Taking on Tacoma: Happy Monday!

I have to think that God loves me today because I have one whole hour left to write this! Phew! What a relief!

We had a great week this week! I'll try to remember what actually happened.

... Or maybe I'll just tell you the highlights because I'm drawing a blank.

Nothing too exciting happened Monday or Tuesday. Just missionary work.

On Wednesday, we went to district meeting and learned about the importance of the Book of Mormon. (It's SUPER important!) Then we had a lesson with Ronnie, who is a great investigator. He's from St. Louis, and we've gotten through most of the lessons so far without him having any issues EXCEPT (there always is one) his sister has been trying to get him to go to her church, and when he told her he was planning on trying our church she guilted him into agreeing to go to her church instead. :/ And she's his ride sooooooo, we need to get her interested in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ as well.

During knocking that night we met some really nice people. We also met one dumb guy that spent a while telling us why the Book of Mormon is wrong and false. And we asked if he'd ever read it and prayed and he said he did. But I'm positive that the only reason he read it was to prove that it's wrong. And if you read it with that intention then obviously you won't get an answer that it's right. And I don't remember everything else he told us. But he thought he was Christian. But if I remember correctly, I don't think Christ went around telling people that everything they believed was wrong and trying to shatter their testimonies. We've got pretty solid testimonies so it didn't work, but it wasn't very Christ-like nonetheless.

On Thursday we weekly planned and did some more missionary work. We met an AWESOME lady named Zi'yandra. She's great! She's from Detroit, Michigan. She used to go to our church with her aunt when she was really little, but she doesn't remember much and she never got baptized. She told us we could come back the next day.

On Friday we went back and taught her and her husband, Charles, and they had a lot of questions and agreed with everything that we taught. Their attitude (which is awesome!) is "Why not check it out? What does it hurt?" EVERYONE SHOULD BE THIS WAY! So, we're pretty excited about them.

We also got to go help at a food bank on Friday which was fun.

On Saturday we had another lesson with Ronnie. Then we followed up on some members. Thennn we got to go fill the font for one investigator who has been ready to be baptized for a looong time now. The only problem has been her parents. They finally gave her permission and she got baptized Saturday night! :D It was a great baptism! Her parents didn't come, which is sad, they don't know what they're missing out on, but we had a great turnout from the ward. Her boyfriend, who leaves on his mission in April, got to baptize her, and his dad confirmed her. She has a lot of people that love and care about her, and then she'll go to BYU Idaho next year. Which will keep her feeling loved and taken care of.

Sunday was the HIGHLIGHT of the week. Be prepared for an exciting paragraph! We had a special conference as a stake. It was special because ELDER DALE G. RENLUND of the Quorum of the TWELVE was there to speak to us! :D I FINALLY got to meet an Apostle! So exciting! I also got to meet Elder Blunck, one of the area authorities or something like that. It was a really great meeting, focused on the Savior and His Atonement. Brother Barney gave us a gift bag with some of our mission t-shirts in it to give to him. So we went up to him afterwards to give him and his wife some t-shirts to remember our mission by. :D And I got to shake his hand. AND we got a picture with him and all the missionaries. They said that if we could get all the missionaries assembled quickly and ready to go when he walked by that he would hop in and we could get a picture. SO WE DID. Exciting. :) It was great.

So, that was my week. I didn't climb any trees, or stand on any frozen lakes, but we did get to teach and we got to meet Mormon celebrities. So, I'd say the week went well.

For my spiritual thought I'll just share a scripture that I read this week, that brought peace to me.

But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that re pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction.

O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm forever.

That's Jacob 3:1-2. I love the promise that we have if we are pure in heart, if we look to God, and if we pray in faith. If we do those things He will watch over us, He will bring us peace, and He will "plead our cause."

If our minds are "firm forever" then we can feast upon His love. Which is pretty nice.

So, be pure in heart. And also share the gospel. :)

I love you all! <3

Have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Warburton