Week 16: See it to Believe it

What a week, everybody! (I apologize in advance for the length)

Update for this week:

HOLY COW WE'VE HAD SO MANY MIRACLES THIS WEEK!!! LIKE OH MY GOODNESS someone must've been praying for us or something

•Sister Wilson and I really hit it off on Monday and we got to see Bishop that evening and he asked us to bear our testimonies and that was way cool :)

•Tuesday we had a FIRE Zone and District Council and our Stake President, President Jarmin got on a zoom call with us and talked about the 40 day fast the Stake is doing starting on the 20th, which is gonna be SO AWESOME!!!

•We also had a lesson with some members on Tuesday over zoom and we talked about Zion and it was SO GOOD like holy goodness it was just amazing

•Last Sunday Sister Manning was saying her goodbyes and a nonmember couple gave us a referral. Sister Wilson and I got to go visit her on Wednesday and it was AWESOME! We happened to have flowers so I made a little bouquet for her and we got to say a prayer with her and she seemed very touched. Her name is Sally :)

•After Sally, we were doing some finding at the dog park/trail and the golf course just down the road and we talked to a member who's related to our Young Women's President in the ward!

•We also stopped to talk to a Jewish man named Chris whose brother converted to Catholicism and he liked the change he saw in his brother! We gave him a pamphlet :) AND he told us about a super popular place is when it's sunny so that was some good finding tips right there

•When we were leaving the dog park I had this feeling to turn around and talk to this lady and we were like walking out of the gates so I was like naw we'll talk to someone else and we got like 5 steps away and I was like... we gotta go back. So we turned right around and talked to her and shes so cool! Her name is Taryn and we gave her a pamphlet and talked for a bit. THEN later that same day we saw her walking down the street and we did a U-turn and talked to her and she seemed excited to see us! She said she'd talk to us later :)

•We also went to visit a very inactive woman and we asked if we could share a message sometime and she was like "yeah let me grab my boys!" So we got to share Helaman 5:12 with her and her boys who are like 6 and 3 and it was SO GOOD and we said a prayer with them too before we left and AH it was amazing :)

•ALSO we've been visiting a ton of our potentials and we went back to one and her husband Greg answered and said he wasn't really interested but he said we can come back and talk with him more...

•WE ALSO were asked to help with a primary Zoom activity so we talked about missionary work and service and stuff and it was super fun :))

•We also had an awesome Alma 50 thought lesson with an inactive member named Rosalba and we asked her to pick one protection to strengthen for a week :)) it seemed like she was super thoughtful about it and it was so good

•ALSO WE SAW A SHOOTING STAR THIS WEEK AND IT WAS SO BIG IT WAS REALLY COOL

•On Saturday it was SUCH a busy day, but it was so good! We went on a hike in the afternoon with the North Bend Sisters and a couple potentials and I got to invite them to church and they were so interested!! They asked questions about like missions and what we do and like why we're here and we talked about church and religions and temples and it was just way cool

•After the hike we had a bit of time before dinner so we stopped at an inactive members house and her husband answered and we talked to him and asked if we could share a message sometime and he was so willing to have us back over sometime!!! He said he'd be hard to convert, but we'll see if his heart gets any softer with the Spirit

•We also went by another inactive named Michelle and she was super excited about church and she couldn't get work off for Sunday, but they're cutting hours where she is so she's planning on getting Sundays off in the future!!!

•We stopped by another potential named Cortez that lives by Michelle and he said to come back tomorrow so on Sunday we stopped by and he grabbed his coat so he could talk to us for a while and he was interested in church and stuff and he's so humble and he told us he prays twice a day and should be studying the Bible more and it was a great conversation we had!! He has a pregnant girlfriend though, so we're gonna have to tell him how important it is to get married

•On Saturday we did some tracting as well and the FIRST DOOR we knocked on was an inactive member that we didn't have records for!! It was so cool!!! We talked to her for a bit and when we offered service you could see her soften, it was really cool

•Saturday night Sister Wilson was unpacking for a bit and I did Facebook finding and I had a feeling to check one group I hadn't looked at for a while and literally the FIRST POST ON IT was "Hi I'm Christian and want to learn more about the Mormon Church" so that was low key kind of crazy but also so cool!!

•OH ALSO on Saturday we were going back to a potential that we had an R/A with but the WEREN'T HOME but this lady driving down the street saw us and pulled over and ran out of her car to tell us she was related to the Brown family in our ward and that Brother Brown has a sister that's never been baptized and she told us where she lives and stuff and then asked if we had food and then drove away she was so cute :)

•On Sunday we had literally SO MANY MIRACLES. First off, we had in person church, which was AWESOME

•Then our dinner fell through, but we got to plan our schedule how it worked for us, so that was good :)

•Then we went back to Cortez and on the way back to our car there was a lady and some girls on their balcony that were super excited about the snow and they thought we were someone else so they started asking where my child was and I was like ummm we're actually missionaries, would you be interested in Jesus Christ? And they were like Yeah, so we walked around to the door to give them a pamphlet cuz she said not right now, but then she ended up LETTING US IN and she offered us tea and Turkish coffee and we told her we couldn't drink that so she gave us water and she had like platters of nuts and figs and dates and it was so cool! She and her friend were from Iraq and we talked about people and religions and how not a whole religion is bad just because of some people in that religion. It was such a good convo :)) ALSO her name is Besma which means smile! She's so cute :) we're going back later this week

•After we left Besma's we got in the car and then we were like hmmm let's actually do some tracting here so we got out of the car and started walking to where we wanted to tract and this older man calls out to us and starts talking to us and he was like let's go sit on that bench and we were like ok so we had a conversation with him, his name is Tiny, and he basically told us his whole religious history about going to Lutheran and Methodist church and he was tired of hypocrites. He went to Mormon church a couple times and liked it and he's read the Book of Mormon and stuff and the only hold up is that he doesn't want to pressure his wife, who isn't really religious Also he's died like 5 times and he told us one of his experiences where he saw his body and then flew up and he wasn't scared and he came to these iron gates and he wanted to go in, but a deep and kind voice told him it wasn't his time, so now he doesn't just believe, he KNOWS. I also got to share a Book of Mormon scripture with him in Alma that I read a few days ago and we also said a prayer with him and when our prayer was finished he added his own prayer onto ours and it was just so cool!!! He told us that he felt something with us and it was good :))

•Also we found Taryn on Facebook kind of magically AND she and I had a mutual friend, so I friended her

•ANOTHER MIRACLE that happened earlier this week, I forgot to mention, is that we went back to a potential named Zack that we had given a Book of Mormon and a pamphlet to and he wasn't there, but his wife was and she was so cute! She talked to us for a bit and told us to come back another time and she was very kind :))

•ALSO our youth missionary activity kicked off yesterday and it's gonna be awesome :))))

I'm sure we had more miracles than that lol, but my memory isn't super great so I'll leave it at that

It is definitely a good time up in the mountains of Mount Si!!!

Scripture of the week:

Ether 12:4

"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."

I have TOTALLY seen this this week. Faith in God leads to a hope that we can make the world a better place because of Him and because of Jesus Christ. If we are anxiously engaged in doing good, They will provide ways that we can serve those around us and make the world a better place

Quotes this week:

•"Yeah, mission life is crazy, you meet all these weird people and everybody's just weird. It's awesome" -Sister Wilson

•"What's a weekly email?" -Sister Wilson

•"You should write a book!" "What would it be about?" "I dont know, but whatever it is, you're so knowledgable it would be good. I'd totally buy it." -Sister Garbett to me

Fun Fact (courtesy of Joe):

We have the same strain of the bubonic plague today as in medieval times, the reason it isn't killing as much is that we don't have as bad malnutrition

P.S. if you have a fun fact or a joke, please email it to me and I will try to feature it in my weekly email at some point (as long as it's appropriate)