I swear I'm not a complainer out here.

Sister Alex Solomon:

It was good. Here ya go.

Laine and Lauren got baptized and it was the best thing ever! Lauren, the younger one, is just so excited about life and she could not keep this giant smile off of her face the whole time! Plus, her stepdad had never baptized anyone before so he kind of messed up on the prayer and the dunking so she was really excited that she got to go twice! Haha, it was awesome but they are moving to Texas this week and I'm so sad. I will miss them a lot.

We had a zone conference which was pretty awesome. President Griffin talked to us about how we've been pushing so hard that we are now the top mission in the North America Southwest area (21 missions) in all of our numbers which is fantastic! But he said that we haven't been having any fun lately so we got to take an hour out of our meeting time and play Mafia with all the other missionaries. It was awesome! I never got to be the mafia or a detective but I have to say that I was a pretty good ringleader for the mob of townspeople. I pretty much just started accusing everyone and almost got killed like 72 times but in the end, it was oh-so-worth it. Oh yeah, also, who is ALWAYS the mafia? SISTER FLIPPING BAUER. I love her but I'm sick of her trying to kill me all the time. 😀

I'm still really struggling with my companion and am having to do everything by myself.  #tryingtonotcomplain I've been pretty stressed but have stayed in contact with President Griffin and he's been helping me through it. He pulled me aside at zone conference and told me all these things about how I'm going to really have to push myself to be a leader and to be bold but loving and open with her. "Sister Solomon, I need my Montana girl for this one". 😊She's been out 9 months and has had 6 companions and 5 of them started going to LDS family services for counseling on stress and anxiety when they were with her (the 6th didn't only because she went home). Anyway, please keep her in your prayers. Me too, actually.

Other than that, things are going well in our area and I'm having some fun too! Burgundy won't be getting baptized this Saturday but it's just because of some scheduling issues… So she will be baptized next Saturday instead. I'm so excited for her but now we really need to focus on finding new investigators!

This week I've realized a few things about myself and my past. I used to think that I could never feel the spirit's influence in my life and that I didn't have a testimony. Someone gave a discussion on the spirit at zone conference and it really hit me just how much he has been present in my life, especially during high school and college. I used to think that I was just a boring person but now I know there's more of a reason why I never had the desire to do all the dumb things my friends were doing. Anyway, this sounds lame and I can't even express what I'm trying to say but I had an epiphany this week and it was great.

LOVES ❤️

YAH-TA-HAY

Sister Alex Solomon:

Hello hello! It has been quite a hectic week here in the APM! We are currently in the middle of our 3 insane weeks of baptisms! That's really great but also extremely stressful and overwhelming. A baptism should just be so happy and uplifting yet, as we were approaching Batrice's baptism this week, I thought I was going to run myself into the ground. It didn't help that we have a Ward mission leader who doesn't coordinate anything for the baptism like he's supposed to (he called and yelled at me again; somehow, I'm "overzealous" and a "slacker") and I have a companion who doesn't know how to do missionary work and is kind of dead weight on me. I know, I know, that sounds awful but it's oh so true. I have been so all over the place because I've had to do everything myself and I am NOT the most organized person....I'm getting there, though.

Anyway, that's all my complaining for the week because Batrice got baptized and confirmed!! It was rough at first when the person who was supposed to fill the font didn't show up on time, we couldn't find the right size of jumpsuit, and then Batrice told us she forgot about the white and her underwear was BRIGHT pink so we had to double up on the jumpsuits! It was so amazing though and was a good ending to a really long and stressful day. I've never cried at a baptism before but all the stress, worry, and work of the past 5 months kind of caught up to me as I was speaking at the baptism and I totally cried in front of everyone. It was super embarrassing but Batrice was crying too and she looked really happy. I read a message that Sister Gonzales sent for her and she loved it and cried more. I couldn't stop my annoying tears as she stepped into the font with her father-in-law, white shower cap and all, was baptized, and then gave him the longest crying/shaking hug ever. All in all, it was a fantastic baptism and I was so happy to be a part of it. 

     Forgive my awful crying face

 Now we have Laine and Lauren getting baptized this next Saturday and Burgundy the Saturday after that. I'll make sure to double check with them on the underwear thing. 

On to the funny parts: Laine and Lauren had their baptismal interviews this week so we were practicing the questions with them. We asked Lauren, the 8 year old, to explain what the word of wisdom says we shouldn't have. She then went on to list "I'm pretty sure it's alcohol, drugs, coffee, tea, and Tobasco..." During our weekly planning on Thursday, we got a referral for a man up in Black Canyon City who wanted a Book of Mormon. We gave him a call and he was so friendly and offered to have us over for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He told a few weird/corny jokes over the phone and as he was hanging up he yells, "YAH-TA-HAY"! Anyway....we went to meet him on Saturday and he is so crazy! He lives in this tiny trailer that is so small that Sis Carroll and I had to share a seat because he only had one and he insisted we take it. We tried to teach him the Restoration but he kept interjecting with his own stories about how he was going to start his own church and how "it's going to be in the biggest teepee you've ever seen". Haha, he also found a solution to our country's current political and economic crises: "FIRE everyone in there and put in a bunch of Injuns. They know what life's all about; I bet they wouldn't even want to be paid. Did you girlies know that you can't take a picture of an injun? If you do, you capture his soul"...etc. Needless to say, it was a frustrating lesson and my companion kept letting out long deep sighs like she does and I was just trying not to laugh the whole time. As we left, he yelled again, "YAH-TA-HAY! IT MEANS 'MAY PEACE BE WITH YOU AND MAY YOU FIND SAFETY IN YOUR TRAVELS' IN INJUN!" So I yelled it back and it was awesome.

I know this was super long and crazy email/week but it was also pretty cool and lots of good things happened. Even though I wanted to die for most of it, I'm grateful for every second! I'm finally to the point in my mission where I'm doing the work because I love doing it and helping people. I know I'm going to miss it someday so I'll do my best to take advantage of it while I can! 

LOVES ️

Goats🐐 Guns🔫 and Grandpas👴🏼

Sister Alex Solomon:

OHMYGOSH I have so much to write about I'm just gonna jump in. So I'm missing Sis Gonzales a lot this week! Only now am I realizing just how good I've had it for the past 3 months. My new companion is super nice and sweet but she struggles a lot and I honestly don't know how she has made it 9 months because there are so many things she doesn't know how to do! I really do feel like I'm training again. Except there's less crying from her this time (#mossisboss ) There are so many things I need help with but my main focus right now is the smell. I have never met a person that smells like this. I have been lighting candles every day and I just bought some febreeze but it's not really helping...suggestions will be gladly accepted!

As for the work? BATRICE IS GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY!! And she will be wearing her shower cap! Haha, she's so cool and I'm just really excited for her! Since we met her 2 months ago, she has made so many changes and is now a married woman...yessssssssss.  It should be amazing. The only thing she's still not completely sure about is Thomas S. Monson....of all things! She says that he's "scary and intimidating" when he talks. In that case, I'm not showing her any of Elder Holland's talks! Haha but she will be totally fine. What's even more exciting is that our investigator Laine is getting baptized the next Saturday after that! BUT IT GETS BETTER. We have a new investigator in Daisy Mountain who is on date for the 30th of July. That's 3 in a row! I'm dying! I'm just so happy because I have been trying ridiculously hard to be obedient these past couple of months and it's really easy to feel like nothing good is coming from it. July is awful but it's turning out to be one of my best months here!

Speaking of the Daisy Mountain Ward...I LOVE it. I'm still not excited bout covering 2 wards again but this Ward is SO different from anywhere else I have served. We went up to Black Canyon City on Saturday and not a single person we talked to had all of their teeth. There were a couple that didn't have any at  all. There was a toothless lady named Eunice who was super nice but lived in the scariest looking/smelling trailer I have ever seen in my whole life. She has 10 dogs, 7 cats, and 20 goats that live there as well and you could tell. I couldn't even breathe when I went to knock on her door but when I told her I had goats at home, she got so excited and took us out back to show us all of hers and ask if we wanted one! Haha, I'll take pictures of BCC next time we go this week.

Pretty much, the Daisy Mountain Ward is full of super old and super crazy people who moved out in the middle of the desert to hide. In other words, it makes for very interesting door knocking...no one has addresses on their houses and this Ward is a dumping ground for old records of people that no one can find so we have almost 1,000 people on the Ward records. The Ward mission leader and all the Ward missionaries are all men 75+ and they love to sit and tell old war stories during our coordination. One of them happens to be the same guy I met a couple months ago who told me that all the Muslims will "burn in hell forever". What a peach! Haha but they're all sweet and concerned for us. This Ward is famous for people pulling guns on the missionaries so there are these 2 old guys that take it upon themselves to go check out people's houses before we do and find them. We call them 'the bounty hunters'.

Oh yeah, also this week the nudist colony held their first annual nude games! Everyone was invited to attend but, sadly, we couldn't make it.  On top of that, we were driving past this tiny old saloon in the middle of nowhere New River, AZ and accidentally stumbled upon a Rick Springfield concert...What a week!

Overall, things are good. A little overwhelming sometimes but it'll all work out. Hope you all have a great week! ️ 

A very flattering photo of the district.....

Transfers and how has it almost been a year?

OHMYGOSH transfers have happened and it's crazy here! First of all, I sent off Sister Gonzales yesterday and she will be flying out at 8 tonight to San Francisco, Hong Kong, and then Manila. From there, she has an 8 hour drive home so she will actually be arriving home on Friday in their time zone. Insane! I tried really hard not to cry when she left because she has been a great and chill companion and I have no idea when I will see her again. But she's really excited to go home and be with her family so I'm excited for her too.

What an odd companionship....

As far as transfers go, Sister Percival (the redhead I've lived with for four months) is getting transferred to the Glendale North Stake (my old stake!) so I will still see her around and might even be her sister training leader still. So they are taking my Ward, North Valley, and her Ward, Daisy Mountain, and combining them. I will be covering both wards with Sister Carroll. I'm excited because the Daisy Mountain Ward is so crazy and filled with old people who try to hide out in the desert. It also contains Black Canyon City, which is super weird, and Shangri-la Ranch. It's gonna be interesting! But I get to drive a truck now but I'm still supposed to bike as much as I can. So that's all good.

Now I'm also super nervous and stressed because of my new companion, to be honest. I've lived with her for a transfer and she struggles a lot. President told me that I'm pretty much training again. She has been out for 9 months and has never had a companion for more than a transfer. She's super nice and loving, she's just very difficult to live and teach with because she doesn't talk. Ever. President Griffin has asked me to "break her out of her shell". He said that all of her companions have "fizzled out" on him and that he needs me to break the pattern.  I think I can do that. I'm just nervous. He said that living alone with her will help both of us with our communication and will help me with my "bold but loving" leadership skills.  Anyway, I could go on but this will be interesting. Wish me luck!

Overall, it has been slow, not much has been going on in our area but now my area is way huge and I have tons of investigators to work with! I'm excited but please send your prayers my way! 

Sister Gonzales got her package and loved it! She especially loved the card, so thanks mom!

LOVES

Pics from Alex