The One Where We Hit Negatives!

January 11, 2016

 Boiling water to snow, curtesy of our elders, so cold out!

 Fun pictures with Katie B. She's a 17 year old YW from our ward. I love her!

Here's a selfie for ya😏😎

So this week was good. IT WAS FREEZING! We have hit negatives here in Minnesota!!!! Three days this week we have left the house in negative degree weather. The worst was Sunday morning at -10. My Gosh! And that's not including wind chill. It was -30 with wind chill. Don't worry, I've have been wearing 2 coats, 3 pairs of socks, gloves, my winter boots, and 2 pairs of fleece lined tights. So I say bring it on!

 

Aaannyways, We were able to see one of the coolest ladies in our ward this week, Tina. She's so funny, she loves the sisters, all things nerdy, hallmark movies, and is a die hard Pittsburg Steelers fan. She sends us text updates whenever they are playing :) We love talking to her.

 

So Thursday, Sister Young was sick. I woke her up to study and she said (and I quote) "My brain hurts". I thought that was a funny description. So she slept most of the day and I watched church videos on my iPad and read conference talks. Then we went to dinner and synced our iPads and reported on lessons at the church. She's still fighting off her cold but we haven't stayed in any other day.

 

Friday was a good day. We went and saw a less active lady and had sister lambert (her visiting teacher) come with us and it went REALLY well. We shared Alma 32 and talked about faith and the spirit was really strong. So that was great. Then we weekly planned and by the time we were finished we had like less than an hour before dinner and weren't quite sure what to do in that time but Sister Young thought we should stop by Gladys and see if she was home, because we have had appointments with her before but she was never there. We stopped by and SHE WAS THERE. Her little girls let us in and we were able to talk to all 3 girls and Gladys and see how they were doing and shared the Christmas video. That was awesome. And she said that she had already taken off work to come to church this coming Sunday! We are so excited for her. Sister Young was really pumped as we walked out of that apartment building. Sister Young was so happy that we went to Applebee's and she paid :) That was super yummy, even though everyone probably thought we were a couple hahaha.

 

Oh! AND we got permission to watch another movie this week. We watched the War Room, which is a movie all about the power of prayer in our lives. I had already seen it before the mission, but sister young hadn't and she absolutely loved it. We watched it with sister B and pat and they loved it too. Especially pat and we had a good discussion about prayer afterwards. Oh! And today we had interview with president Forbes. I was really happy about it and looking forward to it. I was able to talk with him about some of the things that I have been struggling with and he gave me advice and was really understanding I love having one on one time with president cause that never happens. And CRAZY NEWS! So while I was talking with him he said he has 7 new sisters coming this transfer and asked me how I felt about training. I answered that I was open to it and thought it would be a good experience for me. We finished our interview and I was talking to sister young and she said he asked her if she thought i was ready to train to which she said yes, so I'm like 95% sure I'm training this next transfer! Ahhhh! Yeah that's it.

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

"How are we supposed to act when we are offended, misunderstood, unfairly or unkindly treated, or sinned against? What are we supposed to do if we are hurt by those we love, or passed over for promotion, or are falsely accused, or have our motives unfairly assailed?

Do we fight back? Do we send in an ever-larger battalion? Do we revert to an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, or … do we come to the realization that this finally leaves us blind and toothless?" (Teachings of the presidents, Howard W. Hunter, Ch. 1)

It is one of the hardest things in my opinion to not fight back when we feel we are wronged, or have been badly treated. Our pride, or our Anger, or our Jealousy rears its ugly head and prevents us from acting as the savior would and did. And why do we continue to do these things when no one ever truly wins? I believe part of it is because it's easier not to change and to simply justify our actions. I was right he was wrong. But in order to become the people our Father in Heaven wants us to become and be better disciples of Jesus Christ we have to say, as King Lamoni did in the Book of Mormon... "I will give away all my sins to know thee... ” (Alma 22:18.) "When we, too, are willing to give away all our sins to know him and follow him, we, too, will be filled with joy" (Teachings of the presidents, Howard W. Hunter, Ch. 1)