#BLESSED BECAUSE OF SMALL TOWNS AND 

#BLESSED BECAUSE OF ANSWERED PRAYERS

MY STUDY OUTFIT

I hit hump day this week!! AHHHH!!!  I don't think I really wanna come home though. 

anyways..

#Blessed moments of the week:

We had an early Thanksgiving with the Torgerson family. (missionaries refer to them as the "Utah Mormon" family) so blessed because extra thanksgiving ;)

On Friday, I took an awesome 45 minute nap during lunch and I woke up so pumped to go out and work and it turned out to be the best day ever! We contacted a guy and his girlfriend. We found him outside his apartment complex skateboarding and we went up and asked if he knew any families in the area. He replied..'uhh..mine!" So we went back and taught both of them, they have a 3 month old baby too! Such a sweet little family! They committed to baptism! So we set 2 dates and found 4 new solid gators all in one day and it was just the best. 

We had 3 less actives we have been working with come to church this week! YAHOO! 

We had specialized/zone meeting this week and got to see our moms! When we went on the blitz the 4 of us all got to go together! So fun to be with them! 

I can still do handstand pushups. #novembermiracle I did a total of like 6 the entire week and I was so sore. Hahah.  Ahh the missionary life is the best!

We went and taught a member, who is having some issues with the doctrine. He immediately whipped out the Old Testament and started using big words, and crazy names that I've never heard of (I'll admit, I know close to nothing about the Old Testament) and he knows close to everything about it. And this is one of my favorite parts about being a missionary. When this kind of thing happens, not even a bash at all, just some sort of disagreement on a subject that I don't know enough about to defend, that’s when the spirit works the strongest. I wish I could describe the feeling. My hands start to tingle and I just feel so warm inside and I know exactly how to respond to things and I feel so calm. It’s when the spirit reaffirms my testimony so strongly. It’s those moments when I feel the authority of my calling the most.  

I love Baby Mac. She is so funny! We are getting along so well!! I don't even feel like I'm training her because she is so smart! I love her!

MAC DADDY AND I

Not so #blessed moments

I translated again..and at one point I got so lost and behind I just pulled up "The Family, a Proclamation to the World" in Spanish and just started reading it. hahaha oh dear

We were on our way to Russellville to catch a ride on the transfer van to Little Rock for a meeting..and just as we were leaving Danville I got pulled over =/ but so #blessed because all he said was "you’re going 11 over so slow down" and then walked away. What a good guy. 

I've ate more cereal this week than I have my entire mission. Sometimes we have it for lunch and dinner haha. I guess this is kind of a #blessed thing too because Cinnamon Life is delicious. 

It’s gotten to the point where we eat things that are "less expired" Everything in this place is expired. We've had to dig in the back of the cupboards for meals this week so it’s been pretty amazing what we were able to find. If it’s been expired for less than a year, we eat it. hahaha so gross. In fact we have some rock hard corn bread in the kitchen right now that we made tonight. We smothered it in milk and honey though so it turned out to be fine. Don't worry though, I'm sure as you all can tell..I'm not starving ;) haha

We had 3 tornado warnings this week. One was real and 2 were our practice emergency drills. I'll send a fun little vid on that. 

Saturday night I lost my wallet. We searched the car and the apartment and it was nowhere to be found. I was starting to get a little nervous. We started retracing our steps and thought we should go check Dollar General. We walked in and asked one of the workers if they'd found a wallet in there, she said "Oh yea Miss Linda found it under her car! I'll call her for you!" WHAT ARE THE ODDS?! #blessed because small towns and #blessed because answered prayers. So we met up with Miss Linda, who now is our friend ha and she gave me my wallet back!

Ok now for the grand finale story. All week our car has smelled awful. We searched it up and down and couldn't figure out where it was coming from! We just figured we'd give it a good cleaning on P-day and blamed it on Danville because Danville gives off some crazy smells sometimes (lots of chicken plants). Well Sunday afternoon we had just got back from church and were on our way out to head to visit some less actives. Baby Mac was backing me..and our car made a really crazy sound. Mac went to the front to see what was going on and made a terrifying face. My first thought was "oh crap the front bumper fell off" (I may or may not have driven off a slight cliff/curb earlier this week and we weren't sure if I had done any damage) So I figured that’s what happened, and that would have been bad enough!! I hurry and get out and look, and instead...ahhhh this is the worst. But it was a cat seizing and squirting blood from it’s head!!!! Easily the most traumatizing thing that has happened on my mission. We both just froze and went pale. We stood behind the car so we couldn't see it and started making phone calls and no one was answering. After about 15 minutes of standing there without the slightest clue what to do, a man and his family came home and parked next to us and we asked him to take care of it. He was a champ and totally did. Now we just have blood in the parking lot and our car. WORST THING THAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED. Every time we see a gosh darn cat now, Mac has to make somethin smart to say. haha  .....we did figure out what the smell was though...dumb cats have been hiding out under our car! So #blessed because our car smells better now..it’s just covered in blood and I'm going to have nightmares for the rest of my life about a seizing cat that I killed. WORST EVER. 

DONE KILLED THE CAT

On a lighter note, President Uchdorf sums up this week perfectly "It (the gospel) is beautifully simple, and it works beautifully." We are running into a lot of issues with members who are digging so deep into the doctrine and are getting so worked up over "non-salvation" related things, spending hours researching/watching history channel attempting to find some miraculous piece of information that our prophets haven't already found, yet somehow in the midst of all this studying forget to attend church each Sunday. We are always encouraged to ask questions and seek answers for ourselves but I wanted to see what our prophets and apostles had to say about it. 

I was told in my priesthood blessing last week that all the answers to my questions would be found in the recent general conference. And they sure were! 

President Uchtdorf kills it. I wish I could summarize this in my own words but he says it too perfectly. He said: (as you read you have to imagine his voice, it makes it so much better ;) 

"Sometimes, the truth may just seem too straightforward, too plain, and too simple for us to fully appreciate its great value. So we set aside what we have experienced and know to be true in pursuit of more mysterious or complicated information. Hopefully we will learn that when we chase after shadows, we are pursuing matters that have little substance and value.

"I wish I could help everyone to understand this one simple fact: we believe in God because of things we know with our heart and mind, not because of things we do not know.  

If we can put the burden of proof on God, we think we can excuse ourselves from taking God’s commandments seriously and from taking responsibility for our relationship with our Heavenly Father."

"Let me be clear: there is nothing noble or impressive about being cynical. Skepticism is easy--anyone can do it. It is the faithful life that requires moral strength, dedication, and courage. Those who hold fast to faith are far more impressive than those who give in to doubt when mysterious questions or concerns arise."

Well that answers that. 

For this week’s study I'm going to see if the scrips say anything about a kitty heaven. 

Have a #blessed week

Love y’all 

Les quiero ️

THEY LOVE MY RAIN BOOTS