M to the iracles

Family and friends and random readers of my blog......

I've had a roller coaster of a week. First of all...my twin is married!! :)  Congratulations to Luke and Erin Taylor! I've been thinking about you all week, so excited for you. I can't wait for pictures!  Not to take away from your day, but It was also my half birthday...Sister Weeks and I went to Medowie Maccadamias to celebrate. I think it's one of three restaurants in Medowie, such a special day.

We had a little bit of a slow start this week, did a lot of tracting, not my favorite thing in the world. But you have to find people in order to teach them right?? RIGHT. It's interesting...probably 8 out of 10 doors we knock on don't believe in God. Makes things a little difficult. We are teaching a couple new people, things are going well.  I will keep you updated of any sudden changes. It rained a bit this week, It was nice to have a cooler temperature to work in. Unfortunately the heat is only beginning...

Transfers are next week, so my Pday will be on Tuesday. Sister Weeks is going home and we are also losing 6 other sisters and only gaining one...so they might temporarily take sisters out of my area, maybe I'll get to go down to the city, no one knows. But then again since the work is doing so well right now, president might keep me here for another transfer. We will see.

We started teaching one of our investigator's daughter and her friend, they are 17. They really want to get some tattoos but the mom, who is our investigator, turned to them and said..."our bodies are temples girls..." haha she is SOLID. We love her.  We visited a lady named Harold in our branch, she is 89...the most precious old lady I've ever met. She has the cutest leopard print shoes...haha she's adorable.

Now it's miracle time...

Miracle #1

We have been teaching the A family.  We went over Thursday night to have dinner and share a lesson. We did a simple object lesson and then invited them to pray as a family during the week. The dad immediately responded..."No"....why not? "Because I don't want to, we're not gonna do it"...he hasn't been active for about 20 years and his partner isn't a member. So we talked to him for a minute and he said "well it's up to her," referring to his partner...and she was a little iffy and things got a little awkward...so we invited them to talk about it together when we're not here. We left and they invited us over again for the following week as usual. On the car drive home, Sister Weeks and I were just racking our brains, trying to figure them out. They keep inviting us over, and he even planned a family home evening the week before, so whats the problem?? Why does he keep inviting us over more and more as for when the missionaries first met him he wanted nothing to do with them...? We were confused. We get home and start planning when all of a sudden we get a text that reads..."Good news sisters, our friends called and cancelled so we will see you at church on Sunday.  Also, his partner wants to give prayer a go, I don't know what you two have been doing but she also wants to start taking the discussions next week!"..... this was me.... :O  WHAT!?! So amazing, words can't describe, Sister Weeks was like "Sister Raitt, do you realize we have been working on them for months!?" We were so excited, still are. Yay for miracles.

Miracle #2

The A family showed up to church! All 8 of them! And they stayed for all 3 hours! It was hard to read them, we weren't sure how they were liking church, the kids are a little distracting (crying...running away etc.) but all was well and we figured we would just chat with them next week about it.

We went over to visit with the young couple we've taught only just the once, they've been out of town and what not, so a little hard to track down. But we ran into the wife at Medowie Maccadamias (my half birthday) and she told us to come over. They are such a great couple, madly in love, very spiritual and they love the Savior. Solid couple. The husband had taken the discussions from the missionaries about ten years ago but he said they were very pushy and would talk about really deep, not even doctrinal, things. ugh...Elders...worthless. KIDDING! They're amazing. Love you. Anyways, we taught the Restoration and it was so AMAZINGGGGG! Sister Weeks is real keen on the Apostasy, she knows the Bible and just..knows her stuff. I was like her wingman, testifying...etc. Afterwards, we asked him how he felt about it now...and he said..."Sisters......you're just making too much sense, I'm too cranky to have all these truth bombs dropped on me" haha (he's witty) but we were so pumped, we KNOW he knows it's true. His wife is totally interested, they both asked for a Book of Mormon, he said himself.."well, there's no way anyone could have written this..." YES, HE'S GETTING IT! haha. Sister Weeks and I skipped all the way home. SO thrilled. 

And THEN, we get a text from Brother A (from the A family) and this is what it said..."Well Sisters, you're probably wondering how church went for us.  Well, the kids loved it, they keep asking when they get to go again, they can't wait to go next week. ________ enjoyed it too, and as for me, well the building didn't burn down so it looks like we'll be coming back to church again."  This was me... :O   Then Sister Weeks and I broke out into cartwheels...somersaults...etc. haha I'm kidding, but really we were so happy. 

Miracles happen. The church is true. Also, the only Chinese person I've ever seen here - James - happens to be in our branch. He told me he has some people coming to live with him and they want to learn! Yay, I finally get to teach in Chinese! I am beyond excited. Sister Weeks said this is the most she has had going on work wise in her whole mission. This is unheard of to have this much going on in an area like Medowie. It's amazing.

No cockroaches this week, I prayed really hard for that.

hahaha you guys will laugh at this...we were in a lesson and the girl was like..."yeah, I want to visit all 52 states."  Sister Weeks and I replied at the same time...."51/50"...yeah, guess who said 51...................so humiliating. hahah. and I was So confident too.

Challenge time...I would like all of you to read the talk from last years General Conference called "A time to prepare"...  With Sister Weeks going home, we've talked a bit about what things we want to change when we get home. This talk really motivated me to set some goals for myself and challenge all of you to do the same. I look back and I can't believe how much time was wasted on things like Facebook, the Gospel is so much more important. Sorry Kels, but I thought of you when I read this talk, Mom...make her read it. I challenge everyone to spend more time reading the scriptures and conference talks than the time you spend on the Internet or on your phone. If you want to be on Facebook for 2 hours...great...but that means you should read your scriptures for at least 2 hours BEFORE you Facebook. Read the talk, It sounds much better coming from an authority. 

There is so much to learn from the scriptures, i am in way over my head, i feel like I'll never be caught up...probably because that's not really possible, but I just wish I would have spent my time more wisely. Our time on earth is to prepare us to meet our Heavenly Father, whatever you are doing stop and think..."is this helping me prepare to meet my Heavenly Father?" Obviously, not everything can be managed like that but if we can minimize the worldly things as much as possible, Satan won't have any power over us.

Also my favorite quote this week is..."The most important commandment or principle is the one you aren't keeping."  So if you aren't paying your tithing, then that is the most important commandment. It makes so much sense, because I have often thought, yeah well...keeping the sabbath day is important but I think the Law of Chastity is more important....that's not how it works. Everyone struggles with different principles.  I love this quote. Puts things into perspective.

Side note...still haven't gotten a single letter from anyone....so that's neat. I've been here almost 3 weeks...but who needs mail right? who needs a family??.....I DO! I love you all so much, I know everyone is busy, including me, but I would love to hear from you if you have time. Have an amazing week, I'll be following up next week with how the challenge is coming... :) LOVE YOU!

Sister Raitt