Annika in Independence, MO: My body is allergic to missionary work.‏

This week has been one of those roller coaster weeks, where one minute I'm like "THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!!!" and the next I'm like "Whyyyyy is missionary work so haaaaard..."

We're really struggling to convince our investigators that they want to keep learning about the gospel. Almost every appointment this week fell through. It has definitely been a trial of my faith - I miss having investigators that were excited about this! But we are still seeing miracles.

One of our appointments that did work out was yesterday afternoon, with a woman who had attended a different ward and was referred to us by the sister missionaries in that area. We had gone to her home because her phone wasn't working. She wouldn't let us in, but set a return appointment which was yesterday. When we showed up it was the same deal - she didn't really want us to come in. She said her kids had gotten into her coffee and spilled it all over the floor and she was just in the middle of cleaning it up. We finally talked her into letting us in to help clean it up.

The home that we walked into was the kind of place I knew I would find on my mission. The house was filthy - stuff on the walls as high as her kids could reach, no sheets on the bed, coffee and sugar and baking powder covering the floor in the kitchen and dining room, dirty dishes piled on the table and counter space, the only running water was from the bathtub - needless to say we were a little overwhelmed. So we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. We swept and scraped and scrubbed and mopped. There were so many times when I would pick up a dish, take a whiff, and think, "Heavenly Father, please don't let me throw up on this woman's floor." The whole time we worked, we talked with her about her kids, her parents, her husband, work, her religious background, her friends in our church, and her trials. She was so humble and she'd been through so much, I just knew that this woman had been prepared. Sadly we don't have time this weekend to go help her some more, but as soon as next week comes we're going to go back. She asked if we could meet at a shopping mall or somewhere with a play area so that her kids could learn and explore while we talked and we told her that would definitely work. This miracle is still pending, but I just want to tell you that God answers prayers - especially the ones that keep us from throwing up.

One of the trials of my faith this week was that I woke up on Tuesday with the WORST migraine. I couldn't do anything...so I slept most of the day and still woke up exhausted. BUT the Lord provided because that was supposed to be our exchange day, so the two appointments we had scheduled still happened, thanks to my incredible Sister Leader and her companion.

This is like the most scattered email ever, but I just want you all to know that I loved the women's conference! My comp and I just cried through the whole thing haha I was so afraid I would see someone I knew on the broadcast...the problem with living in Utah...but I loved every second of it. I love being a Sister Missionary! It's so hard but so good. That's the gospel for you - hard, but good :)

AND I AM SO STOKED FOR CONFERENCE THIS WEEKEND. Y'all better be watching it :) write me a letter between sessions! I love mail!

Sorry this is terrible but I keep running out of time.

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH

PS Tina, your story about the bucket had me dying of laughter. Best story ever :)

Sister Annika Rogers

Isaiah 49:16