HOLA
AH this week has been amazing, i literally do not know where to begin!!
so i will number them :)
1. Arianna Baggely, who was in my sixth grade class at quest academy is in my mission!!! and in mission genealogy terms is my sister because my dad was her trainer (yeah im becoming fluent in it!)
2. My hives went away!! so now my face no longer feels like large grit sandpaper!
3. Heavenly father hears our prayers! we prayed that we would be able to find people, and the doors that were opened were people who were willing to at least listen to us! Or give us water! (did you know that if someone comes to your door and has a bottle or cup or something and ask for water, you cannot turn them away? people still do it to missionaries but ya know I HAVE NEVER VALUED WATER AS MUCH AS I DO HERE! IT IS PRECIOUS!)
4. so a member who has not been to church in a long LONG time. and who has not let missionaries enter into her home let us in 2 times this week! sister hederson and i were headed home, but we were trying to be obedient missionaries and we had some extra time, so she was like, hey lets try this person! and i was like sure why not we got time! THEN SHE WAS ACTUALLY THERE AND NOT ONLY THAT SHE WAS LIKE "OH! ITS YOU! COME ON IN!" it was super exciting! apparently we had waved at her while she was on her bike, and she thought "hey i should go back and talk to them!" but she didn't, then we showed up at her house! then she asked us if we needed a dinner, and our dinner had just cancelled on us for the next day so we were like "what are you doing tomorrow? then we went over and her and her son let us show them the #becausehelives video (if you have not seen it i highly recommend it, #waterworks #imnotcryingitsjustmyallergies) and she bore her testimony about how she has been able to feel close to him the most outside or in church, then her son (who apparently came out on Facebook a week prior that he was atheist) talked about the spirit that he could feel inside the temple!
5.okay, this is the one my family is probably waiting for... so i am going to leave it until next week :)
6. we are getting the chance to work with the youth more often which is really exciting.
7. my companion bated a dog with jerky to be her friend and stop barking and not eat her. it was a very very small dog. and only the first and the last of the things happened!
8. we met a recent convert who just moved into the ward who is preparing to go through the temple soon, she is amazing and is basically me in 20 years. still hyper, still excited about the gospel, still extremely sassy and someone who does not understand those that can deny god. like really my companion was like that is you in 20 years and i was like yes, yes it is, isnt that exciting!!
9.i can bike in a skirt #miracle!
10.my companion did not die from eating a weird fruit that has like this red spikey shell that turns out she was allergic to so that is nice she just got sickish
11. Packages!!
12. i got a photo book with my family in it, (also a 100$ voucher for wine because photofly gave it and my sis had it sent straight to me that was funny)
13. so we swung by this families house, and the dad was just home, so we couldnt go inside, but he was playing video games and the 2 children under the age of 5 decided to come out onto the front porch with the missionaries, so we spent 15 minutes trying to get these chittens to go back inside their home without picking them up, as their chocolate lab growled at us #briberydoesntwork #stickershavefailedme #nonowisnotagoodtimeforawalk #whereisdad?
14.we helped out a woman in the ward who is going through a divorce and has to move out, she has really bad social anxiety but she told us how grateful she was and how we should be proud to serve the lord and how church has become her refuge lately, also the lady who is me in 20 years? yeah she convinced her to stay that first day :)
15. okay really now, did you really think i would leave such an amazing story until next week? nah i would never! so my comp and i were walking down the street one night, i was shuffling in some gravel because one of the people who we like to visits dog likes to stick its head out of these weird holes at the bases of all the walls here (one day i will catch it on camera it is super funny) but i was trying to get it to do it again! then a car come by and a guy yells "sisters!! Whats up?" and i turn, thinking oh no! i was not being a good Representative of Christ (because would he do that? no, no he would not) but anywho i thought i was caught! then he introduces himself as Christopher funk. now i had seen his name on the ward list, and it said we shouldn't contact him because he didnt like the missionaries, and i had just emailed my dad that day? or day before? if we were related. so i asked him. "do you have any relatives in logan?" and he said "i have some in richmond!" and i was like who? "and he said, my dads name is Clarence funk!" i was like OH MY GOODNESS WE ARE RELATED!! I AM MARY LOUS GRANDAUGHTER. and he was like NO WAY WHICH CHILD"
anyway, he and my dad are cousins who went up and worked on the funk family farm every summer (say that 3 times fast) isnt that nuts!! so now i can swing by and talk to him!! its great, he has been through so much, and i hope i can be of help to him and help him come back to Christ. its crazy! missionaries are put in certain places at certain times to help people have a desire to come unto christ. it is crazy! i have seen how i can be of use, and how my testimony can be of use to the savior here, now i just need to stay obedient and work hard so that i can be a sharp tool in his hands! recently, i challenged Chris with a Funk family challenge.
in the book of mormon, the book of ether, chapter 12 verse 4 it says Wherefore whoso believeth in God might with a surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.
if anyone knows my family, we love to boat. and while Christ is the perfect anchor, one that is always true and will always hold us. we have to make sure we are holding onto the rope. and we have to be sure that that rope is strong and unfrayed. because if we loose that rope, we are still lost at sea. that rope is our faith, we have to check it, we have to be sure that it is strong enough to stand up to the tempest that the adversary throws at us (see helaman 5;12 below it is my favorite!!!) i left chris with that challenge, and i leave you with it as well. if you do not have that rope, that faith and hope in god and Jesus Christ, find it. read the scriptures, pray, search for him with all your heart. if you do have it, strengthen it! do not forget your rope until the time that you need it, because faith does not have a long shelf life, and it will break and you will be lost to the storm!
Helaman 5:12
and now my sons, remember, remember, that it is upon the rock of our redeemer, who is Christ, the son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.
can you see why this one is my favorite? second assignment, figure out why i draw a lighthouse on this scripture, remembering that each lighthouse has its own unique flash.
whelp that is it for this week!
love you all, remember that God loves you and satan hates your face!
Love sister, Hermana, sestra, Cordon
