Surprise from the Ukraine!

Sorry about not writing last week. Let me tell you all about it:

Last Saturday morning at about 11 AM we got a phone call from Sister Alba. As I have mentioned before, getting phone calls from the mission president or his wife always sends a lump to the pit of your stomach. They have so many missionaries to take care of that they don't usually just call to say hi or chat. So we all of a sudden got very nervous. Sister Alba Asked us how we were doing, and if everything was going alright. Then she proceeded to tell us that we would be having an emergency transfer. Both Sister Whimpey and I both frantically looked at each other and said, "okay...?" Sometimes when companionship are not getting along or are being disobedient there are ET's. The first thought I had was which one of us did something wrong?! The second thought I had was which companionship in the mission is struggling and is needing an ET (emergency transfer)?! I SO was not ready to leave sister Whimpey! Then before anymore scenarios could race though my mind, Sister Alba continued, "One of the missions in Ukraine has been evacuated because of the political unrest between Ukraine and Russia. It is getting very dangerous there. Four missionaries- two elders and two sisters- have been evacuated to our mission and just arrived late last night. We have prayed to know where to place these missionaries and feel to ask you sisters to take one of these sisters." We managed to say okay, and she continued, "How long will it take you to get to Santa Rosa?"
"About 2 hours."
"Okay well we need you to be here by 1:00 PM."
The next thing we knew, we were cancelling all our lessons and plans, and racing through the door to get to Santa Rosa on time. We had about every emotion come up in that car ride. Excitement, fear, worry, and love for this new sister. We couldn't wait to meet her!

Once we got there we found 4 exhausted missionaries who had been travelling for 30 hours. They were also feeling every emotion as well. One of the sisters was very teary. they didn't get to say good bye to anyone. One day they were stocking up food, the next day they were in lock down, and the next day they were told to pack their bags. They left baptisms that would be happening that weekend, and tons of investigators. many of the missionaries had seen barricades, shootings, people dead in the street, and all sorts of public demonstrations. As they were leaving they saw Russian tanks crossing over the border. It was very scary for a lot of them. All of the missionaries had been sent to their home countries. We finally found out who our new companion was. The sweetest girl from Utah who had been out on her mission for 7 months, Sister Finlinson. We loved her instantly! We went home and got her all settled in.

The next day was mothers day!!! I had the greatest 45 minute long conversation with my family! I just love my family so much! Sister Whimpey  and I attempted to sing our mothers day song to our mothers that we had practiced, but our minds were so all over the place and happy to be talking to our families that our song was an epic fail.

After talking to our families, Sister Finlinson was not feeling very good so we let her lay down for a nap. when she awoke from her nap she went to go to the bathroom and when she got there she collapsed on the ground in extreme pain. We rushed her to the mission doctor in our area and he told us to rush her to the ER! Meanwhile she was shaking and almost passing out from the pain. Finally after several hours we found out that she had appendicitis and had to go in for surgery right away. Sister Whimpey and I were up until about 2:40 in the morning, and finally were given a cot to sleep on beside Sister Finlinson. Lets just say that was the most exhausting night I have had in a very long time. Our poor companion Sister Finlinson has had quite the crazy last 2 weeks! Needless to say, trying to formulate words into an email was next to impossible! So that is why I didn't write last week.

It was a MIRACLE that Sister Finlinson was not in Ukraine or in the airport when her appendix decided to hate her. Heavenly Father is VERY aware of her.

Moment of the week:
We had found her collapsed on the ground in the bathroom and she said, it's okay, all I need is some Ibuprofen.

I love being a missionary! It is crazy! Haha.

Love,
Sister Carter

Cinco De Mayo

My darling companion before we were made into a trio.

After a tough week of being stuck indoors after the Surgery -this Amazing Missionary Mom (a mom who also has a missionary out in the field who talked to my mom on facebook through a missionary mom facebook page) dropped by with a whole bunch of goodies for us sisters and a couple of good hugs!!Tender mercies!