Hi everyone!
Thank you all for the Birthday wishes, cards, letters etc. It was the best birthday ever.
Sister Birch and I are doing great. It has definitely been a hard few weeks trying to find people to teach, but we are being blessed. It’s been a week full of trials, blessing and miracles.
To start we had dinner with Sister Benton. Remember her? She's the one that thought about having Fe and I clip her toe nails. Okay, well dinner was fine, I was half dying of allergies to her 20 cats, but that was expected. While eating she said that she had thought of something we could do for her. I was afraid what was coming next because of the toenail incident. She told us how she was watching TV one night and her hand got stuck on her face by a huge chin hair. She asked us to pull the rest of them for her! She proceeded to get a flashlight and tweezers. So yes everyone, we plucked the very long, white, black, and gray chin hairs from her chin. Oh. My. Gosh. That moment goes into my book as one of the top 5 strange things I've had to do in my lifetime.
We had another dinner appointment with the Johnston Family. Brother Johnston asked us how the work was going. We could have acted like it was great but we were honest and told him that we had no one to teach at the time. I'm pretty sure the discouragement was written all over our faces. He being the awesome guy he is, proceeded to pull out his scriptures and shared with us 2 Nephi 24:24 and Mormon 9:27. He talked to about how all things take time. Not saying we were doubting in faith (although I'm positive he was reading right through me and could see that I was) but we have to strengthen what we know and wait upon the Lord. Do all that you can do. Work hard, pray constantly, obey exactly and then wait upon the Lord. I needed that.
I have loved being in the Liberty 1st ward and serving at the jail however, it is a really hard area. Being here as long as I have without seeing much success has made it hard to stay positive. But after what Brother Johnston said I realized that my attitude is only being held by me. No one else can decide how negative or positive I'm going to be but me. Missionary work was not intended to be easy. If it was it wouldn't be called work. Why not be happy about the work anyway? I thankfully have a companion that is always positive. She is the happiest little thing ever and it's hard not to have that happiness rub off on me. I am determined to be happy. To look to the Lord and upon the Lord.
Amazingly, in the past few days things have been looking up. We were blessed with 2 new investigators this week and 3 last week! The 3 we found last week are so wonderful. They are devout Muslims from Somalia. Wonderful, wonderful, people with strong belief in God. Although our core beliefs are very different, they are willing to listen. We have a return appointment with them tonight. Our other 2 investigators were found last night by Sister Underline and I while on exchanges. We have been trying to get into the Deletorre family's home for a few weeks now but it has never worked out. Last night before we headed back home I felt like we needed to stop by their house. We aren't suppose to go to that area of Liberty after dark, but we felt strong enough about it and knew we would be safe so we did. The mother, Maria, was home and let us in right away. She speaks mostly Spanish and so thankfully Sister Underline took over. We were able to teach her most of the first lesson. Although I sat their in confusion most of the hour (I'm very out of practice with my Spanish) I was able to bear my testimony to her and then asked her if she felt what we were telling her could be true. She replied with a simple, mucho. I know that word! I had goose bumps. To just add to how awesome everything was, one of the members from the ward just happened to be at their house playing with their daughter. It was perfect. We had Ashlee come in and share her testimony as to how she knows the Book of Mormon is true. It was a wonderful moment. As we were leaving Ashlee gave me a hug and whispered in my ear, "I felt the Spirit." I leaned over to her and whispered back, "I did too."
I know the Spirit is real. It can teach and testify to each and everyone of us. I am so grateful for this gospel, for Hermana Birch and her positive countenance. I love this work. It really is better to look up upon the Lord. We will be blessed for our efforts.
Thank you for the examples you are to me.
Be safe and have a perfect week.
Love to all,
Sister Hall
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