October 14, 2013

Family!

What a week it has been! This week has been a complete turn around from last- i'm not quite sure what changed but we have seen tons of miracles. And miracle #1 is that Sister Remund and I will be staying in Palo Verde ward for another transfer! That will make 4 1/2 months as a companionship. Thank goodness I love her. Miracle #2 is that I have successfully been a missionary for 6 months now! How crazy is that. I feel like it has only been 2 months since my first day at the MTC and yet I feel like I am a completely different person. It's crazy how the mission does that to you. Oh and miracle #3 is that a girl I taught in Paradise is getting baptized this weekend! She asked me to sing the musical number so we have a good excuse to go!

We met this fantastic lady named Barbara this week who has already adopted us as her grandkids- as she tells us everyday. We did some yardwork for her because she can't pull the weeds herself and she just broke down in tears. We said a prayer with her yesterday and she chimed in at the end of the prayer and just started crying as she told God thank you for sending us as an answer to her prayer that day. She is such a sweet lady and we are so excited to be able to teach her.

We had such a great day yesterday- 3 of our investigators made it to church! Fast and testimony meeting was a little nerve-racking though. A sweet sweet lady in the ward stood up and confessed all of her gambling problems and issues with the word of wisdom that have been keeping her from the temple then told the congregation that satan is almost more powerful than God. It is times like that when you have to rely on the spirit to not carry messages like that into the hearts of those that we brought. Haha. But the rest of the meeting was great. Jasmine is due to have her baby next week so we will have to wait to hold her baptism for a while because the emotions of a baptism could most likely put anyone into labor.

I gave my first training in District Meeting last week! I loved being able to do that. As I was studying for it, I realized the divine importance of Self-Mastery in our life. It is something I have been thinking about a lot since Elder Russel M. Nelson's talk on the body. Being on a mission has helped me realize the importance of giving up our worldly appetites and pleasures for that of a spiritual nature- and when we do it willingly we experience all kinds of crazy joy! That is what I have found. A lot of what we teach people is about giving up things of this world/ our old lives for something so much better and there truly is power behind testimonies and commitments when we have experienced it ourselves.

Las Vegas is finally cooling down and it is such a blessing! We have been wearing cardigans which is unheard of- it is like 50 degrees when we go running in the morning. Thank you for all the prayers and emails! I sure do love you all.

Sister Stoker