WEEK OF MIRACLES!!!

Howdy howdy howdy!! 😁

This week we were busy with school stuff. Poor Sister Duncan is super stressed with everything on her plate. But we were able to get all that pretty much figured out! We did some finding and stuff. People here are so funny. Either they will shut the door in your face and not even give you time to introduce yourself, or they will let you go on your little spiel then avoid us for the rest of forever... now, I must admit that we haven't had too much time to follow up with people. So I haven't seen the third side when people are actually interested!! One of these days though. ACTUALLY!!! We saw this week!! SO REFRESHING TO TESTIFY! Oh man!!

So! Our first major miracle of the week!! (We have tiny ones all the time! 😊) So we went to have dinner with these members, the Dunlaps, that literally live in a mountain!!! It's crazy!! We drove an hour just to get there! Up a mountain and stuff!! All in the dark... which is was not fond of... the dark is not my friend... anyway!! Their son, Zach is less active and his fiancé/future mother of his child were also there. We had no idea they were going to be there so we didn't really have anything magnificent planned. But it was just super low key! We told jokes around the table and laughed super hard! They're a riot! I enjoy their company! Then Sister Dunlap asked if we would like to practice teach! So of course we said yes! So! It is much easier for me to just copy and paste what I wrote in their lesson report! So!

Here ya go!:
They had came to church with the Dunlaps the week before we had dinner with them. We asked Hannah what she knew about the church. She said she didn't know much. Zach had told her a little bit. She had grown up in a Christian home and her dad went through some very hard things and he would always turn to the Bible for comfort and strength. She said she could always see a change in him throughout his life. She said that he mentioned that he passed away a couple years ago. So that's what has helped her to stay with it, kind of. They just found out that she is pregnant. So they're working out the marriage plans. Zach wants it for his family too. They are so amazing!! They're so prepared to receive the gospel.

We first started off talking about the Plan of Salvation. Talked about a lot about the Pre-Earth life. She found it so interesting. As we continued on with it, we asked a few times if she had questions or if everything was making sense. She said that it was all super interesting and just made sense. We talked about justice and mercy and how repentance ties into that. She said it all made sense. We bounced back and forth between the restoration and the Plan of Salvation she needed the background. So we talked about the priesthood authority and used the ice cream truck analogy. Talked a lot about the Atonement, how it cleanses us from sin, and bore testimony to all of them. Talked about faith and We talked about the kingdoms of glory and used the cottage analogy. We mentioned how Obedience is key to getting into the highest kingdom. She completely understood. It was awesome. We invited her to be baptized and tried to set a date. She was completely for it but the Dunlap's said that we should give it some time. We also invited her to pray about what we have taught her. We promised that Heavenly Father would answer her prayers. She committed. We asked Zach what he thought. He said he wants this for his family and he knows what he needs to do to get back on track. So we invited him to do it. It was so awesome!!!! Such a miracle..

So that's them!! They came to church again this Sunday and she liked it. We asked her how it went when she prayed. She said she felt it was right and she wants to do it. So that's awesome!! Zach was on board too. He was answering questions in gospel principles and just soaking it in and working for it. It blows my mind every time these kinds of miracles happen. Heavenly Father is so merciful... They basically fell into our lap... We are seeing them for dinner again on Friday!! So PLEASE keep them and us in your prayers.. ALL of us NEEED this! 😁

Another AMAZING thing that happened was with Cynthia, our recent convert. She is amazing. She was telling us about how she was struggling with a few different things in life. She just didn't feel like she was being a "good Mormon" so she was beating herself up for that. Of course, Satan will always join in there too.... 😐 But it was amazing. We were just sitting there trying to go by the spirit and we started talking about receiving answers through the Book of Mormon. As we talked about it, we were going to just run an errand and be back shortly to give her some time to pray out loud while she was alone. (There's great power in that, ya know) But apparently we didn't need to!!! She opened up her Book of Mormon and there it was!! Her answer! She read the verse to us and we didn't get the same interpretation at all!!! But the spirit spoke directly to her. Then we asked if she knew what she needed to do. She said that she felt like she needed to get rid of some of the other religious books that she used to study. She said they were so important to her because they have shaped her into who she is today. But then she said "I would give up those books any day for this book (putting her hand on the Book of Mormon), because this is eternity,charity, and it's the truth." When she said that, the spirit was SO STRONG!!! It was amazing!! We all felt the truth of it right then and there. It was so powerful. I'm just so amazed at people's faith. I admire them so much. But yeah!! That was Cynthia!

We also had Zone Conference this week!!! AHHH!! It was so good!!! I also had to speak... 3rd time in a row... I'M ON A ROLL!!😂😁 Sister Seely jinks-ed me! Hahaha.... it was amazing though. I will share some of my notes with you.. 😊 President Marston talked a lot about how we spend our time as missionaries. We are called here to gather the elect, or those who will listen. It's a pretty huge job if you think about it... no pressure or anything... 😳 the one thing that hit me like a brick though is how he related our time as a missionary to Tithing. He said that when we give all of our time to Him we are then paying a full tithe. He said that it's just like paying actual money. If it's not 10% or the full amount asked, it's not a full tithe. Though Heavenly Father A still recognizes it as a sacrifice, it's just an offering. But an offering doesn't bring about the same blessings as a full tithe does. As it says in Malachi, the windows of heaven will open up and we won't have room enough to receive all the blessings the Lord promises. President gave the example of sleeping in a half hour each morning. It really doesn't seem like a big deal, especially in the morning... but it's what it adds up to. At the end of your mission, you would come up like 14 days short of 18 months or something. That's A LOT of time... that made me really think about how I use my time. I ask myself often now "Can I declare myself as a full tithe payer today?". That's how I end my day now, asking myself if I had given a full tithe to the Lord. All my life Tithing has been something important to me. I have never gone once without giving the Lord back what He asks. So thinking of it now, I can't handle the thought of not doing the same with my time. Especially as a missionary. It was just so eye opening!!

The other thing that he talked about a lot was filling in the dark parts of our heart with light. Talking about the Christmas initiative which is #LightTheWorld, he said that we need to shine to our full capacity. In order to do that we have to get rid of all the darkness inside us. Even those little pin pricks of darkness and replace it with the Saviors light. He said we all shine more extraordinarily than those that are of the world but of the same generation. But we all still have those little spots of darkness. Once we get rid of those, we can shine and be radiant. He talked about Obedience and stuff, relating it back to that. It was just so powerful. I think of that every time I have a negative thought now. I always try to replace it with a Christlike one. Man, sometimes it's really hard. But I want to be as brilliant as Heavenly Father intended me to be.

So yeah. Those were the things that really stuck out to me. I always feel so edified and inspired after Zone Conferences or just hearing from President Marston. He is definitely a man of God.

I really appreciate you guys. I don't know what I would do without ya. 😊 Y'all are always in my thoughts and prayers 😉 thanks for all ya do!!

With all the love in the world!

Sister Hood