God works miracles!

 9/04/12

Hellllllo family!

 

 Mom....you are probably in surgery right now! I hope things go well and I have been thinking about you a lot! I wish I were there to talk medical talk with you.

I have had the chance to talk medical talk with many people here in Utah... Some of the sisters ask me about random things or tell me awesome stories. :) Glad you have all these great people taking care of you :)

Sounds like life down there is one big party with all these new things happenning everywhere.

 

This week... we got a call that our family of four that dropped their baptisms will now be getting baptized the 15th of this month! We are sooooo excited! That means we will have 5 baptisms this week.

Tanner’s baptism...that was this past Sat... Was wonderful. He wanted a small meeting.... there was a packed room of people! It was so cool to see! He got up and bore his testimony and started to cry... I couldn’t help but to join him. It was such a spiritual experience. I love looking at people and seeing this ultimate smile on their faces... it helps me see that this is all worth it and it is true!

We will be attending a baptism this Sat for an 8 year old boy in our ward. They are the Maughan family...no relation to Tim though... crazy! They are such an amazing family. I have only known this family for about 2 weeks and I have learned so much about the Atonement. Both parents were born in the church and fell away and got into hard core drugs. The mom had her first baby at 16. Both the mom and the dad realized they needed to change...they wanted something different for their lives... so they got back into church and have learned fully how to take upon their cross and apply the atonement. They have been so open about their experiences and now try to help others to get out of situations they were in. I have a feeling I am going to be friends long after my mission. Their Son just left to serve in Japan. We get to hear all his stories and how he teaches the gospel - He is a good example to me and helps me want to be a better missionary.

I wish some people here in Utah could talk to this family and realize we don’t have to be perfect to be a "Mormon" ... the lord knows we are going to screw up and make dumb choices...but that’s why he sent his son. Ether:12 talks about how we have weaknesses and if we turn to God and ask for help he will make those weaknesses strengths. I never in my life had a scripture hit me so hard before. I have read that a million times. I finally realized that that has been my whole life... I have needed to apply that scripture in so many ways... especially when I was angry at Dad or others for not making right choices. God is just showing those weaknesses so that in time they can become strengths and make us all better than we were before. It takes time. Be patient...the Lord says. We are not here to judge others we are here to strength ourselves and along the way be an example good or bad for others to learn from. The world makes more sense each and every day.

 This week I met, for the first time, a 17 year old kid who ran away from Colorado City to escape his family. It was an interesting conversation. He has 3 moms and 30ish siblings and he is one of the oldest. I can’t imagine. Each day we are meeting more and more kids like him.

The other night Sister Tornar and I were walking late at night and the moon was out... it was a large moon and you could see "Mr. Moon", you know what I’m talking about right,  the face in the moon. Well I asked her if she had ever seen it before... she looked at me like I was crazy! She then took the rest of the night and asked those we talked to if they knew who Mr. Moon was. It was soooo funny! Most people thought we were crazy...or me anyways! Is that just an AZ thing??? I’m pretty sure it’s real! I think I’ve gone crazy!

 

Yesterday was our P-Day and we got to go to Zion's and hike! What a gorgeous place!!! I can’t wait to go all over that thing after the mish. We spent most of the day there with the Maughan Family and they packed us a lunch and totally spoiled us. We got to go in the some of the water parts up to our ankles. I felt alive again. I was in my element. I really needed that recharge because this week was weighing down so hard on me. I felt this immediate peace and happiness there. I have lots of picture...to come...I promise! haha  After we got home we went grocery shopping or tried we went to get on the freeway and our tire blew. I started to change it :) Thank you Bud... Sister Tornar had no idea what to do and started freaking out. Luckily I was in a flowy skirt...so I got everything out got it jacked up and this old man came up and pushed me out of the way. He said Sister.. You shouldn’t be doing that...Let me help you! Thank you God for the humbling experience and making me allow him to help. So he finish and off he went. We looked at the tire and a piece of metal went up the tire and blew out the side.I have never seen a tire look like that before... pretty scary... but everything was okay and we were safe. We ended up getting our groceries and then spent this morning at discount. I really felt at home, haha I can’t even count how many times I have been to a Discount now. All the guys there were really helpful. They fixed us up in 30 minutes and off we went. The Lord knew we needed to get back to our studies ;) hahaha ... I just kept thinking...man I’m glad I know how to do these kinds of things. I’m glad I don’t freak out about these kinds of things, hahaha.

P-day was a whirl wind!

Welp...there are just some of the things I thought about this week...hope it makes sense... I hope this week is a good one for everyone!!

Love you bunches!

Love you like a Utah Sister loves the candy bowl ;)

Thank you Grandma for being the Best! Thank you Gramps for feeding mom and making sure she stays fed :)
Thank you Dad for taking care of mom!