Salvation and Soccer

Sup yo!

Jeffrey R. Holland said that missions are not easy because salvation isn't easy. Both truly are wine presses-- which I tend to interpret as things that pressure us into whining. I tried not to complain about this week, instead I took a deep breath and just did it. And you know what happened? I enjoyed some grape juice from the wine press.

First of all: on Friday, the clouds split open and dumped water all over Justin. The creeks rose and flooded, I wasn't dry the entire day, and it was AWESOME. It was awesome because after it rained and rained and rained and rained.... a Texas cold front came on. Since Friday, it hasn't been humid-- AND it's been in a 74-82 degree range. Guys, it feels like Santa Barbara. My new companion, Sister Napper, is also from California. Saturday was a great day for us. I had a Cherry Coke Zero and a cloudless blue sky and lots of work to do. It was the best day I've had in a long while.

Second: I cannot even BEGIN to thank all of you who took the time effort and money to send me a card!! I really appreciate all the sentiment and encouragement and thoughtfulness. It's nice to know that even though I'm so far from y'all, I still merit enough importance for a sweet Birthday card. Shout out to the ones who gave me pictures of Santa Barbara: they've been pinned to my wall and they make me smile :)

Third: I'll probably be bringing Peyton and Tori home with me. We went over this week to watch the Restoration movie (the 20 minute one) and we re-invited them to be baptized. Even though they said yes, their mom still won't set a date, but I asked them why they wanted to be baptized. Tori said "Well... I want to go back to live with my Heavenly Father! I don't want to NOT live with Him! I want to live again." Peyton said "Yeah, I want that remission thing you were talking about last week. I want to start over."
Not only do they understand what we taught last week, but they REMEMBERED. It stuck with them and they believe us!! My favorite part was when we were walking out of the house back to the car, Sister Napper turned to me and said "Wow, those girls really love you."
I'm adopting them.

Fourth: I really really really REALLY like teaching kids. Not just Peyton and Tori, but we went over to a member's home on Sunday. I'm pretty close with these members, so I LOVE going to their house. More often than not, I end up playing with their 4 kids while my companion has adult conversations with the husband and wife. Well, one of the boys asked me if I would teach the Plan of Salvation through soccer-- so I did. They were SO into the lesson, and you can bet they're gonna remember it! I taught them some volleyball drills once and when we came over again, they wanted to show me their "moves."

Hard week, but good times.

Have a great week! And thank you all again!!! :)
Love, Sister Future Soccer Mom