A Series of . . . Events

* Refers to the book series (and movie, and TV series) A Series of Unfortunate Events.

It's not like they were unfortunate, they just HAPPENED.

> We jacked up a car. But... in the best way possible. (I'm looking at you Dad)

> We had an amazing lesson with our investigator Danitza. She loves everything we tell her, especially Josef Smith and his first Vision!! SHE'LL PROBABLY GET BAPTISED!! (I'm working on Faith this week :)

> We got an amazing referral from West Jordan, UT. We met with him once, and before we taught the Restoration, he said he wanted to join the church, and then came to church on Sunday. Still haven't taught him the Restoration

> We had dinner with the Elders at the bishop's house then helped our recent convert clean the church! But the best part happened afterwards: Hna Stowell challenged Elder Haderlie to a watermelon eating contest. Pictures are following! Under 5 min. OOf.

> We went to visit Hno Cerrato in the Hospital. It was really good for both him and Hna Stowell. And I understood none of his Spanish. :)

> We showed up at church Sunday, and because we were so focused on helping Oscar get to church, it wasn’t until Sunday School that we noticed there were like 20 OTHER PEOPLE THERE!!!?! Ok, really only like 6, not including Oscar, but neither the elders nor us knew who they were or where they came from. Apparently, one of them signed up to feed us and he lives in Pine Hills! #BacktoWindyRidge!

That's about all that really happened Besides a really cool week of studies learning all about Shiblon, Zeezrom, Corianton, Pahoran, and the servant of Helaman!! I JUST ABSOLUTLY LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON!! Y'all should take a moment and notice for yourself how Corianton repents, or how Zeezrom repents... or how Pahoran continues to fight until the end of the war, even though he's the chief judge.

Wow.

Well, I've got some solid faith unto repentance to go study! See you around! [Or however Bill Nye signs off.]

 

 

Serve Him with all your strength: CHECK!!

H-what a week folks! I'm not even sure what happened there! Let's take a look at the highlight reel!

-- I suffered the consequences of my companion’s goal for submissiveness. We biked all day: through the heat, through the rain, through bugs as thick as the rain (:P) (#Extraprotien!!), through puddles, but, sadly, not through the curb. Let's just say, my bruise is never going to heal! ✌😄✌ (Nixon!!) But we had a great lesson with our investigator Angel! He said "that chapter (meaning 1 Nephi 1) just left me hungry! I wanna keep reading!!" It was awesome! :D

-- One more door: it was about to rain, so we decided to knock one more door. We knock the door, and as it opens, God fulfills his promise in 3 Nephi 24 to "open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Blessing meaning rain in this instance. It. Poured. The resident wasn't interested, but he was also 'too kind' to let us leave his porch, so he pulled out chairs and we sat on his porch while he showed us pictures of Idaho and Arizona (he deleted his pictures of UT |:" ), getting soaked slowly by the mist instead of quickly by the rain.

 -- We had an awesome lesson with Dantiza! She's crazy busy and life's hitting her hard, so we introduced the Book of Mormon, and before we could offer it to her, she was asking if she could have it! SHOCKED!! Then we were trying to commit her to read every day, and I had just started saying "We understand that life is super crazy right now, but--" when she interrupts with "Well, He gives me all of His time, I can give Him some of mine." *smiles* DOUBLE SHOCKED!! I'm pretty sure I staggered out of that lesson.

-- We then moved Angel out of his house. The elders packed up everything in the Apartment, my companion made sure it all fit in the truck, and I carried things between them. Let it be known that Angel lives on the 3rd floor. #Legday!!

And there it is, Folks! What a shocking play! Who would've seen the extra 4 hours of service and no new investigators move coming?

... ANYWAYS...

HAVE A GREAT WEEK Y'ALL!!

I LUV DA RAIN!

Moving day! My companion "after" the rain... (#sweatnotrain)

While moving, we were watching the little ducklings (patitos!!) And we noticed how there were 4 of them and for of us. We then watched a hawk swoop down and snatch up a patito. Now there are only 3. Super traumatizing.

A lot of rain and no submissiveness.

A couple thousand words*

[*references "If," by Bread] 

Mother's Day was good! Sorry not all of you could be there, but I'm newsed-out. Here's some photos.


Photos of our area.

Mud ducks. They're so ugly

A bird we saw coming out of our apartment.

The city!

The view of the lake from our apartment. All I see is baby mosquitoes.

Better city!

More of our area.

Mother's Day lunch the priesthood brought in during Relief Society. Wow.

The return of Thlitherz!!

Our Zone. I'm not going to name names unless you bribe me with chocolate.

A cute complex (under construction, of course. Be grateful, those of you living in Utah, that winter breaks up the construction season.) On the way home from service.

My companion wanted in.

Ducklings! Turns out, mud duck ducklings aren't hideous

Plants. I miss em.

Hna Stowell made a bathroom trip, so I thought I had time. Nope. She caught me.

cue Pokemon biking music

(Title references this . . . thing.) 
 
🚲🚲
YAY!! I'M SO HAPPY!  We got to bike quite a bit this week! Like, 20-ish miles on multiple days! Mostly because Hna Stowell thought she knew the area better than she does... But more sightseeing for me! Also, due to months of running for exercise in the morning, I didn't even feel it the next day! #blessings

I'm . . .  I dunno what to talk about. We are working with a joven named Lorean. She's technically on-date, but hasn't yet been able to make it to church due to work. It's kinda frustrating, as we visit her twice or thrice a week and nothing is progressing, so if y'all have some advice, I'd take it. We did fast with her on Tuesday, which ended up being one if the days we biked 20 miles:) While we did get really tired and slow, we didn't die! The spirit was there strong and everything! That was really cool to see. Fasting is the best! Next to Tithing! Next to the Word of Wisdom! Wow I luv da gospel!!

Um, I don't know what more is there. So, best quote of the week: If everyone's ugly, NO ONE IS! I can't even remember what the circumstances were, but it was funny. And true. And oddly comforting.

Well, I guess we'll see not quite all of you next Sunday!
Enjoy until then!

I give you permission to shout "Get yourselves Organized!" But this is my study desk with a view of my comp. She's studying or Something...

A snake. I named him Thlitherz

Pre-biking joy!

Post-biking joy!

Cinco de Mayo! We had tacos at our recent converts. If we're lucky, you may be to meet them in Tuesday:)

I dunno whose idea it was to put a mini dart board on the same pin as a picture of Jesus, but I still can't hit a bullseye.

... Oh Yeah, Hispanics

Culture shock 2.0 It was a good time.

I forgot that in the Spanish areas (in which actual Spanish people live) they sign up to feed you! No longer am I the one making the rice! Someone else does! It's kinda weird. I finally figured out how to make fries really good, and how to ratio salad dressing to chicken!

But, I DID miss the Besitos at the door at church and the overall "WHEEEEE!!!" mentality that comes with a Hispanic ward. And it turns out one of the recent converts from Windy Ridge (she was baptized right before I made it into the field, and she gave us juice on my first [or maybe second] night in Florida) moved into this ward while I was in exile! And she lives only a mile away from our house! BUT IT'S IN THE ELDERS AREA!!!! So much bittersweet. I may have been counting down the hours to see Claudia at church yesterday, but then she didn't show up!! Long story short, The Lord loves and wants to bless me, but patience is required. [Ugggggfinefienfienfinefinefine!!]

Some more bittersweet news this week: we had basically no miles, so on Wed, Hna Stowell (My wonderful new companion) warned me to prep for biking tomorrow. Thursday rolls around and I wear leg prisons in anticipation. But guess what we didn't end up doing. We kept pushing back which appointment we would bike to, and then, 3 days later, we were suddenly swimming in miles. I guess we'll just go to Cafe Rio. *dramatic sigh*... Here's a picture of my best friend who I'll probably name Patience. Or maybe Promised Blessings. Or maybe Promised Land... BUT! We got news that we'll be Car-Sharing! Hah! There's no way I can’t not ride my bike NOW!!
...wait...
But the area looks good. I'm still a little glazed and don't really remember anything, but my blessed companion has been here for her entire mission so far (she hit her 7-month mark two days ago!) So she's pro at the area. #Blessings! (4 me!!) I look forward to getting to know more of the people we work with, but I'd be happy to have y'all pray for Lorean to continue to progress to her baptismal date of May 19. It's looking a little grim, but hope is still alive! (somewhere...)

This week I had a lot of fun comparing Helaman to Captain Moroni. When help wasn't coming, Captain Moroni just kinda spit fire while Helaman prayed in faith that they'd be alright. And in the end, Helaman remained hopeful and strengthened by God and Moroni took the army into town and cleaned up everyone's act. While the ways in which they solved their problems varied a little drastically, they both trusted in God and came out on top. Sometimes I forget that there isn't a "Right" way to life. As long as we are having faith in Christ and striving to be better disciples, we can either have silent and strong courage or call down brimstone. This was a good reminder for me.

Well I hope y'all keep doing whatever y'all do. Maybe hunt down your local missionaries and either give 'em some delicious dinner or $20 so they can decide what they want for dinner. Either way is good as one allows for agency and the other has the potential of good memories!

Ciao, ciao all!

Pobrecito

All of my best companions. We call it Hermana Land!! We get to see Good ol' Hna Wade and Robbins again! Every Mon and Wed!!! Woot!