The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!

In the book, Gospel Principles, it talks about good Sabbath Day activities. One it mentions is writing letters to missionaries. So if you want to be a real follow of Jesus Christ and keep the Sabbath Day holy, write to missionaries. Specifically, ME. Just saying... ;) This week I got a letter from Tutu, Kallie, and Sumner! I was so excited, even though they were all sent more than a month ago. Snail mail is better than no mail.

Well this week was a roller coaster of the, good, the bad, and the ugly. Mostly the bad and the ugly... I guess that is how life works. We have to go through hard times to appreciate the good. We can't know real joy until we have been through real sorrow. I didn't go through sorrow or anything, but I have been feeling a little lower than usual. Christina called us this week to tell us she feels pressured to be baptized and go to church. She told us she wasn't sure if she wanted to do this "whole thing" any more. Ouch. Javelin to the heart. When I hung up the phone, I couldn't help but cry a little bit. You try so hard to help people, you try so hard to learn all the doctrine, and you pray unceasingly for these people. Then, they just want to stop. I felt so awful, I felt like I didn't do my best. Sister Woolf and I didn't know what to do. The next day when we went to see her, she changed her mind again, and was back to normal. This experience left me realizing that I probably overreacted, and also just need to trust the Lord. I prayed so hard the night I thought Christina was giving up. I asked the Lord to comfort her and help her realize that she is making a good choice. I'm so glad she is still learning more. All I can do, is the best I can do. Heavenly Father will do the rest.

4th of July this week! I was having extreme nostalgia the whole day, thinking about how last fourth of July I was in Utah, watching the Beach Boys in concert. I also thought about our family tradition of pancakes with blueberries and strawberries in the morning. To celebrate, Sister Woolf and I drew an American Flag, and said the Pledge of Allegiance. We also sang all the songs about America in the Hymn book. I ate Mac and Cheese (the closest thing to American food I could think of).

Testimony meetings in Jamaica always prove to be entertaining. One guy got up and started telling this really crazy story. He sounded like a preacher from another church. He got loud. I couldn't stop laughing. It was so funny and awkward. I'm so glad I'm in a place where even if I'm having a not-so-good week, something hilarious happens and I forget all my worries. I also got to meet my new mission president! President Kevin Brown! He is AWESOME! He is a younger father and has so much enthusiasm. He came over to me and as he shook my hand he jumped up and down and was like, "I've haven't met you yet! I'm so happy to meet you!" I already know I'm going to love this guy.

The other day at a members house, I was walking into their kitchen with dishes in my hands. I forgot that there were steps down to their kitchen and my legs gave out and I fell to my knees. Surprisingly none of the dishes broke, but my pride did. Sister Woolf was in stitches laughing. I just so happened to be wearing my glasses and the father of the house said to me, "Looks like your glasses didn't help." I do at least 10 embarrassing things in one day. Another incident was when we were singing "Hark all ye Nations," and I accidentally drooled all over myself. Sometimes I can get away with things like that, but nearly everyone saw. It's "watevz."

Saturday night Sister Woolf and I were planning when we started hearing a cat meowing. We went outside, but couldn't see it. Then next morning, we kept hearing it, and we looked under our truck. We heard it under it, but we figured once we started the truck, it would run away. We were down the road about a mile, and the song stopped, and we heard the cat meowing so loud. We screamed for about 5 minutes. It had climbed under out truck and was along for the ride. I don't know what happened to the cat. I hope it didn't die under there. I guess we will know if we start smelling dead animal...

Okay, maybe my week wasn't bad. The more I focus on the positive, the more I try to really remember the goodness in my life, the bad and the ugly goes away. Even when our investigators hide from us, our less actives make stupid excuses, and members aren't willing to work with us, I still have this burning feeling of love for them. Nobody is perfect, I know I'm not, so I can't expect them to be. Heavenly Father loves everyone, and so should I.

Jumping in Jamaica Pt. 3

Fourth of July

There are Dogs Everywhere

Chicken Foot Soup, Yum!