Ever called to serve

Let me be the first to say that I know it gets kind of boring when I get fixated on specific topics.

Who can forget the agony of my first half marathon training throughout the blog posts of January, February, and March?

Some of you may still be recovering from that trauma.

And honestly, I think this blog has gone in a kind of boring direction lately.

I used to do crafts, try new recipes, and experiment with things.

So, I am going to get back to that.

To spice up the old Spinster Chronicles.

But, while I wait to get motivated to do that-

Let's get back to our current favorite topic!!



My mission and missionary work in general.

2 of the 3 Milford West sisters...and one angry calico.

I went out with the sister missionaries again last night.

It's been so much fun.

There was this calico cat named Trixie (featured above) and she would purr and let me pet her and then turn on me!

I think all calicos are a little feisty.

This whole mission revival started when I was asked, about a month ago, to speak about sister missionary work and my mission experience.

I thought at the time that it was such an odd choice.

I have been home from my mission for (holy hannah!) 12 years and, at the time, I didn't even know the names of our branches missionaries.

But something about giving that talk made me realize AGAIN how much my mission changed my life.

It was a refiners fire like nothing I have ever experienced before or after.

It made me feel angry at myself that I wasn't doing more to support the missionaries- especially when I knew how hard it is to be far from home and overwhelmed and trying to teach people the Gospel. (Especially the awesome but unrepentant people of Southeastern PA!) 

So, the next time they called me, instead of letting it go to voicemail, I picked up.

I've been out with them on an (at least) weekly basis since then.

I've been leaving weird treats at their door and we had them over for dinner.

 (for the first time in YEARS)

I've met some incredible people that they are teaching.

And, as we were walking down the dark streets of Pennsburg last night, running from one appointment to the next (I still think the word 'cita' before appointment) I was reminded of that feeling I got from time to time on my own mission.

The feeling of literally following in the footsteps of Jesus.

There were times as a missionary when I felt like if I had looked down I would have seen His footprints in the snow walking before us.

It was really cool to feel that way again.

Even for just a minute.

Then it was nice to go home BY MYSELF (no companion to fight with!) watch TV and eat m and m's for dinner.

All the blessings of missionary work with none of the crazy!

Lori Ann

Sugar and Spice and everything nice

It's Random Thoughts Tuesday!

The "my two o'clock was a no show and I should be doing paperwork but I don't want to" Edition!

So.... I continue to scrapbook like a crazy person.

Do people even scrapbook anymore?

Or just have facebook albums?

Now, when you come visit I can make you look at my exciting Europe scrapbook...or my mission scrapbook...or the one I am calling "My entire life, baby" scrapbook.

It's bound to be 3 of the most delightful hours of your life.

Speaking of delight, I got to see the love of my life this weekend.

She's actually the daughter of one of my coworkers.

That's right. I said daughter.

Meet KELLY!

The cutest thing EVER!!!

Only possibly rivaled in cuteness by this crazy thing.

(she has been out battling the hedgehogs again!)

I am going out with the sisters again tonight.

I am going to give them this picture of myself.

It's kind of inspirational, right?



Sometimes I am so inspiring it brings tears to even my own eyes.

Anyway...

back to work.

Lori Ann

Time goes by

Ok, so I made a bunch of plans this weekend.

But I've spent most of it rummaging around in my storage bins, looking at a million pictures and scrap booking my life.

I have been carting around pictures in zip lock bags for literally years- occasionally looking at them but never doing anything with them.

So, I got kind of hyper focused on that. 

(between baking bread that scared me, being hit on by younger men and destroying things in my friend Michele's house, that is)

ANYWAY,

Lucky for you, I've downloaded all the pictures onto my computer and you are about to the recipient of a bunch of pictures and stories about people you neither know nor are likely particularly interested in. 

Let's do this!

 This was actually from this weekend. 

Lately there have been some GIANT spiders everywhere. 

This one had built a huge web in the middle of our back porch.

In like 2 hours. 

I killed it, much to Katy's distress.

She did say she felt like it was in clouds with Heavenly Father now. 

 This is the man I am helping teach with the sister missionaries.

 He is such a nice guy. 

He always gives us candy! 

 Me and my Sugar cookie 

 The Amish white bread I made yesterday.

 It turned on me.

 Like most of my baking projects.

 We made it a point to capture all the really spiritual moments on our missions. 

To pass down to our grand kids and all :) 

 I keep telling the sisters I will take fall pictures of them if they want.

 Because I am obsessed with fall pictures! 

(Is it just me or do I look a little serial killer-y in this one?)

 I've been a natural with children my entire life. 

Sometimes, when I tell people I don't have kids, they cry a little. 

"The world has just lost it's most amazing mother" is what they say. 

Not out loud or anything.

But I can feel them thinking it. 

 Highlighting my hair with Tyler.

I had to try and compete with that hotness.

(They literally called her 'la bonita')

Another spiritual moment captured for posterity! 

 My mission nickname was the "the beast". 

I think because I worked so hard and was unstoppable. 

(as evidenced by the above picture)

The sad thing is that they never said it to my face. 

I don't think they wanted me to know they were jealous of my work ethic. 

So they only said it behind my back. 

If that's what they had to do to deal with their jealousy, that's fine :) 

Me and Mietzner and Chicago.

I have been reading the notes she wrote me in my mission journal.

She was always so kind.

Even in the face of my trunky, end of mission, middle of summer- stuck in the same area for a full year craziness. 

Which I think was the height of my crazy for my entire life. 

So, there is a hodgepodge of my life right now.

Now to immerse myself in scrap booking, dropping off bread, and sneaking furniture into my office...

Lori Ann

Watch out boy

Ok, so...

Reading my mission journal has been awesome but mildly depressing. 

I was obsessed with losing weight back then and never really did. 

So, that fixation has been going on for A LONG TIME.

And I've kind of plateaued in the last 3-4 months, going up and down the same 5 lbs.

Some might say it's because I've lost focus with exercise and have been eating like it's my job.

"Some" being my nutritionist and all.

But what does she know, right?

ANYWAY-

I've been kind of depressed about this. 

But today I got a little boost of momentum. 

Two things...

I've been rummaging around in my storage bins looking for mission stuff for my October trip and finally deciding to scrapbook my Europe trip (7 years later) when I found these jeans!

 These were the jeans I wore at my heaviest and I BARELY fit in them. 

Like laying on the bed, praying and holding my breath barely. 

Sometimes I forget how far I've come. 

My dad put it in good perspective.

 He said "You've gone like 70 percent...it's just that last 30 you've got to knuckle down and finish" 

30% feels a lot more doable than 70-80 lbs. 

And the second thing....

I was hit on at the gas station.

 I was only there on the Sabbath for emergency purposes. 

(NOT a peppermint patty, I swear!) 

Anyway, the clerk- MAX- (a younger, Indian man with pompadour hair) says, as I am checking out "I really like your car".... 

I turn in confusion to the parking lot, wondering if he realizes I drive a 2001 Chevy Malibu.

 With chipping paint. 

But there are no other cars in the lot. 

He then says (with almost a wink, I swear!) "My name is Max, what is yours?"

 Then he proceeds to ask me if I live nearby and shakes my hand and tells me how he is originally from Manhattan. 

In such a slimy way.

I was literally staring at him like a deer in headlights.

I picked up my peppermint patty..uh...emergency important stuff and was like "Yeah...well, welcome to Quakertown" and ran out. 

Adding to the confusion in all this was my outfit.

I was wearing my official cleaning clothes- a bleach stained black t-shirt with a sports bra and cut off black sweats.

 I was partially covered in flour (from making bread) and I know I was sweating because I'd just been in my hot room, rummaging through storage. 

My hair was in it's usual half falling out, lumpy ponytail. 

So, not my sexiest look. 

But apparently you can't resist this kind of hotness, no matter how it comes packaged.

 Max is proof of that. 

And now I have official cougar street cred. 

Yeah, son! 

Lori Ann

Official Cougar 

p.s.- If I turn up murdered, you might want to start the search at the BP in Quakertown...

The past is now another land

*Warning: Long, slightly rambling post...ok, extremely rambling*

Faithful readers of this blog (hey, you two!) know that I kind of go from obsession to obsession.

I'll spend a month blogging about crafting. 

Then half marathon training.

Then my cat.

Then making soup in pumpkins.

Then leaving my manifesto in random laundromats.

And repeat. 

Without pesky things like children and responsibility to tie me down, I am free to get obsessed with random things and torture all of you with my thoughts and feelings!

Well, this month's obsession is

 THE MISSION!

It has been so cool working with the sisters in our branch and it's brought both fond and crazy memories of my own missionary service. 

So, to honor this month's obsession- pictures from the mission! 

(Two intro pictures and then a chronology of my companionships!)

As always..

Let's do this dance! 

 I can't remember why I was always setting things on fire.

 But my mission involved a lot of fire.

 And even more diet coke. 

Side note: Sister Mietzner (my last companion) always lent me this skirt. 

I loved it. 

After she passed away, I sent her mom a card and some pictures and stories I had about her.

 Her mom then sent me this skirt.

 I am going to send it with my nieces on their missions. 

 Other than fire and diet coke the mission involved a lot of knocking on doors.

 Sometimes hours and hours a day. 

This door says "If you have come to talk about your religion or sell something, please don't knock on the door, thanks" :) 

So those three things pretty much sum up my mission: 

Fire, diet coke, and knocking on doors. 

And now..the companionship countdown!!!

 Companion Number 1

 Winsor 

She was from Canada. 

She may have escalated the already existing mental illness I had prior to the mission.

 But at the end of our missions, we had so much fun together. 

 Companion 2- my "trainer" 

(the person who teaches you how to be a missionary in the area you are serving in)

The infamous Hermana Monterroso

She spoke very little English and she was tough- like crazy tough.

In my mission journal I remark frequently that she wouldn't let me stop to use the bathroom because we had to keep working. 

 But she remains to this day one of the funniest people I have ever met. 

These are companions 3 and 4. 

I can't find separate pictures with them, although I know I have many. 

First is 

Tyler. 

(the middle one)

 She was my companion during what felt like the hottest summer of my life.

Anyone that knows me knows that I HATE summer. 

I was so miserable for most of the time we were together because we had to be out in the heat every day.

 But she was so patient and kind.

She is the one I probably talk to the most since the mission.

I can't wait to see her! 

 The blond next to her is companion number 4

 Hendricks.

 Hendricks could make me laugh and make me scream sometimes. 

 She had strange rituals (virgen de guadalupe candle!), looked a life and religion from a bigger perspective than I could appreciate at the time and I learned a lot from her. 

The three of us became companions again. 

In what is called a 'threesome'. 

Perhaps not as exciting as a real threesome.

 (although I've counseled a lot of people on their sexual issues and and apparently the threesome is overrated- just in case you were considering it:)

ANYWAY- these two made me laugh SO HARD. 

We spent 8 hours in church every Sunday because we were covering English and Spanish branches.

 You haven't lived until you've spent 8 hours in church. 

For like 28 weeks in a row.  

Companion 5

 Badger.

 (the tall one in the back with glasses)

 I know the gracious thing to do would be to find the positives but it's been almost 13 years and just seeing her picture gives me the chills.

 We did NOT get along. 

FOR EVEN ONE SECOND.

 We got in fights in the street, got in yelling matches. 

About stuff like prophets and how to pronounce the word God in spanish.

(it's THEE- OHS in case you were wondering. The D makes a 'th' sound)

The one fun memory I have is when we got lost in these cornfields at night (driving) and ended up in Indiana (before GPS and cell phones) and had to stop at this creepy little farmhouse to get directions.

 The thought of possibly being murdered bonded us together for one night :) 

Companion 6

Dalley

 I have never met anyone like Sister Dalley.

 She was the most relentlessly kind person I have ever met.

 She was a nurse and a former Miss Utah pageant contestant. 

She taught me how to do my hair, wear makeup, etc.

 She also taught me what true charity is. 

Companion number 7- my last companion-

 Mietzner 

(The one in blue)

 As I mentioned earlier, Sister Mietzner passed away when she was 26.

 We struggled as companions at times. 

I think I was ready to go home and she was depressed.

(and it was summer again so I was too!)

 But she made me laugh, showed me kindness, and kept me focused at the end of a long mission. 

She used to put on this green face mask and sneak up and scare me.

 She hated the sound of the turn signal and encouraged me to never use it.

 I think about her every day, especially when I am in a turning lane.

 I can hear her saying "You don't need your blinker- you are in a turning lane-

 Everyone knows you are turning!"

I know this has been a long post. 

I could honestly write a million posts about my mission. 

Probably the single most life changing event I have ever experienced. 

As I've continued to read my mission journal I've realized that I miss things about the mission.

Not the work or the enforced 24 hour a day companionships. 

I do NOT miss those AT ALL.

But I miss the sense of purpose and the absolute trust and faith that I had to place in God every single day. 

Maybe Heavenly Father led me to this current 'obsession' to remind me of the importance of drawing closer unto Him.

Who knows?

But I am so excited to see some of these girls in just a few weeks!

Chicago sisters rock!!

Lori Ann

We went away that day

The Mission Journal.
I am going to have to burn this thing before my political career 

Oh my gosh

So, my former mission companion, Sister Tyler (whose actual name is Shannon Brewer but I acknowledge neither first names, nor married names!) told me that she had read her mission journal and so, of course, in true lemming fashion, that inspired me to read mine. 

I've been dragging that thing around with me for the last 10 years or so and, beyond a brief glance here and there, never read it at all. 

HOLY. HANNAH.

It is the craziest thing I have ever read. 

Actual excerpt from this crazy beast of a journal

I am about 9 months into my mission journal (which means there is still half the mission to go) and I can't stop laughing, shrieking, and shaking my head in disgust. 

Some of the central themes that have emerged so far:

Weight loss

Every single page is filled with my various weight loss schemes.

 Everything from the cabbage soup diet to "I'm just going to stop eating".

 Yikes.

 Some things never change, it seems. 

Countdowns to the end

 Apparently my entire mission was a slowly ticking clock.

 And I record the agonizing progress on every page. "Only 477 more days to go" or "I have exactly 42 Sundays left in the mission". 

I wish I had had the AA big book back then and learned "one day at a time". 

Craziness

Ranting about my companions

 Good heavens. 

I was angry.

 And COMPLETELY unbalanced.

 I make a lot of dramatic, offended references to "My companions think I am the problem". 

 Oh...I was the problem.

 I was completely nuts. 

At some point, I call each and every one of my companions "EVIL" - in capital letters. 

The pictures (which I stole from a former companion) have all of companions but one. They are- in order: Winsor, Monterroso, Tyler, Hendricks, Badger, Dalley, and Mietzner
(my least favorite companion is the one that is not in these pictures- she really WAS evil)

Vague references to the actual mission work

Oh..the evil one is featured in these pictures. As well as my ill advised perm. 

This thing reads like the diary of a 13 year old serial killer that is being made to share religious thoughts and bake cookies for the Hispanic people of Illinois against her will. 

In a skirt. 

Here are the best quotes so far...

"If she snuffles one more time, I am going to scream!"

"I can just see her 20 years from now, married, with 3 kids, still belching and with an even bigger mustache than she has now"

"My trainer is a Nazi whose only joy in life apparently is telling me what to do"

"Today was a long day and she wouldn't let me stop to use the bathroom"

"I feel liberated from the beast and sorry for her trainer"

"She was mad at me because I wouldn't talk to the doctor about the rectal infection she has"

"Little kids were making fun of my Spanish today" 

(I say this a lot. Apparently my Spanish was REALLY bad for REALLY long time) 

"DING-DONG the witch is gone! I feel liberated from her tyranny" 

And my favorite...

"Today I woke up angry"

I think I wrote that like 100 times.

Anyway, I know this really won't make sense to anyone or be funny, except to people who were there. 

But it's been really interesting and eye opening to go back through my mission and see the world from the perspective of 21 year old Lori. 

In closing, if I could go back I would do it again... just with a heavy xanax prescription and a warning letter I handed to every new companion alerting them to my complete mental instability :) 

Lori Ann

(The legit craziest sister from the infamous Chicago, Ill mission!)

Losing my religion

These are our sister missionaries

. The three of the far left are OUR sisters- Milford West- and the two on the right (of the girl in the gray shorts) are the other side of Milford- Milford East.

It has been insanely awesome having sisters in our branch again.

 And to have 5 is incredible.

I am so excited for my nieces to see girls serving missions. 

I have been doing missionary work for the FIRST time since my mission. 

(Well, I think I've done a random thing here or there but nothing steady)

We haven't even necessarily been that family that has the missionaries over to eat.

Which is sad.

But this group of sisters will NOT let you just rest on your laurels and do nothing. 

They want you to be excited about being Mormon and excited for missionary opportunities.

I have been teaching a Hispanic man with them on Saturday nights.

And teaching the sisters Spanish phonically.

They came to our house for dinner last night and were making me laugh.

It was one of the sister's birthdays and I had gotten her a cake from Walmart (store bought, represent!) and I was telling them how the cake decorator thought she was making decorating it for a nun and decorated it extra fancy.
(because it said "Happy Birthday, Sister B!")

It was epic.

And then...

They made the mistake of saying "Show us some stuff from your mission, Sister Hinsdale"

I told them they should never open that door with a returned missionary!

Which all brings us to a returning segment from blog posts post

THIS DAY IN MISSION HISTORY!!

Here we go, people!!

On August 28th, 2001 (holy hannah I am old) I was companions with Sister Tyler.

 This was our planner that week.

 Just know that if there is any blank spaces, we were out tracting. 

(knocking on people's doors to talk about God)

This was my mission journal entry from that day.

(Ignore my weird feet at the bottom of the page)

I was talking about how tired I was and how hard the mission was and also apparently counting down the hours until my mission was over and until my birthday. So inspiring, I know. 

I haven't ever read my mission journal.

I might make that a project this weekend.

Working with these sisters has kind of brought back my missionary spirit.

Here is to many more "THIS DAY IN MISSION HISTORY" to come!

Lori Ann

(the former Hermana Hinsdale)

p.s.- Here are some odd cat pictures for your viewing pleasure

 Hobsey (aka the ginger cat) snuck over to our house. 

I had to lock Sugar out because they were chasing each other around the entertainment center in a non friendly, let's all just get to know each other and have fun kind of way. 

Whenever I look at this picture I think "The student has become the master!"

It's Thomas. 

Sitting like a human being in the upstairs by the linen closet.

 I immediately thought of REM- "That's me in the corner."

The sisters loved Thomas. 

They kept wondering how he got so fat.

He didn't say it out loud but I think he was mildly offended.

 He hid it behind a brave show of apathy and sleeping.