HE HAS BLESSED ME IN MY LIFE..JUST WOW!!

Hey Fam!! 

So.. one thing I need! I possible.. so since we have to be in early on Halloween, we wanted to make Zebra Popcorn and celebrate our own way!!  So could you include melting chocolates and other ingredients in in the package? Or if not, I can just buy it. But we really wanted to make.. 

Missionary life is awesome. It's hard sometimes because I really love my bed and 6:30 is so early. It seems earlier when it's dark, but what a blessing it is to serve the Lord full time. I am realizing that more and more. Well, the 'gators are doing well. We have 5 progressing right now: Felicia, Kodi, Margurate, Angelica, and Michelle. Lily Burrell and Felicia are on date. The Burrell's are the family we have been trying to get to church for ages. But since Sister Burrell was offended 15 years ago or something they haven't been back... isn't that so so sad!! She is forfeiting the blessings Heavenly Father wants to give her family. Not to mention her responsibility as a parent to rear her children in righteousness... it's so hard...  But it's part of being a missionary. When dealing with peoples agency sometimes ya wanna run screaming into the night... but that's where charity comes in! Which I am still lacking.... Haha.. good thing the Atonement is real. We are now teaching Sister Mcka's grandsons, Nick and Max. They are such good boys! So polite! 

But it was a good week. This week I did feel a little off, just not quite myself. I kind of think it has to do with recent changes in my life.... but! It doesn't matter because I'm back to me now!  Man... We were just going somewhere and were listening to this song by Nashville Tribute about the Book Of Mormon. We were just listening to the words and I just felt such joy about the Celestial Kingdom.. but because He already redeemed us we now can live forever and ever with our families in Their presence!!! I just don't understand why I am so blessed while others have to struggle so hard. It just blows me away how He has blessed me in my life.. just wow. 

It was really a super powerful testimony meeting this week. I cried.. and I never cry.. hardly ever. The Spirit was just so strong.. I just felt so good!! Kodi, Michelle, Sister Bingham, Sister Mcka and the boys came (who we have started preparing for baptism), Brother Pepper came (we tracted into him, he's recently returning..). And Austin was there and he got the Priesthood!!

Ah! It was just amazing... Sister Fitzgerald got up and bore her testimony and shared 2 Ne. 9:10. Which is so powerful!! It says: "O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit." It goes along with what I was talking about before and she tied it into the sacrament and aw man.. it hit the feels.. I just feel so grateful. There were people who just said that they were so grateful for us and stuff. I didn't even realize we meant so much to them.. it's just a blessing. Then in M C Meeting they compared us (Sister Seely, Fitz and I) to Sister Johnson and Sister Smith... that is a HUGE compliment.. they were the first sisters here after a long time and they totally turned it around.. so that was really awesome to hear. Ahh!!! I just love Corning.. 

Hah!! For my bug story this week, it was worse than the one with Maryann. Well lemme tell you this story! So Sister Tranpane feeds us every Tuesday and invites Kodi and her hubby Pat over too. Well Sister Trapane had to head over to Utah for some reason so she let us know that Someone offered to feed us for the 2 weeks she is gone. Well, to be completely honest, I was a little terrified because I know Someone has 39 animals in her little trailer... a snake named Fred, 3 dogs, 4 cats, 3 toads, rats and mice.. how many? Way to many to count... But little did I know that there were many more than 39 that she neglected to tell us... So there we were standing there for an hour and a half watching her make alfredo spaghetti, garlic bread and kabobs. Yes, an hour and a half. That's way longer than actually eating  and our spiritual thought is supposed to take... She did turn on some ASL videos about the Bible for us. Just in case we wanted to learn the Bible song in sign language I guess.. hahaha!!! When that was over we just continued to watch her cook. She threw the kabobs in the oven and left them in for WAAAYYY too long.. hahaha! It seriously was like charcoal.. she was like "Hubby! Do you think these are done?" He was like "Yeah Honey.. very done.."  She went on bragging about her culinary experience as she poured bottled alfredo sauce into the browned beef that her hubby cooked... hahah!!!! Ohh .. But that wasn't even bad compared to the bug adventures.

So as she is cooking we would hear SMACK on the counter and she would slowly slide her hand off and wipe it on her pants... we looked at each other like "Oh no..." we tried not to laugh. That happened several times. Then out of the corner of my eye I see this thing move across the wall.... I looked over and this massive cockroach was running across. Then I just happened to look into the open cupboard and there was a monster in there... it was seriously MASSIVE... I had to turn around and take a big swig of my Coke. It was seriously like one of those horror movies.. haha! Then I heard SMACK! followed by the squeak of her hand and the ruffle of her pants as she wiped off the roach guts. Then next thing I know she reaches into drawer where her spatula was, she grabbed it and wiped it on her pants and then STIRRED THE SAUCE!!!!!!!! It took all of my being to not freak a leak... lemme tell ya!! That went on all night... she pulled everything out wrapped it in plastic wrap (thank goodness). But even then it didn't stop her "friends" from getting to the bread.. thank goodness Sister Fitzgerald was watching or I would have picked the nasty one.... who knows how much "extra protein" was added to that meal.. I don't want to know.

So we sat down and talked over our lovely meal (which I'm sincerely grateful for)... nice view of the snake staring me down and the mice and rats squeaking and climbing on the cage.. it was terrible.. then she announced that she had desert!!! Ohhh boy... I had had PLENTY to eat.. Nonetheless you can't refuse her "creations". So she piled on a massive heap of something with "crazy" in the same.. It actually wasn't bad until ya got to the canned fruit.. Sister Fitz distracted her while it mysteriously disappeared... I know I know! I need to repent for that.. she will still receive blessings as if I had eaten it. Then she called her hubby in and asked him to pull Fred out to play.... and he did. I held Fred. There are pictures. That was kinda scary and awesome at the same time.. but yeah! There's your story of the week... there will be more next week because she is making us stuffed peppers for dinner on Tuesday.. and like 5 other days this month.. so stay tuned.  

Wow! We had such a great time with Sister Knowles. She is a Less-Active lady we have been visiting for a long, long time. Her heart was quite hardened and she had a really hard time with the Book Of Mormon but is super into the Bible. But in Washington, several years ago she was baptized and went to the temple. Now she has totally turned her back on it. So that breaks my heart every time. We have showed her scriptures that go hand in hand with the Bible and it started to soften her heart. But this week we have been visiting her pretty often and we just go over and take her dog out, we bought her flowers because for the 26 years she was married, or any other time in her life she had never gotten flowers from someone..  and she asked us to get her a watch she really wanted and she would give us money. But I just saw it and got it for her. It really was no big deal. We just talked to her and asked her about her husband who has now passed away. Ya know, just serving her. She bought us pizza for lunch and stuff and that was great. She told us yesterday that she wanted to come to church with us in November when her knee heals because she just had surgery... I was flabbergasted.... we have tried and tried and tried and tried and we got her to a linger longer once.. but now she is telling us she actually wants to come to church... it really opened my eyes to the importance of Christlike service.. we don't need to keep poking and prodding to get someone to come. All we have to do is just love them and serve them and the Spirit will touch their hearts and bring them back... it's so amazing. I'm just so grateful to have learned that lesson because that's what we need to do with the Burrell's too. Just love them and have fun with them and show them that they aren't just a project. But that's the best thing I learned this week. 

Things North Cal peeps don't understand:

1. What stop signs are... 
2. When you inch towards the door, it DOES NOT mean keep talking! I'm dying to hear your random whatever!!...
3. When you are ending a conversation. So either they follow you while you walk away or they just corner you and make you listen to their story...
4. Just because you use soap and water, doesn't mean it's clean... 
5. That bras or belts are a very important part of a wardrobe... 
6. When you are looking steadfastly at the teacher/speaker it means you want to listen.. not keep talking.. 

These are just some of the things we deal with everyday...  oh how I love Corning... 

Love ya peeps!!  have a great week.  Love you guys! 

Love, 

Sister Hood