Interesting Week

Hi everyone!

I'm going to own a horse. That is all.

Just kidding, but I've realized that I absolutely love the lifestyle out here! Anyway, back to the present. This past week, we've done a lot of service! I think I got to wear my jeans at least once every day. Crazy right? One of the service projects that we did was to plant a non-member's (she was a referral) garden. Ah yes, gardening. She had some amazing ground to plant in. Seriously, she owns horses, so she has a stack of their manure that's been sitting there for at least 3 years. Apparently, however, you can't put fresh manure in the ground or it will destroy the plants. So, her husband had to dig from the bottom of that 3 year old pile to get the "good" manure. Icky. Carol (that's her name) was completely stunned that we wanted to help her with her garden without getting paid for any of it! One day they will understand the concept of blessings in heaven haha. She called us again yesterday and we shoveled wood shavings from a sawmill into bags so that she could use it for her horse stalls. Walking into those horse stalls, it smelled almost exactly like our old gerbil cages when they started getting nasty. But Carol is an amazing lady! She's from Britain/Ireland and she's traveled the world working with and riding horses! Go figure that she'd settle in Cruzville, New Mexico.

Besides that, we've weeded yards, we've done dishes, cleaned windows, branded cows (which we're doing again this weekend), etc. The work up here is a bit different. We are doing a lot of service so that the people trust us. This is a real-life case of people judging you by your actions and not just your words. So we've been helping members and non-members alike. The prophet and apostles were totally serious when they said that members and missionaries need to work together. People will trust those that they've known for a long time over some kid that's only there for a few weeks/months. Members have the "in" and they're the ones that show these potential investigators what we believe.

I say "show" because actions speak louder than words and you have no idea who is watching or what they're seeing. I've discovered that as a missionary. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are watched constantly. We have something that the rest of the world doesn't. And the world is trying to figure out what that is. They don't automatically know that we have the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and that God's priesthood power has been restored to the earth. They don't know that they can be sealed to their families forever. And many times, they don't even know that they are children of our Heavenly Father and that they have infinite worth. They don't know. Hence, they watch. They listen. They search. That's why it's so important to have every member a missionary. They watch YOU. They listen to YOU. You can have conversations with them where you just mention that you're a child of God and they cling to those words. It's not hard to be a missionary. The full-time missionaries teach, yes. And we've been set apart to do so. But you all can do so much more than I can right now. It's truly amazing to see how the Lord works through members. It's miraculous.

In other news, I know you all will be so proud of this (even though I dreaded every bite): I ate a hot dog yesterday and then accomplished the remainder of the day without throwing up. That, in and of itself, is a tender mercy that I'm still thanking Heavenly Father for. Oh, I kind of want to do a miracle of the week as well. My miracle of the week was that I got to see Colin go through the temple and then, the next day, baptize his 70+ year-old father as a member of the church. I love the Tisdell family so much and it's taken a lot of work, but the most amazing thing that I have ever seen was the change in Colin's countenance over the course of the 6 months that I was able to work with him. When he came out of the temple, his face shone. He was glowing. I can't wait to be there for Jen to get her endowments. It's an incredible experience. I love you all so much, and I'm going to say, once again, that I know that this Gospel is true and that Jesus Christ atoned for EVERYONE's sins and mistakes and I know that Heavenly Father loves us all individually and so completely and that he will always be there for us. He won't take our burdens away, but he's promised to make them lighter. He won't take the pain away, but he's promised us comfort. And his will is always what is best for us.

Love,
Steph

the pics this week are of 1) a new born puppy 2) ZTM 3) temple pic (I'm on the far right in the green)