Passing

1-5-15 

I'm so glad you got to see We are Marshall!!! Because now I am Marshall!!! I can't wait to see it! I'm also super super jealous you got to ski. My heart just wants to go skiing so bad. Those were such good times going as a family. I also can’t wait to eat at your newly-found Vietnamese place when I get home! I have to say, though, that the people feed us so awesome here in Bluefield. Yesterday we went to correlation meeting and we didn't expect to get fed but Sister M------ is a crazy awesome cook and loves to feed people and she said, "Y'all hungry?" and proceeds to make us the most delicious omelets I've ever eaten in my life. And it was Sunday. . . and it was breakfast food. . . I can't tell you how happy that made me! Being with the M------‘s----man, it just felt like home! I was full and they were asking me if I wanted more and I said, "no, thank you so much though," and Brother M------- (he's hilarious) said, "Have some more, you're too skinny, you look poor." Haha. Church was cancelled yesterday because the wind blew the power out. It was super depressing as a missionary. It was even worse because we had two investigators coming!

I told you about the family we are teaching who are into archery.  They have a little land with archery targets all set up all over. The husband wears this awesome bracelet made out of bullet casings. He's really, really sarcastic and kind of has a sense of humor like Dad's—except a little meaner----but it's awesome because I know how to deal with it and I like it!  His wife is such a sweetheart! 

 So this last week we were at the rest home with Sister S------, a lady we visit. She was gasping for breath when we got there and I couldn't really tell, but I kind of had a feeling she was going to die soon, but I kind of brushed the feeling off because I had no knowledge to base that feeling on. Her niece was there, and the niece is probably in her 50’s.  We talked to her a bit and comforted her as she cried, and she just kept saying that she wished the Lord would just take her aunt. The niece had to leave to go make some phone calls, so we stood there with Sister S------ for a bit until I said, "Let's say a prayer," so Sister Lichtenstein offered one and pretty much asked that she could be taken out of her pain. After the prayer we both felt like we should sing to her, so we did. We sang the first song together then Sister Lichtenstein wanted to sing one I couldn't sing.  Sister S-----'s breathing kept getting slower and slower until after a few gasps. . . it just stopped. Her eyes were twitching,  and deep inside I knew she was gone, but it was the first time I had ever seen someone die and I was a little distressed so I kept telling myself she had just fallen deeper asleep. 

After the song finished we looked at each other and knew we needed to go get a nurse. We got one, and she looked into the room and immediately was like, "Oh yeah, she's gone." Things then got a little hectic and more nurses came but when just the first one arrived, she looked at us and said, “Do y'all want to pray?” And so we held hands with those two nurses and said a prayer of thanks and love for Sister S------. It was really, really beautiful. I'm honestly having a really hard time finding words for it because it was so. . . spiritual I guess, and peaceful. But at the same time it was a little shaking. Luckily it was the last thing we had scheduled that night and we were able to go home after. We walked out of the nursing home with our arms around each other. We were able to be with a beautiful woman as she passed through the door from this life into the next, and it was beautiful. It makes the plan of salvation even that much more real to have that experience. It was also interesting, because at one point while Sister Lichtenstein was singing, I just thought of Matt. Out of nowhere. He just came to mind. I feel him often taking such good care of me :)