Missionary Moments: November 2016

So... we didn't live in our home at all last week. I told you before that we were supposed to move back into our place by Wednesday, but that definitely didn't happen. We stayed in the hotel from Sunday-Wednesday morning, but then had to move out on Wednesday because it was just too expensive to stay. The water was supposed to be fixed by then, but *still* has yet to be fixed. We got a call from President Adams on Tuesday night saying that he thought it'd be best if we came into Farmington for a week while we figured out everything. Well, Sister Ledford and I definitely didn't want to close our area for a week, so we tried our best to think of different solutions. Thankfully, we knew a member in the Window Rock 1st ward that was willing to house us! So we stayed with the Rangers from Wednesday-Sunday morning. Then we stayed in our place without water Sunday night and now we're to today! So we've lived out of suitcases, and it's been an adventure. Oh, and Sister Ledford washed her clothes by hand in the hotel bathtub. That was exciting.

Thanksgiving was great. We ended up having only 3 dinners instead of 4. They were all delicious :) And let it be known that I ate a full plate at all of them! :) Miraculously. They were all classic Thanksgiving meals with the addition of frybread :) One dinner was with our potential investigator Gary - he was so sweet. He wanted to make sure we felt like we were eating with family while we were at his house. His daughter Kayla is incredible, and I really hope her family embraces the gospel. Gary might need some more work. But he'll come around!

We took care of some chickens, cats, and fish this past week for a member that went to Utah for the holidays! I've never been so excited to collect eggs in my life! It was like Christmas every day! :D I don't know if I'd be up for having chickens myself... but it was exciting for the week :)

But aside from that... we had kinda a slow week. Sister Ledford was sick all of Tuesday, then the holidays kinda made the rest of it rough. But it's okay! This week is already looking up :)

MIRACLE! Our returning less active had major fellowship this past week! She was invited to two dinners, and then was talking with others at church on Sunday. Such a major blessing.

Well... That's about it from our week. I'll hand write more as I think of it. Love you!

Love,

Becca

Sorry this is late! We've been doing service seriously all day long and this is the first chance we've had to email.

This week we experienced “Camp Cardon” on the mission! For those of you who don’t know what Camp Cardon is, it’s something my family does at least once a year where we go into survival mode. We willingly shut off the house’s water, electricity, and can’t go shopping. We purely go off of food storage, water storage, and what we have at the house. And now I’m super thankful that I know how to survive without those things (especially how to manually flush a toilet), cause we had our water shut off all last week. We were blessed at first with 2 hours of running water in the morning and also at night so we could still shower. Then towards the end of the week it switched to 1 hour in the morning. Then by Saturday night they said no more water period. The running water had caused a gas leak to happen in the church. So that’s when we got to call President Adams and tell him about our situation. We were moved to the hotel next door on Sunday. So now it’s just a party every day! ;) They say that we’ll be living in the hotel until Wednesday when the leak should be fixed by. But hey, if they’re not on schedule, maybe we’ll spend Thanksgiving at the hotel! This will be an adventure and a half J

Oh! By the way! Transfer news came! And guess who’s leaving?? No one!!! Sister Ledford and I are staying together! By the end of my mission we’ll have been companions for a total of 7 ½ months – over a third of our missions. I trained her a year ago, and now she’s killing me off. Missions are just crazy at times. (I just read this to Sister Ledford and she said “Ha! That’s what you get!” #awfultrainermuch?)

With the start of this transfer, my group of Sister missionaries are officially the oldest Sisters in the mission. It’s the weirdest thing ever! And now it feels like all my friends are “dead” in mission terms. Everyone went home as they’ve finished their missions. Even my best friend Elders I came out with from the MTC have gone home early for medical reasons. So, lonely 5 more weeks. But! At least we’ve got our family of missionaries here in St. Michael’s! We’re already planning a going away party for the end of week 5 of this transfer J

Sister Ledford and I are still the STL Leads this transfer! Hopefully we’ll be able to make this transfer even better than last. I guess we kinda have an idea as to how this thing is supposed to roll. Fun fact, right now there’s a MLC scheduled for the day before I fly home. So no one knows how that’s going to work with the departing missionaries still needing to do exit interviews and such, which typically take all day… We truly will be working until the last possible second of the mission, which I love!

Miracles of the week – There’s still no snow! Hopefully I’m not cursing it now, but we’re still enjoying wonderful sunny weather. Which I’ll take for as long as I can get! J Sadly, it kinda rained last night and it looked like snow a little bit, but I really hope that was a one time deal. We live in Arizona, that should mean we don’t get snow at all, right??

We went wood hauling with our potential investigator Gary! The guy who said his name was Joseph and we called him that for a month and a half. Now we slip up and call him Joseph still every now and then. But it was a blast! And we got to meet his daughter who was the referral we received and were looking for the first time we went to Gary’s house. But wow, I have such a testimony that service softens hearts! By the end of our 5 hours of working side by side, their family was more than willing to let us come over and teach them. YAY! **And** they came to the Thanksgiving dinner the Window Rock 1^st and 2^nd Ward put on on Friday! And they got to see the chapel at the end of the night and agreed to come to church on Sunday! Wow, we are just SO excited to work with this family!! They are quickly stealing our hearts. Sadly, they didn’t show up to church because Gary was a little sick, but they should be there next week!

We were also blessed in the fact that a less active’s heart was softened this past week. When I first came into the area, she told us to not come by anymore because she gets too attached to missionaries and then they leave her. But slowly throughout the past 4 ½ months we’ve been able to meet with her and get her to open up to us again. I think Sister Ledford is the one to get all the credit on this one. She’s so amazingly loving and giving. Saturday we got to stack wood for her and move her shed. And that morning we got to read the Book of Mormon with her. Goodness, can I just say how thankful I am that I have the Book of Mormon in my life?? I was having a pretty rotten 24 hours before the Book of Mormon read we had with this less active, and then as we were reading the first chapter of 1 Nephi I felt a huge uplift. Scriptures are so powerful! The Spirit they bring can lift anyone, no matter the situation. I’m so thankful for the truth I can find in the Book of Mormon. And I’m so thankful for how it teaches me of Jesus Christ. He truly is our Savior, who we can turn to for help, not only in our time of need, but always.

We got to be part of the Primary Program on Sunday! And we didn’t even know it until halfway through the program. We were sitting on the back row, enjoying listening to the kids sing, and then there was a lady in the hall motioning for us to come over. She needed us to tell the story of Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ during a certain part of the program. The person who was supposed to do it was unexpectedly out of town. So… that was fun! Only on the Rez.

Oh my goodness! Cutest story ever! There’s a family that just moved into our ward, and they’re returning less actives. And they have a son on a mission, but best part- They’re all working towards being sealed in the temple! Their son is serving in Ecuador and he told his mother as he was leaving that they were all going to be sealed by the end of his mission. So the family plans to fly out to Ecuador at the end of the two years and be sealed in the Ecuador temple. The mom was making us laugh though, cause she’s not currently married, and she’s gotta find a husband before they can be sealed as a family. She told Sister Ledford “It’s so hard to flirt!” It made us laugh so hard. We should be eating Thanksgiving dinner with them this Thursday J

Speaking of Thanksgiving, oh my heavens! It sounds like we’ve got 4 different dinners to go to on Thursday! And they’re all about an hour apart in the afternoon! One at 11, one at 12, one at 1, and one at 3:00. Goodness, we’re going to be able to fast for a month after Thursday happens! We just don’t want to say no to people anymore ever since we think we offended a family by not eating everything that was served to us. So, if I have to be rolled home because I gained so much weight, so be it.

I was given the gift of a wooden planner cover this past week! It's intense. There's a burned silhouette of the Chistus on the front. Love it so much!!

Funny moment – Sister Ledford couldn’t get back in the truck the other day. See, I’m driver, and co-driver has to stand behind the truck whenever we backup. So she was backing me, and then when she came to the passenger door I kept moving forward. Then I’d stop, she’d almost get to the door, then I’d move forward again. It happened a few times until I took pity on her and let her in. Oh the power of being designated driver J But let it be known that she deserved it. As I was watching her as I was backing she suddenly threw her hands up with an extremely worried face which gave me a heart attack as I thought I hit something. So it was well deserved.

We moved boxes of toys all day long today. It was fun with the Elders at least :) We had lots of laughs.

If I think of anything else, I'll send another email. For now, fair sailin'!

Love,

Becca