Give Em' Heaven

That's our zone motto. Very punny huh? Anyway... I like it.

 

This week has been awesome. First of all the mission broadcast yesterday was just about the best thing in the world. I am so stoked on being a better missionary and really getting united with the members in our ward. Our ward is awesome. I love it. The Bishop yesterday sat down with us after the meeting and was on fire. I know really great things will be happening in our area, they already are.

 

This week we brought out a girl in our ward who is thinking about putting in her papers. Of course we had an abnormally crazy day while she was with us. It was hot hot hot and humid and I am still getting used to sweating as much as I do here. We talked to a few people, most not very friendly. Then we see this cute little old lady and I think 'oh this will be great, we can talk to her about family history and all will be well... right?' WRONG. So wrong. This cute little old lady starts railing into us about how the Book of Mormon doesn't teach about Jesus Christ and how we are going to hell and how we can't add to the bible. She was laying it down and would just keep talking.  In order to keep the peace and not cause a scene we let her finish her tirade which ended in her reciting a prayer over us asking to help us see the light and save our souls. It was nuts. Then like a lightswitch she becomes so "nice" and hugs us and kisses us and tells us how much she loves us. Crazy. Luckily we had a great conversation with some drunk men sitting in their garage to make up for the insanity. I guess Charlee didn't get scared off because she started her papers this week. Success!

 

I don't remember if I mentioned Kara last week but she was the girl we met on mormon.org. We finally got ahold of her on Saturday and she is awesome! We love her so much already. She is 20 and so prepared. We are going to teach her a bit and then transition over to her local missionaries. I hope that she is the reason why I am at the Visitors' Center still.

 

I got to see my great friend Katie Packer yesterday! She got to see me in full "Sister Call" mode. I showed her and James around the VC and it was the BEST!

 

Also good news! My family gets to go and do baptisms with Tim, my recent convert from online chat, in the LA temple! The best. That will be so fun to have them be a part of that!

 

I just love being a missionary. I love getting to share my testimony with those that I meet. I love being able to help others find the joy and peace that the gospel brings in their life. The Visitors' Center is such a blessing too. I always have amazing teaching opportunities there. I am loving life and I can't wait to see what the next 8 months bring... there are going to be great things happening with missionary work in the next year. What a great blessing it is to be a part of it.

 

Mormon.org Rocks!

 

Sister Janie Squire, a visitor who texted this photo to my mom

How about the fact that I am the worst for titling things. Whatever.

 

We had a mormon.org miracle this week. Sister Morris and I finally went down and did "chat online" for the first time in a long time.... It's hard to find an hour of empty time at the Visitors' Center because it's been getting too busy. So we are sitting down there and nothing is coming in... so we are naturally getting kind of impatient. Sister Morris apparently was saying a prayer (I was too impatient to think of that) asking for someone to be sent to us that needed us. And what do you know, two second later we get a chat from a girl named Kara. She had met missionaries a year before and they gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. She has read it a few times and prayed about it and always felt peace about it but hadn't ever moved forward with investigating the church. We had a great conversation with her and have a return appointment over the phone tomorrow morning. Everytime we get a chat like that I am always holding my breath because there are so many internet pranks, but I am pretty sure this one is legit! We are super stoked to talk to her tomorrow.

 

Here's another mormon.org miracle. Tim, my recent convert that I met on chat is coming back to the US. He will be in LA and is going to do baptisms for the first time and guess who gets to go with him! My family! It is going to be so neat for them to be a part of the work that I am doing here.

 

Also, I love the fact that I can never have a bad day on my mission. One of the days this past week I was throwing myself a pretty successful pity party while writing in my journal. I always know wallowing is futile because something awesome always interuppts it but I still try and attempt it anyway. I was in the hot seat at the VC and this darling little lady comes in. She had an appointment with the Elders that serve in my old ward. We talked and talked about a lot of stuff and became good friends. It was one of those kindred spirit kind of moments where you just hit it off instantly. Anyway it turns out we talked for an hour because for some reason she showed up an hour early to her appointment! Crazy! It was just what I needed though and my wallowing was over, in fact it changed my entire outlook this week. It turns out that she is nieghbors with Joyce and Rick. The Elders had gone over to visit Rick and met her on their way down the road. It was amazing to get to see some of the snowball effect of the teaching I was lucky to be part of in the 4th Ward.  And it reminded me that oftentimes we have an impact beyond what we can see or even comprehend.

 

There were so many little miracles and tender mercies this week. I'm not going to lie, it has been a bit of a rough week. The heat is making me feel like a wilty flower because of my blood pressure issue, and we still don't have anyone really progressing yet. BUT everytime I feel down there is a little reminder here and there or the smallest miracle to pick me back up again. I'm grateful for the tough times to really recognize and appreciate the good times.  I'm also grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that is so keenly aware of each one of us. He loves us and blesses us more than we will ever recognize.

Anti-shmanti

This week has been great! I think I have started every blog post with that sentence... exclamation mark and all. Sorry I'm not sorry life is going well and I can't think of any creative introductions. The intro sentence has always been the hardest for me. 

We actually had appointments this week, which is a welcome change. I LOVE teaching. I love it. I didn't even realize how much I loved it until we just taught at doors for a whole transfer, not that doors are bad, that kind of teaching is fun too.

Anyway.  Miracles are happening here and we are so excited. There have been so many moments where we were in the right place at the right time. I love those miracles because they help me to know that we are fulfilling our purpose and really doing what Jesus Christ would do. 

Example: We met this former investigator who has been investigating the church for over 5 years. All we knew about her was that her husband was against the church. She is an angel. She is one of those people that you meet and just love instantly. I think we felt that way because she needs it. Her husband on the other hand was out of control. He was swearing up a storm and reading us anti-mormon literature from google. Sister Morris and I always joke because we are like "there's our testimony" whenever we meet people who attack what is sacred to us.  Sister Morris and I are very stubborn and don't like to be told what to do/believe. We hold our ground pretty well without being rude or antagonistic. It is so sad to see people that are so filled with hatred towards us. Hopefully we will be able to help this investigator in some way. And hopefully I won't be verbally assaulted by her husband again because it's a challenge for me to be nice (haha... but seriously).

On a funny note... Sister Morris and I pulled up to our driveway the other day and interuppted a major cat conference. There were two cats having a major stand off. So I try pulling up and they don't move. So we feel awkward... and I'm awkwardly pulling up the car while these cats are low-grade growling at each other. THEN they start moving backwards in SLOW MOTION. Literally. Slow motion cats on rewind. Sister Morris and I were both sitting in the car stunned and at the same time we were like "is this real life?!" It was. Finally we opened our doors and they bolted. We then witnessed a separate crazy cat fight. Most random 7 minutes of my life. 

The weeks are flying by. I can't believe it is already June. Crazy.

Ebony's baptism.  She is hilarious and so fun!

Transfer Week!

Dream Team: Blue Springs 2nd Ward Missionaries

Transfer calls come tonight! Eek! This transfer is a big one with the mission split and everything happening in July. I feel at peace with everything so we will see what happens! I am pretty darn sure I'm not going to Witchita, but not sure if I am staying in Blue Springs.

Honestly, there's not much to report. We are working hard, probably the hardest I have worked on my mission. We have seen lots of little miracles, but nothing yet that has panned out with progressing investigators. I'm okay with that though. I have learned so much in this transfer, for my personal spiritual growth and trust in the Lord. My faith and hope in his promises have increased dramatically, as well as my reliance on him. I have had more spiritual studies in the morning and have been better able to meet the needs and answer the questions of those we meet and teach. I am really grateful for these hard times because they really do refine us.

Last week we went to the zoo on p-day! Whoohoo! P-days have been the best with Sister Ogletree and Sister Zito. Transfers are also hard because the people I love get moved away. Sad. Sister Ogletree is probably leaving... We have been together my whole mission!

Here is my life in pictures right now:

This is our District!  They are the best!

I may or may not be obsessed with Chik-fil-A... Yes. Those are Chick-fil-A sunglasses. We go weekly and they know us by name now... maybe because we wear nametags, but whatevs. I'm counting it. 

 

Sister Zito and I were twins...we thought we were funny until we realized how ridiculous we looked at the Visitor Center.  A nice older gentleman told us that we had really nice uniforms.