Week 5: "hey girlios"

Hey guys!

I didn't think my experience here could be any wilder but I'm wrong again. This email might be a little longer oop. If you read nothing else, at least read Wednesday and Thursday.

IF YOU WANNA SEE PICTURES CLICK HERE: https://photos.app.goo.gl/o1Wmow78ZBW55WZd8

Also feel free to email me any time. I love hearing from you guys!

Monday

We went to Olive Garden with Mikey and his mom, Denise. Mikey's a new member and Denise isn't a member. Yet. They're the sweetest! Not only did we get dinner and ice cream, Mikey also sent us home with a bunch of groceries because he found out we pay for our own food and doesn't want us to go hungry 😂 he's so funny. Now we have a gallon of milk we're trying to use before it expires.

Tuesday

For some reason I was anxious all day and did not want to do anything. We went knocking and this old man named Ed came out and we talked on his porch forever! He said he's friends with some members and told us to come back soon. I gave him my very first Book of Mormon! That night we had dinner at the branch president's house, the Jukers! We had tacos so that was pretty great! I 🫶🏽 tacos.

Also I hit my one month of being a missionary!

Wednesday

We got a referral for a girl named Gabriella. She wanted to know more about eternal marriage so we met up with her in Chardon square. She was there with her Bible and her husband. They were fully ready to prove us wrong with whatever we had to say, but we ended up having a good discussion and they agreed with everything we said. Her husband, Carl, then told us he needed help moving some things and that he needed two strong men. And also he said he needs someone to check in on his wife every now and then. So obviously we told him we could help and got his number and went on our way.

Then we taught Ron and Laura Duncan who are a cutie old couple that have been meeting with missionaries for like 25 years. They're methodist and told us a few years back some missionaries taught them the plan of salvation and when they got to the kingdoms of glory Laura didn't like it and that's when they stopped lessons. So we decided to give them a full blown lesson of the plan of salvation. Sister Jordan drew them a cutie little diagram and we explained everything and they loved it! They looked mind blown and couldn't believe that the afterlife isn't just heaven and hell. They said we did a way better job explaining it than the missionaries 10 years ago did. Then we left them to let that settle in a little bit.

We went to the Wheatleys for dinner and watched a documentary about some Amish families conversion story and it was so cool! (We're definitely in Amish country) I saw my first Amish person too! And we took pictures with a giant cow statue thingy

Thursday

MIRACLES IN CHARDON

Oh boy buckle up for this one. We tried asking around the branch to help Carl with moving cause he needed it done asap but people have busy schedules which is understandable so that night we asked the Kirtland elders for help. They're amazing and drove 40 minutes to meet us at their address. Turns out it was the wrong address and we had to drive another 25 minutes! Poor elders.. they're kings. We got there and realized it was out of our area so that's really awkward. The elders also then told us that Carl finally sent them an address and it was back where we started.. we had zero plan going in. We just knocked on the door and hoped for the best. Carl and their 3 year old daughter were out running errands but Gabriella said they'd be home soon so we all sat down on the floor (they had no furniture cause they just moved in)

Having no plan we just started teaching the restoration. Sister Jordan gave Gabriella a book of mormon and Elder Anderson came in clutch knowing Bible verses. Sis knows and loves her Bible so that was mega helpful (elder Anderson is from st george so uh if anyone knows him... he went to desert hills)

Halfway through her neighbor walked in and sat down.. she didn't seem super interested but then she went to get her 14 year old daughter, Kiah, so she could listen too. So I guess she was more interested that I thought. I had the impression to give Kiah a book of mormon too, she was a bit hesitant but her mom told her it was okay so she took it and then went to bed cause she was a little bit sick.

We taught a very long lesson and Gabriella kept sharing life experiences that elder Anderson connected to the book of mormon and it was amazing. She shocked that there was a verse for everything. The spirit was so strong. Carl never showed up, which I think is a blessing cause we wouldn't have gotten that far if he had been there. We ended up giving Nila (the neighbor) a book of mormon too (that's 3 🤯) we invited them all to read 3 Nephi 11 and then we said a prayer. They like to hold hands when they pray so we did that.. the elders were shaking in their boots. We left and elder Blake was like "let's play a game called how many standards can we break tonight"

-leave our areas

-hold hands with an elder

-stay out past curfew

It was 9pm when we left and the elders were still like an hour away oops

Don't worry we told our DL (district leader)

Please pray for our friends Gabriella and Carl, Nila and Kiah and of course their dog Roxy

Friday

We went to visit one of the members in an assisted living home. She was this sweet old woman named Alice who kinda reminded me of my grandma a little bit (except my grandma is more there than she is oop) she yapped our ears off for what felt like forever and honestly I have no idea what she was talking about but that's okay. I think she appreciated our visit and we'll definitely be back again.

We went knocking at a random street but it had the cutest old houses so we had to. We got to the cutest house I've ever seen and knocked... twice... no answer so we left a card. I asked if we could write a note about their cute house so we did and then went to the next house. It was a cutie purple house! I love purple. It lowkey looked abandoned but we knocked anyways. This man walking down the street asked what we were up to so we told him and he said nobody lived in the purple house but asked if we knocked on his house. We told him yes and that we think it's soooo cute. He said he wanted to hear our message because he thinks WE'RE cute... awkward. So we started talking about the restoration and he said he grew up in Hiram and also lived in Kirtland so he knows about us. We gave him a book of mormon and he said he appreciates the gift.. and that we're not gonna convert him. I said he could text us if he has any questions because we left our number on the card in his door. He said "I'm definitely gonna text you. I'll say 'hey girlios' because I'm the devil"

UM WHAT?! Did I mention that he's like 40 at least and said he has a wife and kids?

So uh we kinda laughed and then left and he went home. Let's hope he reads the book we gave him.

Saturday

First thing in the morning we went to Gabriella's cause the elders were helping Carl move stuff. We read 3 Nephi 11 with Gabriella and Nila and then talked about it and about general conference. She asked about hell so I gave her a plan of salvation pamphlet. We watched conference with sister Juker, Mikey and Denise and then our friend Matilyn. It was SO good! I got blisters on my hands from writing so much.

We went to get gas and sister Jordan pulled a lil flirt to convert with the guy at the other pump who was eying her like crazy. We gave him our card and he seemed interested so stay tuned lol

Sunday

We watched general conference with the jukers again and they made a whole gourmet breakfast. We were fed spiritually and physically. I found a Taylor Swift guitar song book in our apartment and we just so happened to have a guitar too so y'all know I've been loving that. Just cause I can't listen to Taylor Swift doesn't mean I can't sing it. We watched the second session with Matilyn again and her boyfriend Austin was there too. I hope they heard the messages being shared cause it was all so powerful. We invited them to church but Austin said his mom probably wouldn't let him. Pray for Matilyn and Austin.

Also! We went and visited the Drapers. Sister Draper said her maiden name is Hare so we whipped out our family tree app and guess what... we're 9th cousins.. through my mom's side 😂 and her mom's side.. so that's interesting but cool to meet another Hare cause I don't know any.

I made shrimp for dinner last night and it was BUSS

Spiritual thought: general conference was amazing so if you didn't get a chance to watch it go back and listen! It was powerful! One of the talks I really liked was Dieter F. Uchtdorf in the Sunday afternoon session. He talked about growing your testimony with a strong foundation. He used a tree as an analogy and said to grow your tree you need to nurture your roots. If you wanna grow your testimony, focus on the foundation. I specifically liked when he said if you want a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon then focus on it's witness of Jesus Christ. Ask yourself: Is my testimony firmly founded on Jesus Christ?

I also loved when he said "faith is not faith if never tested"

We go through hard things to strengthen our faith. If we don't struggle and question and seek for truth, leaning on our foundation of Christ then our testimony won't grow. It's something we have to nourish constantly. Trust in Him and His timing!

I love and miss you all so much!

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