September 23

 

 My goodness what a bad week for Savannah!  I'm sorry about the loss of both cars but I am glad that Savannah is OK.  Sounds like someone up above is watching out for her and I'm so grateful!  Actually, I know that this might sound crazy and maybe a little prideful but I don't mean it to be.  As soon as I read that, I said a quick prayer thanking Heavenly Father for keeping her safe and I felt like the Spirit was telling me that one of the reasons that she was OK was because I'm out serving a mission (yeah I teared up when I got that feeling).  I am so grateful that she is OK and that nobody else got hurt in the process.  I hope that she will drive a little more carefully from now on and I'm sorry that she had to have such a bad week.  That's NEVER any fun for anyone!  Maybe I'll see what I can do to send her an extra letter this week in hopes of brightening her day.

I am in the Olympia Ward.  It's funny because one of the members (Brother Herzog) keeps talking about Brother Sonnie and every time he does I realize who he's talking about.  It's cool that they know each other and we have that connection!  I hope that one day you get to meet Brother Herzog.  He has so much knowledge about the temple and I could easily spend hours with him just listening and all of his tales about the symbolism of the temple and what everything means.  He's great.  In fact, the whole ward is great.  We found out that the reason why ..... decided to go ahead and get baptized was because of how wonderful the ward was and how well they treated him.  I was suddenly even more grateful to serve in this ward where everyone is so eager to fellowship and so kind to those they don't know yet.  The baptism was a success and he was confirmed the next morning at church!  He was so happy and I loved just being able to see his beaming face.  The baptism was a little unique though because he breathes through his throat so he didn't plug his nose when he went into the water.  Our Mission President was there and he was pretty excited to meet .....

Now that .....'s been baptized, we're focusing on finding people to teach again.  We are teaching 2 people who both want to be baptized but we know that we need to find as well in order to bring the gospel to everyone in this area.  It's actually pretty fun to knock on doors and meet all kinds of different people.  In just this area alone, I've met people from 26 different countries.  Talk about diversity!  I love being able to talk to everyone and learn about different cultures and how people act and think in the different places they've lived.

My companion is doing well.  It's always an adjustment to have a new companion and I have to be a lot more patient with this companion.  It is always a very humbling experience to get a new companion because you have to re-adjust your styles in order for them to work together.  Plus, every companion reacts to things differently so it takes a lot of compromising with each other so we can all work together in unity.  But we've had some incredible lessons that we've taught together and we are slowly adjusting and compromising with one another.  It's working out well!  Our  Mission President told me that she was assigned to be my companion so I can help her with some things and I am so grateful for the fact that I graduated in the degree that I did because it is helping me a lot with getting this sister to open up so I can help her.  I am so grateful for all that Heavenly Father has done to prepare me for this mission and for the things that I will be doing in the future!  Sometimes, we don't understand what or why we need to learn certain things, but then they become apparent later on in life in ways that we never expected.  I am so grateful that Heavenly Father is playing a hand in my life!

We had an incredible lesson earlier this week.  We taught a woman who is friends with a member in the ward.  We taught her the first lesson and all that she could talk about was that this all felt complete.  What we shared with her answered the questions that she had and filled the void that she was feeling.  Afterwards, the members were talking to us and complimenting  us on how well we did.  However, all I could think about was the fact that we didn't do much of anything.  It was all the Spirit!  This investigator was so ready and so open to just knowing what she needed to know in order to come closer to Christ.  Because of that great desire and her willingness to do whatever she needed to do to achieve that, the Spirit was able to testify to her as we spoke.  Probably one of the greatest things that I've learned so far on my mission is that we as missionaries can't do anything or accomplish anything without the Spirit!  This missionary work would be useless without the Spirit on our side.  How wonderful it is to know that the Lord is on our side as long as we are living according to His will!

Well I need to get going, but I love you all and I am grateful for your prayers.  Thank you for your love and support.  I love being able to hear from you each week and see how you're all growing over this time.  It's amazing how fast time is going by.  It's a bittersweet feeling.  Love and miss you all!

With love,

Sister Ward