Cowgirl missionaries

HI EVERYONE!!!!

The news for the week is pretty tame. We saw TONS of miracles yesterday, but I'll get to that in a bit.

Actually, maybe I'll do it now. Here goes:

WE GOT A TRUCK!!!!!!!

Yes, these cowgirl missionaries now have a truck! Just get me a cute cowgirl hat and I'll be set! Hahaha Anyway, we had been told that getting a truck may not be possible, but it happened! The Lord definitely answers prayers because I thought that we would bottom out at some point in time in our little car. We discovered this past week that our car may or may not do too well with river crossings if it keeps raining. We crossed a couple of small streams this last week in our car, but because it's monsoon season, those streams are going to get a bit bigger and deeper, so we're really glad that we have a truck for that. That also means that we'll be able to visit people that we had previously not been able to because of the water and the road conditions. SO Obedience and tons of prayer brings blessings.

Another miracle that happened yesterday had to do with our cell phone. We were down in the valley for transfers (we got a new companion, Sister Harrast, who happened to be a music major at BYU playing the violin) and when we switched cars with the elders, we thought that we'd grabbed everything. False. We discovered (after they'd left) that we'd left our phone in their car. So we had someone try calling it to see if we had it or if the elders would pick up. Didn't happen. So we called the elders from another missionary's phone and we arranged to meet them outside of town. In the meantime we had to go to the store and discovered that we'd also left something at the mission home, so when we finally got to the rendevous, they weren't there. Well, we figured that we would go to Payson and see if we could run into some members there that would have the number of the elders. When we got to Payson, we saw some elders coming out of a restaurant. We immediately jumped out of our car and ran towards them yelling "ELDERS!" (yep, we may have seemed a little crazy) and we discovered that they were NOT the elders that we were looking for, but they were really nice and called the other elders and we stayed to meet them and get our phone. SO after this massive goose chase, that happened over the space of 2 or 3 hours, we finally got our phone! MIRACLE!!!

Those are the miracles for the week. Some other points of interest were that we were able to visit a place called "the Blue" that missionaries had not been to for a VERY long time. We drove for over an hour on dirt roads (those are really the only kinds of roads out here) and had 2 stream crossings before we reached the houses of the people we were looking for. So, lots of driving, but it was BEAUTIFUL. I never really had much of an appreciation for nature until I came up here. It really solidifies my testimony of God because NOTHING in this world could have happened by chance. When I see the trees, the animals and the massive storms, it really hits me that Jesus Christ, through the power of God, created this world for us. I know that Christ and Heavenly Father live. I know that we have the potential to become like them and I know that we all have divine potential. Really, the more I really know about the earth and the more that I learn, the more I know that God lives. It's amazing how much knowledge someone can have and not believe in God. Knowledge becomes wisdom when we apply it and it's wisdom that tells us that all things denote that there is a God. We also have the knowledge that this Gospel is true, but it doesn't become wisdom until we share it with someone else. Just a thought that I had.

Anyway, I love you all so much and thanks so much for all of the letters and emails! I've really appreciated them and they've helped me a lot. Thanks and I'll have more to report next week!

Love, Steph

pics
the river crossing and a beautiful sunset. New Mexico really is the land of enchantment