I TESTIFY...

This week's recap...

The beginning of the week started with President having to follow us to Memphis. It was my turn to drive. I was absolutely terrified the entire way. I tried taking a different route to lose him but he found me. Inspired man he is...haha

 "TRAIN THE TRAINERS" MEETING WITH MEMPHIS ZONE

So this week we went to 4 specialized meetings again like last month. 24 hours of the same meeting gets a little brutal but we love seeing everyone! We get to crash at random sister’s apartments, and ride with different people all the time so it’s fun to get to know everyone. 

HORN LAKE HERMANAS - REED AND BROWN

SISTER TRAINING LEADERS - JENSEN AND KAFOA

EXCHANGES IN MONTICELLO. WE SKYED OUT THE FROYO! ;)

FIRST ZONE LEADERS - ELDERS JOHNSTON AND FISO. (THEY TAUGHT US ALL WE KNOW!)

President instructed on the Plan of Salvation and the AP's taught us how to introduce and teach with the Book of Mormon better. And then we would role play and go out and practice it and knock doors. 

In Walnut Grove we were walking out of the church building just in time to see a police chase. Some guy was running from the Cop and police cars were flying into the church parking lot. Unfortunately none of them could make it over to the other side of the fence to help catch the bad guy...ha but eventually he was caught and it was a fun little show for us.

Figuring out rides is always a little bit insane, and after a lot of discussion it worked out that we needed to take the AP's truck to the next meeting. We didn't think anything of it, and then the AP's came over and started grilling us that we better take care of this truck and that no sister has ever ridden in it before so don't even leave a hair in it yada yada. So the first stop we make is Walgreens and pick out a big pink bow and some nasty perfume. hahaha  The next day we get a text from them "Guess who is riding back to Little Rock in the girly truck?...Wakdog. (Mission President)" haha ooops.  Hey but now we go down in the record book for being the firsts to ride in the "elders only truck." 

"ELDERS ONLY" TRUCK! (WE FOUND THIS HAT AND GLASSES INSIDE!)

The Specialized for our zone was in Russellville! 50 missionaries out tracting in Russellville was such a blessing! 46 Referrals were found, 26 of those had return appointments, and 13 are ours! (2 of which have dates set!) Such a blessing because we only spent 1 day in Russellville working this week so it'll give us a big jumpstart as we get back to work in our area. 

 RUSSELLVILLE SPECIALIZED BOARD

One of the return appointments that was found during the blitz was Lori. When we went to contact her she let us in immediately and was in tears telling us about her dad passing and being mad at God for some bad things that have happened. We testified of the Book of Mormon and showed her how it could bring her the peace she needs. She willingly accepted and wanted to read it right away! She is golden and has certainly been prepared. She opened up to us right off the bat and was incredibly receptive to everything. High hopes for Lori! 

One of the Specialized was at the church building that is in the parking lot of the Memphis Temple. So one night we took a little (emphasis on Little, the temple is tinsy) walk around the temple. There was a bunch of youth coming out from baptisms and when they saw us they yelled "missionaries!" and swarmed us and started telling us how they all wanted to serve missions too! I remember before I even wanted to serve a mission I still always looked up to missionaries. It was cool to be that missionary. 

We have really been working with the leadership and trying to keep the energy up for November! We want everyone to set high goals and fully commit to the 40 day fast and challenges President has given us. So we've really been trying to bounce around the energy and excitement! WE ARE PUMPED! At each specialized every companionship had to stand and announce their October goal and November goal. We had really been thinking about what a good goal would be for this area. We agreed on 4 for October and 6 for November. The morning before the specialized meeting in Russellville we were kneeling in front of our board with all the names of potentials and gators. It was a pretty overwhelming feeling that 6 wasn't enough. So we adjusted our goal to 7. Our district goal is 15. The AP's set a goal for 10 next month!! 10!! DOESN'T THIS JUST GET Y’ALL SO PUMPED?? THE URGENCY IS SO REAL!! We are calling on MIRACLES.   ---->my ponderize scripture this week Ether 12:12 

"For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith.” 

We also had exchanges in Monticello with Hermana Hudson and Madsen! And after not speaking Spanish all week it was SO NICE to be back in Hispanic homes. I'm beginning to realize just how much I love this people and culture.

I may have mentioned it before, but because of the big November goal, President has asked the mission to do a 40 Day Fast. We start by fasting for 24 hours and compiling a list of things we need to sacrifice or things we can improve on then for 40 days we fast from those things. Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven, yea??  As a mission, we started this week and there have already been incredible things happening. 

Our big miracle story this week was in Little Rock. We were waiting at the mission home for the office elders to finish some appointments so they could take us back to Russellville. President gave us the keys to the mommy van again and told us to go find some sisters to help or something to do. The Little Rock Hermanas were busy in appointments so... Okay now this is real embarrassing to admit but we both agreed we should go shop and find Lewis a new bag. We walked literally 3 steps into TJ Maxx and both turned around and walked right back out. #rebuked. We laughed at how dumb we were and then searched out a place to knock doors. We were knocking along this street with no luck. At the end of the street there were 2 little boys throwing a football so we went up and started talking with them. Their uncle, Kortney, came outside and introduced himself. Right away he wanted to know our beliefs and what made us different. We introduced the Book of Mormon (#blessed because we had been practicing this ALL WEEK). Again, he was incredibly prepared. He said he has been talking with his friends and family lately about needing to be baptized again and wanting to feel clean. When we explained what the Book of Mormon was his exact words were "Wow! So this is what I've been missing for the last 29 years!" We set a date for him for November 14th. It couldn't have gone any better. Since it wasn't our area we gave him over to the AP's. We are excited to see how things go! 

Such a faith building experience for me. And to think we almost went shopping...

Most of the things we are sacrificing are just tightening up on rules, no more naps during lunch, hymns only, and no more writing back and forth to family and friends..and boyfriend=(. So I'll just send a big email like this. And then one email to people I consistently email and that’s it. No more chatting back and forth. Which this will easily be the most challenging for me. But hey if it’s gonna bring on more Korneys it’s completely worth it. 

The mission is already seeing so many miracles and it’s all just begun! 

Other than learning about the blessings of sacrificing, I definitely reaffirmed my testimony of how powerful the Book of Mormon is. It’s absolutely incredible how a verse can soften someone’s heart, or be the exact thing they've wanted for 29 years! So many small examples of the Book of Mormon changing lives. ..."a man would get nearer to God by abiding by it's (Book of Mormon) precepts, than by any other book." 

I testify. 

Love y’all

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