Eating the Elephant; One Bite at a Time.

I woke up yesterday feeling like I bite off more than I could chew.  I've been called to serve in the Nashville Young Single Adult Branch. 

And I have no idea what I'm doing.

I'm serving with J (Sister Jensen)who, by the way, is great.  So far we're getting along great!  But to illustrate our situation, let me explain what we have experienced the past few days.  They have been overwhelming.  I keep telling myself, in order to eat an elephant, you have to do it one bite at a time.  The first bite happened yesterday.

Currently, we don't have anywhere to live.  We've been sleeping on the floor of an apartment of some new sister missionaries in the area.  We picked up a couple of sleeping pads so that we wouldn't have to sleep directly on the floor.  After the first couple of nights, I was in the kitchen getting someting to eat, when something odd caught my eye. 

A dead cockroach. 

Yep, that's right.  I've been sleeping on the floor with cockroaches.  *We were relieved to find out later, that the cockroach had been there for a few weeks already.  Maybe our apartment isn't cockroach infested afterall...?  I sure hope so. 

Not much of our time is spent at our apartment. The time we spend in the roach-house is usually only when we are konked out asleep, or studying. The majority of our time is spent in the car or in appointments.  We had a great time yesterday planning with the Elders.  We were even able to secure a giant map of the mission!  That's a tender mercy if I've ever seen one!  I will be sure to post pictures soon. 

When we arrived at the mission office to pick up our giant map (which we named "Alejandro"), we were told that we may not be moving into our own apartment until the first of November.  The first thing that J said was, "We need to get organized."   Wise, wise words...

Last night we snagged some on sale hangers at Walmart and handed them over to the two other sisters we are living with.  Things are slowly becoming more and more organized.  We found some spare shelves to stack our shoes, some drawers for our clothes, and a corner for our suitcases. 

After our mad dash of cleaning last night, we pulled out our mats, and went to bed.  As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out.  It was hard to get up in the morning!  But obedient missionaries always get up at 6:30.  So, I got up.  However, I may have fallen asleep during my morning prayer on my knees...

When I woke up I felt so much better.  Regardless of how tired I was, I felt better, because there was order in my life.  J and I felt like we could hardly function in this new assignment until we had some of our personal things organized.  Now that things are put away in their proper place, J and I can actually think.  

Not only is it important that we keep things clean and organized, but we must keep our spiritual selves clean and organized. 

When I sin, I feel like I have peanut butter smashed on my soul.  When I don't take care of it right away, it starts to decay, mold, stick, and make me feel gross. 

Folks, lets get clean & organized! 

Just as J and I took necessary steps to clean up the roach-house, we have to take the necessary steps to clean up our "inner vessels".  We will feel so much better knowing that we've put those mistakes away, and can focus on more important things.