Letters from Reno: One Month!

I have officially been on my mission for one month! I know that isn't very long but it seems like I have been out here forever.
So this week has been a really really slow week but a crazy amazing week as well! To start off with, let me say that this week we have again been praying like crazy for some miracles and new people to teach. We also felt like we should ask for a miracle of having a baptism on the 20th of July. Something that we felt was a little far reaching to be asking for but nontheless, that's what we were working towards. Wednesday we got to go to the temple, which is always nice. Helga has been on our mind recently so we decided to fast about how we could help her when we went to the temple. Her life has been kind of hectic right now and she had to cancel on us 4 times this week. We had this awesome lesson planned; we would go to the church so she could feel the spirit, have someone watch the kids so there was no distraction, a bomb lesson about the Holy Ghost, it was going to be great. And then everything went wrong. Satan was really working hard on her (and us) this week to keep that from happening! So we finally got a hold of her and a time that we could meet. We couldn't get the help from the ward we needed to go to the church so we planned on showing her a movie about Joseph Smith and saving that other lesson for another date. Before we go in, we pray that there will be a calm environment that she can listen to us and feel the Spirit. We go in and it is crazy town. Her son and girlfriend were there (which is never good) and the kids hyped up on sugar. We were a little disheartened. But then her son asks if he can take the girls and go to a storage shed out of town. So it takes about 30 minutes (with our help) to get the girls rounded up and in the car. Miracle number one. This was the first time we had a lesson with her that it was quiet and we could actually talk without interruptions. There wasn't enough time to watch the movie so we decided to talk about conversion and do an on the fly lesson. It was amazing. The topic turned to the Holy Ghost and it was the first time you could really feel the Spirit strong in her home. She ended up telling us her concerns about why she pushed back her baptismal date and about where her life is now. We were able to address them and talk about how much the Gift of the Holy Ghost can help her during this time. She started crying and said she wanted that as soon as possible. So we brought up the date of the 20th of July and she wanted to be baptized that day and that she couldn't wait! It was worth all the disappointments of the start of the week.

The next day we decided to go tracting because, once again, we had most of our appointments cancel on us. It was more successful then I ever thought tracting could be! Everyone that allowed us to talk to them, invited us back to learn more. Five different houses! We don't know how many will actually be interested but it was such a great day! Then later that day we went to see Jordan, a 15 year old boy that we have met with once before. Our last lesson, we taught him about Christ. He didn't even know why we celebrated Easter and Christmas! He loved learning though and read the couple chapters from the Book of Mormon that we left him to read about Christ's appearance to the Americas. He is golden. This lesson, we taught him about Christ's gospel and how it is founded on principles of faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, baptism, and enduring to the end. At the end of the lesson, we asked him if he would like to be baptized, and you should have seen his face. He got this HUGE smile from ear to ear and said yes! So we have a second baptismal date on the 27th of July! Even as we were driving off, he was still grinning like crazy and you could see the happiness just roll off him. It's moments like that that make those hard days worth it!

It was interesting to see the difference between Helga and Jordan. After we had the lesson with Helga, we just sat in the car in silence for a couple minutes just thinking. It was a much quieter, peaceful feeling whereas with Jordan, we were super giddy and bouncing off the walls (in a dignified manner of course). It is interesting just how different people feel the Spirit and how God works in their individual lives. This week more than any, has reaffirmed to me how aware God is of us and aware of our needs and the needs of the people around us. So even though it wasn't a great teaching week, the Lord is moving His work forward and miracles are happening each and everyday!

Also this week, was Sis. Nunn's year mark! It is a missionary tradition to burn a shirt so that's what we did! We went to a members house and Sis. Verkist used her crazy skills to build a bonfire and Sis. Nunn burnt her 'holy' shirt (it really was full of holes), then we made s'mores. It was a great night. We also rode our bikes more this week just so we could be out and people could see us since we don't have a very large teaching pool right now. That was an experience. Sis. Verkist wrecked her bike trying to get back on the sidewalk after crossing the street, Sis. Nunn nearly got hit by a car opening it's door, and I nearly died getting up this one hill that overlooks the city. It was super pretty once we got up there though! And then it started raining on us. It was actually nice though; cooled us down! It hasn't been under 100* here this week, I feel like a fish with all the water I've been guzzling down! Whelp, that's about it for this week; I am sure I will have more great stories next week for ya'll!

I love you all and am grateful for the prayer and thoughts. Hope you have a fabulous week!

Sis. Rae