Week 2

We had a baptism last night! Though I only recently met Jamie, I know that she has a strong testimony of the Saviour and of His gospel. The baptism was a powerful spiritual experience. Many ward members came out to support her, which is just what she needed. I cannot really put into words how I felt as I saw her come up out of the water other than an inexpressible joy. I think I felt just a small fraction of how Heavenly Father felt at that time. Jamie is an amazing example and we are so excited for her to share her testimony in lessons with us! Jamie is honestly hilarious. She is always herself and it's so fun to see her in Church settings where she is a bit more lively than most of the people there. I've really been able to utilize my piano playing ability here in Steamboat. I played in Sacrament and RS and at the baptism. I also accompanied the musical number at the baptism. It was Sister Remington and a sister from the ward. They sounded amazing and made everybody cry!

This past week we had a Zone conference in Rifle. It's three hours away so we drove to Meeker the night before and stayed with the sisters there. All the sisters got a special lesson from Sister Murdock on dress and grooming. One of the mission rules is now that all the sisters need to wear some makeup hahaha. Sister Murdock did a makeover on her daughter for us. It was hilarious and she is awesome.

We've been teaching a Jamaican lady named Sonia. Oh heavens, she gives the most hilariously awesome prayers. They last for about 10 minutes and they build and build until she is shouting and waving her hands around. It's hard to stay composed. Her daughter Danielle (who is 13) is really progressing though and she told us since she started reading the book of mormon daily she is smiling more and is less angry! woot! She is awesome and is on date to be baptized.

We got a new bed! Sister Moser is a champion and has been sleeping on an air mattress but one of our investigators found us one! He didn't quite know what he was getting us though hahaha. I'll just let you look at the picture of it. We love the new bed and are already collecting bumper stickers for it.

Our tripanionship loves to sing all the time! And we can harmonize woot woot. We've been singing a lot more in lessons and it really is the best way to invite the Spirit.  

Our ward is awesome although tiny. They are kind and I love meeting more and more of them each Sunday, since a lot of them aren't regular haha. They are the best for signing up to feed us every night when there aren't very many of them to sign up. We espcially love going to fred and don ela's (you read that right) for dinner. They even invited a less active and her husband for dinner too one night! Yesterday after church we headed over for burgers and milkshakes. YUM.

We are still super busy but that's the way I like it. The weather is great here. It's a little hot somedays but I am just soaking it in until winter hits. booo. Before the mish, I always thought p-day was the day to do touristy things but honestly we have no time. With district meeting in the morning 45 minutes away, cleaning, emailing, shopping, and eating, we have about 2 hours before we have to get back in missionary mode at 6. But I'm not complaining!

Right now I am trying to be less of a robot teacher and more personable. It is far too easy to just recite facts I know about the Gospel. But that's not the way to do it. Luckily I have my companions to show how to be an effective teacher. Our lessons this past week have been awesome! It's great to feel that you're really making a difference in someone's spiritual progression.

The thing right now is to have members be the finders and missionaries be the teachers. That's the most effective way to do it. We're trying to do this as much as we can but our ward is pretty small and you can only ask them to come to lessons so much. So we're just going with the flow and trying to get as many to help as possible.

We are teaching the funniest little Mexican man, Rodo. He is about 50, and is tiny. He gave us the best pineapple water. Although I had no idea what was going on in the lesson, I felt the Spirit as he talked about the Book of Mormon. He knows it's true. We just need him to come to Church now!

Last Sunday a family from Sister Moser's home ward was randomly at church. They were here on vacation and offered to feed us on Thursday. Oh man. They have three return missionary sons and it was super awkward because it totally seemed like they were trying to set Sister Moser up with the freshly returned one hahaha. They shafted the older two to the kids table. It was painful but hilarious. At least the food was good.