Do or Die

Do or Die

It's been a big week all around I hear! First off Jill is officially married, say WHAT! but seriously what the heck haha! All Saturday our conversations between sister Rogers and I looked a little something like this
Me: "My sister gets married today!"
Me: "its 1 hour till my sis is married..." 

Me: "30 min till my sisters married!"

Me:"CRAP my sister has been married 2 hours!" 

Haha I was thinking about you guys ALL day, except for the time I wasn't... (We were thinking about her too...we had a cardboard cut out of her at the wedding so she could join in the festivities!! -J) 

A quick shot of Lauren at the wedding!

So I have a bone to pick with you Dad and its about how you taught me to drive -_- I am now the designated driver and in each car there is this little black box called a Tiwi, and the best way to describe this box is that its like our prophet. It warns you of coming danger by saying things like this in the most robotic voice ever: "Check your speed." or my personal favorite "Aggressive driving!"

When ever you get a warning someone in Utah gets a notification who then lets our mission know. If you get too many warnings your tiwi license is taken away.
Now this is what you taught me since I was 15 years old

Dad: "Only pansies take corners slow! Accelerate through the turn!"

.... I have gotten a total of 6 aggressive driving warnings in the past week -___-

On a different note, you will be very impressed to know that I have been without a GPS this past week (we used Sister Ogdens) I seriously thought about going out to buy one, but then I thought about you and figured I'd go old school and use.... A MAP! Haha Sister Rogers is my captain Kurk? or would she be Spock? Anyways she navigates for me and we get along pretty well.

This week has been my very first week of training sister Rogers and I must say she is the butter to my bread! Seriously though, she is absolutely amazing! She is catching on super fast and is really easy going, which I am grateful for! She also does anything I tell her to do which is sweeeet cause it makes for some good times. Let me give you an example of a new training method I think they should implement in all missions, its called "Follow the spirit to the investigators house cause your trainer wont help you." HAHA! So let me give you a little back ground. We are walking to Sammy's house to go visit him and Sister Rogers asks if this is the right turn. In stead of answering her I tell her to follow the spirit. She looks at me and laughs and then realizes that I am dead serious. Good thing Sister Rogers likes a challenge, cause she went with it. We spent the next little while walking around the neighborhood trying to find his house. If she saw a house that she thought was his she would ask me if it was and I'd say, "Lets go see!" So we'd go knock on the door and some random would open it and we'd have to do a door approach. It was a lot of fun! It also didn't take her long to find Sammy's house! ->so inspired! :)

This week had a few unexpected pot holes, Angela dropped us..... Ah it just kills me! She found some anti stuff on the internet and doesnt want to continue to meet. It was hard hearing it from her because I know this is what she is looking for and I know how much the gospel will bless her life! She has had multiple spiritual experiences and was making a lot of progress. Everything happens for a reason though. I know that the Lord will watch over her and who knows what He has in store for her! Something my trainer always told me was that when an investigator drops you, that is just the Lord making room for someone he has prepared and I feel strongly that the Lord has prepared a FAMILY for us to baptize this transfer! HAZA! Sister Rogers and I are on the hunt for this family! We are going through neighborhoods like crazy looking for them :) We know the Lord will provide and we are excited to see the fruits of our labors!

We taught Sammy this week and were able to help him to see that there was indeed an apostasy! YESSSS!!! We used some great scriptures from the Bible (2 Thessalonians and Acts) that talked about a falling away and a restitution. It took a good 40 min of discussion and re-explaining, but you cant argue with scripture!.... or can you...-_- Sammy is now stuck on the whole "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." and claims that he doesnt need to be baptized again... I swear it goes in one ear and out the other... I told him we would address that concern next time we meet. 

So today during my studies I got to read about my FAVORITE Book of Mormon story, the Stripling Warriors! Oh my goodness I get chills every time I read about them! I saw this story in a little bit of a different light this go around though. We all know the verses that talk about how they had faith because their mothers believed etc.. and it got me thinking about this day and age and the HUGE number of sister missionaries serving now. I realized that a big part of the reason I am serving a mission is because of my very own mama! She raised me good and right in the gospel and her strong testimony kept me on the straight and narrow throughout my life. I am worthy to be on a mission because of everything she sacrificed for me! God knew that at this time He was going to need a lot more missionaries, so He saved these parents for this specific time because He knew they would raise good children that would serve him. The missionary force is like Helamans warriors who are going out to find those lost sheep. So I wanted to give a shout out to all the mothers and grandmothers with kids on a mission and thank them for everything they have done! I love my mom SO much and am SO grateful for support that she gives me :) 

Line of the Week: Probably one of my favorite things about training is seeing Sister Rogers contact people on the street. Mostly because it makes me feel reassured that every missionary is truly awkward when they first come out. Here is an experience we had just yesterday

Walking down the street I watch someone walk past us and look at sister Rogers and say...

Me: "Why didn't you talk to that person?"

Rogers: "Ah I'm sorry!"

Me: " I betcha that person has a family that God wants us to teach, man and you just let him pass by..." (said in a joking/loving/serious way)

Rogers: "Ok, ok! I've got the next one I promise!"

->A guy with a cigaret and piercings walks around the corner. And like any good trainer I laugh out loud! God has such a great sense of humor! 

Rogers: "Ok not that one! I'll get the one after him!"

Me: "We are ALL God's children. You can't pick and chose."

->He is now very close to us

Rogers: "Hhhiiiii????" *she actually says hi like its a question and I about die laughing but keep it together*

->the guy stops and looks at her. Sister Rogers looks super confused and pauses there for 5 seconds with her mouth opened. I let her suffer a little longer and then swoop in and start talking.
After Sister Rogers and I had a really good laugh about it and I told her I was proud of her for doing it.

Scripture of the week: Alma 56: 47-48 

"Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not daunt our mothers knew it."

A Haiku For You

Red Head Kids (and cute ones at that, I'm sure! -J)

Eternal Marriage

Jill Bennett

Thats all for this week! I love you all too much to bare! Glory in God always and go out and get yourself into an awkward situation! 

Sister Hall