"Y'ALL" SHOULD TRY IT!

Hey fam!

Remember our latest investigator?? The one who supposed to get baptized yesterday?!? Yea, she dropped us. We went over and saw her every day. We showed her the font and had a good chapel lesson. She said she felt like she hadn't gotten 100% of an answer yet but knew that baptism was the right thing. There were a few things we didn't feel 100% about and so we were thinking about pushing it back a week to give her more time to prepare but then Thursday she text us and told us she got an answer and that she wasn't going to be baptized. We went over immediately to talk to her and she felt like God wanted her to learn about other churches but not to join them....I got emotional as we bore our final testimonies. We tried to overcome concerns but she wasn't budging. Her cute little 4 year old yelled to us as we left "I'll miss you girls!" We told her if she ever changes her mind to please call.

Okay so now rewind to last summer, comp inventory with Hermana Lewis. At the end of weekly planning we do this sometimes awkward thing called comp inventory where you pick out strengths that each other has and then give something they could work on. One week Lewis told me to try not to get so down when things go bad. Humbling moment for sure. Haha But remember she was always very good at that and since she'd brought it up with me it was something I worked on.

So now back to our investigator. We got back in the car and kind of just sat in silence for a minute. Normally at this point I'm feeling pretty frustrated and running back though my head everything we did wrong or things we should have done but instead I had a sense of peace that something better was coming or/and there was a reason behind why we were being dropped and that I didn't need to know why. As I'm realizing that I'm not frustrated I immediately went back to Hermana Lewis's advice and felt so grateful that she had called me out on it and that it was something I've improved on. So we shook that one off and got back to work.

Granted, a few days later when we called the entire ward to borrow a gosh dang ladder and NO ONE IN ARKANSAS OWNS LADDERS, I got a little frustrated. However, I'm getting better ;) Poco a poco people. Poco a poco

AARI

Y'all may have already seen pictures of Aari's baptism! She is 8 but her parents wanted her to have all the lessons before baptism. We've been over recently getting her ready. We've has a blast, she is a little fireball. For a minute she was sad to be getting baptized because she wanted us to keep coming over. Haha Her baptism went so well. Lot's of ward members came to support and she was so happy. The spirit is always so sweet at baptisms, and they keep getting sweeter because I love being with my Russellville family and hearing their testimonies, I love being a part of this ward family. Not that my Utah ward isn't amazing so don't get me wrong here, but when you are the minority outside of Utah, you have to stick together. I've mentioned in previous emails that because if the move ins we've been working to unite the ward better, which we still are working on, but all in all it's a very close knit ward. If y'all would move out here with me I would live here. :)

NOCHE DE DEPORTES

THE KITCHEN CREW

THE SMITHS SIGNED UP TO FEED US AND FORGOT IT WAS THE SUPER BOWL. SO WE GOT TO GO TO THE PARTY AT THE EASTMAN'S AND ATE ALL THE FOOTBALL FOOD AND HANG OUT IN THE KITCHEN WHERE WE COULDN'T SEE THE TV :) 

GO BRONCOS!

DON'T WORRY, WE WEREN'T WATCHING! ON OUR WAY OUT WE SNAPPED A PICTURE. (CUTE SISTER DAVIS! HAHA)

With the whole Y'all thing, I actually don't remember what I used to say before. "You all?" "You guys?" Seems like an awful lot of work to me. Try it--> Y'all . y'all wanna say a prayer? y'all wanna come to church? Y'all reading your scriptures? It's so much easier admit it. I don't have some crazy accent; it's just my normal Utah one. Y'all should try it.

Katie and actually quite a few members use "fixin to" a lot..like "I'm fixin to head to the store. "I swore I wouldn't use that one. It comes out every once in a great while. Normally I just use it when I'm imitating Katie. So I think the only thing southern about me is y'all and that I really love pickled okra.

We had our monthly zone meeting the week. Our focuses for the next 3 months are on effective studies and recognizing the spirit. So our leaders instructed on that. President and Sister Wakolo came, bless their hearts they look exhausted. Haha It's probably the most draining thing in the world to be in charge of 200 twenty year olds. I can't even imagine. We talked about better vessels for the spirit and president mentioned that he never listens to music no matter how far the car ride so that he has time to prepare for whatever he has next and ponder on things. So it's been something we've tested out. It definitely helps keep the right mind set. Another bid take away was as we start studies to not stop praying until I'm focused.  

ZONE PICTURE

(BACK FROM CHRISTMAS)

After returning home from zone meeting I was looking over our schedule and didn't feel good about it. I said a prayer and asked specifically for a name to pop in my head. Sister Carnathan's friend Amanda, who we taught over the summer, who also more or less dropped us, came to mind. So we headed that way. When we got there she didn't answer so we just left her a note and started knocking all of her neighbors. I wish I could report that we found a golden new investigator or something but we definitely didn't. We passed out tons of pass along cards and had a few conversations. We gave a bunch to construction workers that were out working too but nothing really came from anything. It was weird because we spent over an hour in this area and found nothing but it just felt like we were in the exact spot we were supposed to be in. And to seal the deal as we were leaving, Hermana Mac turned to me and said "I don't know why we needed to be in the area, but everything about it just felt right." So anywho, I guess the confirmation that we are following the spirit is always a good feeling.

Amber had her baby shower this weekend! Baby Ellowyn will be here in like a month now! Woohoo! I may need to have my first baby shower here so Sister Ashley can decorate for me. That woman is crafty. (She is the one married to Si Robertson't twin) Genevieve came! And all the ward friends and Ambers family. We couldn't stay long because we had a branch choir practice that I'll send a pic of. Haha Vero called a branch choir practice because she was annoyed that everyone was off pitch. During this practice, she taught them some songs they didn't know and the wanted to sing them the next day in Sacrament. So on Sunday I was in Spanish sacrament and Mac (aka the piano player) was in English. I lead the music without the piano (reminder: ALL of these songs are brand new to the branch). We managed to get through the opening song ok, and then the sacrament song came...it was a bit disastrous. I sang one song, Vero sang another, and everyone else made up their own. Hahahaha I was dying. We finished strong on the last one because President made sure it was one we all knew. Hahaha oh goodness I love it.

SPANISH CHOIR/HYMN PRACTICE

We have a few brand new Spanish gators but nothing too big to report on them yet. I love that we can switch back and forth from English to Spanish so well now. It used to be stressful, but I like it. Our list of potentials keeps growing so hopefully some good things will come from those.

One last quick little thought. Our stake Presidents wife, Sister Wing, spoke recently and from her talk I recorded in my notebook: "How do we get rid of darkness? In general, in my life or home, with investigator concerns? Where there is darkness, rather than focusing on it or trying to remove it, replace it with light instead."

Alma 19:6 "he knew that the dark veil of unbelief was being cast away from his mind, and the light which did light up his mind, which was the light of the glory of God, which was a marvelous light of his goodness--yea, this light had infused such joy into his soul, the cloud of darkness having been dispelled, and the the light of everlasting life was lit up in his soul,"

Thank you for the packages!!

IT'S A MIRACLE! CARSON SENT ME A PACKAGE!!!

Love y'all 

Te quiero ♥