May 23rd, 2016

Hey Family,

I honestly cannot tell you where this week has gone. I felt like I was gone alllll week!

Monday we went bowling as a District.. I hate bowling so I just provided entertainment while everyone else bowled :)  Then Monday evening I packed up my bags and headed to Kalamazoo 2 area to go on trade offs with Sister Burk.  She's a ranch girl from Arizona, and has only been out 3 months.  It was so weird for me to be with her and think that I was once at that point in my mission. So full of doubts and insecurity and homesickness, etc., etc.  All I could tell her is that there IS light at the end of the tunnel and one day the switch will flip for her. It does for every missionary.  We had a good time together.  That area is pretty ghetto so I felt like I was back in my stomping grounds of Bay City :)  We didn't trade back until Wednesday morning.

Then Thursday evening I packed up my bags again and headed to St. Jo, which is right on the shore line of Lake Michigan. It was BEAUTIFUL THERE!  The apartment was right on the lake, so I felt like I was in a beach house. I was with Sister Christensen, who is a cousin to one of my college roommates, Amanda Lund!  So it was really fun catching up with her and talking to her about Manda.  Sister Christensen is also a really young missionary.  She has only been out for 2 months, and again the whole trade off just made me reflect back to the start of my mission.  There is no way I have almost been doing this for a year...

I finally made it back home to WMU Friday evening and then Saturday a set of Missionaries had a baptism that we attended! For some reason when I got to this area someone leaked word that I play the piano. And since I have been here I have been called by the assistants and all these missionaries to play the piano at Zone Conferences, MLC meetings, baptisms, and on and on, AND I"M NOT EVEN ANY GOOD!  So I have really been working on my piano skills lately. I am so grateful I somewhat could play before I came out, because it's been a real life saver in a lot of different situations. I even learned how to play the Organ a couple of weeks ago.  I guess when your pianist doesn't show up, they assume every missionary knows how to play... so anyone who is thinking of serving a mission--please learn the piano.

    

Saturday evening Sister Smith and I went over to this member's house for dinner and she had the weirdest animals!  We held chinchillas, hedge hogs (which I hated), and bearded dragons.  Now you all know I am not much of an animal lover, and to be honest I didn't love these animals either, but I took pics as proof that I really did hold them!  The hedge hog stabbed me a couple of times.  Who would ever want a pet hedge hog?  The world will never know.

Have a good week!

Sister Viehweg

ps. Thank you Lisa, Brittany, and Kristin for the mail!