Week 6: Conference, Blessings and Strawberries

Another great week in the work! It wasn't perfect, but it was miraculous! It's important to recognize ALL our miracles, big and small. The Lord blesses us, we just have to look to see it. Here are a few miracles from my week, I won't list all of them so this email isn't a pain to read ;) But GOD IS GOOD

Small Miracles

-Sister McGee and I have remained healthy despite the stomach bug going around!

-My mumsy's homemade strawberry jam made it to me safely!

-We didn't run out of gas!

-Members give us leftovers from dinners with them.

-My insides are still okay after spaghetti 5 times in the past week and a half. Yummy, but a lot.

-Despite a tornado warning, we were absolutely safe!(maybe that's a big miracle).

-Finding something in the cupboard...see pictures.

-We were able to fit a massive recliner in a tiny sedan.

-3 of us sisters studied the sacrament prayers in our personal studies!

-Several people have noticed how fired up I am about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

-After accidentally deleting this email, still being able to type it out again!

Big Miracles

-In our mission, our goal is to talk to 20 people a day. This means that we discuss that we are missionaries or a gospel principle. This has been super hard for us, as we are mainly working with the friends we have already found. And people are busy, on missions of their own to shop, to walk their dogs to exercise... it's hard to start a lasting conversation! But on Thursday, Sister McGhee and I were able to not talk to only 20, but 23!!!! Disregarding the fact we spent a considerable time wandering around Walmart finding people to talk to...we did it! We learned ways to initiate conversations and made people smile. We spread Christ like love! YAY!

-A man named Brandon turned out to not be who we thought he was. Our first full lesson was yesterday over zoom. When we first contacted him, his ID came up as FAKE. But we discussed it with other missionaries and just decided to continue trying to contact him. He did watch conference! But in our zoom lesson, I was really fired up. It did seem a little off, but I just love the gospel and was so excited to share it! After we ended the call, we realized that he has been identified as a number who purposefully wastes missionaries time, and changes his name and never meets in person. I was HEARTBROKEN. I'm still a little naive little missionary, and it hurt to know someone would do that. BUT, I know I invited him to come unto Christ (thank you Elder Tietjen and dad) and I shared truth with him. He even watched conference! So I lived up to my duty, no matter his intentions. This was a miracle because I learned that I can only do so much, people still have the ability to choose. But I can choose to love and share and invite!

-After one lesson fell through, I felt prompted to knock on the next door neighbors door. We met a busy mom with twins and we are going to meet with her!

Homeless or Not

-On our way for lunch, we saw a homeless man sitting on a curb. We had been handing out cookies, so we have him some and a Book of Mormon! Turns out he lost his Book of Mormon after he was divorced and said he'd read 2/3 of it before! We ALSO found out he in fact was not homeless, despite the cardboard sign and shopping cart and stack of sodas. He's a retired marine, and had on his sign "Thank you for thanking me for my service." But we had a lovely conversation and walked to get our food. After 5 minutes we realized we didn't give him our number and rushed out to find him, to see him and his cart and things were gone. We prayed that he'd find the gospel path again, and have help as he learns more. Now we learned to always have sharing at the forefront of our mind! We're learning and growing.

Blessings

-Right before a lesson, we had a man call us and ask if we were the sister missionaries. He said he tracked our number down because his mom lives in our area and desperately needed a priesthood blessing. She was having serious mental health problem and needed it THAT DAY if possible. Our day was packed, but we passed the information on to the elders. Then we showed up for our lesson, and due to some miscommunication, it ended up falling through. BUT we got a call immediately after, and the elders said the only time they could do it was RIGHT THEN. So we all went over to Lee's house, and she received a blessing. We talked about the Holy Ghost and the priesthood, and she even requested a Book of Mormon and a Bible! We were able to give them to her along with General Conference information. She was so inviting and said that when she feels a little better, that she'd come to church with us! AND she watched conference! AHHHH! See, the Lord has miracles that may come through unfortunate events and trials. Without that lesson falling through, we wouldn't have met Lee! The Lord knows His children, and how to gather them once more <3

April Fools

We pulled a hilarious prank on the Spanish speaking elders! Our two areas, Surfside and Georgetown are about 1 1/2 hours apart! And so we pulled over late at night and called them, saying "you're gonna hate us but we are in Georgetown and we ran out of gas! Our phone is at 1% and we are just on the side of the road and--" hung up. We texted them a few minutes later worried that they might spread the word that we were stranded. We TOTALLY got them! It was so sweet though, they had already grabbed the keys and planned to drive and search for us! The Hermanos have our backs and we are so grateful to have them!

You Sing Don't You

I was discussing with our friend Irene about the missionary age change and she just stops me and says "You sing, don't you?" I was shocked she asked, I hadn't sung or mentioned singing in front of her! She told me that she knew that I would minister through song to many. Kinda cool! Later she heard me singing the hymns for conference and asked if I had ever considered writing music. She proceeds to give me a song writing journal, and tell me she has a friend who records music in the area, and offers to pay to have me record music as long as she gets the first tape. I don't think missionaries can take a pause for a music career haha! But composing music is in my blood, with my great grandma Wanda West Palmer. So it was a special experience! I'll try to use my love for singing to minister and share the love of Christ!

General Conference/Spiritual Thought

We got to watch conference with several different families, and we even gave out little conference notebooks and coloring books! One of my favorite quote from conference was from Dale G. Renlund's talk. He said "When we sincerely repent, no spiritual scar remains, no matter what we've done, how serious it was, or how many times we repeated it." This is the BEAUTIFUL truth of the Atonement! Any and every sin is paid for, we just need to sincerely repent! I know Heavenly Father is proud of us when we repent, and that repentance isn't a bad thing, but it's great! I know as we sincerely repent, all will be forgiven!

BERRY Amazing Pday

We got to fill a gallon bucket of strawberries at Cottle Farms for $15 dollars. TOTALLY WORTH IT! We brought home exactly 100 berries. It was fun to pick and eat! I even planned my outfit out so I looked like a human strawberry.

Birthdays

GO TELL HAILEY EDGAR AND ELDER RUFF HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY! (April 3rd) Both 19 now! YAY!