Week 54

I never thought the day would come that Sister Harrast would be my companion! We served in Scottsdale zone together the whole time and were such good friends! She was waiting for a visa to Brazil and never got it so is officially re-assigned to our mission! Now she's my companion (with Sister Lee too) and I could not be more excited!

We all love each other so much. Sister Harrast went to BYU and was on music scholarship and we know a lot of the same people. She is from Michigan (the Lansing mission).

Transfers were crazy. 5 hours down and 5 hours back up. We stayed in Eagar last night and finished driving up this morning. We just barely got back home!

The most exciting news is that WE GOT A TRUCK!!! I felt indestructible driving back up the mountains! And I wasn't AS afraid of hitting an elk, and we just glide right over the dirt roads. Hallelujah!

2 weeks ago when we showed up for volleyball one of the non-member ladies we play with walked up to us and handed us a folded piece of paper. It was a service referral! One of our neighbors really needed help with yard work and asked for us to give her a call! We did and a few days later helped Cynthia weed and do lots of yard work. She wanted to pay us so badly but of course we could not accept that! So she insisted on feeding us lunch. As we chatted with her she let us know her whole religious background. She was once married to a Mormon and took ALL OF THE LESSONS, but never decided to get baptized. She divorced that husband a few months later and hasn't had really any contact with the church since (about 30 years). When she moved up here a few years ago she started attending different churches and finding out how she could be baptized. She was studying with this one church and attending all the classes she could to learn what she should do. She asked the pastor a bunch of questions about baptism and he was not able to answer them so she eventually stopped going. One day while she was walking on the mountain behind her house she was praying and asking what she should do, she heard a distinct voice tell her that "they weren't the right ones". (in regards to the churches she was attending and their baptisms. Anyways... She ended up finding out by herself that she needed to be immersed in water to be baptized. So she got her friends from every different church that she had to come and baptize her in the river. If the person didn't say something right or do something another religion believed was correct, they fixed it. So now she figures she HAD to have been baptized correctly with all of their help! She is a true truth seeker…

She had a Book of Mormon and after we taught her a little bit about what we knew she got us a bunch of pieces of paper and asked us to mark a bunch of passages she could read. So we gave her 8. We came back about a week later and she had read 4 of them and highlighted! She watches BYU channel everyday and just watched all of the Work and the Glory movies and LOVES them.... SHE IS AWESOME!!

We are trying to figure out how to fellowship her to church. We love her so much. All from a non-member referral!

Also... last week we were in Alpine and ended up having 2 and a half hours before dinner and were figuring out what we should do. The thought came to me so I asked the sisters if we should go to the Blue (a town about an hour south I have heard about). We all agreed and our adventure commenced! It was the most beautiful drive ever. I felt like I was traveling back in time and in some Mayan river bed. We made it down there and I only knew 2 names of less actives down there. IT IS A PRARIE. Seriously NOTHING is down there. But after knocking on a door we asked where Betty lived, or where the Joy's lived. We found them both! Sister Joy was so nice and at the end of our visit she agreed to start reading her scriptures again. She said having us there made memories flood back. She wants us to help her and her husband get to the temple.

It was so worth going down there. We will go visit with her once a week!

Good things are happening. We have a potluck picnic in Pie town in a few hours! And the members are going to bring LOTS of friends so we are excited! I am hoping sister Harrast will be able to play a tune maybe on her guitar for all of them. We will see how it goes.

I love working up here. It gives me a chance to REALLY get creative. I feel to happy. I love this area. I love these rural parts!

I am happy to hear how much Trevor is going to the temple! He is such a good boy!

And mom- good girl for working there!

Dad- thank you for helping me learn how to recognize the spirit, you are such a spiritual man. I admire you for that.

And Riley- I expect a wedding announcement soon!

Kass- good job on all of your talks! Thanks for the Coco updates.

Coco- keep learning how to talk GOOD GIRL!

Tad- keep having fun and learning in Costa Rica!

Drew- thank you for the workouts... they are killing me. I LOVE feeling sore again!

LOVE YOU!

TRUCK! and Harrast!

me with trucky. 

ALSO! AURELIO IS GETTING BAPTIZED!! I cried when sister Wheelwright told me! SO HAPPY! It took him a year!