WEEK 6! Black Tar And Burns!

Hello ya'll! I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! It's probably weird to see my name come through your email on a day besides Monday but today is my pday for the week due to Christmas and a temple trip to Portland that we had planned! Sadly it got canceled due to the snowy roads:( and my comp is sick...we are getting tested for Covid tomorrow. Brenda (the lady we baptized last week) has Covid and has been in the hospital. We think we may have gotten it from her. Being locked up in the apartment the last few days hasn't been fun but it'd given me a lot of time to study and ponder which has been really nice.

We (by we I mean my comp) almost started the apartment on fire!! My companion has told me that she doesn't know how to cook. That definitely came into play this week. I love to cook and make dinner so usually I cook for us. My comp and I decided to make nobake cookies for some friends we are teaching. We decided on nobake cookies because how hard can that be rightly?! Totally wrong... My comp got the recipe off of Facebook and copied down the ingredients and instructions. While she measured things out I put them in the pot and stirred. We first melted the butter and then added sugar. It was a thick paste. I asked her if there was supposed to be a liquid added because of how thick it was. She said no and assured me that I "just need to wait for it to melt and boil". I asked her another time because it really didn't look right. She began rewatching the Facebook video for the instructions and by this point the sugar started to melt and she said "see its fine its melting". I still felt unsure but just went with it. It started boiling and then within seconds it turned black and started rolling bubbles in the pot. It then started smoking and sputting out of the pot. The black sugar got on my hands and left a ton of little burn marks. She turned it off while I was rinsing off the burns. There was smoke all over our apartment. We had 2 fans on and all the windows open. The sugar was so hot that it melted our plastic spatula. YOU GUYS! SHE FORGOT THE MILK.... Holy Mother of pearl! The sugar turned into a black tar (see picture below) We made them again and all was well mostly. She forgot to turn off the stove and the cookies that were setting on a pan on the stove got burnt on the bottom. Anyways she said cooking is going to continue being up to me.

Another fun thing that's been going on this week is sleep talking. In the MTC I would sleep talk to my comp Sister Bell. It's carried into the field. My companion here was too nervous to tell me that I woke her up almost every night from my talking. I guess I often say "SISTER MURDOCH" and then mumble something to her about teaching and missionary work. She finally told me a few days ago that I was waking her up and we just laugh about it now! My family always told me I was a talker but I didn't know it was this bad!

Christmas Eve and Christmas day were awesome! On Christmas Eve we spent the morning with our zone. Our Zone Leaders made us biscuits and gravy and Apple cider! Us sisters all went to lunch together and talked about fun traditions our families have. I love the sisters in my mission they are absolutely amazing! We spent the rest of the night at my second families house, the Dennings! They are the greatest people ever. We made cookies, ate dinner, and played lots of Mafia! Sister Denning made me socks that say "If you can read this...bring me my Book of Mormon". Such a thoughtful gift that made me laugh! On Christmas day we made breakfast with all the sisters in the zone and played games. We went to a nice families house for dinner and ended the night by visiting some older people in the ward. I realized Christmas on the mission isn't so bad! It's different but a good kind of different. I loved spending the day serving others and really thinking about what my Savior Jesus Christ has done for me and how he has blessed me.

Something I feel very inspired to write about is worth. I read a quote this week that says "Satan attacks worth first. Because if we doubt it, we are crippled. And if we understand it, we can do anything". I belive this quote to be very true. We as children of God are filled with so much worth. We may not feel it all the time but we ALL HAVE WORTH!!! Often times our worth is minimalized or even vanished because of the adversary. But if we know our worth as children of a loving Heavenly Father we will be able to conquere all trials and hardships through Him. We all have a place and are "...encircled about eternally in the arms of His love" (2 Nephi 1:15). I know that as we, sons and daughters of God, strive to find our worth we will see it and be strengthened through the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. He loves you. He wants to help you and to heal you. I promise you that nothing will shake you if you know your worth.

I love you and Jesus loves you! Have a blessed week! And HAPPY NEW YEARS!

♡Sister Parry

PICTURES!

1. Windy day on the coast!

2. More wind!

3. Our black tar cookies

4. Sister Murdochs drawing explanation of what happened with the cookies.

5. Smiling because the sun came out for the first time in 12 days!

6. My antlers

7. More Reindeer!

8. CHRISTMAS EVE with my favorite family the Dennings!

9. Baptizers by the Beach (my zone)