God's Timing Is Good Jan 29 2024

GOD'S TIMING IS EVERYTHING- so much love for Tallmadge 

“At times, having faith in Jesus Christ may seem like something impossible, almost unattainable. We may think that coming unto Christ requires a strength, power, and perfection we don’t have, and we just can’t find the energy to do it all. But what I have learned from all these people is that faith in Jesus Christ is what gives us the energy to begin the journey. Sometimes we may think, “I need to fix my life before I come to Jesus,” but the truth is that we come to Jesus to fix our lives through Him. We don’t come to Jesus because we are perfect. We come to Him because we are flawed and in Him we can “be perfected.” How do we begin exercising a little bit of faith every day? For me it begins in the morning: When I wake up, instead of looking at my phone, I say a prayer. Even a simple prayer. Then I read a scripture. This helps me with my weekly covenant that I make as I partake of the sacrament to “always remember him.” When I begin my day with a prayer and a scripture, I can “remember Him” when I do look at my phone. I can “remember Him” when I face problems and conflicts, and I try to face them like Jesus would.”

It brings me to tears when I think about this week and how much I saw the lord's hand in everyday in every moment. 

I want to challenge everyone to follow any good thoughts they recieve. God gives us impressions everyday and often it's to help benefit somebody else. Don't think just act!! 

Monday:

A little scary. We invited this little midget man to church and he began to pop off about anti stuff and was making no sense. Anyways he followed us outside but then we walked away fast and he disappeared and then boom around the corner in front of us he appeared, he teleported. Midget running speed I guess. Anywho sister Haslam was ready to pepper spray him lol. Now that I'm in Tallmadge I'm really regretting not bringing mine. 

Tuesday: 

Today we had training visits and I went to Medina with Sister Thomas, my first stl. It was a beautiful reunion. They have a really hard area where finding is slow BUT because we are diligent and follow the spirit we found 5 new beautiful friends. People are being prepared by God everywhere to accept the gospel we must trust in his timing. We taught their friend Jared who is being baptized on Saturday and he is AWESOME!!! I loved him so much. Then we taught a couple named Christian and can't remember his wife's name but they are cuties. The spirit really took over with what was shared. We taught a lesson in the pouring rain and then went to a member's house for dinner smelling and looking like a wet dog but the lords work must go on. Lots of crazy things popped up today with scheduling but none of it I could help with due to it not being my area. There was some baptismal conflicts with one of their friends and some emergency traveling to Columbus that had to happen so training visits ended a little early. A wonderful day. 

Wednesday: 

Ah I love Tallmadge. Today was great but I'm writing it on p day so I can't remember what even happened. I know we found some cool people and did some knocking. Had a fun dinner and taught a new convert. 

Thursday: 

We started the day off with district council and once again sister hoyt prepared an hour training instead of 15 minutes. Everytime I over estimate how much time I have and then spiritual revelation just flows and I end up with pages. The cute senior missionary sister Perry filmed me bearing testimony so she can send it to her grandkids. She takes videos of all the missionaries so she can help strengthen her family back home. We got Chipotle (which is my current addiction) as a district. Here's where it gets interesting. We had some stop bys to do and two lessons. Well God changed the whole plan. We start our list of stop bys and I'm going down a street and see a guy and get the most distinct feeling to pull over NOW. So obviously I do but then the guy gets on a bus so I was a bit confused but then some houses caught my eyes and I can't describe it but it's like I was being stirred. I knocked them and found the most beautiful woman ever who was so excited to hear from us she immediately wanted our number and for us to come back. Keep the detours in mind. Then we knock a few more houses because I have a weird feeling not to leave yet so I'm like okay okay I trust. After awhile it was very clear to get back in the car and proceed. Well now we're way past schedule and are headed to a self referral. She is not home but as we are leaving we meet Reatha outside who was another referral we hadn't been able to contact. Apparently her phone number changed and she had been praying all night for the missionaries to come. Tears formed in our eyes as we chatted but she had to go to work so we scheduled a time to come over and got her new number. Now at this point our next lesson had canceled and I needed a solid knocking hour so we went HAM!! First we found William who is a king and wants us to come back. Then next house was Bill who isn't happy with his church and wants to come with us and have us back over. Next house Zeddi…. Has a whole family and is Christian but has no church due to him working on Sundays. We are going over Saturday to teach his entire family. Now this gets even better we go to see a referral named Dina and we couldn't find her house and this lady is outside and so we're like what are the odds so we go to her and ask for her name… ITS DINA. She had put her address in wrong and just got a new number she had also been praying we'd come. Poor queen is just sobbing in tears and gives us the biggest hug. Had a beautiful chat and found a day to come back and teach her and her son. He's 11 and she was so pumped that he gets his own class to attend on Sundays!!! Now this is when it all lines up. Sister Haslam had been feeling sick ALL day. About a minute after Dina literally on the street throws up everywhere. Now this is so unfortunate but understand the message. God needed us to A have lessons fall through. B get lost so we could meet people at the perfect moment. If I wouldn't have missed a few turns, knocked the exact amount of houses we would have never met Dina or Reatha. Sister Haslam stomach had to hold off until exactly after Dina. God is in every single detail. I put my foot down and told Sister Haslam we're going home. I got to play mom and get her some sprite and crackers. Warmed her a cute little bath and made her sleep. I proceeded to deep clean the apartment which was so badly needed. Do some scheduling tasks and some messaging of friends were teaching. 

Friday: 

Nothing to eventful in the morning, attended institute on Kent State, saldy had no time to invite but will be back next Friday with a whiteboard and some fun finding ideas. Went to see a referall and they weren't home so again we knocked( my new favorite thing) and we see this door open so naturally we have to approach. It was a little house barber and we invited this guy who then yelled to his two friends to come listen. Anywho two of them were super super interested and we got all their information and set up a time to come back!!! Rushed to a lesson and taught a cute 8 year old who's getting baptized on Saturday. Saw the angry midget again, got a little scared. Then off to another lesson with another 8 year old who's getting baptized in a few weeks. Ended the night with uneventful social media work and calls. 

Saturday: 

Had a sync up call with the leaders in our zone. We have to do these once a week to council about social media work and get everyone on the same page and relay information. Then we went to the baptism of the 8 year old and it was beautiful profound and everything I needed. Did some more knocking and found 3 beautiful friends. Best story- we went to visit a referral and the person we went for doesn't live there but we met a lady who was sooo interested. Not a coincidence the address happened to be wrong. God is so good. Had a lesson with one of our friends. Spirit totally changed our lesson plan but it was beautiful. He's a scary guy so that's a bit of a problem but the atonement of Jesus Christ is real and the change is real. We had a lovely dinner with a sweet lady for the Netherlands. She is the coolest person I think I've ever met. Our ward is a solid 70% young married couples and they are the best.

Sunday: 

Today was a day. Started off with the fire alarm going off due to the smoke from my sausage. Poor neighbors. Then we get a call from a lady taught in the past who asks for the address for church and asks when we do baptisms. She ends up coming to church and two other friends of ours do as well. 

Well our sundays are pure chaos if you don’t remember from last week im over two wards and their times overlap so we run around. Double sacrament talks and double lessons are awesome though. We had a bunch of syncups and calls with other missionaries to do after church- due to being SMS. We had an awesome dinner with a young couple who has a 7 year old, 4 year old, 2 year old, and 8 month old. They were so cute and gave us like 100 hugs. The cute kids sang us a church song. It was a whole performance. At the end they all came and attacked me. I had three of them clung to me. It perchance filled my whole soul with Joy. 

Tallmadge Notes:

The ghetto is scary, guns, ambulances, drugs, etc. Adds to the joy and trust in the lord. The spirit is crucial to have as a missionary. I am not loving everyone telling me I shouldn’t be out there and too be cautious- please gaslight me and tell me it’s the safest neighborhood ever.

Our back yard is a literal forest. Nothing is more therapeutic than opening the windows and seeing the wildlife within touching distance. 

Every street is perfect for knocking 

We have 4 out of 6 Napoli speaking missionaries in the world in our district. The Napoli kids love white sister missionaries and just throw themselves at us every sunday. I am currently the new favorite to run at and hug. 

We also have Swahili speaking missionaries that translate the meetings for a little small branch. It is so fun to have all of us in the same building. Our ward is about as big as a Utah ward. It’s crazy.

Everyone here wants to learn but doesn’t want to make commitments

I love the area

Friends: 

 Solon: Keith apparently quit smoking wooohooo

Doug: on his way to the font

Micheal: working on him but amazing

Latonya: working on her but amazing

Tallmadge: 

Jeremey- an oddball, could really progress comes to church every week, has read almost every page of the Book of Mormon

Kaylin- a members workout friend, comes every week, is amazing

New: 22 new amazing friends this week that I don’t know enough about yet. 

Gained an Inch? Transfers

We are switching these emails up a little. So last week I was so busy and had no time to write an email which is why nobody received one and I slacked at responding to past emails. Forgive busy Sister Hoyt and know if I didn't respond I love you, I pray for you, and I always read each email I receive. 

INVINTATIONS:

I invite all of you, yes ALL to read “Lessons from Liberty Jail” 

Set reading goals that will help you A- come to know your Savior and B- Increase your faith ( make them specific

If you struggle with comphrehension please use your rescoures aka BOM and Bible videos, come follow me, and other gospel library tools. Missionaries are a great rescource as well- come pick our brains and lets study together. 

Friends who are starting their religion journey. I am able to get permission to do studies with you and teach you AND I would LOVE to if you are interested!!!!!

Pick a Christlike attribute to work on for an entire month

Why these invitations? 

It is VITAL to know your Savior and understand his love and doctrine. There is no better way to learn of him than through scriptures and actively pursuing to be like him. Learn of me, Come follow me- these are the invitations the Savior extends to all of us.

Blessings of studying the word of God: 1 Nephi 10:19, 2 nephi 32:3, Mosiah 1: 6-7, Alma 17:2-3, Alma 32: 42-43, Alma 49:30, D&C 90:24, D&C 130:19 

We need these blessings each and every single one of us. “ Oh my life is so hard” “ I feel no guidance” “ I don’t feel loved” “I don’t understand why bad things keep happening” “Why me” “Can’t I get a break” “Where are my loved ones who passed” “Can I ever be forgiven” These and many more questions are valid thoughts and concerns. Our answers lie with the Savior and in his doctrine HE established many many years ago. We all have questions we all need support and comfort. Do the work to recieve what you seek. 

I am super Hung up on the phrase “ Prove me NOW herewith” - Malachi 3:10 

“Prove you herewith” - D&C 98:12

“We will prove them” - Abraham 3:25

In these invintaitons the lord is literally saying follow my commandments and test me. See if I won’t just slam down on you with blessings. Watch me, watch what I will do when you heed my words. Then he invites us to prove oursleves. Show me your devotion, take what I have given you and use it, put it into action. Proceeding to show our purpose on life. We will prove them- we will be tested and tried to see if we will follow him and do what he has asked. 

How cool is it to know the Lord always upholds his end of the deal. Come and see the miracles that await. He invites us to take a leap of faith and see what will happen. The outcome is sure, set in stone.

 Tuesday- 

Not my favorite day but I met and taught Donnie who is awesome! Sadly not in my area we were on training visits. Came home and had some severe repenting to do for my eternal language. 

Wednesday- 

Me and Sister H had some good talks in the morning while exercising. I had some venting that was much needed followed by some repenting. I hooked us up with my special pancakes and they were delicious. We had a ton of cancellations right off in the beginning but then God filled our scheudle. We got a call from a lady who wasn’t a member about her member husband. He had been in a motorcycle accident and is living in a care home. He is now bed bound and completley nonverbal. When she asked him if he wanted the sisters to come by he shook his head up and down. SO of course we went straight there and spent over an hour reading and talking with him. I think he really enjoyed it. It made me quite sad and really miss my job. President Joe Jackson called to let us know that he might not be able to join us tomorrow( kirtland historic site with a freind) because he would be with Elder Uchtdorf. BRUH. sTAY TUNED. We went to visit a member and she had an eviction notice on her apartment from over two weeks ago…. tried calling, texting, emailing. I got dog poop on my shoes and all over the car. I thought SIS H was tooting … realized my shoes were coated in dog poop. We went on quite the adventure to get it off in time for our member meal. We had a lovely night with Sister Manning. She’s awesome. She fed us SOOO much food. I prayed for strength to finish it and then she brought out dessert… God strengthens us. We saw Doug and had the best sit down. He loved the family proclamation to the world. 

Thursday-

Got mcdonalds sprite and mango pineapple smoothies for our trip up to kirtland. We took Micheal on a tour of the historic site with some senior missionaries and one of our ward missionaries, Brother Harber. IT WAS AWESOME. Walking into the school of prophets was unreal. The spirit was so beautifully prominent. The tour took forever but no complaints. Micheal loved it and so did I. Had some dinner with Sister Larsen and she told us some pretty cool miracles. God is so good. 

Friday-

Today we went up to Kirtland for interviews. I was praying we’d see Elder Uchtdorf. Sadly we did not. Interviews went great and I was told some cool things. Also was given a hint about transfers. President told us he really wants to keep us together because of the work we are doing and so the only way we'd be separated was if the spirit said differently. Gave a training that went pretty well. Headed home for weekly planning and some contacting. 

Saturday-

Only eventful things we called a cute new referall named Cheryl and she is the CUTEST. She says amen every two words and loves Jesus. So excited to teach her. Saw Sister Marsek who's amazing and talked our ear off. I love when we just get to listen, it’s refreshing. Had a member meal with the Cannons, who knows some of my family. Had amazing tacos. 

Sunday-

Church was so good. Latonya came and absolutely loved it. Doug also came. The talks were perfect for our friends. Latonya stayed for the baptism after church!!! Had dinner with the Smiths who fed us tri tip. So good. Went to a Why I Believe devotional and our friend Socrates came with Brother Harber. 

Monday- 

We saw our friend Marie and she was outside and asked us to follow us to her friends house because her abusive roommate was home and he hates religion. So when her friend pulled up he must have said no because he drove off and Marie started getting in our car and we had to awkwardly tell her we can’t give her a ride. Then we went back to her house and she cussed Jim out, flipped him off, and then we went inside to the kitchen. We taught a few things but she mostly just complained forever without taking a breath. It was crazy but I think she really needed it. Found out I have some good Ole skin cancer. I have a mole that is now doubled in size is spotty, a different color, and rough in texture. Now if I paid attention in anatomy I'd call that all the signs of skin cancer.  

Tuesday-

HOLY MOLY THE SPIRIT

Started off with a baller arm workout topped with some pancakes made to perfection. I had the most AMAZING personal study of my life. I was crying and found the most perfect things for Doug and Micheal. We had apartment checks and made cookies for the Senior couple and shared a cute message with them. We had a good companion study talking about our friends and what I found in my personal study. We had a good call with Keith. Spat some spiritual bars. Did a bunch of texts with spiritual messages attached. Had a quick lunch so I could start typing up this email. Main part and important part of today. We had a POWERFUL lesson with Doug. Id say our best lesson yet. We got him commited to following the Word of Wisdom and picking a day for baptsim. Had to fight back some tears in the lesson. Jesus Christ was very much with us today. He always is but today was very easy to feel him and our friends recognized it. So grateful for the power of prayer before studies and lessons, and just in general. Well we had a similar lesson with Micheal and basically told him to Choose God this day and shared the Lessons from liberty Jail talk and story with him. It was intensely powerful and we expressed how even though he's in hell from his arm he has to quit smoking NOW. Choose him THIS day. He commited to quitting for real. Brother Harber gave him a blessing and it was miraculous. Micheal had no words and the room was overflowing with peace. We sat there for a good minute before talking. A night to remember. 

Doug said “you've gained an inch and I said in height? No in filling out. You were a little thing when I first met you. you have gained weight a little bit. Your clothes look nice on you.” Awkwardly, offensively laughed. 

Called me a firecracker

Wednesday- 

Let's skip to the main part. I got a blessing right before finding out transfer information and it was beautiful, profound, everything I needed. Well then disaster struck when I opened the email and saw I was getting transferred to Tallmadge to be a SMS(social media specialist) in a ysa ward. Here's the positive and tender mercy I'm close enough I can come up for the baptisms. Bad news I am leaving and won't be in the same zone conference as Sister Heaton so I will not see her and I will be leaving the Kirtland zone. Being in the Kirtland zone has been a blessing. It's every Ohio missionary dream. The spirit is amazing. I perchance sobbed my face off for hours. President really pranked us but I guess the spirit told him we both needed to be with different people and I needed to go. Back to positive sister Thomas my first stl that I loved is once again my STL. My companion is right out of training so I'm sure she'll be a fireball of energy. Now you're thinking wow Sister Hoyt this is real positive of you… should of seen me sobbing saying I can't do this. Perchance I am terrified, nervous, anxious, etc. BUT I however do trust in the lord and am determined to increase that trust and learn to really rely on him. Saddest part I told Brother Mcgovern while he was at band practice and performances I would come sit with his wife(who has dementia) so he wouldn't worry about someone being there that didn't know what to do. I had already planned to do her nails, hair, planned what songs I was going to sing to her. Haha well sister Heaton will have to do it for me. I was excited to have a small piece of home with me out here. I realized I have awful social skills when it comes to YSA aged people (young single adults) I am a lot better with old people but I guess this will be a great learning opportunity. Today we taught Latonya and we had a great lesson. We started with 3 nephi 11 which was a wonderful pick because she was going to ask us about Mark 4 and 10 and all of them went perfectly together. So anywho we had a deep wonderful study. We also had distinct council which was a grand time. Our district leader brought the spirit strongly with what he had prepared. 

Thursday: 

Awful I had to say goodbye to so many wonderful people. It felt like I was leaving home again. Sappy texts from members and friends make me sob. Sister Heaton was probably terrified that the tears never stopped(she's a supportive queen) she for real is one of My best friends and will be at the airport when I come home. I want to throw up at the idea of not waking up with her and exercising and teaching and napping and etc. We got called the dynamic duo by so many members and that's such a shame it has to end. Anywho I saw lots of members and also taught some lessons. Main ones were my last lesson with Keith Kenny and brother Harber. They always make me laugh so hard. Then we had a great dinner with Doug and The Berretts. They're like a second family at this point. I love them so much and they sent me the sweetest message that made me sobbed… surprised? No. Packed up my whole life and had a struggle getting everything into the car whoops I've been hoarding stuff. Pure chaos trying to pack but sis H made me laugh the whole time and was a super helper. 

Friday: liberty jail - 

Okay that's a bit of a dramatic name but today was not it. We got us and finished packing and then got an email that transfers were delayed. We'll when it was time to go I needed to pick up a prescription and couldn't find my wallet, so had to go without it hehehe not good… panicked. Anywho the roads were AWFUL. Not plowed at all. Multiple cars stuck. I was drifting like a queen boss woman. After about 30 minutes we got to the plowedish part of the freeway and no longer had to go 30 in a 65. I made Sister H hold my hand the whole way to transfers while I sobbed. The anxiety, doubt, worry, was too much. I realized wow what little faith and then pulled it together. When we arrived the tears started again as soon as President came up to me. Here's how the conversation went…

Him: you're still going to talk to me? 

Me: haha yes President you did throw me a surprise. I wasn't prepared for that 

Him: I know but I was very prayerful about you and Sister Heaton and I know this is the right decision. You're needed in Tallmadge. 

Me: *in tears* okay I needed to hear it from you. Basically blabbering about how I trust but felt like I was leaving home again. 

Anywho then I saw my new comp and cried again. I really don't know what's wrong with my emotions lol but I have to be honest. Someone should count how many times I cried in the last three days. Anywho I made some elders move my bags for me into my new car and drove us to my new home. So our car was like half broken. Our area book was a mess. They had referrals not contacted from over a week ago *10 to be exact* I about threw up. Positive side our apartment is huge and I have my own bathroom and it's double the size of my last. Oh forgot we taught a lesson before getting to the apartment. It was fantastic. I'm terrified my new comp is a cutie but her first trainer slept for about 4 hours in the morning and some other not good stuff. Her second comp was so burnt out and also perchance did not teach her or be obedient. So cute Sister Haslam is a bit lost and scared herself. Also found out we are double covering an area. Pure chaos. Basically what this means is were over a normal family ward and then the YSA ward. So we're attending both churches, teaching all age groups, visiting all members from both, attending institute, attending all ysa activities, and on top of that must call all the companions in the zone every week and then have a seperate call with every district leader. I was like okay okay act calm don't scare new comp I got this. No fear but inside I was dying. 

Saturday: 

I don't even know what happened today. Jumped right into it. Found out some other SMS duties. I now run the Northeast Ohio Christian page. So go follow! I have to make posts every three days. Anywho we taught a fire lesson with a cutie woman outside in the snow for 30 minutes. Taught a full restoration lesson and she ate it up. Loved every minute of it but at the end couldn't feel anything on my body. Talmadge is below 0 most days and they don't plow roads because it snows all day everyday. Besides the point she wants to come to church every week and meet once a week. We then taught a cute 8 year old In a part member family. He's awesome and the cute mom bought us pizza so of course I had to eat it and suffer later because my comp is celiac so we both couldn't say no. Did a ton of calls and some weekly planning. Tried to clean up the area book but that will take all transfer. No tears today though I'm ready to conquer. 

Sunday: 

Started off with stress cleaning the crazy sisters closet. Went to the family ward sacrament and had two friends come! Then we attended 30 minutes of Sunday school then had to hop over to YSA sacrament meeting, then hopped to a meeting for our family ward coordination halfway through sacrament, then hopped back to YSA Sunday school. Yes I wanted to throw up but handled it like a champ. Perchance I have to fake it for my cute comp who was in tears, stressed out of her mind. We survived, I memorized a few people's names and made good contact with our cute friends. We had an hour long stake meeting where we talk about social media goals and data. So I had to quickly digest everything from the SML( social media leaders) so I could then repeat it all and make up some goals on the spot. The Spirit really helped me out. Then we did some knocking and found 4 beautiful new friends. I have realized I'm pretty convincing when needed. In like two days I've had to improve my question game and somehow overnight I'm improving- again obviously the lords help because he knows I need so much strength this transfer. We had three sync up calls tonight with SMLs, District leaders, and STLs. Pure chaos again. What's cool is Talmadge is a younger ward who loves missionary work. We have super high baptism and convert retention numbers except lately there's been some problems. I'm a little confused why President/ God didn't send two baller experienced missionaries here. We can do this I have to become baller overnight. My poor ghost glass bottle I've had since week one got shattered. Pure sadness. 

Moral of the story. I am okay and will probably survive. Might come out crawling after this transfer but there's a ton of work to be done and I will enjoy working hard, learning, and growing. Prayers up for the Talmadge area. 

This girl can sleep any time any where.. She always has.

Leaving your home of 4 months is always hard. Made many good "friends"

 

Super hard to say goodby to Sis. Heaton. A forever best friend.

 

Yeehaw

Yeehaw 

Monday- 

A beautiful Christmas. We spent the morning at a members house the Berretts. They are so cute when we pulled up the mom came running out with a poster and some nerf guns handed them to us and ran back inside. The poster basically summed up to you must fight your way inside there's 3 doors don't get shot. They have 7 kids and there were two of us. It was quite the hoot. Once we got inside we had some delicious crepes and watched their family open gifts. They got us gifts as well. It was so tender. They did the little Nerf challenge because last time I was at their house they asked me about my family Christmas traditions and every year my grandpa would barricade the stairs and make a challenge for us to fight through the morning of Christmas. As we got older he recruited my dad. It's always been so fun. They made Christmas away from home so wonderful. After that nothing too eventful happened! 

Tuesday- 

We were so dead today we were up the previous night until 12. It was a hard morning. We got by and enjoyed our day. We did so much knocking and found a really cool lady named Tamitra! She is beautiful and had lost her dad last Friday. She said we had come at just the right time and just the right day. She quickly gave us her number and took our number and insisted we come back and call her. I am more than excited to teach her how she can see her dad again. Families for eternity is the greatest thing ever. We had several friends that were taught in the past reach out today to meet again. Quite wonderful they took the initiative to message us. A member took us out for dinner at Chipotle. Gave us some business advice…

Wednesday- 

Had a killer district council. Went to a referrals house named Latonya and spent two hours there and perhaps I fell asleep a few times. I could have been drugged. I swear I was fighting for my life to stay awake but couldn't. I was pinching myself, bouncing my leg, all that jazz and still knocked out a few times. Luckily she didn't make eye contact or seem to notice. She talked for two hours straight telling us about her life. Sister Heaton really had to carry the team. We did several surprise stop bys. Most significant was our lesson with Micheal that was also two hours long but at least these two hours were completely on the gospel of Jesus Christ. He had some awesome questions and the spirit was very noticeable. I feel so strongly I stayed another transfer here in Solon for Micheal. My mouth gets filled with exactly what he needs to hear it's the most crazy experience to witness God's miracles first hand like that. I don't worry about going into our lessons with Micheal because all of them have been beautiful. After our lesson Micheal asked if we could meet the next day. He's so eager to learn more and he's been reading the Book of Mormon like CRAZY!

Thursday- 

 

Taught Micheal another beautiful lesson. Maybe top two favorite lessons. He is committing to quitting smoking!!!! We met with a super cool lady named Denise who wants us to come back! She didn't have much time so we read a chapter of the Book of Mormon with her. Saw our good friend Sammi we found last week. Set up a time to return again and committed him to church. We did some knocking and some good social media work. Today was one of those days that reminded me why I was out here. Our lesson with Micheal was so good and so powerful. A lady who's a member of the church yelled at us to not stop by and asked us to tell the church the same thing… sad for her, we are just trying to love her. 

Friday- 

TEMPLE DAY!!! I drove us down to Columbus to attend the temple. It was everything I could have ever needed. I felt so at home and had so much peace. Attending the temple is always so special but this time it was extra. If you know me you know I struggle a little with Anxiety and sometimes it can be pretty overwhelming especially on your mission. While at the temple I felt 100% at peace. Not a drop of anxiety or worry in the world. I sat for a good 40 minutes in the Celestial room and prayed my guts out and just enjoyed the spirit and impressions I was receiving. My small piece of Heaven to rejuvenate me. I was so sad to leave but we headed back to continue the awesome work. We ended up calling a million people and finding so many new friends that we passed our goals this week!! What a blessing. We had a great planning session and concluded the night with Sister Heaton feeling sick and being unable to attend training visits. Which I was more than happy about- not the sick part. 

Saturday- 

This day was crazy. Sister Heaton was still feeling weird so I planned the whole day for us and random spiritual promptings FLOWED. I had so many ideas on what we should do. We started with a social media video we were asked to make for the Mission… we're gonna be famous…. Jk but we did create a video that is going to be an ad for all of Cleveland so that's a bit scary. We recorded it about 100 times but ended up with a pretty good product. It was actually a great privilege to be asked to do it, this allowed us to reach so many more people than we normally could. We had a great lesson with our friend Socrates and invited him to be baptized and he said yes!!!! Then we hit the day with all the random promptings I had. We met so so so many cool people and at just the right time. Such a testimant to me of God's incredible ability to communicate with us through the Holy Ghost and being aware of everyone. So many times God shows us he's aware of us by sending us people. If you feel you should call, text, or stop by someone… DO IT!! Oh side note Sister Heaton felt completely great today and I don't think it's a coincidence she felt sick last night preventing us from doing companion swaps. We both needed to be in Solon today. 

Sunday- 

Another good day! We had two friends come to church and both sit with ward members!! Both speakers at church were AMAZING. Best talks I've heard. Best sacrament meeting I've ever been in. We then attended a baptismal service after church that was lovely. She was a cute little girl in the ward. Today we weren't allowed to knock which was okay because we had a bunch of lessons lined up. We ended up putting our friend Randall on date for baptism! A great way to end the year. We visited a past friend named Tim. He was a character haha. He came out smoking weed and then we stood in the rain and taught him. Following him we taught Micheal and Tatum. Ended the night with a few more calls and then a mission devotional that was lovely. 

 

This is the only whole year of my entire life I'll be a missionary. Everyday all day for a year I will give up my will to follow the Lord. How cool is that? 

 As you make new goals for this year, remember what is most important- our relationship with the Savior and our progression on the covenant path. 

Seek to make adjustments to bring you closer to your Savior

Seek to let go of the past and think Celestial