Week 47: DAYTON GOT BAPTIZED

Odds and Ends

★We knocked on a door and this little boy answered the door with a VR headset on haha! He hit his face with the door because he couldn't see. We said hi and he closed the door and no one ever came back.

★We went to go visit a less active member... there was a TREE growing out of the trailer. Holy.

★I love that people love animals. But there is limit. Sister Hoyal and i went on exchanges to Graniteville with Sister Noel. And we walked up to this trailer. Sister Hoyal is slightly allergic to cats, just gets a little itchy. So i knock on the door and I can SMELL that there are cats inside. She calls "come in!" We open the door. Poisonous smell. We were in there for 10. Minutes. I almost passed out. It was so bad. Animals crawling everywhere. She informs us she has 8 dogs and 11 cats she THINKS. All of them are strays except for 1 dog. We left and we reeked. The smell clung to us so we had to keep the windows rolled down. Until it started raining. So we whipped out perfume, put hand sanitizer under our noses and called it good. People have tender hearts to care for God's creatures. But... there is a limit.

★Also while we were in Graniteville on exchanges, we were driving to Edgefield and got Tornado Warning on our phones. But we kept going, kinda shrugged it off. Then we stopped to get gas, and when we did, even the cashier told us to drive safe. We heard later that night that a tornado touched down while we were in Edgefield. God definitely protected us. And there was a miracle that came from going to Edgefield! See the miracle below 👀

★The sweet Hedquist family had us over for dinner and it was a BLAST! Somehow their little boys mentioned Pokémon cards and I told them I love Pokémon and grew up on it! Pretty soon the table was covered in Pokémon cards. Then we also cut out snowflakes out of sticky notes while we were hearing their parents' love story.

★I've learned to LOVE pickle ball.

★A little boy told us we looked like pilgrims. Honestly, he's not entirely wrong haha!

★I bought the most amazing crunchy grapes at the store.

★So in my earlier days were filled with a lot of Pokémon, and amplified by my 3 brothers. So there's a Misty Ketcham in my ward and I just about lost my marbles. If you get that, you're a real one ;)

★I found out in Oregon people pump your gas for you! So we taught Sister Noel to pump her own gas on exchanges!

★Jonathan is probably one if the sassiest grown men I have ever met. Love him to death, but roasty toasty is his middle name. He asked us what college we plan to go to. We said a bunch of colleges! But none of them were BYU. He says "WHAAAT?! TRAITORS! ARE YOU EVEN MORMON?" Haha!

MIRACLES

★We were having a discouraging day where no one was answering. We were stopped at a stop sign and a firetruck with its lights on passed us. Sister Hoyal remembered her bishops council to always follow the firetruck. On his mission he did so and he found someone to teach and baptized them later! Flash back to the stop sign to the present time. So Sister Hoyal said "Follow the firetruck!" So then we did! We just drove down the same road. Pretty soon our Tiwi wouldn't let us go any faster and we lost sight of the firetruck. We decided the next house we saw we would stop at. We saw a house and met Mya! She was so ready for the Book of Mormon and absolutely loves it! Miracle from God! Look out for her in emails to come 👀

★On exchanges, we had an appointment fall through. We were walking back to our car and then we saw this guy unloading a butt ton of groceries. I offered to help, and he said no but then we got to talking! He was a youtuber and was talking to us about his channel. He ended the conversation a little early and I asked Sister Noel if she had a passalong card (which come to find out later she didn't know what it was) but she didn't have one! So we went on with our day. We had to come back up to Edgefield which normally wasn't the case, but it was a lot of backtracking. So now it's the end of the day, and we pull up to our appointment. We are about to pray and hop out and this other car pulls up and blocks us in! At first we were a little scared. But then GUESS WHO COMES OUT OF THE CAR?! The YouTuber guy! Found out his name is Steven and we gave him a Book of Mormon AND invited him to an activity! Huge miracle! God needed us back in Edgefield for him. Even if we drove through a tornado!

★DAYTON GOT BAPTIZED! This little boy has a strong testimony and has read the children's Book of Mormon FIVE TIMES! Ahh. Absolutely love this little boy! He also got baptized the same day as our recent covert Fabio's daughter, Emily! Our friends we are teaching, James and Jonathan both came and loved it! Evan, Daytons little brother, said the closing prayer and it was so special! Many tears were shed. We were singing songs while we the kids were getting changed, and Jonathan was his devious self and he requested popcorn popping! I'm not even sure how he knew that song haha! But what a special day. Dayton said he's never felt more clean!

OUR NEW MISSION PRESIDENT WAS ANNOUNCED! His name is President Hamblin! He and his wife are from Arizona! I'll only have him for a month, but I'm excited to see how the Lord needs him to change our mission!

Spiritual Thought

We were choosing a scripture verse to be our zone's theme. And the scripture Alma 29:1 was brought up! It wasn't the one we decided as the one we would use, but it still made me think. This scripture is one that my Great Grandma West made the song "Oh That I Were An Angel." This scripture applies to missionary work so much! We get to declare this good news to God's children!

"O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!"

I know this opportunity is a time I can talk about Jesus with no holding back! But I also know that I can continue declaring this news after my mission too! I encourage each of you to take hold of this opportunity and SHARE THE GOOD WORD OF JESUS!!!

Birthdays

Well on the 13th, it was a very special day! Little Gavi isn't so little anymore! Before I even left he was taller than me... and now he's a GIANT! Gavin is so talented with his singing, dancing, acting, and just his natural charm and sensitive spirit. I'm lucky to have him as my brother, and even more grateful that I have him as one of my best friends! He's my curly hair buddy, and I love him to death! Happiest birthday to you bean! Can't believe you're 17!

Happy birthday to Heston, my awesome uncle!

Also, happy birthday to Sister Brookelynn Harmon over in Philadelphia! Love ya girl!

Pictures