SO GORGEOUS!!! HOLY COW!
I can't believe I get to live here!
On Monday we went on a hike as a zone. It was pretty good, but a little stressful because we had a time crunch to get home a little early! After P-day we had a really good lesson with a less active family in the ward. I'm learning so much from Hermana Hull about loving people!
Hike!
Tuesday was fun
because we got to paint! Our investigator, Jane, has a business and is renting
a store downtown to have a warehouse/office. She's run out of room in her house
for all of her inventory! We are painting and decorating it really cute! It's
still in the process right now, but I can't wait to send pictures of the final
product. It was great to spend some quality time with her and get to know her
better. She's really amazing. Her life story is so crazy, and it's truly a
miracle the things she has overcome! We went back on Thursday to help
paint some more and ended up just sitting on her little couches for the last 30
minutes or so and having a lesson. I feel like I learned way more from her than
we could ever teach her, though! She is a very gratitude-centered person. She
was homeless, abandoned, starving, and literally had to live in a tree for a
while. But she just accepted it and found a way to find joy in whatever
circumstances she is in. She said even just the sun on your face and the beauty
of nature was something for her to pray and say thanks for. Wow. I can't wait
till we come back here after my mission so my loved ones can meet her.
Painting!
Wednesday a
miracle happened! We were set to have another lesson with Tyler. He was on-date
for baptism back on May 7, but he randomly dropped us at the last second
and was really fearful. He had a lot of concerns, but he couldn't tell us what
they were. We knew the fact that he was meeting with us again was not something
to be taken lightly, so we prayed and felt like we should bring Mama Abken with
us. She converted in her early twenties, so we thought it would be a
good fit, since Tyler is 18. It was like MAGIC. It was like Mama had this
little hammer and just tapped it on the right spot, and suddenly he shattered
open. All the concerns and fears just came flooding out! We were able to turn
to the scriptures and resolve every last one of them! Then, Hermana Hull turned
to me and asked, "Should I do it?" I said, "Go for it!" She
said "Tyler... Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized
by someone holding the authority of God.... on September 3rd?" He
started cracking up. "What? You already had a date picked out? You just
knew I was going to say yes, didn't you?!" I said, "Does that mean
yes?" He said, "Yes" with the biggest smile ever! Then he asked
if we could do it sooner! We said of course he could, and long story short, now
he's getting baptized on Friday!!! WOO HOO
Friday was
awesome, because we said goodbye to weekly stressing! The mission is shifting our
focus with weekly planning (I used to refer to it as weekly stressing). We used
to have a Washington Yakima Mission checklist of how to do it. Now we are
ripping those papers into shreds (very satisfying) and going back to the root--Preach
my Gospel. It felt so good! I have never liked this kind of planning and always
wondered why we did it that way, so I am SO HAPPY. It was a truly beautiful
experience being able to just take the time to have a spiritual, inspirational,
and revelatory experience. We fell in love with our area! Instead of focusing
on numbers, standards, or lessons, we focused on individual people, and it was just...
beautiful I can't even explain it.
Saturday night we
had an awesome lesson with a less active member, Maria (Romero’s girlfriend),
although she's gone to church for 4 weeks in a row now, so pretty soon it will
turn into Active Member lessons! She has SUCH a strong testimony, too. I feel
like the visit with Maria and Jane both were more for me than they were for
them! I received a lot of answers to my personal prayers and concerns, it's so
cool when those come from other people! Maria has started reading the Book of
Mormon and loves it. It's so cute to see how excited she is, and such a
testimony of the joy we have when we read the scriptures.
Sunday was
Testimony Meeting and I loved it. The Spirit is always so strong. And Tyler was
there. Everyone was like, "We missed you!" He said, "It's good
to be back." ITS GOOD TO HAVE YOU BACK, TYLER!
Hna. Hull (A.K.A. "Hna. HULK")
loves morning exercise time!
I made enchiladas! Hna. H loved them!
Zone picture
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