Well, its been officially one of the weirdest weeks of my mission. I feel like my life has become a movie. I have moved to the mountain of Tigers here in Issaquah...lions, tigers and bears, oh my! But the thing is, I really don't feel like I am in Seattle any more. There are more goats up here than people!
In reality, there really are more dogs and bears than people. And it gets really dark up here at night! I am literally in the forest! It's an adventure that has been really interesting so far.
 |
| It's a goat's life for me! |
The first day I got here, my new companion Sister Partridge and I went to the only trailer park on the mountain and I met Brother Chaffee and Brother Mancini who are more mature (older) gents who were baptized a year ago. Man, they are a hoot and a half! First of all, this area has been tracted a billion times, so everyone knows the Mormon missionaries. Second, this is the first time in over 20 years that Sister missionaries have touched this territory so it's kind of fun to be here! Even people who aren't interested are like, "Wait, where are the guys? They have girl missionaries?" and all of the members are just so happy to have us here. Anyway, Bro. Chaffee and Mancini call us their angels. Bro Mancini writes and makes old Western films and he worked for Hollywood for many years. He wants us to be some "bar girls" in a movie he is making right now, but of course we'll wait until we are not missionaries anymore. I think Grams would be best friends with him. He always tells us, "Don't fly faster than your guardian angels can fly." He is always trying out his cheesiest movie quotes on us.
We live in a member's home. It's a really nice set up with our own kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom in the attic. They are a really great couple that are taking care of us. The only thing was this week, Seattle decided to be Seattle again and rain...a lot of rain! So tree branches started falling down and knocked out the power in our house for almost 24 hours. So flashlights it was! Luckily, the members are pretty self-sufficient and started up the generator so that food wouldn't go bad. We just wrapped up like cocoons to stay warm that night.
The craziest thing happened this week when we went to invite a less active to church. We talked to him outside of his house for two hours. A lot of it was him talking to us. But wow! He has had 12 years of living alone in the woods to find out the mysteries of God. He was very intelligent and was connecting world history, math and anatomy to the Gospel. It was kind of a mind blowing experience for both me and my companion. Afterwards, we were like, "Wait, what?" The Gospel connects to everything and Jesus Christ really is the center of everything and He makes the world go round.
This week I found a lot of peace in reading 2 Timothy 1 especially verse 7. God doesn't give us fear or anger or any negative emotion. He gives us power, love and a sound mind. It is me who needs to decide to be happy in any circumstance. It's finding power through the spirit to preach what I know. It's feeling peace even though I don't know what I am doing. It's trusting God that He is in the details and He will not only tell me what to do, but how to do it. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the truth it gives me. Christ is the Truth and Light of the world and to that I can testify in His sacred name, Amen.
Con Amor,
Hermana Stoddard
 |
| This mango is as big as my face!! |
No comments:
Post a Comment