Service, a Miracle and a Baptism of Five!

10-19-15

Dear Family,

This week is probably going to be in my top five favorite weeks of my mission. It was the most incredible week ever! There were definitely some hard points, but the miracles and happiness we saw is amazing.

On Monday, I was trying to figure out some school stuff but I gave up. It is very stressful, especially since I only have so much time on Mondays to figure it out. We ate dinner with the O’s. I just love them all so much. They are great. They raelly love missionaries and I think they want to do something for me before I go home. (OH I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU: I'M ENDING HERE! Sister Putnam and I are staying together in Kings Canyon. I am SO EXCITED!!!) So that's really sweet of them. They were surprised Sister Putnam is still here--it'll be her seventh transfer. Only my fourth and last. But that's okay. We saw H too. That was fun. We finished watching a movie with them and then discussed it. He needs visuals. He isn't progressing super well, but I know that he will. He needs this gospel. I just love them so much. (Alma 7:11-13, 19)

Tuesday we had district meeting. Elder V is going home in two days so that was sad. But we have one last district meeting tomorrow with him so that will be good. We saw the F’s and we finally met the new baby! She's so cute! She was crying a little while we were there and I just wanted to pick her up. but I didn't. That probably wouldn't have been okay. We saw the U’s. We haven't seen them in a really long time. We saw the O’s for dinner. They feed us a lot. I really just love them. We saw the P’s and we didn't think M was going to be able to be baptized with them this last weekend, but her grandma was there so we were able to get permission for her to be baptized!! It was so exciting! And a huge miracle. We weren't sure it was goign to happen. We saw the R family. They are super sweet. They love the missionaries. I just love them so much. They gave us pumpkins one day last week. (Matthew 25:21)

On Wednesday, we did some service with the D sisters and a whole bunch of other missionaries. We painted a fence for one of their investigators. It was fun! We couldn't stay the whole time because we had an appointment that fell through actually, but it was fun! The paint was red and I got it on my white sweats. It looked like blood. It was crazy. We ate lunch with the O’s. It was fun! They had a pizza a member had given us and cooked it for us. I loved it. We saw Sister V for a few minutes. She's a sweetheart. I really like her. Then we saw Sister P. She reminds me every time we go that I go home soon...it's awesome. We ate dinner with the B’s. That was cool. they are so awesome. Then we stopped by D and Pbut they were busy. So we went to mutual for a few minutes and then saw H again. I just love them all. (Ether 12:6)

Thursday was a slow day. We saw the L’s in the morning and Sister Lhad to go to the hospital :( Then we stopped by a few people but it all fell through. We had M's interview for baptism so that was really good. Then we ate dinner with Sister H. She's really sweet but their family is super busy. We saw A M and found out she is moving to Arkansas! So we were really glad we stopped by. We saw Brother H and he told us some depressing stories about when he volunteered for search and rescue. Four people he was looking for died. One was a woman who was running from a bear and she jumped into a body of water with a water fall and got sucked under. Two were two year old kids--one was kidnapped and the other fell into a bucket or something in the ground. The last was an LDS man that he and his dad just never found. IT was so sad! But he told us a good one the next day. (Alma 11:40)

Friday, we saw the O’s because they helped us with the program for the baptism. Then we weekly planned. We ate dinner with the F’s, whom I love. They are some of my favorite people ever. They are so funny and their daughter, A, is a cutie. She makes the funniest comments ever and she painted us a picture! We saw the U’s again and invited F to church. This time she came!! We saw Brother H again and he told us how he almost died from hypothermia when he was trying to find his nephew and his nephew's family. He found them! In the mountains. Their truck had died and they just couldn't get out. It was raining and cold and it was seven miles to the road. They made it though! (Alma 26:12)

Saturday, we saw T J briefly. We had a crazy day. It was weird. WE didn't do much until the baptism and then it was awesome! All the kids were so nervous but super excited. And P cried. The person baptizing them was there really late though so we started late. It didn't help that he didn't know he was supposed to baptize them. But he did it and it was amazing! I got some really good pictures and I will send them. The family was so awesome and the baptism was so spirit filled. I just loved it. It was a once in a mission experience. I don't think I've ever felt so...good. And the thing was I knew it wasn't us. It was God, guiding us to help them. Obviously they needed us and our personalities but I know that it was God. This is God's work and it will be done His way. After the baptism we ate dinner with the K family. They're pretty great. Not very talkative though. Then we saw M and she is doing great. I love her so much. Transfer call was this night and I was really freaking out about it--for no reason, apparently. Nothing really changed except our district leader. It was crazy. I didn't expect that. But we were so excited! (Ether 12:27, Alma 19:13)

On Sunday we had church. It was good. The confirmations took up most of sacrament meeting. It was pretty cool to see the family baptized. The speakers had a total of 20 minutes to speak. I felt slightly bad. It was a good meeting though! A return missionary spoke about family history work. It was cool. We missed second hour because we were getting signatures on our baptismal records and finishing that up. It was great. We saw P after church at the B’s. It was a good lesson. Then we ate dinner with Sister H and her four boys. Brother H was out of town. He wasn't able to come to the baptism :( We saw Brother H after that. He taught us how to play his buffalo hunt game. It was fun! He's so awesome. I just love this area so much. (Helaman 5:24-26--this is the scripture I ponderized this week. Have you tried it??)