September 1

Well familia, I am back to my old stomping grounds...... THE 6TH WARD.... of Grand Junction. (I wish it was raymond 6th haha).

I am right beside my old area. In fact, I am still in the same district. Sister Rodriguez and I get to see each other all the time! Woot! 

I already know this area really well. I have been to it on several exchanges. I know a lot of the ward members. There is a lot of work that needs to be done here. I AM EXCITED ABOUT IT! 

Monday we got to be with Sis Keavali. I love her. I got to say goodbye to more people, including the darling Wagner family. I love them and will send pictures. The nice thing is I will see them around still and I get to keep really close tabs on how the work is going there. Monday night, the APs dropped off an extra mattress for Sis Keavali to sleep on and they told us what was happening with transfers. I knew where I would be going. And, to be frank, I was scared. But I know it will all work out. We have to build the trust of the ward and to find new investigators (because we don't really have any), and to work on obedience! I am really quite excited for how I can help this area because I already love the people within it.

Friday we had an emergency exchange to go on with some sisters who were struggling. My new STL comp serves in Fruita, Sister Hilton. She's in a tripanionship so that makes exchanges a little crazy. I went to the 7th ward with Sis Keavali. We saw so many miracles. We set an investigator on date and scheduled a church tour with her the very next day! Tamara is very quiet and sweet. She lives in pretty humble circumstances. The church tour was perfect! We had a member family there, the Malfitanos. In the chapel, their little daughter sang I am a child of God while I played for her. It was perfect. She doesn't say much but she finally used a different word than good to describe how she was feeling: peace! As she said the closing prayer, I felt very distinctly that she had suffered abuse in her life.  I had no idea where it came from.  I pushed it to the back of my mind. Tamara said she was coming to church! Later that day, I told Sis Keavali what I had felt. Yesterday I found out that she didn't come to church but Sister Keavali and Sister Loertscher went to her house to talk with her. She completely opened up about everything because they asked. She was abused as a child and because of it she has a hard time trusting people, especially men. God is so aware of His children. 

Sister Keavali is so amazing. Please keep her in your prayers. She is having a hard time but I know she will get through it with the Lord.

On our exchange, Sister Keavali had this awesome quote. "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." That is what I am really trying to focus on. 

Sunday was crazy. The ward is awesome. We taught Gospel Principles. We randomly sang with the ward choir and totally both sang at the wrong part. Woot! There is a sister in the ward from Med. Hat! Woot! Canadian connections for the win.

Also our investigators in the 9th ward, Kim and Rocky finally came to church!

We helped Sister Greco peel peaches. (Sis Gregerson will appreciate that).

I am excited for this week! I hope you all get to change and grow and learn more about the Atonement this week!