Well, well, well! Hello, everyone!
How are you all enjoying your nice 80 degree spring? I hope so! We are currently enjoying a rather pleasant 55 degree spring. I know, it's SIZZLING over here! I am still in denial, of course, and refuse to wear tights even if it's windy and cold. I've been at this since NOVEMBER and I'm tired of it! :P
Some people have commented that I look like I have spring fever without my tights and my companion looks like she's yearning for winter in her snow boots and leggings! Ha! That sister will probably be wearing leggings forever, so it seems! She is so silly. :) I hardly recognized her a couple days this week without the vest and leggings.
Also, side note, the Elders have made a deal with us where I need to straighten my hair (a member brought me one) and Sister Dunlap needs to wear her hair down and curl it. This will take place tomorrow and it will be so different (it's been over 14 months) I'm not sure I can handle it! :)
WELL, I suppose I have a few things to report on.
We had an AWESOME lesson with Gray this week! Did I mention she plays the viola and is learning the cello and is in orchestra?! Awesome connection right there. Oh, and she's not actually grey. That would not be very healthy looking! :P JK. She is really good friends with Troy Graham, who was able to give her a priesthood blessing as part of the lesson. It was really intense and the whole time he was like "open your heart so you can feel God's love!" which is really good because she seems very cautious. But, she is eager to learn and loved learning about the Plan of Salvation. It truly is my favorite lesson to teach. I love sharing my testimony that knowing this plan makes every day amazing because I can know where I want to go and that the choices I"m making will take me there. It makes me so happy! She asked us why Mormons are so happy and smile all the time. Well, the Plan of Salvation is why!!! :) Oh, and the Book of Mormon. That makes me pretty darn joyful. She was supposed to go to church this week but her mom was in town. But, the great thing is she always calls us RIGHT AWAY if she can't go to something or needs to reschedule so I can tell she means business. :D
Haha, I also discovered this week that missionaries are "quirky." I had to look this word up in the dictionary (I had never thought of myself as "quirky" before! I thought you had to collect bottlecaps and make a statue out of it or something like that to get THAT classification!) And, apparently it means "unusual." So therefore, missionaries are unusual. Who else goes around rocking long skirts all day and talking about Jesus?! #noonewearsskirtslikewedo. So that was a funny discovery. Haha, so I'm pretty sure I'm "unusual" and therefore quirky. #bornthisway :) Oh, and since I have a bit more time today I'll add this comment. I love this scripture: 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10. Basically (you should look it up) it says that quirks and weaknesses (as we do our best) are made perfect through Christ. YAY.
So, I'll continue on with the "small stuff" before I get to the most exciting part of the week... Mary's baptism!!!! Yep, you'll have to be patient. #patienceisavirtue.
We were supposed to have lots of lessons out on Base on Tuesday but lately it's become a ghost town. So we went tracting with Emily Blotter, the AWESOME returned missionary who just got home. She is the BOMB and knows how to jump in and teach with us. I love it! We even got some member presents tracting! That rarely happens. She comes to so many lessons and feeds us delicious food (homemade mac and cheese and ice cream. What??!) when people abandon us and cancel our dinner appointments. :P #tearsofjoy. We did get sucked into a creepy guy's house though (well, he's more crazy than creepy) but we were able to escape! Hooray. Also, I was pelted with hail! We went tracting in it and were able to "[Preach] All Hail to Jesus Name" (haha, it's a hymn :P). It was giant! I've never been hit with hail before. It looked like dippin' dots ice cream falling from the sky!
We DID have an amazing miracle expereince before that! So it was pouring rain/snow outside (I know, #michiganspring) and we had to decide whether we should knock on some doors or head out to base before the snow clogged up all the roads so what do we do? That's right, we pray! After we finished the prayer it suddenly stopped. So we figure we are supposed to knock on these doors. So we do the survey with this totally awesome guy. He's christian and totally interested in everything we are telling him. His wife flies by and says it's okay because we are Christians (we were handing him a card with a picture of JEsus on it. USUALLY a good indication ;)). So then we give him a Book of Mormon and start to explain when all of a sudden she comes back and starts shouting at us that Mormons are a cult and that we have been deceived! Then she said a strange prayer where she shouted to Jesus to pray for our souls to be saved (even though she thought we seemed like good, nice girls). It was such a jarring moment, so out of the blue. But I followed the Spirit and was super calm. It was hard to get a word in edge-wise but I told her that no, that isn't true, we believe in Christ, and that I can't be shaken, I know for myself that the Book of Mormon is true!!!! As I said it the truth echoed even deeper inside of me. It was kind of terrifying and in hind-sight I could have done a better job but it was also kind of not at all terrifying because the Spirit was there. Needless to say we had to book it outta there after that but we were able to leave that guy with an articles of faith and family history card. At least he knows where to go to find accurate info and hopefully he was touched in some small way. Scary expereinces like that happen lots to missionaries, but I include it here because it was definitley a testimony-boosting expereince.
Random interjection here, but everyone reading this who has not heard of the "Lamb of God" musical production, go and listen to it right now! That has been my jam in the truck lately. And, the cello personifies Jesus, which makes it even better. ;) It's gorgeous!
Anyway, we also had a super exciting, amazing, exhillirating adventure at teh landfill this week. Yep. We were given the task of taking all the trash from the Beacon House straight to the landfill, which is clear out in the middle of nowhere. Both our GPSes spazzed out trying to find it. So we had to call the lady a bunch of times and spin around in circles trying to find it. Ha! We went through lots of mud and did lots of offroading. And then guess what? It was CLOSED!!! Good thing we have a million miles to use before the end of the month. It was definitely a test of patience! :P It's not every day sister missionaries get sent to the landfill.
I also had an interesting day on Saturday. Perhaps it was Mary's baptism that exhilirated me or something this time, but those of you who have ever seen me play sports know that I play sports like a musician. It's pretty embarrassing. xD Well, we play volleyball/frisbee/soccer every Saturday night with the missionaries, and the recent converts and such. Well, I actually got my game on and got really into it this time. I got really sassy, stole the ball from everyone, scored some points and had a crazy collision with an elder #notscandalous xD. It was way more excercise than I've had in a while and I was exhausted! So much fun.
I've left you all in suspense long enough. Mary got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so great! It was actually a totally crazy adventure trying to get the font filled with the CORRECT temperature of water. Picture Sister Dunlap down in the water in her skirt and bare feet, stirring the water around with a broom handle trying to stir the warm water throughout all the cold water. Haha! I've never actually been "in charge" of all these things before so it was interesting! It all worked out, we got the programs printed WITH the Jesus picture, and there was actually a good turnout! She was baptized in her glasses and without a towel. I graciously offered her a paper towel to dry off with. xD Bahaha. I was able to play her " I am a Child of God" on the cello. And, it was in a tiny room so there were people 2 inches in front of me, staring. #pressureson. xD But, it went really great and she loved it. Getting the gift of the Holy Ghost was also an adventure because she can't be touched due to hypersensitivity. So, just the Bishop confirmed her and even though it involved touching, she said it was definitely worth it. ;) So great!
Also, another record was broken this week. THREE investigators at church! Aubrey, Audrey, and Bela. I know, cray cray. And I played the cello in church! I played "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" with Sister Winn and it went really, really well! Probably one of my best performances. I think this ward loves the cello and is excited now. :) It was just a great church overall because 2 recent converts spoke and so did Sister Blotter, the returned missionary. AND there was a potluck. AND Aubrey taught us how to do the cup song. (if any of you have seen the youtube video of the sister missionaries teaching the restoration with the cups!) It was awesome and it took me forever to figure it out. :P And then, Bela and Taylor wanted to play the cello, so they did. It is actually super interesting for Bela because she is deaf and can't hear me play but she can feel the vibrations through the floor, I guess. She had a lot of fun plucking the strings and such. :)
One more thing. apparently there is a new and fancy device, like a virtual reality helmet, but in eye form (does that even make sense?! :P). You put your phone in it and it's like you are sitting in a movie theatre and even on teh moon! Br. Chaney let me try it (you can look around and see moon rocks and everything!!!) with a Mormon message #notscandalous and it was AMAZING. Technology has changed sooo much!
We also had an awesome time at teh Bishop's house. Emily has started a Sundae Sunday tradition where we have ice cream (delicious ice cream made inside of a crepe??!) and socialize (all the recent converts and investigators are invited. It was SO FUN. We got to watch Meet the Mormons!
Ok, so I had a pretty great week. :)
Love you all!!!
Sister Woods
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