...a mission is never the wrong choice.....

Hey fam/friends

Good week. Very busy. No more than 10 minutes of down time. We had Zone conference on Wednesday, more iPad training with everyone. President Johnson surprised me by calling me up to speak! With absolutely no prep, it went really well.

PJ (President Johnson) also hinted I might be training next transfer... I'm still a greenie! I'll just have finished training myself.

I spent two hours watching driving safety videos- waiting for the call/ go-ahead to drive. I haven't driven in three months! 

So we got permission to send Thomas- our investigator in prison a letter, where we "taught" the first lesson. A little unconventional, but it works. We have community service with the inmates tomorrow, (Produce to People is once a month) so we'll see him again tomorrow where we plan to teach the second lesson. We are going to find a way to teach him no matter what, haha. I'm dying to see if he's been reading. 

Katie's Kitchen was an adventure this week. So there's this girl named Jennalynn... She's practicing "wicken," or witchcraft. All the kids at school think mormons are devil worshippers because she hands out Books of Mormon at school. Nice. She has a history of "casting spells" on the missionaries and stalking them. So clearly we are not allowed to contact her, her number is blocked and the bishop even counseled the ward not to have contact with her. I had never met Jennalynn before. 

So we're at Katie's, and we were on exchanges so I was with Sister Duncan. A girl comes up and says she's "never heard of the church before." So she says she wants to meet with us. I take down her number because I haven't memorized ours yet (THANK GOODNESS.) and she says her first name is Jennalynn. Hahaha. I kindly ask her for her last name, sure enough- Jennalynn Fix. 

The next day she found us at the library and came up "You forgot to text me last night." We've been discovered. Hahah. 

There's a lot of people who do witchcraft and wicken stuff around here. PA is weird. I know. 

Katie's is always interesting. There's one guy in particular who doesn't like us, we were talking to someone by him, and he interrupted and said "you know you're talking to mormons don't you?" Haha. I also got asked to marry two people this week. Fun stuff. 

This time a lady walked in with no shoes, and she told us she didn't have any. So we ran down the street and bought her a few pairs of flip flops... She was so happy.. She lit up.(: 

So we now have four spanish investigators! 

We're working with Lamonte towards baptism. 

We taught Bill the Word of Wisdom this week, it was interesting. He is still struggling with D&C. He brought his mom to church this week, which proved for an interesting sacrament meeting. 

Viewing sacrament meeting from the eyes of your investigators really changes things. You listen to every word the speakers say, hoping, literally praying they won't say anything crazy haha. I have realized what talks are supposed to be, what testimonies are supposed to be. Doctrine. Simple. Imagine someone in the congregation is investigating the church- what would you want them to hear? I love the sacrament meetings where you walk out feeling like you've just taught them a lesson haha. 

This week we stopped in to see Phyllis again and surprise her. She is all the way to Jacob 5 (in 2 weeks.) We read a chapter with her, I can see why she understands so well. She would stop us and re read a verse, or ask questions. She then said 

"I really enjoy this book. I know it's true. Everything I have read is true. I know without a doubt Lehi and Nephi were called as prophets." 

Moments like that are what make a mission.  

I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I left 3, almost 4 months ago. The mission has proved to be harder than I ever thought it would be, but I had no idea just how worth it it would be. The experiences on a mission are priceless. 

I never talked to anyone about is how much I debated whether or not I was making the right decision before I left, and even my first while out here. Every day was different. I questioned my call so much. 

It only took a few weeks into the MTC  before I knew I was in the right place. 

The answer came to me so clearly that a mission is never the wrong choice. I didn't understand it then, it seemed not the answer I wanted. But I do now. And I can't imagine if I had made the choice not to go. 

"If we have faith in Jesus Christ, the hardest as well as the easiest times in life can be a blessing. In all conditions, we can choose the right with the guidance of the Spirit. We have the gospel of Jesus Christ to shape and guide our lives if we choose it. And with prophets revealing to us our place in the plan of salvation, we can live with perfect hope and a feeling of peace. We never need to feel that we are alone or unloved in the Lord’s service because we never are. We can feel the love of God. The Savior has promised angels on our left and our right to bear us up. And He always keeps His word." 

-President Eyring 

That's all. The church is true💜

Hermana Sears