July 21...16 months

Well yesterday me and Jessalyn hit 16 months. At the beginning of my mission I never would have thought I would be at this point so soon. 18 months seemed so long but now that it is almost over I can't believe it! Okay this week was more than incredible. There really isn't words to describe it but I will do my best.

Tuesday we had to go to the mission office right after studies to pick up some supplies for the month. Then we went on exchanges. I was able to stay in my area with Sister Banuelos. She has only been out for 5 months, but she is already an amazing missionary. We did a lot of contacting, but I enjoy contacting now because we are finding so many people that are willing to listen to the message we share, all we have to do is find them and invite. One of the less active families we are teaching right now actually gave us the name of their friends that live just upstairs from them and we are now teaching them too.

Wednesday was a great day. I got to be back with my companion. She has taught me to love contacting and so that is what we did the majority of the morning and afternoon. We taught our investigator S*** who is getting ready to be baptized in August. Her parents are being taught by the senior couple in the area which they love, and then we are able to really focus on S***. After the lesson we headed off to President interviews. I was able to have a really good talk with President about the remaining time I have left. He also asked me a question that definitely was inspired. He asked if I could go back to the new missionary I was 16 months ago and give advice to myself what would I say. After interviews we went to dinner and the sister we ate with was from Idaho Falls originally and when her mom and dad got a divorce her dad moved to West Richland. Her little girl who was 2 has diabetes and she was so good about letting her mom poke her to test her blood but as soon as the needle came out to give her medicine she wasn't so happy. After dinner we had 6 lessons. We got to talk to I*** about her baptism and teach her about the important commitment we are making to the lord. The we got to do a chapel tour for one of our less actives. He said he hasn't been in church for a really long time and he could feel the spirit so strong. We then got to teach this girl who a foster daughter in a members home and she is from the Congo. She was baptized about 2 years ago and when we asked why she decided to be baptized she said her family did it so the missionaries would leave them alone. Hopefully we can change her perspective a little bit. Then we were able to teach about the 10 commandments to D*** and talk about the importance of all the commandments God gives us. Then we stopped by the A*** who are recent converts and we were able to share a short message with Sister A*** out on the porch since her husband was sick.

Thursday we did exchanges again and I stayed in the area with Sister McIntire. She is from Spokane and she did ballet growing up so a lot of our car conversations were about dance. We got to teach the P*** girls the 10 commandments and the fun hands signs that go with them. That night we had a pretty good turn out at our chapel tour and then we had a super awesome lesson with the M***. They are trying to get to the temple and so we taught them a lesson from the Gospel Principles book about having a successful family. I think it is so cool. Heavenly Father has given us instruction manuals on how we should raise our families.

Friday we got to go to a baptism in Springville for one of Sister Hedley's investigators. We also got to do weekly planning and set awesome goals for this week. We are so excited to pick things up even more than they already are and we found our source of people to teach. Apartments! There are a lot of different apartment complexes in our area and so we are going to work hard there. It already started showing success Friday night. We have 4 families in the Italian Village that we are always trying to get in contact with and we finally found one at home and we were able to teach her. Then we were walking to contact someone else and this older couple stopped us. We were talking about their ward and they told us that 50% of the apartments were non-members. So me and Sister Hedley are going to be doing some tracting through there.

Saturday we had 2 more baptisms in Springville. The one in the morning was interesting because a member gave us a ride down and then she left. So we were stranded in Springville. Luckily Sister Soper (one of my trainers) now lives in Springville and so she was able to give us a ride home. That night we had a miracle. We weren't sure where to go and so we prayed and we felt like going down to the apartments on 1200 W and we taught a lady on the side of the sidewalk who wasn't a member and now we have a return appointment with her. Sister Hedley and I both felt so prompted to be out walking between the two apartment complexes to contact some specific names. None of them were home but we both know the reason The Lord prompted us to be there specifically was for T*** (the lady we taught) and now we have a return appointment with her. It was awesome! We asked her if there was anything we could do for her and she said that we did exactly what she needed.

Sunday was a crazy day. We spoke in two sacrament meetings about missionary work/virtue. The first one was a little stressful because there was a lot of ward business and so we didn't have much time to talk especially since the high councilor wanted a least 20 minutes to speak. The second one was a lot better. Luckily we got to use the same talk for both meetings. We had a great lesson with our investigator F***  after that and she is progressing so well. All of our appointments for the evening cancelled but something crazy happened instead. More like a miracle. We got a call from one of our investigators (I***, who is 11 years old) Dad and was asking for the baptism to be when his brother was in town since that is who I***  wants to baptize her. They were hoping to do it on like Tuesday since they are all going to California on Wednesday but it was all craziness as she needs an interview and four more lessons. She is definitely really ready though. We ended up working it out that we will be teaching her every day until she leaves and then have her baptism next Monday at 5pm. It is going to be great! I am so impressed with I*** and her two older siblings (who are already baptized). Both of their parents are less active but the kids just have such a strong conviction to follow God and live the gospel. It is really great and amazing to see in them.

I am grateful that I am able to see God's hand in this great work and all he does for His children. He loves us and knows that we are of eternal worth!

Love you all!

P.S. Only 10 more weeks!