Week 70 - The one with being consecrated!

 Friends!

I hope you have had a good week :) I did and it was weird! Probably the best week emotionally since Maddie's passing. It's a blessing and also hard - but I will take it!

This week was good and full of setting up lessons and having them cancel. You know- the usual. But we made good plans and are excited for this next week!

Our people are doing good but we are having a hard time getting consistent lessons with them so that's what we have been trying to figure out.

Angel is an angel like I say all the time! She is doing so good and came to church this Sunday!! Yvonne, her grandma, said that she really wants this and it's her choice. That made us super duper happy!

It was so sunny this week which also made me so happy! Its weird because we will be driving and it's so sunny and it looks warm but it's very deceiving because as soon as you step outside it's real cold! But I would rather take the sun and it be cold than gloomy gray.

On Monday we were able to have a special lesson with my family about the Plan of Salvation. Since Paisley has been asking those kinds of questions since Maddie's passing, my parents thought it would be good to have US teach them. It was definitely a privilege to teach what I have such a strong testimony of to them. The Spirit was so strong and helped us make this lesson personal.

We also got to teach the same lesson again to a member who I served around in my first area. We got permission to teach her and it was amazing!! Again, the spirit personalized it so well for her.

I have been learning a lot about consecration and that's been a focus here in the mission and I am so glad. It's been really cool to figure out what consecration means and what it means for me and how I can change to become a more consecrated missionary.

We had MLC this week and to prepare us they sent the MTC talk by Tad R. Callister "becoming a consecrated missionary". Something that was really sweet that I will add is Jake, Maddie's boyfriend sent this talk to me the Monday before their accident. So this talk means more to me in many ways - but back to the story. I re-read it and man am I glad I did! I learned so many things and God has suggested to me ways I can improve. Some thoughts from the talk:
☆ "I do not think the Lord expects immediate perfection of us, but I do believe He expects immediate progress."
☆There is only 1 thing that is more important than missions. That's repentance.
☆Think of others before yourself.
☆Positive and optimistic attitudes will get you through good and hard days.
☆There is no time to think about other things other than the mission. You were set apart as a missionary for 18 months to be a disciple. You gave up that life to be here.

I am grateful for the things I learn and I am excited to put them into action. Change is good, Allowing God to help you see where you need to improve is good! So I am going to continue to progress and ask for help when I make mistakes.

I love this work. I love that it's God's work and that it can't be frustrated. Thank heavens because I definitely make mistakes ;) I am grateful for how merciful God is to me and also to His other children when they don't accept the massage.

Sinning and not repenting is not worth it. It's worth it to repent. I always think that if I make a mistake then I don't want to have that mistake stand between me and living with my family forever. So daily repentance is so sweet. I invite you all to do it. It's very freeing!!

I love you all!
Have a wonderful week :)

We love having Sister Hinkle with us!  Dropping her off to her new area though. 

Chick-fil-a is BACK!

I am not a dog person but this cutie stole my heart!