Week 13: 3 months already? Oldies, Christ and JOY

4/11/2022

This week has been a crazy week! It has been a long but good week. The days are long but the weeks are fast! I can not believe I am already writing to you all again.. some say time flies when you are having fun. I hope you guys are doing well! 

“May I borrow a lighter, I promise I won’t burn down your house?” I Didn’t think I would ever catch myself saying those words on my mission lol. We were able to do a super cool lesson about faith, trust or the Atonement a few times this week. This lesson includes lighting a tea bag on fire while holding it in your hand. You have to trust that you are not going to get burned. I’m not going to give away all of my magic secrets but it is a super fun and interactive lesson. The first time we did this was kinda last minute, but a huge tender mercy. All of our lessons that we had scheduled fell through and about 15 min later we got a text from this family saying that we could come over. We decided to do this lesson for the first time. I was so nervous it wasn’t gonna work! I guess I was the one who needed to exercise faith. The daughter was in tears as we both testified and explained her grandpa had just passed. Heavenly Father knew we needed to bring some light into that family’s home that day. That was a big moment in trusting God knows best, it was a bummer to have both lessons canceled but he lined it up perfectly without a doubt we needed to be there. 

Sister Schmidt has a friend from home that just so happened to be visiting a friend who lives in Nampa. She called us up and asked if she could take us out to lunch one day. It was so much fun to get out and enjoy some good laughs. It’s such a small world! We definitely got spoiled this week, we had another member take us out to dinner for our dinner appointment. We ate at this fancy restaurant called … It was super yummy. Members are so amazing. 

Something that really surprised me being on a mission is how much I miss being a CNA. Boy do I love my oldies  We had the opportunity to go visit and teach a lesson to an inactive family. The mom had her old parents there. We would be in the middle of a question or thought and the grandpa would cut us off and ask something random lol. He had us guess how many kids he had about 10 times. Afterward Sister Schmidt looked at me and I said welcome to my life. I love them 🙂 She was like idk how you did that, it would have to be hard sometimes. 

I have really gotten to love the youth in our wards the more and more I am around them. We have been going to the youth activities to get to know them and to build a relationship with those youth age kids we are teaching. We had such a cool interaction. They were preparing for trek so they were decorating five gallon buckets. Right as we walked in, a few of the girls called me over and said, ” Sister HJowick will you sign my bucket?” Awww my heart melted. they wanted me to put an uplifting quote or a scripture basically anything as long as I signed it. Some of the young men wanted me to sign it as well! That was a simple but a special moment for me 🙂

HUGE PROGRESS IS HAPPENING WITH MY FRIENDS!  We had the most amazing and exciting interaction with Addy this week. We actually just knocked on her door and ended up walking her dog with her. I invited her to an upcoming event and she paused and looked over at us. She said, “I have a problem, I have to be baptized. I really want to be baptized and I don’t even care who does it, I just want to be baptized! My dad can not do it and my grandpa lives too far away to do it.” After she told us this we just had a really good talk and re-invited her to the activity. She didn’t have to be baptized to come. Addy wants it so bad and she is so ready to press forward. LINDA is our sweet old granny who is maybe interested in the gospel. We were able to get our hands on a large print BOM and we were able to have a good discussion with her. She is excited to begin reading the BOM.

WALK WITH CHRIST EVENT. This was a huge stake event that our 7th ward put together. They set up beautiful themed displays of Christ in a few rooms of the church. It was so beautifully done I was so honestly blown away. We had the opportunity to stand at the end of the path and thank people for coming and gather feedback. I saw all kinds of pure emotions. People with tears in their eyes, Smiles, love and more. We were introduced to a lot of non-members and even had a few amazing missionary moments. This display of Christ brought tears to my eyes as I walked through it myself. Christ LOVES each and every one of us so individually and personally. He died for us and gave us the greatest gift we can ever receive and ever will receive, The atonement! Christ Lives! remember everyone the true meaning of ester this week. I know this is true and I know how much he loves us all. It brings so much joy and emotions to me when I think about all He really did for me. I’m so grateful this event reminded me of all of those things and I’m grateful I could be a part of that.  

Lastly, We were able to attend a little boy’s baptism this week. We planned his baptism and were a part of it. His name is Cory. Sister Schmidt taught Corey a tiny bit here and there throughout her time in Kuna. Corey doesn’t count for a baptism for us because he is eight years old but it was super nice to be a part of his baptism and help him reach that first covenant. He was so nervous but right after that he was so happy! This gospel is a gospel of joy! 

I went crazy at sports morning again and I won! It was so fun and everyone was super hyped. I got Elder Lopez out. He is super good at soccer and we never can get him out. I am finally building a good relationship with my district. I’m grateful we can support each other, they have been really great this transfer. Another fun thing that happened this week was a Disney theme day. Sister Schmidt picked out my outfit for me and kinda went crazy for a fun Disney day. My favorite companionship activity that we have done so far was CAMPING. We, after missionary hours of course, Got ready for bed as fast as we could and we built a fort in our room. It actually worked out so well! We put our mattresses under the fort on the floor and we spelt under the fort. Sister Schmidt had a flashlight and we told each other fun stories in our tent fort with the flashlight. It was so fun and honestly felt like we could have been camping. Lastly, We had a super fun time helping the primary with an egg hunt and doing some service helping a family move.