Chapter 68: What Even Was This Week??

Y'all. So much happened this week. Lots of good, some not. Lots of crazy, lots of spiritual. So get cozy if you've got the time. If not just jump to the pics of me holding a baby goat. That's honestly the best part. 

Tuesday was the most normal day of the week, we went to seminary and dcm in the morning. This time we napped on the pews instead of the hallway because it was warmer. Uchtdorf said "church sleep is the best sleep." And I am taking that into full consideration.

Wednesday we had a meeting with all the district leaders. Then we went to a members house to pick up dinner for that night. We chatted with her for a little bit and got some mega helpful future life advice! #bekind.... #greenmeansgo! #listentoGod 

We also visited a less active who I'm pretty darn sure I'm related to! That whole visit was a very cool miracle on God's timing! Time and time again God shows how even our little efforts and promptings can make a big impact. 

Sister Abes and I had a Valentines pasta dinner together before going to the Young Women's Galentine activity. So much fun! 

Thursday was a lot of knocking on doors and calling people who didn't answer. But that's okay; we were putting in our efforts. In the middle of day, we made a quick stop at a QT gas station to use the bathroom and fill up with gas. At least, it was supposed to be a quick stop. On our way out we got in a lil car bump. A kid backed his car into ours. It barely made a scratch, but we still had to fill out all the paperwork.... the poor kid was so nervous. I made sure to talk with him and be super chill while Sis Abernathy was on the phone w/ our vehicle coordinator. We had gotten things mostly figured out when the kids dad said he called the cops b/c he wanted them to look at the cameras. Soooooo we waited even longer. It was kinda ridiculous, but whatevs. 

After all that we went to the free health clinic again for service. Aaaaaand, I got asked out. That was awkward. It was by some guy much much older than me. Not the vibe.... 

Friday we had lunch at the Courtney's house. I love them!! We got hung out with their donkey and ponies while they got lunch ready. We fed them licorice and Donkey almost bit my fingers off! That hurt so fetching much, but my fingers are still intact. Later in the day we had a lesson where we facetimed some Sister missionaries from Salt Lake b/c the family we were visiting the wife only speaks Kirowandan (I think I spelled it wrong...). But that was a big miracle to even find missionaries that speak that language! And it was definitely a blessing to the wife; even though she's not interested in taking the lessons right now, I know we did what we needed to. 

THEN, on our way to our member meal that night we saw a teen girl in absolute hysterics crying on the side of the road, so we pulled over and got out of the car. Poor girl could hardly even breath b/c she was freaking out and crying so much. We got her to sit down and take some deeps breaths. Apparently her mom had kicked her out of the car on the side of the street and she didn't know where she was. She called her aunt and we were in the middle of helping her figure out where she was when who we guess was her mom pulled up and yelled at her to get back in the car. It was such a jarring experience...

Saturday we went to a baby shower and a funeral, back to back. Then we had an awesome lesson with a returning recent convert! 

Sunday I played the cello in sacrament. It felt so good to play and share such a special part of my testimony with this ward. After church we went to the Courtney's house again and held baby goats!! They were like 2 days old! I was in absolute heaven holding the little guy. He just fell asleep on me. I just wanted to keep holding him all day haha. And we had a mission wide zoom with our families for our new quarterly baptism goal! It was literally so fun! 

Now that we've made it through the crazy, let's end on a spiritual high. This is something I learned while studying Preach My Gospel. Chapter 5 talks all abt the Book of Mormon. It says that receiving a witness from the Holy Ghost is one of the most essential parts of our conversion. And I thought abt why that would be important even if someone already knows the Book of Mormon is true. Like me! And I came to the realization that the Holy Ghost speaks to our spirits, and there is a difference between knowing something intellectually vs spiritually. When you know something spiritually it becomes a much more faith grounded. So if you haven't prayed abt the Book of Mormon yet, or even recently, I invite you to! Having a spiritual witness of this book and of its witness of Jesus Christ is one of the greatest things I have received. 

Always remember, God loves you, Jesus loves you, and I love you!

-Sis Ray