#Blessings

So, we have this dog. Well, we don't really own the dog it belongs to Sister Gosnell. Her name is Prim and she's a black lab, shepherd, and terrier mix. And she hates Sister Ward. Well, she's scared of every living creature that steps foot in her house. Sister Gosnell had hopes that her puppy would be a good guard dog, but Prim has a tendency to bark while running downstairs to hide under the bed. The best part is that Prim absolutely loves me. I'm usually the first one to walk in the door and there's Prim wagging her tail and happy to see me and then Sister Ward walks in. That's when her ears go back and she curls up on the couch in a fetal position, haha. It doesn't help that Sister Ward absolutely smothers her. Prim will warm up to her eventually. But, Prim is a little nuisance sometimes. We have to make sure our doors are securely closed before we leave otherwise she will claim the floor as her potty space and will find Sister Ward's shoes to chew on. She doesn't chew my shoes, but carries them to the couch where she curls up with them. She's a wierdo. So, yeah, that's an adventure. 

Da (recent convert) says my spirit animal is a mouse. He called me fragile. And everyone agrees.

Also, Sister Ward figured out that I talk in my sleep. Last night she said that I would call out her name and tell her we had to leave. I would also yell and say many more things that kept her awake at 3 am. Just for an hour and then he wierdness stopped. Luckily, I woke myself up and went to the bathroom. At which point she followed me to make sure I didn't walk out of the house. I am not proud of this. No sugar for me before bed again. 

This week we went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. I think the days leading up to that were the most stressful. Luckily, Sister Goodrich was very nice and super awesome. Sister Ward went to Louisville with Sister Bradley (who's a world gymnastic champion who gave up her chance to go the Olympics for a mission. She's uber awesome). I stayed in my area and had to plan everything-by-myself. Ah! It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. 

Sister Goodrich told me that she had received a prompting that she was supposed to be with me for that day. She told me that she knew we were supposed to be together for a purpose which she didn't know yet. At the end of the day I knew why. She was great support for me and taught me so many things about being a missionary. She truly cared about the people we talked to and had a Christ-like love that I really want to achieve. I don't know if she learned anything from me, but I had a great experience. 

We went and visited A (the recent convert who's brother is Papa John) which was really great because she's an awesome lady who's very headstrong and fun to be around. She also has this cat named Leppy. Leppy is on a very high spiritual level. Ok, yes, you can laugh for a bit. But seriously. Whenever the missionaries come over Leppy all of a sudden starts looking at walls, freaks out, and runs all over the place as if she's playing with someone. She only does this when we are there. She's even more extreme when someone who was very close to that missionary had died. Elder Geary has had that experience with that cat. It happened again with Sister Goodrich. During our lesson with Anne, Leppy started to play with 'someone'. Turns out her grandpa who was really close to her had died recently. Insert mystery music. Dooweeooo. 

Do canceled our lesson with her that day which really upset me. A lot. Lately, because of stress and emotional distraught she has been getting headaches which cause her to cancel most of our lessons with her. Which is a blessing in disguise because she feels like she needs to pray more earnestly for strength. So...Sister Goodrich got the impression that we should visit Do anyway. And we did. Do was still feeling a little sick, but was alert enough to talk with us. It went really well, because of Sister Goodrich. She was very in tune with what Do needed and we were able to lift her spirits and help her feel like she was special. 

Overall, I think I like exchanges. But, I really missed Sister Ward. 

I can't think of how much I am grateful for her. She has helped me grow in many ways. We're even starting to teach the lessons together. The best part about her is that she purposely lets me fail so I can learn. And have I learned! I think that is brilliant because that's how our Heavenly Father works. He purposefully lets us fail so that we can learn how to pick ourselves back up again and become stronger. 

We are becoming really close friends which is awesome. You know what else is awesome? I officially hit my one month mark on the 8th. Woo! Ok, I'm not writing this because it's a countdown to when I'm home, but, as my best friend put it, it reminds me of how little time I have and how quickly it goes away. 

Our ward starts at 1:00 pm this year, so more people we invite want to come now. Blessings! 

I'm getting much better at talking to people and leading out lessons. Granted, there's a lot I need to improve on, but I'm getting better. It's only week 5 of my 12 week training. I can do it. 

Okay, so my feelings on member present lessons. They're great...sometimes. Members give great insights and experiences that really bring in the spirit, but sometimes they make the lesson go way off topic and that confuses our investigators. We had Do over at Brother and Sister Bu’s home, which was...interesting. They are great friends of hers, but the lesson went all over the place and confused her so much. Ugh. At one point Sister Ward and I turned to each other while Brother Bu was talking and weakly smiled at each other. It was a mess to say the least. Luckily, the Spirit kicked in. The best part was that when I asked Do what she expected to feel when she knew if the church was true her answer was the same as what she felt when she prayed, watched talks, and read the scriptures. We know that she knows. And we were able to bring it back and answer her questions. the bottom line was that she didn't understand the need for prophets. 

So, our next lesson we taught about the Restoration all over again. Which went great. So great!! A came to the church with us and was a huge help and testator of the gospel. At this point we know Do is ready to be baptized, but we needed to know what we could do to help her know that Joseph Smith is a prophet, that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet today, and that they are called of God. 

Suddenly, she opened up and started asking the questions that she had held back because she thought that they would offend us and we wouldn't see her anymore. She told us that the twelve apostles and the prophet today would fall because they do it for money and ego. She concluded that that is what happens to every famous clergy. 

As soon as we told her that nobody in this church gets paid to be in leadership positions, do missionary work, or to be the prophet something just clicked. It was then that she knew that only someone who was called of God would serve without seeing a single dime for their work. 

So...Do wants to get baptized on the 17th!! Woo!! We're going to keep working with her on her Book of Mormon reading and making sure that she feels ready to enter into that promise with God and receive those blessings. She is such a sweetheart and a blessing. She truly is special even though she doesn't feel like it sometimes. I would be saying this even if I wasn't a missionary. But I know that her decision will bring enormous blessings for her now and in the future.  Do is making those steps to become closer to Christ. We didn't do anything, but she knew by the Holy Ghost that these things were true. 

I have decided that I really don't like fast food. Give me the poor missionary cereal box. I have found that people around here really like to make Taco Soup. We went to Ch's home (recent convert) for dinner and she made the best version of it EVER. She gave me the recipe. Squee! 

Anyways, that's my week! I love you all! You're in my prayers every day. 

The Church is True, the Book is blue, and Jesus loves you. 

Love, 

Raye