July 7, 2014

General Email:

A lot happened last week, and I forgot to bring my journal so I could take a look and talk about everything. Oh well. So, last Monday was very interesting. We were brushing out teach when the tornado sirens started going off. We thought we hear them, so we opened our front door and could hear them loud and clear. We texted a ward member and she ended up calling us telling us that a tornado had touched down in Illinois and our area was in it's path. It was supposed to be coming by us. 80 m.p.h winds were supposed to hit at 10:50. Sure enough, they did. The wind was so intense. It sounded like a monster. Our beds are right next to a sliding glass door, where the wind was pushing against. The power started going crazy, flicking on and off. We grabbed our matrisses from our beds and put them in the hall and kitchen, which was probably the safest place, furthest from all the windows. We said a prayer and felt peace, that we would be just fine, so we went to bed. The next morning, sure enough, we were untouched. We went jogging and didn't see any damage, but people said huge trees in some part had been uprooted, ones that had survived the mothers day micro burst. Since then we have seen them. They are giant trees. As far as we know, the tornado didn't come by us, just the really high winds.

Next thing I want to mention is the 4th of July parade. We were in it!!! We helped set up a little float that had the Salt Lake Temple, pictures of Christ, and had seats for people to sit, along with lots of bags of candy. Some of the missionaries knew people who could make labels. They said fun things such as "Families are forever! Mormon.org" or just mormon.org. The parade started late, so we got to take some fun pictures of us with the float. During the parade we passed out pass along cards, along with candy. It was interesting to see their reactions. People aren't the friendliest. Some were nice, some shot dirty looks, one ripped up a card, some dropped the cards as soon as they saw the word mormon, others handed them back, one might have told me I was going to burn. Well, it wasn't the easiest, but the parade was fun. The primary kids sat on the float and sang families can be together forever. The elders did a wonderful job of getting people involved by having one side of the parade try to yell "U.S.A" and "God bless America" louder than the other side. It was fun to see. I'm so proud of our elders and sisters. They showed no fear and so much love for God, this work, and the people as they went around with smiles on their faces, handing out cards, trying to help as many people as they could. I just love them and am so grateful for their wonderful examples. They truly are just so amazing. God has called great people to serve Him.

This kids loved the candy. Parades seem so different here. The people look like they are upset if you throw candy to them, rather than just put candy in the bags children run out and meet you with. Is throwing candy just a Utah thing?

We hit a hard point this week. An investigator that we love so much.... kind of turned on us. She no longer treats us as friends. It broke our hearts to lose such a close friend and to be treated harshly. I don't understand what happened. 

We have an investigator who we found three weeks ago while tracting. He is truly amazing and we have seen him become so happy as he has come to church, read the scriptures, and is coming closer to Christ. He is such a wonderful example. I'm so proud of him. :)

Transfers are this week. We got the news on Saturday they we will both stay here for another transfer. :) We get to have a third transfer together. It is so good. We really had no idea what was going to happen. It is exciting to see what God has in store for us. I don't know if there is someone here I can help, or if I'm going to learn something here. We'll see. I'm learning things everywhere, but different places tend to teach different lessons. What will this one be?

I love you all and hope all is going well. Love you lots!!!