1 Year down in this Mis(sauna)ouri!!
Well
family and friends I have officially been away from home and dedicating my all
to the Lord!!
And wow how this year
has been so amazing!!!!!!!
I have learned more
than I can say, and have grown in ways I didnt even think I would.
This week was
fantastic though!!! Felt like 2 weeks into one with everything that happened!!!
I had to say goodbye
to Sister Rice, and got a new companion!!!
Drum roll please.......
its Sister Draper!!!!!
We lived together for
her first transfer here in the mish way back when I was with Sis Matagi in Blue
Springs 2nd and we always joked about how we were gonna be comps and LOOK AT US
NOW.
We are pumped!!!
Lets see so yeah transfers
was on thursday, and it was so sad to say goodbye, and to see Sister Rice off,
but I am excited for this new adventure!!!
But yeah got my comp
sis Draper! She is from SoCal and she is SoCool. Lol
Literally though this
was the last transfer that we would have with President Vest, because on July 1
President Love gets here! And basically president just flipped a table when he
did transfers this time because like 8 areas were whitewarshed and just out of
3 zones there were 32 missionaries being transferred. Like yeah it has been
cray. But we are so excited for all our newcomers to the jail!!!
Including SISTER
BISHOP!! such fun!!! She is whitewashing the North Kansas City ward (pls pray
for her) and Sister Udall got a new baby missionary! (proud mamma moment when
your baby makes you a grandma twice -- also lol @ the mission lingo) and Sister
Godfrey is so awesome!!! We are soo looking forward to all the miracles we will
see this transfer!!
And we have already
seen so many!!! Thursday night we got a Bible referral that had accidentally
been referred to the other sisters so Sis Draper helped us find her and get the
referral, (we found the one trailer park in all of Doniphan area - which felt
like home lol) and we stopped by and met Erica!! She let us right in and we
told her about what we do as missionaries and testified about the gospel she
was super interested! We set up a return appointment but she forgot that it was
fathers day so that fell through.. but its ok we will get her :)
Thursday was also my year
mark!!!! Seriously sooo crazy. At transfers I got to be with all my MTC buddies
sis Gudgeon and Bishop and Dawson. My mom sent me flowers that this sweet lady
delivered to the jail (she had been wandering around trying to find the Clay
County detention center - lol so sorry) and she came in and we got her some
water and talked to her about the jail and she even said she would come back
and see it!
But thanks mom for the
flowers!! <3
And Grandma for all
the food!!! hahaha I am set for life now!! ;)
And that night we got
ice cream to celebrate, so all in all it was a pretty fantastic day.
We also have met a few
people who wanted us to come back! including this former investigator named
Alvin who is kinda hung up with the fact that `you "have to be a certain
level" to go into the temple.... but tonight we have a return appointment
to explain the importance of covenants and teach the plan of salvation!!!
Saturday we had dinner
with one of my favorite familes the Nielsons - theyre the cutest couple with 3
kids and one that should be here in like 2 weeks (sis nielson is way pregnant
haha) I love their oldest kid though! He literally is 8 years old and he is a
genius!!! Im not even kidding this kid blows me away. His favorite thing is
black holes. Neither of his parents are like nerds in that way at all so theyre
like okay where did this kid come from haha.
Anyways though, that
night we were at the Bishops having a little correlation (Side note I llooovee
the gallup family - they are the best - and we took their little puppy on a
walk) and our car wasnt working so we had gotten the true missouri taste of
tracting and walking around in this humidity.
And LET ME TELL YOU it
has been SOOOO HOTTT this past week. Literally we go outside for more than like
3 minutes and youre dripping with sweat and have heat exhaustion. (for reals
though like 100% humidity in 98 degree weather = death.) Its also been pretty
stormy the past few days, one night even Sister Draper and I were woken up at 1
in the morning the night before because of the crazy storm!
After we met with
bishop though we had Sister Gallup and her daughter Brooke (she went to the
museum with us a while back) take us home. We open the door to get to the car,
and it is POURING RAIN. Like pelting us! We were drenched just walking 3 feet
to get into the car! It was so crazy though there was so much lightning and it
was right above us. Lightning even struck right in front of the car as we were
driving! Sister Gallup like slammed on the brakes and we were freaking out.
haha Thankfully though we all made it home safe! we were just soaked that
night.
Last night was a
pretty big miracle though. We were part of this lego sorting service project
that is founded by nonmembers but some members in our ward put it on and invited
all their friends to come! And literally all of our investigators came!
The greens and their daughter's nonmember boyfriend (also Sister Draper
is from the exact same place that the greens used to live - coincidence, I
think not!) the Jones family and the girls we are teaching were there!!
It was so awesome! The biggest miracle was this little black kid came up to
sister draper and i, and his friend who is a member (theyre both like 11 or 12)
and he had a question about baptisms for the dead, sister draper answered his
question while i talked to Brother Jones, and after i joined the conversation
with Brinn, this kid , and he said how he wants to come to church sunday! And
later sister draper said that he was like "can I get baptized here? I feel
really good in this building" LIKE WHAT. So pls pray that Brinns mom will
let him come to church!!!!
This week though i
learned a lot about gratitude, faith, and joy.
I think sending off
your companion at the end of her mission really puts into perspective how
little time we have out here. I just am so grateful for the little things about
being a missionary. Even when no one is willing to talk, or it is a milliion
degrees outside, and youre just exhausted, I am just so grateful to be a
representative of my Savior. He ahs done far too much for me to complain about
the little ts, and to not give him my all these next 6 months, and for the rest
of my life.
okay
the email sent before I was ready, but to finish.....
I am just so grateful
for the little things about being a missionary, about going out every day and
dedicating it to others and to God. I am so grateful to testify to hundreds
everyday about Joseph Smith and his divine calling.
I have learned that
sometimes the most powerful thing is to just believe. Believe in God, that He
loves you, He is rooting for you, He knows you and your situation and is there
to help. Believe that all things are possible for Him! Sometimes Satan's most
powerful tool is to get us to have doubts, to be a little hesitant or skeptical
about the promises of the Gospel. But if we shut out those thoughts, God can
work through us so much more and we will see more miracles!!
The last thing I have
been thinking about is the fact that we CHOOSE joy. There are a lotta people
nowadays who suffer from Situational Happiness, meaning they can only be happy
if their situation is happy. But people! We can be happy just because God loves
us! Because His Son came, and He lives!!!! There will always be setbacks, but
if we trust Him, and His plan, we will ALWAYS be happy. And truly, that's what
He wants for us. I know Im not perfect at this yet, but i know that this is
true, and that as we change our view and remember whats most important, we will
feel the pure joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
i love you all and I
hope you have the most marvelous week!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment