Episode 43: The One Where I Knock.. A Lot

Hello everyone! 

This week has been really great! A lot of our investigators had stopped progressing, which is usually really frustrating, but Sister Gobrait and I decided to just stop focusing on them and go out and find new people to teach. It took a lot of faith, and at first I was feeling like we were knocking a billion doors and half of them didn't even open. But the more we persevered, and the more we worked on having faith that there would be someone who wanted to learn from us, the more results we saw. It was really a testament to me that faith+hard work=miracles.

We also went on exchanges this week, and I got to relive my transfer with Sister Rydalch, which was really fun. We talked a lot about how our missions have changed us since we were companions, and how recognizing the change motivates us to want to change even more. The Atonement of Jesus Christ not only allows us to repent of our sins, but also enables us and motivates us to be constantly improving and growing.

In other news, I got ice cream form the ice cream truck for the first time in my life. It was one of those "bucket list" kinds of things that doesn't really matter, but it made me happy! It was a Mexican ice cream truck, so I got a mango and chili popsicle. Here is the photo evidence.

And here is another goofy picture, because Sister Gobrait loves taking pictures, even when we are both tired and want to punch people! (don't worry, we haven't resorted to violence, just funny faces)

That's all for this week! I love you all. Keep on smiling.

Love,

Sister Lemon

Episode 42: The One in the Blessed Land of Lakewood

Hello everybody! It's me again.

This week has just been great. My new area is amazing, my companion is amazing, and life is just good all around.

This is my new companion, Sister Gobrait. She is great! She is from Tahiti, and she has been out for 7 months total: 2 in Tahiti, 2 in the MTC learning English, and 3 in this area. We laugh a lot, and we are really united, which is just awesome. Like she was saying this morning, it feels like we have known each other for forever. A lot of times we will have conversations that go something like this:

Me: Do you want to turn down this road, or turn around and knock back the way we came?

Sister Gobrait: Maybe we should turn around.

Me: Oh, good. That's what I was thinking, too!

Sister Gobrait: Then it must be inspired, let's do it!

We joke and laugh a lot, and we are pretty much just happy all the time. We also share a ward with a foursome of elders. Two of them are our zone leaders, one just finished being the assistant to the mission president, and one is brand new (translation: they are 3 very experienced missionaries and one newbie). They are some crazy kids, and something crazy is always happening in our area.

We have also had a lot of miracles this week. For example, on Wednesday, we were deciding where to knock, and Sister Gobrait said she couldn't get it out of her mind that we needed to go to Woodbrook,which is a random part or our area that is on the other side of McChord Air Force Base. You have to take the freeway for 15 minutes to get there from anywhere else in our area. But, we decided to go there anyway. When we got out of the car, a random man had appeared out of nowhere and was walking toward us. Sister Gobrait was getting kind of nervous because Woodbrook has a bit of a bad rap for being "sketchy". When the guy got closer to us, he asked if we were lost, because apparently no one ever goes down that side street. We explained that we weren't lost, we were looking for people to teach about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He said he had met missionaries before when he lived in Samoa, and he would be interested in learning more. We set up an appointment for the next day, but he wasn't there, and he wasn't there another time we tried stopping by, so we figured he wasn't that interested after all. Well, yesterday we had a dinner in Woodbrook, and we got there early, so we decided to knock some doors until dinner. We picked a spot, but as we were about to start, Sister Gobrait said she felt like we should cross the street and knock on the other side fist. We hadn't knocked a single door when a car pulled up behind us. It was Junior! (the guy from before). He said he was sorry he had missed the appointment, but he still wants to meet with us . I have high hopes for Junior, because we have been led by the Spirit right to him twice now. It's amazing!

We are also working with a really solid lady named Jennifer. She has been progressing so well, and she was going to get married this upcoming weekend, but we just found out yesterday that she isn't actually married to her "husband" (she calls him her husband though, so that's why we got confused). They are engaged, but they haven't set a date yet. So, we told her that if she can set a date, we will help her with the wedding. I have a lot of faith that we will be having a wedding/baptism in the coming months. 

Jennifer also has a really cute son named Leo. He likes to steal my glasses.  

Well, that's all I've got for this week! Have a great week and I will talk you again soon!

Love,

Sister Lemon

Episode 40: The One With Fireworks

Hello everyone! Happy 4th of July. Fireworks have been going off here for days (not the big ones, just small stuff). We were walking between some apartments in a complex, and some kids were playing with fireworks, and I was really scared for their safety, especially after they caught the grass on fire. But as far as I know, no one got hurt.

We went to Yaiy, our Cambodian grandma's house again this week (the one from Episode 36: The One with the Old Lady and a Kitchen Fire). Guess what, she came to church this week! That's the first time on my whole mission that she has come, and it was awesome. We even went to help her get dressed before church. She's so cute!

I've also been reading a lot about listening recently. I realized that hearing is what you do wit your ears, but listening is what you do with your heart. I know that sounds really cheesy, but it's really true! You can hear and not do anything, but when you listen, it causes you to act. I have started carrying around a tiny notebook to write down all kinds of stuff so that I can work on listening rather than just hearing, and it's awesome! I am learning tons from things I never would have noticed before.

Well, that's all for this week folks! Oh, except this picture of mini golfing last week. I got 2nd! 

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Lemon