Just Keep Swimming

Alright, kids! When I said I wanted to go as far west as I could
possibly get, PJ definitely delivered for me. I went clear from the
border on the east side of the mission to the border on the west!!!!

My new area is.... Drum roll please....
BUTLER, PA!

Few fun facts about Butler for you all,
1. This is the heroine capital of the U.S. The high school is
literally called heroine high
2. You will literally never get a speeding ticket in Butler because
the police are always powning noobs
3. Everyone is related to each other...literally.
4. Our apartment looks like people were murdered in there
5. We drive a Subaru and it makes me happy
6. It's really hilly...
7. With a lot of trees
8. Night of the living dead was filmed here and they hold a zombie
fest in Evans city. Basically awesome
9. It's like 45 minutes from PITTSBURGH
So anyway, yeah. Butler is pretty much AMAZING!
And I really am happy. I like having Sister Welch as my companion, she
 is fun and we are always laughing and joking around.

But here's the thing. There is this illness that you might sometimes
get as a missionary and it is called
"post-really-good-area-depression" and I went to a specialist this
week, and it would appear that I've come down with the bug. The
symptoms are really horrendous: blurry, watery vision; long, sleepless
nights; aching heart; hallucinations/seeing things (mostly the people
you left behind).
The worst part? There's no cure! You just have to ride it out. It will
either go away or...
Let's just say the alternative ain't pretty. (Death)

So let's just say the transfer wasn't as easy/exciting as I imagined
it would be.
The initial goodbyes felt a lot like dipping a razor-burned leg into a
vat of vinegar or something. Or like a paper cut in lemon juice. I
don't think I've ever cried so much at a transfer meeting, it was bad.
Saying goodbye to the megafamily was awful, but saying goodbye to
Hermana Davis... I almost didn't even want to do it. 💔
Anyway. Long story short, we ended up having to have the Harrisburg
zone leaders pretty much tear us apart and tell us we had to get on
the road. We had to stop halfway to Pittsburgh to fill up gas, and
ended up being about 7 minutes late to the transfer meeting in Pitt,
which was embarrassing, and PJ totally called me out on it in front of
everyone. Whateva.
It was the weirdest thing, sitting in that meeting. I've only ever
attended the Pittsburgh transfer meeting twice - when I got out to the
field, and 12 weeks later when I picked up Hermana Landa. Other than
that, I'd always just been in Harrisburg, so it was really knew, and
honestly I was so heartbroken from leaving the branch and saying
goodbye to everyone, and so out of my element and uncomfortable
sitting in the Greentree chapel, that I just started crying and I
couldn't hold the tears back. I managed to pull myself together when I
had to stand up so they could announce where I was going. They said
Butler, I made some gun fingers and a clicky noise at Sister Welch to
acknowledge that she was my companion, and then I sat down and I was
just shaking so bad. I don't know why I was so nervous. I felt like a
fish out of water.
After the meeting, I was talking to some friends and PJ came over to
talk to me. He asked me if I was doing okay and I just looked at him
and I couldn't keep it together anymore, I just broke down and started
crying right in front of the dang mission president... Talk about
embarrassing?
But he was just so nice, he stood there and told me about how I was
one of his very favorite missionaries and how much he appreciates me
and told me that I was going to be okay, that if anyone could bounce
back from this I could. I told him I'd be fine, I just needed to throw
myself into the work, etc. it was an emotional encounter.
He kept coming up to me and trying to help me feel better. PJ is the best.
And Sister Welch has been amazing and helping so much! She literally
loves Butler a ton, and her excitement and energy is super contagious!
She works so hard and loves the people and is just so proud of the
area... It's amazing. She has been the best. We are having so much
fun! She loves the walking dead and we always jam out in the car, and
she's suuuper good at basketball and just an all around awesome
person, so she makes this transfer a whole lot easier. So all of you
should be s big fan of her. I call her grape juice for fun. Feel free
to follow suit. 😊

Anyway. This week has been good. Honestly, it feels like I made it
back to Lebanon. We are constantly teaching lessons and meeting new
people. It's the best.
Cool story:
We went to visit a less active this week and her boyfriend came in and
they were like, "Hey, we've been thinking. We really want to start
coming to church so that in March when he gets off of probation he can
get baptized." So basically it was a miracle and we taught the first
lesson and he knew everything already and it was awesome.

We also went to visit a less active and there were all these zombies
walking around and that's how we found out about the zombie fest,
which was super awesome and we were like geeking out.

      

In other news, WE ARE GOING TO PITTSBURGH FOR PDAY NEXT WEEK AND I
LITERALLY CANNOT WAIT. I am like a child on Christmas, this is going
to be amazing.

In other news, the Lord is still great. I love the fact that
sometimes, even when we're afraid or think that we know better than
Him, he still loves us enough to cut us down so that we can grow up to
our fullest potential. He is my best friend, and I have learned sooo
much through this past week as I've poured out my heart to him and
searched for what he wanted me to learn in the scriptures.
I found my answer in Ether, in the story of the brother of Jared. The
Lord wants us to get to the promised land, but sometimes we are
content to sit on the beach for 3 years. Haha. But the Lord wants us
to KEEP MOVING. Never stop! If we stop, we will never reach the
promised land, and the fullness of blessings that he has in store for
us.
I love Him and I am so grateful for him pushing me to move forward and
to keep growing! He knows best!

Have a good week, and keep moving forward!
Love,
Hermana Bills