Week 39: "It's one O in case you are wondering."

10/24/2022

Happy Monday Family and Friends! This week has been another adventure! Every single week there is something new and something for me to learn. I love you all so much!

Highlights!

Our friend Aurora lit up when we came by. Her face when she saw us helped me remember why I love missionary work! She is still progressing towards her baptism in 3 weeks. Whoo HOO! We also found a friend last week, Karastyn, who is really invested in learning more. We were able to teach her about the Atonement and the spirit really touched her. Teaching about the Atonement is one of my favorite parts of being a missionary. Another progressing friend is named Chance! We were able to have another lesson with him that went well. We gave him a few of the pamphlets to read. A few hours went by and he texted us saying that he already read all of them!

I knew crazy cat ladies existed but I wasn’t prepared to run into this one. We drove up to a house we were going to visit and we looked over to see a hippie lady in the driveway. She was sitting cross legged with her palms facing up and her eyes closed. I turned to Sister Oliphant and I said we must go talk to her! She was super kind and willing to talk with us. She has very different views about the premortal life and life after death. I have really enjoyed getting to know other viewpoints even when they are very interesting. This lady was definitely one of the best conversations I have had all week!

Another crazy interaction that happened this week was with a girl named Bella! Bella is 25 years old and has a very interesting perspective on life. She grew up in a family with very high standards like us but she is seeking someone who has high standards without any religion or family ties involved. It was one of the most confusing lessons I have ever had on my mission. She was so cute though!

Lastly we accidentally went to the wrong house where we ran into Bob. Bob is so kind and we were able to have an awesome gospel conversation. When we were leaving we said thanks Bob! He then replied, ” Its Bob with one O in case you mix it up.” LOL okay

Tomatoes and Moss! Service! We did a ton of service this week. The most we have done in a while. We helped the amazing Chinese family move, helped a random lady we found off of Facebook clean windows and the helped out at the food bank. My favorite service this week was helping a non member pick a TON of tomatoes ! Enough to fill laundry baskets! Another favorite this week was cleaning out the irrigation pond at the Meridian temple. They have this pond to irrigate the entire property! It is cleaned about every week to help it stay nice. It’s at the back of the temple with a big fence, so not super noticeable but it was very cool! I got to wear these overalls to go out further in the pond. So adventurous right!?

To end this email I’d love to leave you with some of my thoughts I have deeply pondered this week. That is, the phrase WHY ME? Life is not easy and sometimes I catch my thoughts telling Heavenly Father this isn’t fair. This last week I experienced a series of unfortunate events. Life events that simply happen. I was really sad and discouraged. When it rains it pours right? Well… I am a firm believer that you get what you look for and I was seeking positivity. I had a lot of time to reflect on my life changing mission experiences this week. I became quite emotional as I remembered the times I knew that God led me, God comforted me and God strengthened me. I know that God loves all of us and will not leave us! Yesterday I was able to lead our lesson at a members house. I taught them about the Atonement and it really hit me as I bore testimony of the things I knew to be true! I was reminded I don’t need to ask WHY ME because He has already been there! He knows why, He knows my heart and my struggles, He knows exactly how it feels. I know that if we turn to Him, He can turn those why me feelings into feelings of comfort and compassion. Let us not say why me but rather why not me? It is through tough times we become who He needs us to be. I love you all so much HAVE A GOOD WEEK