Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Riley Reception


Tonight I went to Cooper Riley and Mandy Reynolds Riley wedding reception.
They both served on the mission with me but Sister Reynolds left and I came and took her spot in Independence 5th branch. Elder Riley was my Zone Leader during his last transfer and that was the only time I served around him. I think these two make a really great couple and they'll do a lot of good together.
For me it was really great to see (and meet) some mission people. For example, the former Elder Lamprecht and his girlfriend, Elder Swapp, Elder Koch, Sister Walters, Sister Brusch, and Sister Cosby- who was a member who housed missionaries. Etc etc.
I think my favorite moment of all was when I saw/was re-introduced to an elder that I didn't really know but I had served around for a little bit. I recognized him easier than he recognized me. Which I noticed when he started the conversation off like this, "wait- are you from the mission?"
"yeah. I was Sister Maddox."
"WOAH. You look different"
awkward pause
"that's all I'm going to say."

Hopefully that was a compliment.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Stuff in Short

There are a few lessons I learned on my mission in many different ways, but they are summed up into these short phrases.

  • Be where your feet are.
  • You Be You.
  • We just get to have hard times.
  • You can chose one of these three responses to your trials in life: Victim, Survivor, or Thriver.
  • Experiences are the fibers of relationships.
  • It's not an event, it's a process.
  • You can never go back. Only forward.
  • Everyone is a Child of God.  
There is so much more to each of these than just the small phrase posted up here. I just had them floating around in my head these last few days and I thought I would share them here.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Rain and Wichita

On this rainy day it feels like Wichita. It feels like Kansas, and because there's rain, I pulled out my rainjacket. Yes, the one from my mission. The one I sent home with Skylar and his dad- two completely random people that were working on the Visitors Center.
Clarification: Skylar's dad was working. Skylar is 9 and was there... just hanging out... and then we became best buds when I found out he was from AF. And he tried to trap the little bunny outside because he knew where it's "barrel" (burrow) was. But this post isn't supposed to be about Skylar. It's about
Anyway. This day reminded me of Wichita. One of the days that I actually wore this jacket it was SO COLD. So cold, and I didn't wear any makeup. And when we went to teach Carlos, and we taught him on his porch, he was so worried that I was freezing cold. I assured him I wasn't. He told me I matched my purple sweater. (That was underneath my jacket. Remember that day was COLD.)
So he asked if I wanted gloves and I promised I would go buy some. I would buy some, but on a different day.
But pretty soon after that I got transferred. And I didn't buy gloves. I didn't have to. My next companion gave me some.

Monday, October 3, 2011


well, I'm back

Welcome back, self.
too bad my little sister wasn't as diligent in updating this post as I had hoped... maybe I'll go copy/paste from my old emails and set them up on here so you can kind of follow some of my mission, although it would all be ex-post-facto. Whatev.
I'm just back, and probably further from being Bethany than ever before. I'll upload one of the last pictures I took while I was a missionary. I didn't get any closer to the city Bethany, MO than I had before my mission. And I spent the whole 18 months becoming and being, "Sister Maddox." I really loved that. I loved being Sister Maddox. I loved where I was. But now it is time to be here, and we will see what I can do with the things I've learned from my mission.
Love, BethanyAnna