You're A Roller Coaster Baby I Swear

You're A Roller Coaster Baby I Swear

Boy oh boy what a week, what a week and where to begin!?

This week has been full of new experiences, ups and downs, worries and relief and a ton of spirit!

Probably the hardest thing about being a missionary is watching an investigator go through a trial of their faith. Never on my mission has my heart ached so much! I can assume that this is kinda how parents feel about their children when they go through tough times. You want to keep them under a rock and make sure nothing hurts them buuuuuuuuuuttttt then they wouldn't learn or grow....

"You never know how much faith you have until your faith is tried"

So I just have to say that Winnie is pretty incredible. It is so cool to see how the Lord has been preparing her to accept this message! She has so much faith that she doesn't know what to do with it! Sometimes I feel like Winnie is too good to be true and every time we teacher her I am bracing myself because I'm sure that this time she will bring up a concern, but the gospel just makes sense to her! It's awesome!

This week Winnie had an awesome testimony building experience for herself about the importance and blessings that come from scripture reading. So we were in a lesson with her and we had asked her how her reading was going. She sheepishly looked down and said she hadn't really been reading and explained how busy she had been with school. Man oh man could I ever relate to her on this one! I was able to share an experience of my own with Winnie about how in university I had noticed that I hadn't been reading my scriptures because of my busy school life. I decided that I would bring my scriptures to school and I started reading before I'd study and in between study breaks. When I did this I noticed that my mind was clearer and I was able to not only retain more but I also got more done. We challenged her try that out this week and report back to us. A few days latter Winnie came walking into institute with the biggest smile on her face. She told us about how just hours earlier she went into the library to write an essay and decided to start off by reading her scriptures... and BAM she finished her essay in record time! She told us about how she was able to hyper focus and how the words just seemed to flow out.

Coolest thing about being a missionary #22: being able to promise blessings to people and knowing Heavenly Father has your back

Jake is doing better than ever! You can tell that he is becoming converted to the gospel because of his desire to share the gospel with others. I feel like every time we go and teach him he has a new story to tell about someone he was talking to about the church. He is inviting his roommates to church and FHE and wants his family to hear about the gospel  *cough future missionary cough*! It makes me so proud to see him go out and share his beliefs and desire others to have the same blessings as he is receiving!

I also had the privilege of witnessing Jakes first blessing. Oh man. I'm not sure if I can describe how I felt as I listened to the words of comfort Heavenly Father had for Jake. The spirit was so strong and it filled me with joy, hope, comfort and a renewed faith. Everything good truly does come from God. After the blessing Jake just sat in the chair with his eyes closed and took a deep breath.

->I LOVE this! Every time Jake has an intense spiritual experience, this is how he reacts. It's almost like the spirit is strong that it takes him a moment to gather his strength and his thoughts.

This week we also got a new investigator named Chase. Chase is kinda legally blind... he sees colour but has to get wicked close to you to see any definition BUT he has really good style which threw me for a loop. Chase is also WAY cool as well! The first time we meet with him he brought a friend, sat us down and started asking us questions about what would happen if he joined the church. Sister Laing and I sat back and relaxed while he set expectations with us. He let us know that it was his intention to find a church to join that would fit in with his beliefs and that he will not waste our time. Sweet!

The Kingston missionaries in full force!

Elder Dewey is really scared of heights...good thing I've got his back

Well I've got to say that I have the best family in the whole world! I wanted to thank you all for the letter s you send every month! It puts the biggest smile on my face and I LOVE hearing about all my little cousins!

I hope you all have a great week and don't forget to smile!

Line of the Week: Teaching Chase and some how sports get brought up

Me: "Oh ya for sure! I actually played rugby."

Chase: "What you played rugby?! Oh well I guess I can see that.. you tend to wave your arms around when you talk so I could see you enjoying punching people."

->I just about died laughing!

Scripture of the Week: Alma 13:24

"For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory."

A Haiku For You:

Not Giving It Up

Gaining MUCH more in return

the Best 18 months

Y.O.S.O

Sister Hall