Week 69: Heavenly Father and Earthly Fathers Pt 1

Odds and Ends

●A kid in the Lake Murray ward got baptized in the Lake #onlyinsc

●We got a note from a friend we are teaching "Nicolette aka Lil-Bit --- So sorry I am not available to talk, I have a bad mouth infection." Thats a new one haha!

●Donna asked for the vapes back, because apparently they weren't hers and it was $80+ of her daughters. But the problem is Sister Hillyer took one to Newberry as a keepsake. So then we had to get it back as SOON as possible. The closest time we were to seeing them was at the recent convert temple night...RIP. So did we have a vape tradeoff in front of the temple? Why yes. Yes we did.

● This one sweet old man... We started to introduce the BoM and he started backing off and said "you can check me off" or "I can't pay for this." Sister Bruce was still super bold and gave him the BoM and we gave him our number. It was so sad his idea of missionary work seemed more like a sales person quota. Poor guy!

●Appreciate this update in areabook by yours truly: Knocked once, 2 of us became subject to deadly fire ant bites. But did we throw in the towel? No. We faced our fears and knocked again. Then got attacked by a fuzzy beast in the car. But we followed our bings!

●I got to read KayeLee Phillips a book at dinner! SO CUTE

●We got to support the elders as their friend Lisa was baptized!

●I found out all the piano arrangements Elder Jones plays he LITERALLY MADE HIMSELF. That brought me to tears.

●I got Sophia's picture she drew me from last Sunday when I sang in church.

●Sister Still gave us the yummiest homegrown watermelon ever... and we had homemade pineapple ice cream.

●We almost ran out of gas and had to stop at a sketchy gas station where there wasn't even a digital number counter for gallons or price... you can count on Saluda!

●I accidentally kicked Sister Bruce's bed so had it cut and bruised my foot.

●We got permission to go to the Augusta riverwalk for pday. Well when we drove through there were police crawling everywhere. And then there were CROWDS of people. Then we realized the day. There was a juneteenth rally that we almost got swept up in.

●I danced shamelessly around Walmart with Sister Bruce

●I fell asleep trying to catch up on my email *ahem mom* jk jk

Miracles

★We stopped by Gay and Earl Curetons. They said that they were having lots of family struggles. They said God sent us at the perfect time, like He always does! What a great reminder, even on a hard day Luke this one, that God showed us he's aware of His children still!

★Kristiana on date! We went in with plans to invite Kristiana to be baptized, because the Holy Ghost told us to! We had texted her about coming by, but she never responded. We saw her green Kia Soul in the drive way. We knocked and we asked if she had some time and she's like "Yeah, I have a few minutes. Then we started talking about the Holy Ghost, and she said "Last time y'all said you know how to receive the Holy Spirit. I need to know!" Sister Mattson bore pure testimony, we shared what we knew, and Kristiana began sobbing and almost shouting about how she felt the most intense peace and Spirit once and she wants to feel it again and have it not leave. In her moment of deep distress, we explained that she needs to be baptized with the priesthood authority and with that same authority receive the Holy Ghost. Before we even asked her, she said, "Yeah I'll get baptized in y'alls church! DIP ME!" I got to formally invite her to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized on the 22nd. She accepted! And then... she told us the back story...Kristiana said she was pouring her heart and soul out to God asking, more like yelling, what more she can do to receive the Holy Spirit and the peace he brings. Then we showed up! Also she read in Luke found another scripture that related to the 3 kingdoms of glory! She's so excited. I've never seen someone more desperate for the gospel! Go below for the NEXT amazing lesson we had with her.

★2nd lesson with Kristiana this week, she told us all about how she has tried to stop smoking in the past but she was finally able to recognize that Jesus was telling her to stop AND SHE DID! She is clean and sober as of June 14! She said she was trying to hear God but she kept smoking him out haha! She's the funniest! Literally God TOLD HER the word of wisdom! AHHH! We shared a church tour video and explained what relief society is. We showed her the videos of Sister Alsop and Sister Hollinger inviting her to church and she's excited! She knows that her life is changing for the better and she is eager to learn and keep letting Christ change her!

★We had been searching and SEARCHING for someone to come to Donna's lesson. After asking 10 members, Sister Nebeker texted and said Donna said we were coming over and that she'd love to come! WHAT AN ANSWER TO PRAYER! And then, Sister Nebeker bought makeup for Donna from Ulta! Ahhhh! We don't deserve herrrrrrrr! She offered Donna a pure testimony of the Plan of Salvation!

★On exchanges, Sister Kenison asked me what my favorite food is. I told her my mama's hashbrown omelet! Then we had dinner at the Reynolds that night. I smelled something almost familiar. We had breakfast for dinner, and the casserole was the pretty much closest thing to hashbrown omelet you could get! I knew God was aware of me then

★Brandons fiery red head son Braxdyn is in town!!! And we are going to start teaching him! Eeee!

★We had our first lesson with Lumen and Talon! We got in and got to know them a little bit and made some connections! The whole fam joined in the lesson...We did cupstoration and Lumen had a good understanding about Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith. Hunter described what the priesthood is and Sister Wilson described what prophets are so everyone was involved! At the end of the lesson we asked Brother Wilson to share his testimony of the restored gospel and he shared about how he knows the gospel is true, especially as his dad has been experiencing some health problems. The spirit was so strong in the home and it was amazing to hear his testimony. We weren't even going to bring up baptism! But Brother Wilson was like "soooo... there's really no need to delay!" They said they want Hunter to baptize Lumen and Talon and for Corbin to confirm them and give them the Holy Ghost as soon as he gets home from his mission! They will be baptized on July 22!! So so excited for this amazing family! And they gave us the most TENDER hugs ever!

★Miraculously found 9 temple names for Brandon right before we left for the temple! We got there and walked on the grounds, and he loved all the circles, and was pretty set on finding out how heavy angel Moroni was! We walked in and Brandon was just a natural! He was baptized for some of his family names, and then baptized Brother Phillips for some of his family names! I got that big "proud mom" smile plastered all over my face. It brought tears to my eyes! And to think 6 months ago, Brandon hadn't even requested a visit yet... wow God is so good!

★We had a lesson with James and Kristen in the Websters home. There were lots o flies buzzing around like crazy it was a little distracting. But we taught Kristen how to pray! Somehow we missed reviewing that with her passing her off between so many missionaries.

★The Pattersons got sealed! We didn't get to go, but it was BEAUTIFUL to see the pictures!

★Donna ATE UP THE TEMPLE! She's been reading Come Follow Me. She also remembered SO MUCH about the Plan of Salvation. She said her plan is to be clean after 4 days so we reset her date for July 8th. Also mentioned that beer and cigarettes have been tasting disgusting to her! Woohoo! We watched the Rome Italy temple video, and she really wants to help her family on the other side and this side! We told her we would send her the video to her so she could share it with her family. We gave her her vapes back, only if she promised to give them straight to her daughter. We called Olivia and she shared a touching testimony of the unmatchable peace of the temple and about her grandfather. Donna said in her prayer she's excited to go to the temple! Eeee!

★We had a bing to stop by Nancy's home when we were supposed to have a phone call lesson... we pulled up and no more than TWO seconds later she pulled up. We talked to her for a sec before she pulled out to leave. Holyyyyyy!

★Heres a touching text from Nichole:

Us: What part makes you most excited about being baptized?

Nichole: Following my husbands journey and being with my family for eternity.

Us:Awwww that's so beautiful! Baptism is that first step to access all that Jesus Christ offers us, including the blessings of the temple. God is just so good!

★Sister Bruce and I got to speak for Father's day! Peep some of it below⬇️

Spiritual Thought-Fathers Day

One reason God is such a blessing to me is that He knows me best. He knows me better than anyone, because He was there through it all! He knows my fears, my hopes, my joys, my frustrations, my insecurities, my questions, my favorites, my personality, and so much more. He's has a complete view of my thoughts, turned to actions, then to habits. He knows every detail you could possibly learn. And it's not because He wrote it down anywhere, it's because he just KNOWS. From personal experience with each of His children. From knowing you exactly, He knows exactly what you need, how you need it, and when. It's a blessing to know He's the all knowing of each individual.

Another blessing from having God as our Father: He is a perfect father. Perfect patience, perfect love, perfect expectation, perfect balance of justice and mercy. He won't leave, won't fail, won't be too busy. He will perfectly lead you home and give you that perfect direction you seek. Perfect comfort? He's got it. Perfect knowledge of what is to come? He has that too. He's got perfect solutions to your problems, perfect advice to every situation. With such a perfect Heavenly Father, it seems only logical that we turn to Him to help us!

Another blessing having a father like God is that He raised the perfect example to follow. He gave us an older siblings to watch! God gave us Jesus. What a necessary blessing Jesus is! One scripture I know is a very familiar verse to all Christians, or even just Southerns, is John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." God wanted us to have an someone who had been where we had been. So He sent Jesus Christ. If God didn't give us His son to follow, we wouldn't be able to progress. God and Christ work together to help us get home to heaven above! If we followed the example God provided so willingly.

An experience I've had with my Heavenly Father is when I was just a little girl. I loved all things girly: purses, sparkles, dangling earrings, the whole nine yards. But especially my precious chapstick collection, which was as far as my mom would allow me to go with makeup at that time. I was looking for my prized mint chapstick one day, and I was a little astonished to not find it in my little sparkly briefcase with all the rest. I began to panic. I kept my room pretty clean and so there wasn't much searching that could be done. Fear set in that maybe it had fallen in the trash can, maybe it was on the playground at school, maybe it was in my carpool buddy's car, maybe it was eaten by a younger sibling. I was getting pretty worked up. But I remembered if I was ever in trouble that I should pray. So I shifted to my knees next to my bed and begged God to help my find my chapstick. As soon as I squeaked amen, I looked straight ahead at my bed. I had the impression to lift up the blanket that draped to the floor covering the underside of my bed. And there was the beloved mint chapstick. Of course I put some on immediately. It was such a small blessing, but it was big to me. Heavenly Father really knew me and my needs and guided me perfectly to where it was. Not all of our problems may result in a found chapstick, but I do know that to me, that day, God proved to me that He really was my Heavenly Father.

Now, lucky for us, God gave us another father aside from Himself. Our earthly fathers! And our earthly fathers are just as important as Heavenly Father. They are here to be imperfect, to grow in fatherhood and learn along the way.

An experience I had with my earthly father is when i was in high school. I was taking Algebra 2 and it was so difficult for me. I worked so hard and it felt like I always fell short of my expectations. I wanted that big A to be at the top of my paper but it hardly ever was. I had a big test coming up that I prepared for by going to tutoring before school, during lunch, and after school. I worked hard. And when I saw my final score, I was devastated. I had done terribly. But my dad knew I had a big test that day. So when i heard the familiar jingle of his keys as he set them down after coming home from work, i looked up. All he had to do was look at me. He opened his arms towards me, and just said "come here," when i already had started towards him in desperation. I fell into his arms and began to cry. He told me "Brooklyn, when you give your best effort, know that that is always enough." That unconditional hug of security was a moment I knew that man who was holding me really was my father, really knew me and my needs and loved me in the perfect way I needed.

Heavenly Father gave us a dad who is physically here One that can tenderly press a bandaid on a scraped knee, that can wipe away the tears of disappointment, that can throw you up in the air at the pool, that can tickle you til you're on the verge of wetting your pants, that can place a hand on the steering wheel as you learn to drive, that can hold your hand as you jump over a tiny stream that feels like a river, that can give you that look of approval when you do a job well done.

Here are a few things my dad has done for me: he has gently shook me awake when I fell asleep doing homework, he has helped me tend to my eyes with my poor eyesight using his talents, he has given me advice that I never asked for but turns out applicable, he has always told me I love you.

I can picture all of these different loving tasks done by our Father in Heaven. But instead He gives that joy to fathers here. To love provide and strengthen. Thanks to my father, who I know will be my support through the thick and thin. Love you Dad 💙

Birthdays

MaKena just turned the big 20! She's the closest friend I have serving a mission, she's up in Charlotte, NC. AND she just got transferred to one of the only areas of her mission in South Carolina!!!! EEEE Happy Birthday Kena!

My daddio is now 43. I called him old years ago, but he's still got lots of energy to spare!

Pictures