Aug. 21, 2017 "Happy Eclipse"

Happy Eclipse

Happy Monday everyone! Happy Birthday to President Monson! Love that man. And also Happy Eclipse day!! Is everyone freaking out where you're at as much as all the crazies here?

We had a bazillion people here at the Liberty Jail yesterday, ALL coming from Texas and other Midwestern states to see the eclipse. Apparently we are in the path of totality. St. Joseph, MO (just north of here) and Idaho Falls are supposed to be the best places to see it. And it is probably gonna rain. Classic Missouri. 

Hahah, ANYWAYS This week was wonderful!! We have done a lot of finding, since we have dropped some of our investigators we can't get in contact with now. so we met some more fun people including a man who lives in the middle of nowhere, and it was actually pretty funny because we were knocking on the front door and no one was answering, until we hear someone yell, "HEY?!" around the corner. So the guy had answered his side door and was trying to see who was at his home. Once he realized we were missionaries, this shirtless man without real pants on, is like OH, be right back! And runs back inside to put his robe on. Hahaha so we talked to this guy for a good half hour, and it turns out he was deaf and so he had to look at our mouths real close while we talked. But he was very nice. He had been visited by missionaries before and his niece is a member, but still not sure how interested he is. Just your average Missouri missionary story for ya. 

Here's some other things that happened:

Tuesday, my FAV Sister Matagi came into the Jail!!!!! they visited and it made me oh so happy. 

Other funny/really cool thing was that we ended up teaching a lesson for the YSA sisters because they couldnt make their appointment because the YSA guys were late. But it turns out we knew both of them so we just taught them because the jail was slow, and the other sisters had to get to another appointment. But the cool thing is the guy we were teaching was this guy who drove by us in our area when we were contacting a former. He stopped his truck with his friends in it and asked what ward we were in. We were a little puzzled, but told him and it turned out he was a less active member. We invited him to YSA and he WENT and is coming back to church now and changing his life and wants to go on a mission! It is amazing how the Lord knows who is ready and places the people and events in the right places in our lives for us to get back on track. Its so cool to see the gospel in action!

Wednesday, we went on exchanges and I got to be back in Liberty 1st with Sister Godfrey! Sister Godfrey is on her second transfer as a missionary so she is still in training and she is the CUTEST!!! It was a fun day. In the morning, I was her mom and took her to urgent care because she had this giant rash on her arm she hadnt taken care of. Turns out she had some fungus like athletes foot on her arm as well as oak mites which are the actual worst. So we got her some creams and steroids and went on our way to shift :) We also got to have dinner with one of my favorite members in that ward, the Burch's!!!! Theyre the best. So fun to see them. That evening, all the rest of our plans fell through so we tried to go stop by some people and basically not anyone was home, except for Laura! one of the investigators I taught. Side note, turns out she is pregnant!!! A lot changes when you leave an area. Haha

Friday on our full-proselyting day, we did like 4 hours of gardening!!! First we went to our Bishop's house (The Russells - as if I havent mentioned them before lol). Since they were out of town, we went and picked their tomatoes. Then we hopped over to our old bishop's house at the Gallups who just live around the corner and we helped them pick dozens and dozens of green beans and cucumbers. It was so fun, I love being with Sister Gallup and her daughter Brooke, they're basically our best friends and the most hilarious people. 

But after our farm work, we went and did then our day got really crazy. So we had planned to go over to a members house, the Thorne's, for dinner and a lesson. We have been trying to have dinner with them FOREVER. So we finally got something worked out. But then they had to cancel dinner and so they were just going to drop it off after our correlation meeting at the jail. So we were just going to have dinner ourselves after that. But while we were studying, we get this text asking if we were still good to come over for dinner at 5 that night from a different member Sister Weatherston. OK  didnt know she signed up.... so we were like uhh ok well we have this meeting at 5 but we can come before or after that. So we went over at 4, right after our studies and she ended up packaging up dinner for us and so we just chatted and got to know her before we had to go to our meeting. At our meeting they asked us if we had already been to dinner with the Webbs. We're like AHHH SHE SIGNED UP TOO?!!? ( we dont have access to our missionary meal calendar so unless you tell us we have no idea who is feeding us) And so we felt terrible but we had to tell her we couldnt come, and it was already like 5. 

But I mean at least they wanna feed us I guess. And we had dinner and lunch for the next day with the leftovers. 

Saturday, first off we had a MIRACLE on shift! So ok this is a long story too. 

So Sis Draper when she was on exchanges with Sis Greenwood on wednesday, they were on teaching center (our online teaching) and they took a chat from this guy who lived in our mission! He was getting baptized that weekend and was just asking some questions and was needing some marriage advice. So they told him that he could come to the Jail and watch these videos about strengthening marriage. SO he actually showed up on saturday, the day of his baptism!! sis draper was so excited! She was on a tour but wanted to meet him, so it was my job to stall him so she could say hi. After he got done watching the video I went and asked him if he wanted to watch another one, and he didnt, but basically we just got to talking about his baptism that day and his life, and he shared all about his wife who wants a divorce, and how he has all these "tribulations" as he called them. And then he's like but my friend, *gestures to the woman with him* just wanted to come see this place cus she was a curious about the mormons. So I was like well come with me! So then I ask her if she has any questions, and she's like, "Well, only a million." So I told her, Mallory, that I could answer them, or if she was really wanting to learn about our beliefs, we could get her in touch with missionaries, just like Caleb had been meeting with. And she was like, "Yeah okay I'd really like that!" I was kind of stunned cus that had NEVER happend to me at the Liberty Jail !!! But I helped her fill out a referral card and told her I would get in contact with the missionaries in the area and have them contact her. She asked about where church was and what time it met and so I helped her with that, and she was so excited and I was too!! I testified of the blessings of the gospel and promised those to her as she learned. 

So basically told the sisters in her area, (which are sisters that we live with actually) about all this and they got in touch with Mallory. But basically she came to church the next day and stayed the whole time, loved relief society and wants to come to the activities, AND they have an appointment with her this week!! SUCH A MIRACLE!!! 

ok next miracle was that evening. Haha so we had a lesson with the Staffords planned. We were going to teach Cedae and Bella the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity. Kind of a tricky thing to do with a teenager who has a boyfriend and a 9 year old who has ADHD... So we were a little apprehensive to say the least. BUT little blessing in disguise was that Cedae ended up bailing on the lesson to go see her boyfriend's sister's new baby. But we still went over to teach Bella and her mom Marcy about this. So it was actually WONDERFUL to be able to teach her more one on one. And we had a teamup who knew exactly how to explain these things to Bella.. who had a lot of questions and a very short attention span. It was a challenge but went better than we thought. 

ALSO we got Bella to decide to move her baptismal date up from December (I might have told her I wouldnt be able to be there because I would no longer be in the mission...  )  So now she probably will get baptized this coming month! Along with Cedae! (but not on the same day because bella refuses to do that haha) But please pray they can come to church. The adversary is really keeping them from coming with fear and also by breaking their AC right before they were going to leave. But their desire is there so pray they can come!! 

But my little thought I wanted to share this week is about the beauty of the simple things, and appreciating those simple things. 

Sometimes as just a part of our life on earth, we get into these funks. Especially as a missionary it can be easy to become numb to everything and feel like its hard to feel the spirit. BUT sometimes we need to remember that all of that is just a part of this mortal experience. And we can always go back to those basics and receive the help and strength that we need. Sometimes in life we feel like we have to have all these MIRACULOUS experiences to know that the spirit is there working with us. But really those things just come through the subtle little happy moments and the subtle peace when reading the scriptures, and the reasons to be joyful. And there is always a reason to be joyful when we remember Christ. 

So be happy! Do something good for someone else today in honor of President Monson!! 

I love you all! 

Dont burn your eyes out.

 Sister Bleak

Pics

I held a snake - be proud McKay
Sis Matagi! Aka Tess and sis Santiago
Urgent care and the Burch's with sis Godfrey!
Jail sisters and all our glasses 😎
Farm work with the gallups
Pretty MO
And lastly I saw Arielle from Liberty 1st who I taught and she is now
getting baptized sooner and moving out of her bfs apartment! Miracles

Update on the Eclipse:

Okay I don't know if anyone else saw it with totality but OH MY
GOODNESS THAT WAS THE COOLEST THING OF MY LIFE.
#perksofbeinginmissouri
360 degree sunset midday !!!, everything got so quiet and it was
seriously 10 degrees cooler. You could see the sun flares with your
bare eyes and ahh oh wow that was awesome. Got to watch the whole
thing with some fun people from our ward!!! *excuse my utter
excitement, but I was pretty astounded okay*