July 1.2013

Wow, another week already! it seems like such a daunting task to write about the whole week!

 I guess I will just jump right in!

This week one miracle we had was meeting a family that let us in! It was Wednesday. We were fasting that day for our district, but it wasn't turning out to be such a successful day. Nobody we tried to visit was home and we weren't really able to talk to a lot of people. Sister Margaritis and I were pretty frustrated. We stopped by our apartment and I said a prayer. We were just both feeling very agitated. At the end of my prayer I just remember praying that we could just teach someone. That was all I wanted! So we got in our car and drove around. We said another prayer together, asking the Lord to help us know where he wanted us to be. We kept driving and Sister Margaritis thought of a family that someone had mentioned to her before. When we knocked on the door, the mother, Nancy, was so kind and she invited us in right away. I was kind of shocked! I didn't know that actually happened! Usually people just talk to us through a slight opening of their door. Anyways, the whole family is wonderful. They have one son and 2 daughters and they are all kind and adorable. We weren't able to meet the father, but we will on our return appointment! We taught Nancy about the Book of Mormon and she said she would try to read it. She already has such a beautiful testimony of God and said that reading anything that would bring her closer to god sounded like a good idea. We just bore testimony to her that it is true and can really bless her family with peace and happiness. I wish I had more time to write more, but I think that is the general idea of our miracle!

We met another lady named Tammy this week. You know how people say there are people prepared for you to teach in your mission? Well Tammy must be one of them! When we met her she just seemed so excited to see us! She introduced us to her dogs, who are like her kids, and showed us around her house, and told us it was her birthday, and was just a chatter box. She just loves people and loves talking! At one point I commented on her piano and Sister Margaritis told her I play and she had me play for her for probably 40 minutes. She just kept saying "Oh and play this one!" each time I finished a piece. She just ate it up! And then I found out later that she is a Public Health Professional, working in the Environmental area. A coincidence? I think not. Anyways, we are going back to help her garden and play the piano for her and hopefully teach her somewhere in there. She kept joking, "I don't think you will convert me," but she really wants us to come back. It was such a neat experience to meet her and pray with her before we went home.

Every day I must rely on my Savior. This is His work and so He is helping me so much in everything that I do. Every day seems a little brighter. Even though I miss things from home and from school (and the people of course!!) I find peace and comfort in the scriptures and prayer. I am so excited to read and study the scriptures and each morning. What a blessing it is to have a whole hour given to me to have my own personal time in the scriptures. I am finding that on my mission the Lord has blessed me to be a lot calmer and less...spastic! Even though the things we do are hard I know that the Lord is always with me. When things get hard just pray and pray and pray and then walk out of the house knowing that the Lord is with you. Always have faith in Him and know that whatever trial you face you can overcome it, because He already has!

So I am officially in the Washington Federal Way Mission! And guess what! Two of our elders in our district had to be emergency transferred (not because of anything they did-it was maybe another missionary that went home or something), and so they needed someone to cover their area. An they gave it to me and Sister Margaritis-a three month old trainer and a 1.5 week old greenie missionary! So we are keeping our old area and we are being pretty much white-washed into this new one. I am so excited. I really feel like this is a huge blessing to me. I like staying busy and having something that will keep my mind focused. I know that the Lord is going to help us accomplish all that we need to do. (1 Nephi 3:7) The ward for that area is amazing. I am looking forward to having more people to teach and more things to learn.