Week 11: The power of song and allllll the little miracles!!!!

Okay if you asked me what happened this week, I honestly would hardly be able to tell you. But thank goodness for a journal (or just sticky notes I put in my journal to catch up on... I'm now 15 days behind). I have some comprehension of what happened, but here we go, into the life of Sister Palmer!!! There's no turning back now 🤪

ALSO my mission has officially changed my pday hours. Instead of 8am-6pm, they are now 11am-9pm. And my pday will ALWAYS be on Mondays, even on transfer weeks 😁

Odds and Ends

-two little kids ran up and gave me unexpected hugs and I loved it!!

-we got a new car, his name is Neil

-I got to hold a duckling

-I drove for the first time in 2 months

-if you don't by matching shoes from the dollar store with your companion, are you even companions?

-knowing some basic Spanish will help you more than you know

-a man yelled out of his car "oh no the Jehovah's Witnesses got me!" and drove off. I wish he'd stopped long enough for us to tell him we are missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

-we had dinner with a family and their neighbors and the 7 year old boy tells his mom while eyeing us, "I gotta look good for the girls... I mean LADIES." Bahahaha!

Miracles

-I've been trying to sing in a lot more homes here on the mission. The sacred hymns and primary songs bring the Spirit in such a powerful way. I was in the Steadman's home, and the first time we were there, the TV was on the entire time. But this time as I sang Teach Me to Walk in the Light, Garner turned off the TV by the second verse. He's a very quiet man and just said, "That was good." I was so happy the song focused him on the message we were about to share with him!

-We were walking around the store in our proselyting clothing on pday today, and I almost ran into another woman's cart. When I apologized, she did a double take and was like "Sisters, what area do you cover?" LO AND BEHOLD this was another woman who we had messaged recently about the spaghetti dinner and HAPPENED to meet in person. Holy cow! We stood in the store and talked for like 20 minutes, it was amazing! The Lord is directing us so much, sometimes I fail to remember just how great He is.

-THIS ONE IS SO COOL. First we were going to visit a woman named Heather Vanderbush. We get out of the car and I complimented a man in the parking lots' shirt. After explaining we were missionaries, he tells us a little about his church and somehow we get to the point where he tells us he lost his keys. We say a prayer with him and begin searching. Nowhere. We ask his name, Kim, he says most people call him Bush, and we begin to part ways. I turned back around and asked if he knew Heather Vanderbush, and he tells us that she's his daughter! That's where Bush came from! Then we go up one side of the apartment stairs and he goes up the other, we meet at the middle and I ask, "are you neighbors?" Nope they live together! Woah! So we go in and finally meet Heather! We searched for the keys, nothing. Before we leave I ask to share a quick message and as I start, Heather says "I'm gonna stop you right there." She goes on ranting about what we "believe," all misconceptions. We politely ask to sit down to discuss more of her concerns. We don't argue, but simply tell her that we have different beliefs than what she had been told, and we told her what we DO believe. Bush is nodding his head the entire time we are speaking. Heather still had some final words, and then we told her we would love to come back and teach her more about what we believe if she's interested. This next part SHOCKED us. She said "I normally wouldn't say this, but I like your girls' presence, I want you to come back." WOW THE POWER OF TEACHING TRUTH! The Holy Ghost was there because of the truth we were sharing, and it was amazing! We were able to calm her down by being Christ like and being examples! The Holy Ghost worked through us. It was AMAZING!

-All our lessons fell through for the day so we just visited a bunch of yellow dots. We had time for one more, and we were going to visit a woman named Anna Marie. We couldn't find her house, but there were some people outside at a neighboring house and we decided to ask them. We had a mini lesson right there with Alex Sr and Jr. It was a huge blessing that Jr. could translate for us between Spanish and English. The Lord provided us with success after our work!

-We had been expecting some Portuguese pamphlets in the mail for our friend Felipe. Late one night he sends us a picture of a package that is clearly addressed to us, and tells us HE got our package! This was SO peculiar because 1)the address was correct to our apartment number 2)we don't know his apartment number 3)it just HAPPENED to be delivered to him!!!! God knows where Felipe lives ;) did the pamphlets end up all being in English? Yes sadly. Did he tell us that he doesn't want to dive too deep into our religion and doesn't want to meet anymore? Also yes. BUT he recognized a miracle from the Lord! That will always stick with him.

-Last miracle... we didn't die when I drove!

Spiritual Thought

I want all of you to read 1 Nephi 21. It spoke to me so much this week. Especially verse 9:"Go forth to them that sit in darkness." As disciples of Christ, we should be striving to seek those who are surrounded by so much darkness, and show them the light of Christ. Help them stand up, look heavenward, and guide them to the iron rod that leads to the bright tree of life. I ALSO love verse14 and 16: "But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me-but he will show me he hath not." Then 16! "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands..." Even when we THINK the Lord has forgotten us, HE NEVER HAS FORGOTTEN US AND NEVER WILL. And Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, has scars on his very hands that remind Him of each and every one of us. We can not and will not be forgotten. Remember your worth, remember you're loved, remember you will never be forgotten, someone will always remember you: He will.

I hope y'all had a great week! Tune in next time to hear if Sister Palmer's sheets dried before bed...

Birthdays!

Jared Pugmire turned 19!!! WHAT?! Go wish him a happy belated bday, he deserves the best!

It's my cousin Dalton's birthday TODAY!!! Love ya Dalton, hope you had a special one!