COINCIDENCE? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!

Hello Fam & Friends!

So this week was an interesting one! We had lots of people bail on us, including dinners but it's all good. Then we found a cockroach in our food cupboard.... Then I killed one earlier this week and have millions of flies and spiders!!!! I'm kinda going insane vacuuming them up all the time. But I'm glad that's an option!! Haha! We did meet a couple new people! One lady, her name is Dee. She is in her early 30's and she is SOOO nice! We talked to her and found out that she had just moved from Gridley and had met with the Sisters there - then lost contact with them. So!! Coincidence we knocked on her door? Absolutely not!!! We actually felt prompted to! That happens all the time! It's amazing! Similar thing happened with our other new investigator Melanie! She's 21 and lives with her boyfriend. She's super fun and chill so we got along great. We were looking for a former person who lived in that mobile home park who apparently moved out. But we set up an appointment for Sunday. Sunday came and we were on our way to her house when we got lost.. Haha. We drove like 5 miles past it then finally figured it out and headed back. But when we pulled up and had just finished our prayer and started to get out, she pulled up right then!!!! If we hadn't gotten lost we would've TOTALLY missed her!! #Blessed!! So she told us she had totally forgot and to come in. So we had an AMAZINGLY AWESOME lesson about the Restoration! She actually had never heard of Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon which you don't come across very often! So that was cool to teach her something completely new! And her first impression was obviously good because we asked her how she had felt while we were there and she said that she really had a desire to read the Book of Mormon!! BOOM!!!!! We were so stoked! We were definitely blessed to find her! Super excited to teach her again! 

So those who are on date for baptism are still kinda progressing... So Barbara.. She has a hard time processing things and understanding them. And really struggles with staying focused on the lesson. So we will be talking about Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Then she will be like "oh yeah. I really needed to run down to that yard sale and grab some more baby clothes since my daughter has 4 weeks left."... Hahaha!! Man.. It's really hard not to laugh but it also gets frustrating sometimes. She is also very on the fence. She told us she wanted to make this her church and be baptized then the next day she'll call us and tell us she is going to another church to try it out because she isn't sure and doesn't wanna be on Gods bad side... But we told her the ONLY way to know where God wants her to be is by asking Him. But she just refuses to pray... We have heard every excuse in the book. But we really love her and want her to see that this is truly where God wants her to be. So that's her!! Then Carlos. He has also been super busy and depressed because he recently just got his heartbroken. So he drinks a ton. The other day we went over there and popped in and he was sitting there with his beer and cigarettes. Then the Elders happened to show up too and he saw them and hurried over the the BBQ and put his beer and cigs under the lid!! HAHAHAH!!! It was SOOO funny!  but he still wants to change. We was going to go to church this week to the Spanish Branch in Orland but the Elders got food poisoning so we don't know if he went or not... But yeah. Keep him in your prayers. Ron we haven't met with since the last time. Still hasn't come to church either. MaryAnn has been super sick and stuff so she hasn't come to church either. We popped in last night and had a quick lesson with them and that was fun! She still wants to get baptized and she was telling us how much pain she is in and so I asked her if she wanted a Priesthood blessing and she accepted so on Friday the Elders will come to do that. It's always a SUPER powerful experience for them so I'm excited for her to have that experience! I really do love them and I don't care too much about the roaches anymore. I just love them and want them to be happy... Man, how ones heart can change!  it's really cool to see that in others too. Like Mary, Jesus' ex/girlfriend.. Whatever you wanna call her. It's too complicated to keep up with.. But she has TOTALLY changed and her heart is soft. It's really cool. Jesus is doing super good!!! We saw him a couple times and he just beams now!! He is smiling all the time and he says his heart just feels full all the time. AHH!!! It's so awesome! I love missionary work!! 

So we went and did service a couple times and we had fun and sweat like banshee!!! It hits over 100 degrees everyday. But ya get used to it - 90 doesn't feel hot anymore!! Haha. I have never had so much water in my life than I have these past couple weeks. I'm surprised my foot is holding up like it is!! 

So we are reading The Fourth Missionary (a talk by Lawrence E. Corbridge given on June 22, 2002 - BYU) and it says that you should leave all desires, plans, wishes, hopes, everything in a jar and read it when it's time to go home. We should do it because we should focus ONLY on the Lord and His people while serving a mission. So I decided to do that!! I felt a weight lifted off of my shoulders actually.. Haha. It's making a difference as I am trying to get rid of those distractions. It has been really hard because some are more dramatic than others but I'm getting there. 

THANKS FOR THE PACKAGE!!! It was awesome!! I was so happy to see cookie butter and skittles and starbursts!! Man.. Everything that hit the spot! Oh.. And the gospel nails this is missing the second page but it's ok. I taught it to the family we had dinner with last night!  

Something cool I was studying. In Doctrine and Covenants 6:21 Christ says that He is the light which shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not. Christ will be our light in our darkness. He is how we can get through difficult times. Sometimes we may not feel like we need Him, but we do. It doesn't matter if life is great and happy or if it's hard and everything feels like it's not going right. We need Him. I heard a quote that said "if you want to talk to God, pray. But if you want Him to talk to you, read the scriptures." So through the word of God can Christ be that light in our lives. In Jacob 2:8 it says to "hear the pleasing word of God; yea the word which healeth the wounded soul". Whether we see it or not we are all wounded souls. We are because that is our nature, because we are human but through the word of God and the Atonement, we can continually be healed, over and over again. The Atonement is for everything. Sins, temptations, heartbreaks, wrong doings of others, sicknesses, anything that causes us to struggle. Everything that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That is how He is our light which the darkness in our lives cannot comprehend. He is our light at the end of our tunnel. But He is only if we let Him. 

My last thought. So last week I had a realization. If we are always trying to find someone to share a message with we will always find some one. It's always the last house. If we prove our diligence, the Lord will trust us with His children to teach. You will always have someone to teach. He will give you what you want. There will always be a heart softened when you are a diligent missionary. Super cool!! 

Anyway!!! There's all that!! Hope y'all have a lovely 4th! We went to a Redneck Parade which was all John Deer tractors. Haha!! We also had a BBQ with some members. It was super fun!! Pictures are to come!! Love y'all!!! Thanks for all the support! Please keep us and our investigators in your prayers. We need all the help we can get! 

Love, 

Sister Hood