Another idea that I had for the title was "Mayday! Mayday!" (Like "Danger! Danger!") But I don't actually know if I actually know how to spell that version of mayday. And nothing dangerous is happening besides the fact that the sun is coming out which makes me way too excited about life and missionary work. Which could be a dangerous thing.... :)
Anyways, We had a really good week this week! And once again, I don't remember anything that happened, but I'll think my way through.
On Monday... nothing must have happened because my mind is drawing a blank. I think we must have just walked a bunch.
On Tuesday we got to feed BABY COWS!!!! :D One dream crossed off my bucket list! Next time I'm going to make an effort to hug it, because that's my even bigger dream. Our bishop has 2 baby cows and he was kind enough to let us come feed them right before we ate dinner at his mother in law's house. Who is also in our ward.
That night we went knocking and we started up a driveway. We knew some members lived there that we don't know very well, so we started walking up it, thinking it would be just around the corner. We found out it was around the corner. But it was like a mile away from that corner. On the way up we passed some foresty parts of the property and in the trees were THREE BABY PIGS. We found out later that their names are something like curly, and joe and something else. I think it's the three stooges? I can't remember for sure. But that was something you sure don't see every day. When we finally got to their property we found their beautiful house and they showed us around the property where they also have a giant house in a tree. Not a normal tree house, but a literal apartment. It has a working kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, bedroom, and living room UP IN THE TREES. So cool.
After knocking we had a lesson with Kaytee, our investigator who is getting baptized on May 26th! She is so cute! We like her. She asked us yesterday "So, I think I'd like to get baptized on May 26th... is 7 o'clock okay? Or is that too late?" (7 is a perfect time for a baptism!) Anyways, that was good.
On Wednesday, we had district lunch and meeting in Elma. It was Sister Lee's birthday so we decorated the relief society room, got her favorite ice cream, got some helium balloons, and waited for her to get there. We blew bubbles as she walked in the room. We weren't anticipating the THREE cakes that members gave her to bring to our district meeting, but it was fun. We all took turns sucking helium out of balloons. (Is that bad for you?) because it was just tooo funny not to. Also, because we had two extra cakes... we decided to cake our district leader in the face. It was his birthday present to Sister Lee. That was pretty funny also. Messy. But funny.
On Thursday we walked a bunch, we didn't even touch our car!
On Friday we had an exchange with Sister Lee and Sister Carlson. That was pretty fun. We actually had some pretty solid contacts during the day. We always worry because sometimes we have trouble filling our friday's because there is so much time to proselyte, and when we go on exchanges we have TWO sets of missionaries in the area, which means we have to plan TWO days worth of work to do. But it turned out great. We got in contact with one of our investigators, Chris, who hasn't been to church for a few weeks. (And because he realized that we cared enough to check on him, he came to church again and bore his testimony!) We also finally got in contact with Valerie, who got baptized in January. She's kind of a flaky type, so a lot of the ward hasn't really reached out to her, which breaks my heart and makes me worried to leave the area because I'm afraid no one will make any effort to bring her in if I leave. But the reason she's flaky is because she has a really hard life and a really tough living situation. She has a lot of kids that she worries about and only one of them is living with her right now. But we have really stressed her situation to the ward and I think they are starting to get it. She came to church on Sunday for the first time in a few months, and I think she felt really welcome.
During knocking the sky broke and poured on us for a solid 45 minutes. I definitely wasn't prepared. So, that was pleasant.
At night we had a dance party. You probably would never have thought that sister missionaries had dance parties so often huh?
On Saturday we helped clean up after the Stake Relief Society Conference. We got to pop about 100 balloons. And got some soup in exchange. It was a win win for us! ;)
We also had a good lesson with Michelle.
Sunday night during knocking we met a dog that followed us for over a mile while we were knocking doors. He was kind of annoying because he came into people's yards, but it was funny. I think he took it upon himself to be our protector. We were kind of out in the middle of nowhere.
Church was overwhelming. Having two wards that overlap and worrying about all the things you need to accomplish while your there in each one is stressful! We had 2 investigators in the 1st ward and 1 in the 2nd, and we also were trying to get rides for Valerie and one of the investigators. Then we worried about making sure people were fellowshipping them, so we could go and help other people. And we had to talk to members about some other stuff. So the whole time we were running around from one class to a meeting to another class, to go find someone else and then to meet someone else by the door and back and forth and back and forth! PHEW! 3 hours of church is NOTHING!
I did though enjoy fast and testimony meeting. There was a really awkward gap for a few minutes where no one got up, so I wasn't planning on bearing my testimony, but I decided to fill the awkward and go up and bear my testimony on what I've been studying.
So, I'll just end with that.
I started reading the Book of Mormon again and this time I am studying the word "joy" and "rejoice" and so far, I've come to the conclusion that true, pure joy is to feel the love of God or to know the love of God. We can experience happiness from other things, but the most joy we will ever get is from knowing and feeling how much God loves us. I'm amazed at how often the Book of Mormon mentions joy, and I've noticed that it always has something to do with God or Jesus Christ or the gospel or the Plan of Salvation.
Anyways, I had this thought process as I was studying the other day and it doesn't really make sense when I explain it out loud, so I'll skip my thought process and I'll get to the conclusion.
As members of the church, we feel joy because we know that God loves us and we have felt that love. We feel it when we come to church, we feel it when we take the sacrament, we feel it when we are baptized, we feel it when we serve, we feel it when we sing about and to our Heavenly Father, we feel it when we think of the Savior, when we read the scriptures. We can feel that love of God ALL THE TIME. And when we focus on that love, we feel joy. We can feel joy in ANY circumstance. Whether we are starving in Africa, or have just been heartbroken, or broken a bone. Wherever we are, whatever we're doing, we can feel joy if we focus on the love of God.
So, we know that, our job NOW is to share that love of God with others. As a missionary I have the opportunity to go door to door and proclaim the gospel in place of my Savior. I am a representative of Jesus Christ. I chose to do this because I felt the love of God and I have joy because of it. Well, just because I have a name tag doesn't mean I'm the only person who can do that. We ALL are missionaries, we ALL agreed to stand as witnesses of Christ. Which means we are ALL representatives of Jesus Christ. Which means that we ALL need to step up and help others feel the love that God has for them by loving them. And by giving them the opportunity to have true joy too.
I just want to bear my testimony that I know God lives and loves me and all of His children. And that we can have joy because of Him. I'm grateful for that knowledge.
I love you all! I hope you make an effort this week to help others feel loved.
Love, Sister Warburton
Sister Lee's birthday party
A snail Sister Lee found during knocking
The balloons we popped
All the desserts that we got in one day. We pawned them off to the elders. ;)
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