Letter 10

I always want to start by saying I can't believe how fast the week has gone but the truth is I do believe it because every week goes by quick... so I can believe another week has flown by! I hope all is well. This week I have heard more sad stories than I ever have. We talk about trials and difficulties being part of life and that they help us grow and then people say but sisters is there any happiness. Then we get to share how because of Jesus Christ we can find happiness. We may not be free from our trials but we can be free from despair. I'm grateful to my family and friends for the great examples in finding happiness in what will last forever instead of being sad about not having all the worldly stuff that won't last. Find reasons to be happy ever day and you will be. We have had a really great week! We had an experience the other day while tracting that was pretty intense.. We knocked on a door and the man opened it up and he was an extremely tall and built african american man and he stepped out let the door close behind him and folded his arms and said as he towered over us you picked the wrong guy. I felt like I did when I was a little girl and we went to Las Vegas and there was that huge man with a snake wrapped around his neck and I dropped my ice cream on dad's head. I was trying really hard not to look completely terrified. He told us he was a hebrew/ greek bible scholar. He asked to see my bible and he was surprised he said we have a good copy. He drilled us for probably half an hour and we were able to keep it pretty calm and in the end he was way more flustered than us and said well i wish i could show you all my hebrew and greek stuff, and he's right he definently would have confused us then! I was grateful to feel the spirit comfort me. So interesting things I've eaten today was something called a double which is like a scone thing stuffed with curry chickpeas or something like that.. it was super yummy! The other night I got up to have a snack (I definently blame you dad for my eating in the middle of the night :) and I had a slice of banana bread a member gave us and then the next morning I looked at it and the bottom had tons of mold on it.. so foul. hmm what else. Oh my favorite thing that happened this week was at zone conference. We were having lunch and these three ladies from the weston ward made it for us and then we sang called to serve to them after to say thanks and I noticed one sweet lady crying and I thought oh she is so tender. We went up to give them hugs and we I approached this lady she got WAY excited and was like it's you it's you and before i knew it she was giving me the best hug i've had since I left and we hugged tight for a long time. And guess who it was Jen :) Sister Bradshaw! I can't tell you how wonderful is was to hug someone who knows and loves someone I love so much. By the way Sister Bradshaw is a sister my sister Jen lived with while she was serving her mission. Such a tender mercy.. I loved it so much. This Recent convert came and shared his story with us and it was crazy. He was on the bus on his way to the subway station where he had decided to go and throw himself in front of a train because he was so miserable when he saw two missionaries get on the bus. One of them pushed through all the people and sat down by him. He didn't give up on talking to this man and finally he gave him his number cause he thought it doesn't really matter anyway because i'll be dead. As soon as he got off the bus the elders called him and set up a time to see him and he said that he can't remember the rest of that day at all and that he had forgotten his plan. He did meet with the missionaries and now does have happiness.. it gives me hope to tell people they can be happy because this guy was at the lowest of low and he did it. We were able to meet with a family on friday and the lesson went amazing. The husband is from St. Lucia and the wife from Nigeria and they have a two year old little girl and a five month old baby that i had a hard time not staring at the whole time. So cute. They were so receptive and eager to have us come again and we told them about general conference and he was like I definently feel like i have something to learn from these men. He always was like I know what your saying is true I have the goosebumps. SOOO cool. I love this work. I love my Savior. I love all of you! Thanks for all you do for me. Oh ya I had to rush last week cause I went to get my hair cut by a really sweet persian lady and her english is very limited and my farsi is VERY limited and somehow she ended up cutting off more than she kept. Oh well though.. my mission has been quite a big adventure for my hair! This is a long one! I love ya and hope to hear from you all soon!