"What's up Sisters?"

This week was pretty long. Not a ton happened, but as I always say, there is something you can get out of anything. Today we went mini golfing and did some service for a member and now we're heading to the church to write our emails. Hopefully I'll be able to go fast enough to get it all to you in time! 

This week was rain, rain, and more rain. And it's not light showers; it's like Noah’s Ark showers. As we walk the streets, I just sing to myself, "The rains came down and the floods came up, the rains came down and the floods came up..." No biggie. I got a cute blue raincoat and I love it. Nobody returned our calls or texts and everything that was already set was canceled. So it was a week of rain, study and walking. And we even didn't find anyone when trying to contact on the streets, because well, #1 who wants to sit and listen to us in a down poor and #2 we have the name Jesus Christ on our chest and here, it seems a curse to know Him.

We were able to eat last Monday at a member’s. She cooked us some quiche.  We had moldy, very moldy, like fur growing on the cheese she gave us, moldy. It was blue cheese, and you eat it with bread and grapes all together. It was pretty good. But the first bite was pretty cringy, a little scary; but it was good after the first bite. Kamila just ate it by itself. Too scary for me still!

The next day was slow, and we decided to fill our hour with contacting, I kept having the impression to go down a certain street that we hadn't been down in a while. So we went and I just kept saying , no I think it's this way and so we would just go because we couldn't remember, but I just kept thinking it was the right way. We kept going and we were looking for the spot we wanted. We stopped and we pulled out a map to see where we were.  In that moment someone walked passed and said, "What's up Sisters?" We both were shocked. We looked at each other and then looked at the guy. You can't just say, "What's up sisters?" AND WALK AWAY! He looked very friendly and sounded very American. NO ONE sounds like THAT here. My first thought was, is he a third Nephite?! I looked at my companion and noticed that the guy stopped a ways down the road. I walked after him.  He was an LDS man with his wife. They live in Germany and are from St. George and Colorado. They were just passing through when their car broke down. We chatted IN ENGLISH!! Full blown American English!!! Gosh I miss hearing that language.  Anyways, we talked and got directions to a car repair shop and they were able to find means to move their car and get it fixed. We were led there for a reason. The Lord knew we needed to help them and he also knew we needed something like that in the moment. It was really awesome.

We had a rendezvous with a less active. We arrived 20 minutes early and she was going to be a little late. So we walked a little while and saw some horses and it was really fun! Horses are so funny and cute! My companion doesn't really like animals, but I do! Then we had a rendezvous and we only had 30 minutes to talk to her before we had to catch our bus. We have to walk 20 minutes to catch the bus because the buses were limited on Tuesday because there was a strike. Anyways while she was talking I was thinking she needs to stop talking because we need to give our lesson and leave on time to the bus. But then I got this feeling. It was so clear and loud. “You're not here to give a lesson and leave. It's NOT ABOUT YOU. It's about her and it's about what she needs in her life now. Even if she just talks the whole time, she probably just needs someone to talk to.”  So immediately, I stopped worrying and trying to figure out ways to stop her so we could give our lesson. I just sat and tried to understand what she had to say. I really enjoyed it. Then we just shared a scripture. We left a little bit late, but we got to the bus on time before the last one left for the night. It would've been a 3 mile walk back, but the Lord had mercy on us! Yay! It was a good night and we saw her again later on with more time.

Another night we were going to go walking for an hour before we had to be back for the night, but instead we decided to get gelato. SOOOOOO GOOD. Don't worry we had already gone contacting for 2 1/2 hours earlier because we had no rendezvous.  The shop we got the gelato in was so cute. Very quaint. They shaped the gelato into a rose and gave you 4 flavors.  I got chocolate (of course), vanilla and chocolate chips, hazelnut chocolate (best one) and then strawberry. It was so, so, so yummy.  I want it again. While we were eating it on a little table outside, the sun was going down and it hadn't rained that day. It was the perfect fall weather. It was such a precious moment. Then these two guys started playing on their guitars in front of us. So we were just eating gelato, with Spanish music playing and a light cool breeze as the sun was going down. I was so happy and I knew the Lord knew we needed that right then. I thank the Lord for all things good because all things good came from God.

Later that same evening, the Elders in our district knew we were having a rough week, so they decided to give us some lovely sugar cookies that they made themselves. It was so awesome and so sweet of them. They are the best Elders ever. Very thoughtful and always willing to help in anyway possible. They tasted like the sugar cookies from Swig. YUM. So it was a good night.

Ok, watch 13 Miracles because it's so powerful if you have not seen it yet.  Also, Braden saw Walker Gentry at the MTC.  Cool connection! And he sent me a cool picture of them! It was great to hear from him!

I run every morning for 15-20 minutes. Well, from Tuesday through Friday's and then do planks for 3 reps of 1 minutes for middle and both sides. It's going well. And I can tell the difference. It's getting much easier to run and not get so tired so easily. I'm likening it more.

Father, every time I walk the streets at night, and I'm just enjoying the breeze and watching people eat in the little outdoor cafes with the French cuisine and I hear people speaking French in the background, I always think of you.  I picture you loving this place and having been here and feeling the exact same way I do.  I love looking at things, because it really is a blessing to be here. Anyways, thought I'd share that with you.

Sorry, I don't have more to talk about. It was a slow week and I only had an hour and a half to write all this. I hope the pictures say more than what I was able to say. Love you all very much and again, as always, I'm so blessed to have you in my life. Love you family and keep up the great work. Remember to always do hard things and to always be better than you already are. Don't settle and be helpful and willing to see the good in all things. Everything always turns out if you do that.

Love you all and talk next week!

Soeur Sarah