Heyyyyy Sweets!

So this week was a huge roller coaster with emotions, but at the end, I realized it was soo fun!  I’ll start with the GOOD NEWS!! We met a Catholic family, Diana, Nolan (13), and Liam (10). They were totally interested in the afterlife. Nolan is so inquisitive about the gospel and we was eating up everything we were telling him about a modern-day prophet! Yaaay! He looked at his mom and said, “Mom, I think we ought to check this thing out!” Hehehe! All three of them said they want to be baptised!! So we are going to set up a date tomorrow!!! I”m SOOO EXCITED!!! He said his friends think that he’s crazy at school for believing in the afterlife and about priesthood power. We’re going to read him 2 Nephi 2:1-4 and relate Jacob’s story to him! Then we had him read the story of Nephi killing Laman for the brass plates because he thought it would be cool if that really happened. hehe  So really, everyone can relate a story about the BOM to their own lives. I just love it!! My testimony gets stronger everyday, which really can happen when you feast on the Words of Christ!  They’ll never get old, and you’ll never stop learning! It’s a miracle!!!

One lesson I really learned this week is to pray to be sensitive to the spirit’s guidance when we have a schedule. Last night we prayed to teach a lesson to these old ladies we met on their porch. So we headed out and started walking. But we also included in our prayer to guide us to others who might need us on the way. We didn’t even make it to the old ladies house because we ran into a Lutheran walking her dog I told her that We loved Martin Luther and were so grateful for his efforts in taking a stand for his religious rights. That made her start listening to us…hehehe!  She really ate up our message, and said she can’t wait to read the BOM!  We also ran into a guy loading a KING SIZE mattress, 2 box springs, and a bed fram on his little car. Haha So we offered to help! He called us angels and said he’d love to hear our message sometime. LSS, we didn’t make it to the old ladies house, but we met 2 people on the way! It was SO FUN!!!! EEEE!!

Then we were Sooooo excited because we showed up at three people’s doors one day, and all three of them just started crying at the door step!! We think it’s becaue the Lord guided us to their homes and answered their lonely prayers for someone to visit them. Two of the three let us teach them a lesson, and the spirit was wonderful and comforting for them. We were so happy when we left! And then we got a phone call from BOTH of them the next day saying they never want anything to do with our church again! And to never contact them again… hmm! That darn advarsary!!! We aren’t discouraged though because we know that the spirit touched them…

THEN! We found a place to do service every Saturday! It’s so humbling. There are a lot of people living in Poverty here in Peoria ( A lot of rich people too…but mostly poor), so we feed the homeless every Saturday. Most of the people there look like the people Utahn’s dress-up as for Halloween… I know that sounds hoooooorible!! But There are legit gangsta’s everywhere in Peoria. (Don’t worry though mom….Haha! They keep the Sister’s in the safest part of town). But we can’t be outside in the dark if we’re not in our area…  I cried a lot the first time I helped the homeless because most of them didn’t have teeth, were pregnant without a husband, really handicapped, and just totally without knowledge of why they are here on the Earth. I got a HUGE appreciation for my upbringing in the gospel. If only these people really knew the Plan of Salvation, they would know the sincere love that God has for them, and they wouldn’t be so empty… :S

But I made some really funny friends too! hehe one guy didn’t have any teeth and He said, “Mmmm…I like this bread with peanut butter and butter!! My name is Pete. But I go by Peter Rabbit!! I wanna change my name to that, but it’s too much money!” Hahaha he cracked me up!

So, Our average weight gain for the mission is 30 lbs… However….For Zone Leadership Training, we are doing a 40 day fast from things that “poke” at your spirit! It’s soooo hard! hahaha But I know I’ll recieve a way bigger portion of the spirit if I do it! I’m going without dancing, singing any songs that aren’t hymns, thinking/talking about boys, quoting movies, and using correct titles for people. Hahah! OMGoodness! If you do these things, you have to do 10 push-ups! In the first 6 hours I was already at 90!!! Eeee! Heheh But if you don’t do these things, you can eat a spoon full of Nutella at the end of the week!  Good reward, right?  Me and my comp. made that up!  So I’m pretty sure I won’t gain 30 lbs with all of the push-ups I’ll have to do.

Well, I SURE DO LOVE YOU SOOO SOOO MUCH. Can’t wait to see what other miracles are in store this week! :0)

Much Loves,

Sister Tobias