Alma 30:9

Another fantastic week in North Carolina! One of our sayings in the mission is "we love hard days" and it makes life a lot better, a lot happier, when we strive to be, like Elder Uchtdorf asked us to be, grateful IN all things.

I had a great time last night visiting with all of Sister Olive's nurses at the ER. She has stomach problems, so we got to have potential investigators come to US. It was brilliant. Not the most effective finding net, but, still, one of the nurses is friends with two member families, so that was pretty neat.

I'm really getting set on this missionary schedule though. I feel old saying it, but I don't like staying up later than 10:30. It really hampers my style, which I find amusing, since I used to love sporatic scheduling and spontaneous events.

The Elders finally went to teach Jorge, since he prefers to speak Spanish, and the lesson went really well! We have the best Elders! Jorge and Gabby and Joscelyn still didn't show for church yesterday though, so something fishy is going on there... Please do pray for them! I need to get a picture with Joscelyn and little 2-year-old Sophie. She has more personality than a lot of grown-ups I know, and is a total riot during lessons.

I am gaining such faith in the members of this church. Our lessons with members are so wonderful! I wish we had full-time member missions... oh wait. Well, you know what I mean. One of our favorites to go out with is Sister Underwood, (the southern bell, who taught me what a tobacco plant looks like). She came with us to teach a slightly mentally disabled member's slightly mentally disabled girlfriend this week, and it was a powerful lesson. Sister Underwood has a dynamite connection to the Spirit, and when she speaks, it blows us away. It's as if we had role played it!! So, don't underestimate how invaluable you are when you go out to teach with the missionaries. WE LOVE MEMBER PRESENT LESSONS. Especially with members who sacrifice to be filled with the Spirit.

I can confidently identify the worst meal I have had on my mission: uncooked rice and barley mixed with raw hotdog chunks, mushy squash, and onions. It was difficult, but I successfully consumed a polite portion :) Oma can be proud of her missionary :)

I love you all! Please, if you have any advice on how to be better at introducing the gospel in casual conversation, or becoming closer to the Spirit as we teach and invite, I would really appreciate it. I feel desperate to become a better missionary and would love all/any ideas from you experts out there.

Love, Sister B

More more more Miracles

Every day we see more miracles. And every time, I'm like "nuh-uh?!" You'd think I'd be used to it by now. A few of the miracles this week:

Sister Olive and I have to use the bikes about 2x/week. We decided to contact former investigators, and when I plugged the address into the gps, it said it was about 7 minutes away, so I thought "perfect it'll take us just 15 minutes to bike there." Much to Sister Olive's disappointment, it turned out to be about 7 miles away, instead of 7 minutes. But it felt so good to be out in the sun, I loved it (: I'd taught Sister Olive how to bike just over a month ago, and she still doesn't quite have the swing of things yet. But she soldiers on. 

At the former investigator's home, we met a bunch of new people and one of them came to the fish fry on Saturday which was a great blessing. We start teaching them tomorrow!

Quick funny story-- we taught a man outside that families house (it was actually that lady's grandson) and it was the most ridiculous contact I have ever had in my life. He called himself a "hood nigga" and launched into his belief system which he described as "atheist, but believing in God and the devil..." and then he stopped mid sentence and said "y'all are cute, you know that?" and it was the best we could do to not crack up right then and there. When he found out the fish fry was free, he gave us each a fist bump and said y'all are gangsta! which definitely made my day. Hopefully, he makes a turn around in his life sometime soon... in any case, it was a comic relief in the middle of a very sweaty day (:

The son of one of our less active sisters agreed to be baptized (: I met her on my birthday, and have been up with her almost every week for the past 3 months. She is exceptionally good at survival skills. She lives all the way out in the boonies of the area, so no one really reached out to her consistently before, and she chose to stop coming to church. She's been 2 times now, and her son will be baptized this month. It's amazing.

Alma 26:35-37

Last, but not least, we got to go on exchange with the Sister Leaders in Fayetteville on Thursday. They live with a little old lady named Mrs. Ratledge. She bakes them desserts every day, and much to my joy, she had baked a lemon cake for them the day I was there. <3

We had interviews with President and Sister Bernhisel this week. It was so good to be with them! I can't describe how much they love us. It feels so good to be around them. Over the course of the past 6 weeks, we have studied a Christ-like attribute per week, and we got to report on it in interviews. The Christ-like attribute study was a beautiful experience. What stood out to me was how the attributes build on each other; one focus would produce strength in another area and so on. It explains to me why Christ asks us to be "perfect:" whole, complete: to "giving all diligence add to our faith, virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance..." 2 Peter 4:4-7. The course of the Lord is one eternal round.

I know this is where I'm supposed to be. In the end, nothing matters if we do not bring as many of our brothers and sisters home as we possibly can. This is the only work that truly matters. Everything else feeds into it, or takes away from it. It is up to us to become transparent, so whatever we are doing, others will see Christ in us. Then, when we enter into the celestial kingdom, our joy will be full, because they'll be there with us. I'm really glad I have my whole life to figure out how to do this effectively :)

Moroni 10:32-33

Love, Sister B

Hola?

Sister Olive and I have decided to learn how to bear our testimonies, and invite people to hear our message in Spanish, since 50% of the people we meet are immigrant workers from Mexico. It's terrible. We just smile and make a lot of hand motions, and give them the Spanish Elders' number. And afterwards we laugh and laugh at our stupidity and we laugh with joy, because the Spirit still speaks, even though we are so inadequate. 

This week was sooo funny. We started talking in broken English with one man, and all we had left in Spanish was a restoration DVD. So, we gave it to him, and asked, "will you watch it?" and he looked surprised and said, "right now?" And we said, "sure!" Tender mercies (: 

That street was probably more like 80% hispanic. We were laughing about how we seem to be the headquarters for our Spanish Elder's referrals.

Then, of course, the classic missionary experience took place. Buckle up. So, Sister Olive and I continue down the lane, and see the next house has a long, muddy dirt driveway. (Picture our Texas home in January). I smile, and turn to Sister Olive and say "opposition in all things," wink wink and we jump puddles to the front door. THEN. We notice on the front step it says "Welcome to the Moreno Family's Residence." We resigned ourselves to the inevitable, and loosened up our tongues to roll a few R's. Much to our delight (this is not meant to be a racial slander. not in the slightest.) they weren't Mexican! They were from New York, and spoke good English, and now the mama and her daughter are planning to be baptized on August 31st! 

BEST DAY EVER!

I am continually amazed at how the Lord is hastening His work. The greatest Spirit and motivation comes from the families of the Dunn ward. They are stepping up their game and the increase of the Spirit is tangible. 

We went all out today, splurged on miles, and drove out to Raven Rock to go hiking (for the first time in waaaaay too long.) So, here are some pictures of, in President Bernhisel's words, "the Garden of Eden."

I love y'all. I know this is Christ's church. Like Sister Moreno said to us the other day, "so many people from different churches have knocked on our door, but none of them felt right, until you came." Brother Pipkin's favorite quote is: "Doubt your doubt before you doubt your faith." Seriously. Without faith, what are we living for? This life is the time to prepare to meet God. I'm so glad we know why we have to suffer. I was totally inspired by Sister Thompson's courage to come to church only 2 weeks after knee surgery with her little walker. She is one of my heroes. 

Thank you all for having faith in Christ. Moroni 7:33

Love, Sister B

Thanks be to Jesus

I love these days. 

About a week ago, we went to visit Ms. Mildred. She shies away from set appointments, but loves to have us teach her, and wants to learn more. This last time, she taught me how to sing a southern baptist hymn based on Psalm 23. It was so much fun.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want

He maketh me lay in the pastures, so green

Beside the still waters, He restoreth my soul

Thanks be to Jesus, I'm clean and made whole

On Wednesday, after zone training, I got the sudden urge to stop at Panera (kin to Kneader's) for lunch. Lo and behold, one of the people sitting kitty corner from us had a little tattoo on her arm that read: made in germany. Interesting societal commentary.. anyhow, I got to speak with her for like 15 minutes about religion and Frankfurt and studying in Germany, and it was great. She loves to read, and agreed to let me send her a Book of Mormon ((: 

I caught a little cold this week, so that was fun. We have been having very strange weather. On Wednesday, the temperature dropped about 25 degrees, and it's been rainy and chilly since then. It's okay though. A nice relief from our muggy, hot weather.

Gospel principles had to be my favorite part of the week this week. Our ward mission leader just returned from army training, and had so many great insights and stories about enduring to the end. He told us about this ridiculous set up: they'd been shot up and blown up and it was raining terribly, and had rucked 20 miles that day, and he was laying in the mud with his weapon, getting ready to shoot people, and he said he couldn't stop laughing. He couldn't stop laughing, because he was getting payed to have this crazy adventure. He knew where he was going, and he knew the bigger picture, and it made the whole thing awesome and hilarious. So, the parallels to life are pretty clear. We just can't forget who we work for. Jesus Christ is at the head of this work, and He knows why we need to have certain experiences. So, come what may and love it. 

I love how people in the south respond when we ask them how Jesus Christ has blessed their lives. The first thing they usually say is that he woke them up that morning. And they say it with a smile. And they say it with faith, because they refuse to take this life for granted. Every moment is precious.

I love y'all! Isaiah 40:28-31

Sister B