now,

so I will be devastated when I have to leave. But the good news is

that I'm being transferred into the PV 4th ward of Provo, which is BY

FAR the best ward in the Provo, UT mission. So I can't complain!

Truly, I can't. I'm excited to see everyone for the two weeks that

I'll be there until they kick me out and send me to YSA. As IF. I

don't have time to be a young single adult.

Alright, so that was basically the week that was. Sorry to flood you

all with tons of meaningless information. I rarely have time to write

in my journal at night so I just document everything here. Deal with

it! I hope you're all doing remarkably well. I know you are all

enjoying your summer and the privilege you have to go swimming when it

gets hot, so take a dive in the pool in my hono(u)r! I love you all to

the moon and the stars and the heavens! See you shortly. :)

Love,