Whoops....I don't think this is in our mission...

October 09, 2017

Hey y'all!

Wow. So much happened this week, and most of it wasn't even in my area!

Last Monday we were able to have a FHE with Rachel AND Kevin at the Higgins home! It was super awesome! We wanted to teach the Law of Chastity, but we had to be careful what we talked about, since there were young kids there. We had been praying to figure out how best to teach it, and during Elder Oak's talk, we decided that it would be best to use the Family Proclamation to The World. So that's what we did. We read part of the document, discussed it. Both of us, Brother, and Sister Higgins all shared our testimony of families. Those things, coupled with the spirit of their home made for a ridiculously powerful lesson. They had no chance. After the lesson, before we committed them to pray about getting married or moving out, they informed us that they want their family to be like this one, and they're gonna get married in two weeks!?!?!?! So now Elder McCain and I have been promoted from wedding decorator, to full wedding planners. I see a bright career ahead!

So that was Rachel and Kevin this week. They had a crazy Sunday, so they didn't make it to church this week, but Rachel did manage to make it to a fireside Sunday night, so that's something. We're hopefully having another FHE with them tonight at the Seaman's, so finger's are crossed!

Tuesday was a pretty normal day. We had to get flu shots, which was a party. Then we made something called a "Thug Jug" (which is something missionaries use for water) to give to our investigator Byron, to keep his koolaid in, since he's quitting drinking! Pictures of this beautiful jug are attached.

Then Wednesday and Thursday Morning we spent in Kirksville Missouri, doing a Zone Blitz! Basically that means that all ten elders in our zone descended on one area. It was incredible. It was also Elder McCain's 20th birthday, so that made for some extra fun!

For the blitz exchange, I got to be with Elder Steed! From my MTC district! Oh, it was so much fun! We got sent to go find three less-active members in these super tiny towns. Two of them weren't interested at all, one of them moved to South Dakota (But we turned that one's boyfriend into a investigator), and just knocked every door in these towns. It was super sad though, those towns are just dead. And people still hate mormons. There were actually two people who told us that when they kicked us out, they didn't want us to come back, and Elder McCain had a gun pulled on him in another area. Super sad.

Anyway, we drove to one of those towns to find someone, and it was super useless, cause the whole town (about 70 people) were busy putting out a house fire out. So after we tried to talk to them, and were promptly rejected, we decided to go to our third town. The GPS was going a little crazy, and we ended up in the middle of a grass road, dead ended in a creek, high centered. It was great. After I pushed us out, and we were on our way, we realized that the GPS had taken us outside of our mission boundaries. So I guess that was God's way of punishing us. Whoops.

After that blitz, we had an exchange with the ZL's, and Elder Mitchell and I knocked into, consecutively, a witch, a militant atheist, a normal atheist, and an agnostic (with an atheist husband). It was a great day for calling people to repentance!

Saturday, we got to go on our Ward's trek. It was super fun! I got taught how to push a handcart by my favorite little Caroline Seaman, pics attached. It was good, muddy fun, but now I've been on trek where they started, and in missionary clothes! It was a great time!

Then Sunday night all the missionaries from our stake (Nauvoo and Quincy zones), got to sing at a fireside in Nauvoo. It was a super cool experience!

I've thought a lot this week about walking. Why we find investigators when we're walking, why I have to walk to reach a destination when I'm hiking. Mostly though, I've been thinking of our journey back to our Heavenly home as a trail, and how repentance is simply changing the direction we're walking. That's the context for this week's poem:

When walking through this life,

We forget to look around.

We waste our time, staring,

At the ground. Ask yourself,

Which way am I walking?

You see, sometimes we walk,

For the sake of walking,

And in our haste, without a pace,

We waste the way worth walking.

So everyday, as you pray,

Decide, say, choose the way,

Start moving with intent.

Look at the day,

The progress made, by asking,

Which way should I be walking?

That's all for now! Love you all!

Godspeed!

After getting the shot, with Elder McCain

After getting the shot, with the squad, with the squad sweats, and the squad shirts.

About to get the flu shot-they look pretty happy about it. (I had to put this one out of order, because the blog always grabs the first photo posted and I thought the top on was fun!)