Buenos días! Sorry the email last week was so short! After working on scholarship essays for two hours the last thing you want to do is write a weekly email. But, lucky for you I had no essays to write this week! I've loved being with Sister Tveten but definitely miss Sister Hunter. She doesn't give herself enough credit for how awesome she was. Sister Tveten and I served together at the beginning of our missions and its crazy to think a year later we get to be companions!! We are so excited and already BFFs. Ok, let's get into the week!
Tuesday: We didn't really do a whole lot today because we had pday and then went straight from there to Centro Hispano. Yep, that's right, I'm back. We get to teach the orientation class and it has been nice getting to use our Spanish again! Helps keep me motivated to study.
Wednesday: Today we had a super boring day that ended up having a lot of crazy stuff in the morning! Luckily all our lessons canceled so we had 4 hours to walk the streets.... (can you hear the excitement in my voice?!) I'm a firm believer that if you give God something to work with he will give you a miracle. We decided that morning to mark up a Book of Mormon with all the questions of the soul, and asked God to help us find someone to give it to. So, we prayed about where we needed to go and decided on this one particular house. After driving and walking for about a half hour we realize the house straight up doesn't exist. Naturally we start to question why we felt prompted to come to this specific street. We start walking and I'm praying we find someone to talk to, when we bump into Nicole! She was drawing outside and we knew right there we needed to give her our Book of Mormon. When we gave it to her she burst into tears and was so excited to meet with us again. After a hard past few days of goodbyes, bad news, and hard memories, it was amazing to see the hand of the Lord in finding Nicole, we can't wait to bring her the joy of the gospel.
Thursday: This morning we had the amazing opportunity to help with a massive service program to give underprivileged kids clothes for a whole year. We got to go and shop with the kids at JCPenny and oh my goodness did I learn a lot, but the biggest thing was that I get to represent Jesus Christ every day, but serving like him this morning melted my heart as I watched Ruby pick out her new clothes. Even though naturally I can not stand shopping, especially with little kids, the love of the Savior overcame all my imperfections and I had an amazing time! We ended the day teaching at Hand Up NV which is always a party and a half.
Friday: Not gonna lie today wasn't anything to write home about.... The only fun thing was that we had a super cute 11 year old graduation into young woman's and our friends and recent converts were all there and it was seriously so happy to see them all progressing on their covenant path.
Saturday: The day of U-turns.... in total we made 21 U-turns. Not only am I directionally challenged Sister Tveten is too..... We are not good together in that aspect, but, we did make it where we needed to go and had an amazing lesson with Jenine and Sevan! They are seriously so prepared and elect. I can't believe we found them! They are interested in learning more and even asked how they can get baptized. We are so excited to see where this goes. I love getting to share the light of Christ with people who have had dark lives. It is truly the most fulfilling work.
Sunday: Sadly none of our cool new people came to church, or any of our cool old people... Don't worry we made sure they knew how sad we were that they didn't come. We spent the rest of the day watching the Christmas devotional, knocking doors, and doing our studies. We also met this funny lady named Heidi who we aren't quite sure if she's interested, but she self referred herself through come unto Christ and had already read the into of the Book of Mormon by the time we got there to do a lesson!
Ok, real talk, I don't get spiritual very often in these letters, but this week has been really hard. God put a lot of miracles and tender mercies in there to help me out, but, it was the one year anniversary of Elder Pope's passing, and the depression that I felt then started creeping its way back in this week. Among that I've received some pretty sad news, and am trying to adjust to a new companion. So, naturally I turned to the scriptures. While reading in the New Testament about the life of Christ I came across a footnote. For those of you that know me, I'm not a scriptorian, but, I love to read. I felt prompted to follow the footnote and came across this scripture in Acts 22
22 And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:
23 Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
As I read I couldn't help but put myself into Paul's shoes. I had been called to my own Jerusalem, not knowing the things that would befall me there. I knew there would be trials and the Holy Ghost helped me and warned me of those. As I read verse 24 I realized how God is truly in the details of my life. He knew I wasn't going to let those things move me, and he knew I was longing to feel the joy of missionary work, and to finish my mission out strong. As he told me the way to find joy was through preaching and teaching of Jesus Christ I reflected on my week and realized I had just witnessed the miracle of the Atonement. There were angels pulling me along my journey and I found so much joy in sharing the gospel. I know God is aware of your tiny details, and he's even more aware of the big ones. I can promise as you go out an serve as he did this Christmas season, you will find the joy, and peace you are looking for. Love you all!
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