Week 12

Week 12? 

Tuesday- 

such a beautiful day. We found three new friends!!! We had an amazing member meal and the mom commented about how much more outgoing I am since the last time I was over. It's all thanks to sister Heaton and of course God. He's helping me to put my fear aside. One of our cute members was sick, sister Reidhead, she always feeds us. We decided to run to a market and get her a yummy dessert and flowers. Lately she has been on my mind a LOT. I don't think it's a coincidence. 

Wednesday- 

I miss being a passenger princess. I am not meant to drive in Ohio. I have missed so many turns it's embarrassing. Also my tiwi yells at me every 5 minutes for speeding. I have no self control. I woke up so sick today and did not workout. I ate a Little snack and felt better after a while. I did my companions' hair and it was sooo cute. I made a little smoothie for breakfast and eggs and felt like the healthiest person alive. I followed it up with some pumpkin shaped reeses. Definitely sooo healthy. We had a lot of member visits today and some new referrals. Nothing big came out of it. We then had a great lesson with Doug. He's so funny and tends to get off topic a lot. At the end he said he's all in. He wants to be baptized but not until he has complete control with the word of wisdom. He doesn't want to have any slip ups and show God he is willing to follow him. It was beautiful to hear his dedication and then to hear his prayer. Watching and hearing the change in someone is unbelievable. You get to see them grasp the gospel and take off running. Our friend canceled on us at the last minute for our lesson at the church and we finally got a member to come. It was so disappointing because we rarely can get a member to join us. I am constantly gas lighting myself into thinking I have diabetes. Our zone leaders called and started to talk about baptism and I was so fired up to argue. I chose to be Christ- like and follow the spirit. I bore a Lil testimony about the importance of meeting our friends where they are at and not pushing them into baptism only to watch them become inactive and leave the church shortly after. I think it's so important to help someone become truly and fully converted to the lord. I want my friends to be ALL in. Life long disciples! Today I was unbelievably exhausted. I couldn't have given anymore today than I did. I hit the bed and was out in 2 minutes. 

Thursday- 

 

Interviews are my least favorite days on the mission. This Interview was no exception. I was feeling real crappy after it today. District council was hard to concentrate on. I wish I wasn't the first interview everytime. After we had to wait almost two hours for our oil change today. We did some good contacting and studying in the library study rooms while we waited. We then had a great member meal and was fed the yummiest soup. After we did some more calls and stop bys and then ended up in our apartment early with a migraine and sickness. Rough ending of the day. 

Friday-

Our Friday morning training was great and it was followed by a great mentoring session. Then disaster struck. We were told to call Sister Heatons dad. He told her that her grandpa died. Sister Heaton was a wreck and I don't blame her. They were super close. She called her family for a good while and then I made her take a nap and take care of herself. I texted about 40 people and found two new friends out of it! A few past people we taught committed to coming to the primary program! Good work was still accomplished. We then had a lesson with Keith. Him and Kenny showed us some of their favorite music and then Keith was like okay now let's read. He was so eager to dive in. We had an amazing lesson and they both came up with ways to put on the Armour of God this week. We are so excited for them. They sent us home with A CD of Rain and thunder to sleep to and some cashews. They are the sweetest ever. Right after we went to Sister manning house for dinner. She had Sister Blair over. They are both converts and we talked a ton about missionary work and their conversion stories. Sister manning was so funny and she's usually so quite. They really enjoyed having us over. Sister Blair choked and I almost had to do the himlech I was ready to jump into cna mode. She has a hole in her esophagus and she says this happens often. I felt so bad. Oh Sister Blair brought my gluten free oreos. She insisted I take them home. It was my most favorite member meal. After we got ice cream and Sister Heaton was so sad. I found a new friend on social media!!! He was so shocked by me reaching out he said he has been praying to know if God was real. I have to give the background to the story of how it happened. I decided I would add some friends by looking up a certain name. I sat and prayed about what name I should look up and immediately the name John popped into my head so I said alright God let's do this. I found so many inappropriate profiles and only two normal looking profiles. So I added only two John's and messaged them both. One was him, one was a member lol. God sometimes answers our prayers with just a thought. God is so good and so aware of YOU I promise. Anywho I taught him the restoration and it was scary because I had to do it by myself which was okay because sister Heaton needed some time so I sent some voice recordings. It ended up going so well. That night we had a devotional and it was less than ideal. I had to do a lot of praying to God to understand and see the point of what was going to be taking place. I came to the conclusion I was not at peace about it and that I shouldn't participate. Will my zone leaders be happy? No, but I will follow what the spirit tells me every time. 

Saturday- 

We had to be in Kirtland at 7:45 for a service project the town does. We woke up and had to zoom over. We got split into groups and were with our District leader, 4 other sisters, and some older guys. We drove to go rake leaves!! We did this until 11 and at the end of it my hands were filled with blisters but I was so energized. I got to use a really huge leaf blower for one house and it was so fun. I love doing service and we were doing it with a few people who were not members and they asked us missionaries a ton of questions about our beliefs. It was a great opportunity to be like the savior and teach while we served. After we hurried home to shower and get ready for the day. I was so exhausted but I forced myself to just get up and go. We had some really great stop bys and met a lot of new people. We went to visit a member and it was so heartbreaking. He is 92 and has taken care of his wife for 6 years. She has dementia. My heartached I could not hold back tears. No one had visited him in over two years from the church. He was heartbroken that he had lost his wife. We talked for over an hour. He is the sweetest man and his wife is a true angel. Jesus Christ was without a doubt in that room with us. He shared with us his conversion story. On his first date with his wife she took him to church. He was baptized one month later. He took to missionary discussions and one lesson they asked him to pray and as he begun to he couldn't. He was overwhelmed with the spirit and couldn't open his mouth. He knew in that moment it was true. Shortly after that he had a miracle happen with the Book of Mormon. He had prayed to know if it was true and that night he had a dream of a concrete wall and engraved in it was " why do you ask me now, you've known the whole time of the truth". When he told us this I cried even harder. I looked ridiculous there but the spirit was more than powerful. I did not want to leave. I just watched his wife and all of me wanted to just stop being a missionary and volunteer to be his own personal cna and return to my job. I can't express the heartache I have tonight. I just want to throw those kinds of diseases out of the world. Before we left we shared a scripture. 

1 Nephi 21: 14-16 

14 But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not. 15 For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel. 16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

I did not make it through it very well. Had to apologize for my emotions. I pulled it together and finished the thought. Verse 16 gets me everytime

Sister Heaton was really struggling so we went home and I made up the couch with some blankets and some snacks and water and we just cuddled. Her pain makes me so sad. I whipped up some good dinner to make it all better(okay so maybe food doesn't solve the problem but it helps) we had some yummy tacos and garlic taquin grilled cheeses( these are too good and according to my mom I make the best ones so it must be a fact. Hit me up for the how to video lol) 

Sunday - 

I woke up so cranky today because I was tired but I didn't let it show. Church was good. Keith came to church and it was the primary program. Those little kids make me so emotional. Hearing kids scream about Jesus and being a child of God gets me everytime. Such an amazing sacrament meeting. 

After church I was so zonked I slept instead of eating lunch. Following that we got calls from our STLs and District leader. We visited sister Reidhead and Ali. She was on the phone. So we hung out with Ali and checked up on him. He was in the hospital for 4 days. He insisted we eat 2 bowls full of popcorn and play soccer with his kids before we left. I think he really likes us. He also told us to tell his wife to feed us. Their little boy sat next to me and was such a little flirter. We had some good talks. We had an amazing dinner with the Mowery family. They have a two year old and a brand new baby that's too cute. They fed us until we were stuffed full. I couldn't have eaten another bite. When we got home we got a knock on our door and a container filled with brownies and a little note. I'm convinced it's from our district leader. It was so kind it made our day. 

I'm so tired this email is a bit shorter and more choppy sorry.