I ate real authentic Iraqi food

We have only found about 5 investigators last transfer. I've been at Ball State YSA for 6 weeks now, but school hasn't been in session, and everyone is home for the summer and so the campus is like ghost town. But next transfer will be super busy!!!!!  The YSA covers the entire Muncie Indiana stake, but each ward is about 45 minutes apart. The boundaries are HUGE. so, we mainly just stay here around in Muncie. But people have been slowly moving back for school and the institute is located on Frat Row, so as soon as school starts, we can start meeting people during rush week and everything. Do you remember the movie Sydney White? All the sororities and fraternities were all located on one block? Yeah, that's what it's like here. And then there's the institute. hahahaha. We did meet this one guy who swims for the university's swim team, and he actually rode his bike down to the institute to have a lesson with us a couple of days later!!!! He is what we call "golden" or "the elect", people who are honestly searching for truth will all their hearts and will do anything to find it. So he's pretty cool. Super buff.

The senior couple that live at the institute, were invited to an Iraqi wedding a couple nights ago, for a couple to whom they were helping teach English, and are here studying abroad from Iraq. It was literally the coolest thing ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The two getting married are actually converted Christians so that is why she does not wear something over her hair. I ate real authentic Iraqi food as the bride catered it all herself. They are only here for 2 years studying at Ball State. Then they go back to a free part of Iraq called Kurdistan. We had taken them to the temple open house, and the husband still cannot speak English, but he was saying to us with the biggest smile on his face, "Temple! Temple!" He must have been really, really impressed with it. For someone who cannot even say "hello" to go and then remember the word "temple" is truly a testimony.

 

We don't usually dumpster dive . . .

Funniest story ever!!! So, Sister H got her "trunky papers" that means her airline ticket and departing information, and then she walked over to the dumpster to throw away some junk mail we had received, and her trunky papers accidentally flew into the dumpster!!! That's her airline ticket home to Hawaii!!! So, she had nothing else to do... she had to climb in the dumpster and get it out!! LOL!!! Talk about not wanting to go home...

New Companion in Muncie

Sister L, my first ever companion that has been out less time than me! She has only been out for 7 months, and she is the sweetest little thing ever! She is from Cedar City, and even had a class with me at SUU!! SO CRAZY!!! We don't remember each other at all though. But, we had the same teacher on the same days. :O Coming from Utah, a lot of the things that she has already come in contact with at BSU have really scarred her for life.
But, we really get along well. :] Said that she is going to hook me up with a job at a dude ranch when I get home and one of her hot cowboy friends :] We shall see what happens!

I'm making a statement

So this is my new statement. The hot pink purse. 

Everyone is like, obsessed with it. 

Even Seth was wearing it the other day!!!! LOL!!

I'm making a statement called, "even sister missionaries can be cute"
with this pink purse. It is seriously famous. In Muncie. In the mission.
Everyone knows about the pink purse. :]

Hata's gon hate. Playas gon play

So, here are the protesters that camp out outside the temple every single day of the open house. Everytime I look over and see them, I just feel embarrassed for them. It's like this former bishop, Lee, and these people that he pays to do this. They just troll around the temple and harass people, and they dress up in these yellow vests and hand out
propaganda at the entrance and exit of the parking lot. SLY!!!! And, they have slyly labeled it as "Non-Mormon Temple Info" so it tricks people every time!!! And, they ALWAYS try to engage missionaries in conversation, but I never respond. I just smile and say have a great day!! They always ask us where we're from. And then they say, "Utah?" as if that's the ONLY place where missionaries come from. It's SO DUMB!!!! And they just put up huge obnoxious signs like "The 36 wives of Joseph Smith" and "Meet former Mormon bishop. Ask him why he left the church" and "Mormonism is still a racist religion. And, the list just goes on and on!!!! And they will sneak into the reception tent at times and try to pick arguments with missionaries. On Saturday, I guess, that guy had threatened Elder Sinclair, the area 70 who is in charge of the open house, that he was going to bring in bus loads of
black people from black churches and tell them about blacks and the priesthood and what not. So, we had an hour training on what to do and say if we get approached by these people. It was actually, one of the best things ever, because we had this super spiritual guy, teaching us doctrine and enlightening us from the Book of Mormon. It was seriously one of the greatest experiences ever!!! I was excited though, because I just love black people, I knew that they would be touched by that painting up in the bride's room. But unfortunately, no black people came through that day. But like I said. It was awesome to be fed so spiritually by this super in-depth scripture study and by this super spiritual leader!!!! 

(Editor's Note: Maggie sent part of her companion's letter telling more about the open house.) 

Sister Carnahan was really excited to have some drama in the reception tent but luckily, there were no problems.
It's really funny because the protesters are just bringing in more people. It's free advertising. Cars driving by will see all the commotion from the protesters and become curious so they take a tour of the temple and love it. We actually heard a really cool story from one of the sisters in the Indy mission. Lee Barker paid some people
$110 an hour, gave them a list of questions to bash with and sent them to take a tour of the temple. One of these people was talking to a sister in the reception tent and stopped half way through, gave her the list of questions and said, "I can't do this" and walked out. The spirit can touch even those who aren't looking for it. The even better
news is that when the anti people printed a 12 page article talking about how horrible the temple is, all the local churches stood up for us and the church was then able to print an article sharing the true facts. We have to remember that temples are part of the Lord's marvelous work and where there is marvelous work, mischievous work is to be expected too. God's plan will not fail.

A week later . . . . 

Do you see whats going on here? Yeah, so we were at the temple on Saturday, and I had been standing there talking to this guy answering his novel of questions that he had written when he went through the tour, and I had been talking to him for like a good 35-40 minutes (or so it felt) and then sister H came over to me and whispered,
"don't freak out, but just kinda go outside and see what our friend Brother Baker (Lee Baker, the ex-bishop and face of "Non-Mormon Temple Info tent") has done..." Oh my goodness. Adrenaline shot through my
entire body. I could only imagine what he had cooked up today!!!! Everyday its something different. So I walked outside to find this!!!!!! 

He had a huge sign up facing the reception tent that said "The 34 Wives of Joseph Smith Founding Prophet of Mormonism" and he had brought in 34 women, dressed as pioneers, standing along the sidewalk so that you would have to pass every single one of them on your way to the temple either in a car or walking on the sidewalk. It was absolutely outrageous!!! I cracked up!!!!!! But low and behold, our tour attendance about DOUBLED that day. it was INSANE!!!! People were waiting for hours to get into the temple!!!! I'm pretty sure we have just about exceeded 80,000 people through the temple so far, now. Thank you Lee Baker!  Honestly it was hilarious!! So, I decided to go outside and talk to people that were walking that little sidewalk from the temple to the reception tent and just really try to divert their attention, and kinda re-focus it on the reception tent, or the temple itself. That was working until all of a sudden, I hear this loud, penetrating, "Hey sister missionary!!!" I look over to the tent of doom across the lawn. Lee Baker is yelling right at me!!!!!!!!! He goes, "why don't you come over here and  PREACH??!?!?!" It was just absolutely embarrassing. Like I was straight up embarrassed for the guy. I just looked away and kept going, talking and smiling nicely to people, helping them find their way to the reception tent instead of the tent of doom. 

Lee Baker's comment hollered across the lawn at me was... awesome actually. Didn't even make me angry or upset or anything. It just made my body filled with this surge of excitement and even more gratitude for being on the right side. For being on the Lord's side. For there are far more with us than there are with them. And just this absolute feeling of safety came over me. I know who's side I'm on. I know whose side I represent and defend and there is NOTHING that anyone could ever do or say that could make me feel ashamed in any way. And then I immediately thought about Lehi's dream. And about how that sidewalk between the reception tent and the temple was the iron rod, and Lee Baker's tent of doom was the great and spacious building where people old and young, male and female would go to mock those on the path to the tree. And the reception tent was the tree. And that lawn that separated us was that mist of darkness. And I just wanted people to stay on that straight and narrow sidewalk and to keep going and not to fall into the mist of darkness and find themselves wandering over to the great and spacious tent of doom. I thought of this talk by Elder Holland that I heard before my mission about two sister missionaries who got spit at, and I always thought that if that ever happened to me, oh that guy would be sorry he ever even opened his mouth. I would sure give him a piece of my mind. But, now that I have been faced with that, I realize that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has changed me and has softened my heart and I just turned my cheek towards the temple and just kept on walking and smiling at everyone. I saw a police man go over and talk to Lee Baker a few moments later and then I never saw him again for the whole rest of the day. I think he was "dismissed" from his public display and cry for attention. I am thankful for Jesus Christ, and I am thankful for the iron rod and the feelings of safety and peace that overcome me when I cling to it.

The Temple on a stormy night

It was sooooo stormy the night we went to the temple with the branch! But it just highlighted the stark contrast between the spirit in the temple and feeling it so strongly in there, and being outside of the temple in the scary, world.

Frog Legs - Yummy

So, my number one goal on my ENTIRE mission was to eat frog legs!!!!!!!! I've finally done it!!! They tasted exactly like chicken... now I get why people don't eat them very often. Because, it tastes exactly like chicken but you get 50% less meat!!

It's called frog-baby fountain!!