January 25, 2016
Well darling friends and family, it's about that time again... Another week has flown by. I seriously don't know how time manages to move so quickly, and yet the days seem so long, on a mission. It still baffles my mind, to this day. Oh well, somethings we just don't need to know, right? ;)Anyway, so.. Updates: -We still haven't been able to find Baxter... we were down in the basement this week because our hot water heater broke............... so..... but, we couldn't find him. Oh well. That sneaky frog. :) So, about that hot water heater. We're not sure what happened, and we didn't even notice it for a few days or so, but basically this whole last like 2 weeks we haven't had any hot water. Well, like 20 seconds before it turns ice cold, so that has been fun. I got a super teeny-tiny taste of what the Pioneers must have felt like out in that frozen tundra. But, alas, we were so lucky that it was only like a week and a half ish and not months upon months of trudging in the ice. We have hot water again, and I have never been so grateful. (insert rejoicing here!!!!!)So, this week we dug a trench in the snow for our investigator Kymm... that was quite the experience. Well, it wasn't really a trench, just a square box thing that needed to be deeper so that her platform on her back deck could be where it was supposed to be, or something like that. Confusing? Definitely. All is well though. We had a fun time talking about the gospel and helping her progress more towards being baptized on February 20th like she has planned. Who knew there would be so much manual labor on missions. I'll tell you - I learn so much every day, it's so amazing. I am so grateful to be serving a mission and having the opportunity to learn so many life skills in such a controlled environment. We also went to a member's house for dinner on Monday night who lives in one of the oldest houses in Bonners Ferry - on the records since 1900. He said that the house didn't have a basement when they moved in, so he dug around the foundation and built the basement with a shovel and a wheelbarrow. How inspiring is that? It was such a testament to me that trying to secure a foundation, or make alterations after something is built is so much harder than if they would have done it when building the house in the first place. That's kind of like us. If we spend the time now making sure our Spiritual foundations are secure - with MUCH prayer, scripture study, and church and temple attendance, we will be so much better off in the long run and won't have to dig it all up later to add something else. Just a thought. :)Last week we went to Sandpoint and went around the shops for P-Day after emailing.. that was a lot of fun. Everything here really is right out of a Hallmark movie - it never ceases to warm my heart. On Wednesday there was a worldwide missionary broadcast. It was amazing! We watched it as a Zone in Sandpoint. It was so cool to be able to just feel the strength of so many thousands (75,000) missionaries all around the world watching and listening to the counsel of church leaders on how we can be better missionaries! Something that I gained from this Broadcast is just the importance of teaching simply and by the spirit. It is so important. As a missionary, I am not the teacher. The teacher is the Spirit. We are just the instruments that make it possible for the teacher to teach. What a blessing it is to be an instrument.Thursday was fun! It was my first time on my mission having a phone lesson. It was snowing and not safe to drive to Kymm's house, so we had a lesson with her over the phone. Technology is so cool!!! It's so awesome that we were able to teach the gospel over the phone, being miles away from each other, and still being able to feel the spirit in such rich abundance. Something else that was funny this week (there are a lot of less than ideal things that missionary life lets you experience, but a lot of the time I just try and laugh at those moments) was that we were going to contact our investigators and the man that owns their house answers the door and says that they aren't home right now and to come back at 5 or 6. One of the kids, Brandon, is like... "Umm... Remember, we're going to be gone then....." and this guy is like, "Shhhh!!!" Haha, like we weren't going to hear them or something. It's so funny how people are. I think sometimes they think that we are just stupid teenage girls who don't know how to use our powers of deductive reasoning. So funny. Someday we will teach them, and it will be wonderful. :)Something that was really amazing that happened this week was that we got to travel down to Spokane to go to the temple with one of our Recent Converts, Amie. She went for the first time and it was such a wonderful experience. Also, this week, we were struggling a lot.. not having very many lessons, not finding a lot of new investigators, just an overall hard time, but then... YESTERDAY, like 2 hours before we had to be in for the night, we found 3 new investigators (a FAMILY!!!) and were able to teach them a lesson and the spirit was SO STRONG! It was so powerful and Sister Rogers and I left there so grateful that the Spirit was present and that we were able to be the instruments in the Lord's hands to bless His children. We are so excited to keep meeting with the Stone family and to see them progress. I know that our spiritual, or maybe even sometimes physical, weeks, get tough. But, I also know that Enduring to the End is the last principle in the Doctrine of Christ for a reason. If we will continually have faith, repent, remember the covenants we made at baptism, try our best to always follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost, and Endure to the End (that spiritual Sunday night that we all reach at one point or another), that the Lord will bless us spiritually with those 3 new investigators (whatever those may be for you in your lives- spiritually). I know that our Father in Heaven loves us. He wants us to pray to Him and ask for the things we need and to thank Him for every good gift that He has given us, and like any good parent, will reward us openly as we continually put forth our best efforts.Well friends, I hope that you all have a wonderful week! The church is true. Heavenly Father is mindful of us and wants us to succeed. Love you all! :)-Sister Rogers and I with the "tree of life" in Sandpoint. :)
-Our creepy basement.. it's literally super creepy down there... you can kind of see our leak from the hot water heater.. it was everywhere.
-Sister Ungricht (the Sister Training Leader) and I on exchanges. It was such a happy day! :)
-At the Temple with Amie. Look strange? That's because someone broke into the temple this week.. What the what!? Crazy life.--"God be with you 'till we meet again!"Hurrah for Israel!Much Love,Sister Jennifer Griffith
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