Miracles – April 6, 2015

Hey, crazy family!! 

Let me start out with a huge thank you for the Easter presents! The pie made it! I ate it so fast that when I finished it I was so sad. The depth of my despair was exquisite. Every bite was a memory of home and a taste of the best pie ever! Seriously. Nobody can make a pie like that. At all. 

Next time...send a whole pie? ;) 

Also, I love my necklace! Thank you so much! You have no idea how much it has helped me to keep that perspective and love the work. I wear it every day. :) 

I want to see Josh perform so bad! He had better do more plays and musicals after he graduates so that I can watch them. You got Footloose on film right? I had better get an update from him! Slacker! 

Easter was the best! It was sunny, warm, and conference just topped it all off. I loved all the talks. We were watching it with Sister Gosnell on her Roku and we missed the part where people opposed the prophet because it short circuited for a moment. Glad to miss the drama. My favorite part about conference was finding how all the talks worked together and the general unintentional theme. There were a lot about families, marriage, having an eternal perspective, and finding strength to endure to the end through Christ. It was such a breath of fresh air! 

Sister McCall invited us over for Easter dinner! It was great because we probably would have microwaved our leftover pizza otherwise. She and Brother McCall made turkey, potatoes, seasoned asparagus, candied sweet potatoes, and the best gravy I have ever tasted. The turkey literally was so juicy it fell apart (and I'm talking about the white meat) and they are big about their potatoes. It pretty much filled up half my plate. It was delicious. For dessert we had almond cake with fresh strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, homemade whipped cream, and chocolate shavings. Good thing I wore my stretchy skirt. 

However, I can't help but miss the food from home...sad face. 

I love the Easter dinner decor, Mom! That is always my favorite part. :) 

Alrighty, onto story time...:) 

So, my hope for this area was, as I said last week, absolutely ka-put. When Tuesday rolled around I was still struggling to find just a sliver of potential and we were biking and finding furiously to find one person who would hear our message. I was trying so hard to be positive, but I didn't feel it yet.  It go to the point where I pulled over, got off my bike, tossed my helmet on the ground, sat down, and buried my face in my hands. Sister Bush slowly sat by me and talked to me for about an hour. Eventually, we got back on our bikes and continued onward, feeling a little bit more motivated and least a little more hopeful. 

It wasn't until Wednesday, when there was a huge thunderstorm, that I felt something again. The rain and hail was torrential, and the thunder shook our car. When it subsided we were able to get out and find the formers and potentials we were searching for. 

Then, I noticed the flowers. The trees were blooming and the humidity and rain was carrying the sweet scent of them. It was beautiful for those few moments after the storm. Even as someone closed their door on us and we walked away I couldn't help but smile as I took in a huge breath of air. Suddenly, all my prayers were answered and I felt complete hope again. Not slight hope, but fully fledged faith. 

Now, I'm starting to notice those little miracles that are so often overlooked. And as we've kept working and going out with that faith, even if no one wanted to talk to us, we feel fulfilled. Granted I'm still far from perfect and am still trying to learn more ways to better myself at finding and teaching. But, everything is going to fall into place as I exercise that faith in Jesus Christ. 

Practice makes progress, but Christ makes perfect. 

So, in the white handbook it says to protect your scriptures by putting them in a protective case. I left mine at home, but my scriptures were already bending at the pages from being handled and sitting with my planner and other Books of Mormon in my bag. So, I decided to place it in a cut up cereal box. It works great! But, it was plain and boring. I am sending pictures of what I did to it. :) 

On Friday, Sister Bush and I were going to start weekly planning at 10 and then leave after a couple hours of planning to go out and work, but Sister Gosnell told us that there was going to be another thunderstorm wave coming in at three until 7. After praying about it, we still felt impressed to go to Buckner, but earlier before the storm. It was pouring down rain as we biked there until we were absolutely soaked, but it was perfectly clear and the sun was shining the whole time we were proselyting. At exactly three pm the rain started to fall again and we started to bike back as the dark clouds rolled in and the lightning started to flash. 

And then..it showed up. 

We named her Shadow, because she wouldn't stop following us! She was a black lab and was overly attached to us. She followed us around from house to house when we were tracting and as we hopped on our bikes she ran after us! For the six miles home! In the rain, the thunder, and the lightning! 

We couldn't help but sing the song from 'Annie', "Dumb dog, why are you following me?" 

She had no collar or tags so we couldn't find out where she lived so we locked her in the back yard. I was about to call an animal shelter or something, but Sister Bush was afraid it wouldn't be an authorized phone call. (We have this issue where she won't do something just in case it might be against the white handbook). So, she let the dog out and let it run around the neighborhood never to be seen by us again. 

Good times. 

Dallyn sent me a copy of the first pages of the Book of Mormon original print. It was so cool! It wasn't in normal verses, but was in paragraph book form. I loved it! Lucky ducky gets to see cool church history sites. 

Speaking of which, Sister Gosnell is taking us to Churchill Downs today! Hope to get some good pictures and maybe a souvenir. Excited! 

I love you all and miss you!! 

Have a great rest of your week!! 

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! 

Foreva, and eva, and EVA! 

Raye :)