Minnesota Memories.....

I have been dying to go back to Minnesota since the day I came home from my mission and after two years it finally happened!!! It was kind of a spur of the moment trip but it was everything I dreamed it would be and more. I went with a Sister from my mission that I never actually served with but we became really good friends. It worked out great because we served in the same areas and wanted to see the same people.

I served in a little town on the Iowa border called Albert Lea for almost a year of my mission. I love this place! We lived up the street from Fountain Lake and saw these fountains on a very regular basis. It felt like coming home when we pulled into town and saw the fountains, so it was only fitting that we stopped and took a picture.

Albert Lea is a small little branch that is full of the most amazing people ever! The branch heard that Kelly and I were coming back for a visit so they put together one of their famous pot-luck lunches for us. It was so fun to be able to sit and catch up with all the branch members. Our old Branch President and his wife even came up from Iowa to party with us along with a convert who had since moved to another branch up north. We felt like celebrities to say the least.....

We all know that the 6 most often words used by returned missionaries are "when I was on my mission..." I wouldn't want to let the tradition die so just a quick mission story... or two. This is Kieth Register. This man is a rock and he has a super cool story.

One night my companion and I were tracting for a little bit before an appointment. We decided to stop tracting and head back towards the house where we had our appointment and see if we could find someone outside to talk to. We were one house away from our destination and we had yet to find anyone outside. My comp was a little frustrated because it was my suggestion to head back that way and our efforts had been fruitless. Just as we were about to give up hope, we saw Keith lying under his truck. We both went running up to him and asked if we could share a message with him. He was so excited to meet us because he had an uncle in Arizona who was a Mormon and he had always wanted to know more about what we believe. We were in the middle of telling him about the Book of Mormon and lo and behold our branch mission leaders, the Walkers, showed up and were able to bear testimony with us. It was the most picture perfect finding experience I had my entire mission. We gave Keith a Book of Mormon, which he tried to pay us for, and set up an appointment for the next morning. We meet with him everyday for two weeks and he was baptized shortly afterwards. He is 78 years old and has only missed church once since the day we found him and it was becuase he was in the hospital! What a saint.

Now for the coolest part of the story. A few months after Keith was baptized, he bore his testimony in sacrament meeting. He told his version of the story of the night we met him. He had been going through some major health problems and tons and tons of family problems. He had come to his wits end and had decided to take his own life. He was lying under his car, pleading his last prayer before he put his plan into action. He was in the middle of asking the Lord if there was any other way to deal with his pain when we approached him.... and we just so happened to have the perfect solution for him....the Gospel. Niether my compaion or I had any clue that all this had taken place until that testimony meeting. Naturally we both broke down in tears and then thanked the Lord for leading us to him. It is such a testimony builder to me that the Lord knows each of us personally and has plan for us... but sometimes He makes us wait until the eleventh hour until He reveals His plan to us.

I was able to talk with Keith for quite a while at the pot luck. He told me that the Gospel saved his life....literally.

These are the infamous Walkers. They were the branch mission leaders in Albert Lea and they came to be my second parents. They took care of our every need. They had both previously been Jehova's Witnesses and were baptized a few years ago. Kelly taught Brother Walker and was there when he got baptized so they are super close as well. They were the best joint teachers in the world becaue they knew their stuff inside and out. I talk to them on a regular basis and they have officially adopted me as their daughter. I love these guys! It was to good to see them again.

I'm not so sure what to say about Sindy.....She always kept us on our toes and kept us laughing. I have so many good memories of her and her family. They are pretty much the coolest people ever. (Just for the record, she actually licked my face in the middle of our picture taking). We stayed at her house while we were in Albert Lea and we had a blast to say the least. She and her husband told me I could move in with them so if I turn up missing someday, you can find me on the Dickey farm.

Ahhh... Jeanne and Donna. They were our apatment managers and they were always watching out for us. They once saved our car from being burried by the snow plows..... They always had a little treat for us which made the bad days not seem so bad and the good days even better. We stopped by to visit them and they made us their famous ice cream sundays. It brought back so many memories.

I could probably write a whole novel about our trip but I will spare you the pain of having to read a bunch of stories about people you don't know.... I'll save that for sometime when we are taking in person and you can't just scan over the boring parts:) On our way out of town we stopped at the Mall of America just to see what it is all about. We weren't allowed to go inside as missionaries... it was the "big and spacious building." It was cool to go inside butt it wasn't all it's cracked up to be!