Some GOOD Work

Tuesday- 

We had a zone conference and it was so good. I got to see Sister Jacobson and Sister Williams. I found my old zone leader and told him he was dearly missed. Elder Hoopes was my favorite. All day I kept thinking about one of my friends I was teaching and all these ideas filled my brain so I quickly wrote them down. It comes in handy so stay tuned. Nearing the end of zone conference I could tell my amazing stl was struggling. All these thoughts filled my brain and so again I wrote them down in a letter format. I pulled her aside and low and behold she was struggling and I happened to address like ⅚ of her concerns in my letter. It was a sure sign that God was so so aware of her. She was able to get a blessing and it was incredible. The Elder said exactly what she needed to hear. Only God could have done that. The spirit was so tender and so strong in that room. After all that we headed back to Solon to get back to work. I got to call my dad for his birthday and I was really feeling like I didn't want to hang up and do the work. I said a prayer and just asked God for a miracle. I then got out of the car and knocked on the door of our referral. This guy had forgotten he referred himself but let us in. He was amazed that we showed up because he had just got home and had been out of town for a few months. He kept calling it interesting. Long story short we taught him the restoration and he loved it. He has been catholic his whole life but has wondered about our church. He wanted the Book of Mormon and committed to reading it and meeting with us again. I literally was astonished in my head I was like okay God I see you answering my prayers. It gets crazier right after that we called three other referrals the first one says she requested for her friend because her friends phone isn't working, her friend is really interested in joining a church. The next call is a friend who just lost his house but he was looking for a church to feel accepted in. His words were he's looking for a church family. I was like AHAGAGAGAGA our church is literally so accepting and so welcoming. Then the last call is another friend looking for a new church. My mouth was dropped by the end of all that. We then made it to the church to join the young woman for their friendsgiving. We got to know so many of them but one particular girl stood out well by the end of the night she was asking if we came to church every week and if she came could she sit with us. I was like OF COURSE COME SIT WITH US PLEASE!!!!! The young women president told us that they have been trying to get her to come to church for a long time. The lord is so so so good. I swear everytime I'm struggling the lord is there to remind me why I'm out here. Our district leader then called us for AN HOUR. Holy crap we tried to hang up so we could go to bed early. He meant well. 

Wednesday- 

We had the weirdest morning ever. We called this guy and he was like tell me about it and where it came from. So we taught the restoration and near the end he's like I got too much going on right now but call me in a few days. It made us real sad but we brushed it off and kept going. We had a few more lessons that went really good. We had a profound lesson with Keith and Kenny. It was so beautiful and they invited us over Friday for a lesson and dinner. They're so nice. At this point we were freaking out because we had our lesson with Doug and we were so scared but we knew we had received answers to our prayers all of conference about him. We had a member who was able to come and we taught the most beautiful lesson on baptism and the why behind it. We broke it down so simply and discovered some of his concerns and were able to answer a lot of questions. At the end he committed to praying about a specific day. He's been against picking a day but I broke it down to him. I was able to explain that it wasn't to pressure him that he could keep the date to himself at first if he needed to but that he needed a goal in mind to work towards. He really liked it and at the end he was laughing and just glowing. We headed out to go and our member came up to us outside and told us that he's so grateful that we are here. He said it was so refreshing to have sisters that actually teach and that his previous lessons were painful. I had my mouth just about dropped open. Yikes. I'm so glad that me and Sister Heaton have drive and that we prepare ourselves but also that was a pretty bold statement. I think everyone before has tried their best. The ward is definitely starting to accept us now and trust us. Our District leader called us again. We are doing a district activity and he's making me a gluten free treat and needed to know if I could have sprinkles. How nice is that? I chefed up some Alfredo chicken for dinner and it put me straight into a deep slumber. 

Thursday-

I Started the day off with some basketball and I'm surprisingly good!! Well I'm okay. But I made like three baskets and was really good at stealing the ball probably was doing it illegally. They explained the rules but I still have no idea what I'm really doing. I'm just running around. Sister Heaton rolled her ankle in the first 10 minutes! She's not winning life right now. I made her ice it and elevate it while we did some contacting and companion study. We emailed about 40ish people today with Nurturing messages. It's a sign up for inspiring emails or Bible verses or stuff like that. We sent it to all the people that were taught a long time ago. I then took a Lil lunch nap because I was so exhausted after basketball I ran my heart out. Oh I forgot when we pulled up to basketball Sister Berrett came up to talk to us and told us that her husband raved about our lesson last night and that he is so grateful we are here. I was so touched by that. I swear everytime I teach I feel like I know nothing but somehow it works out because the spirit takes over. Sister Heaton was feeling better so we went out to do the work. We stopped by a member and all 8 times she's been visited she's been sick. It feels like an excuse but we can't know or assume. We then knocked for 30 minutes until we had to head to dinner. A member and her son took us out to Chipotle. It was so nice and after it she texted us that her son hasn't been to church in years but said he wants to start coming again. I was screaming with Joy. We texted him and invited him to the YSA friendsgiving at our church. We spent some time doing social media work, more contacting, and writing letters to each family in our ward for Thanksgiving. We are going to be doing a bunch of stop bys to get them all out before the holiday. We about died. Sister Heaton was looking out the Window and the car beeps and emergency locks stopped us a few centimeters from another car. Still not sure how we didn't hit them or get hit by the car behind us. Definitely a miracle. 

Friday- 

We had a new missionary zoom about mental health today. It was super good and had some helpful suggestions. Following that we had our house inspection and the senior missionaries who do it brought us the most yummy treats. I showed them our purple stained tub. I might have accidentally put my ink ruined dress in the tub while I tried to clean it. Well the dress was too far gone and now the tub is half purple stained with ink. I am just too good. The senior missionaries laughed their faces off about it. I was so embarrassed to tell them. They're the nicest people ever. After we had a mentoring session, I realized teaching the priesthood might be the hardest thing ever. We are dragging our district leader with us to a lesson about the priesthood so they can help teach and give a blessing to Keith on Monday. My companion's grandpa's funeral was next. She joined virtually so I had a lot of time to do some extra personal study!!! I had the most profound thoughts fill my head while I studied my scriptures and read my patriarchal blessing. The lord really has profound timing. 

Saturday- 

Met my online friend Elizabeth and she tried to convert us. She wants her husband to meet with the elder tho? Maybe just to try and convert them I couldn't tell ya. Our maps took us to Cleveland and made us 30 minutes late to an appointment. My patience was on thin ice but I held it together. I hate being late to things. We did some service and replaced some blinds. Following we went to visit a mmember. Brother McGovern, some of you will remember him from my previous email. He is 92 and taking care of his wife who has alzheimers. We showed up with a note and some chocolate. He loved it and made us eat some of his other chocolate. Haha he feels my heart and his cute wife was super verbal today and she just kept looking at me and saying beautiful….. surprise I cried. It brings me straight home to my beautiful residents at the beehive home. I sure miss them. After it was about 8 and we were finally getting lunch/ dinner. We messaged a few referrals and set up one new lesson!!!

Sunday- 

Had some good meetings with our ward members. I invited myself over to a member's house. Haha so the back story is one of the members told us to try and get into this other member's home because he used to have missionaries over but now doesn't let anyone over. So today we were talking about Thanksgiving and he was talking about how sometimes missionaries have three meals on holidays from 3 different members and i said well we have a lunch we will come to your house for dinner. LOL. Well long story short that got us our in. We did some studies and then headed up to Kirtland for KMA. Which is Kirtland missionary academy. It's an awesome program for high schoolers to prepare for missions. We got to help with their lessons today and then we had Thanksgiving dinner. In the same building we had our Why I believe devotional. It's a beautiful devotional where new converts share their journey coming to know God, Jesus Christ, and the church. It's the most amazing thing to attend. What was even greater is we were the only missionaries that had a friend attend and it was all hands on deck. We had just met this guy today right after church, he was using the family history center. Well he showed up and LOVED it!!!!! Yayayayayay he's so amazing he said the meeting was powerful. 

I am feeling very touched today with the idea of making the gospel of Jesus Christ your home. Sometimes well often all throughout life we long for home and feel homesick. I've definitely had my fair share of that already. My mind keeps going back to home. Jesus Christ's gospel is our true home, when I go to church, when I go to the temple I am home. There's this peace and it's similar to the feeling I get at my grandparents home. Don't tell me why but something about going to my grandparents house feels the closest to being home. I get that feeling at church. I am anxious to get to the temple. One month away until I get to go!!! Our mission president now allows missionaries to go every 4 months if they're not close to the temple. If you're close you go once a transfer. I'm so excited.