When You're Weeding Lavender and there's Tornadoes

Hi everyone,

Okay so, here's what happened this week:

Last Monday we fed some horses, like, random people's horses. It was so funny! Sister Johnson was in horse heaven! There was this cute little pony that just adored her and I got quite a few pictures ;)

On Tuesday we had to go on exchanges 😣😣 but it was actually fine. We exchanged at 9:30 in the morning, which we don't usually do that early in the morning, but we did. I got Sister Barnes (which is who I had last time). We tried to find this one referral we got, and his address was a hunter outpost thing by the lake... yup. Then we tracted this one street and it was chalk full of Baptists and Church of Christ. People were so nasty. I was like wow if you really follow Christ, then why would you treat people like this? This one lady, while holding a five month old baby, was totally bashing us. She was like, "tell me about the book of Mormon, what do you believe in?" But she would interrupt and interject and tell us some crazy crap she heard and told us what we believe in, and she was just sooo mean. Then she told us they don't believe in miracles... what are you holding in your arms lady? A baby! That's a flipping miracle! Then she had the gall to invite us to some Easter thing her church was doing. I don't understand why she would think we would want to go after all that. How inviting.

But anyways! We had an awesome dinner appointment with Jack and Renee, who are non members but love missionaries and the church. We had a good conversation with them, and I think it helped me better understand them and where they're coming from. Because Jack has been meeting with missionaries for 18 years, and that's craziness. I've been so confused, and now I'm less confused.

Then we had a wonderful lesson with the Wheeler family. They downloaded the gospel library app on their devices and they made sincere efforts to read the past week! They are amazing! Sister Wheeler was taking notes, and her husband was so engaged, and I think they really want to come to church! They won't be able to do this week because we have Stake Conference in E-town, but who knows maybe they will still want to go?

Wednesday we exchanged back and I got my sweet Sister Johnson back! She had such a good experience and she had some prayers answered, so I was super grateful for that. I was also grateful that I went down that crazy road with Sister Barnes and not Sister Johnson, so I guess there were tender mercies all around and I need to have a better attitude towards exchanges 😁

We had district council that day, then we went up to Columbia to have a new member lesson with Stephanie. It was a lot of driving that day! We were going a little crazy, but we made it.

On Thursday we pulled weeds with the Jensons in their lavender field, so you know I loved that! The French lavender didn't do so well because of how much it rained last year, so it was like finding gold if you found one that had signs of life. Well, anyways, Brother Jenson kept getting weather updates and apparently there was a tornado watch out and we had some temperamental  weather hit us the whole time we were in the fields. No tornado though, so that was good. I love that we were just like, whatever, could be a tornado, but we're weeding so it'll have to wait. They took us out to lunch too, because they are awesome people and I love them!

Sister Johnson felt really sick afterwards though, and I think it might have been due to allergies. We're still not quite sure what to do about that, so yeah. But she made it to our lesson with the Pearsons. We taught some of the commandments and the Word of Wisdom. Sweet tea is big in the south, but these kids were so ready to quit it after the lesson, it was amazing. They're just so willing, they're so ready. I'm so proud of them! And they've been doing really good this week with trying to stay away from it ;)

Friday we biked. Yes, I biked again, and it's been forever but I loved it. We biked in the worst rain of the week though 😅 it was okay. We saw this gal that Sister Young and I met a while ago, Lorena, and she let us right in and we taught her more about the book of Mormon and some of our basic beliefs. She has already started reading the Book of Mormon and is willing to take the lessons when school is out (she will have more time then). Her granddaughter Autumn stayed and listened while we talked, so that was cool, and she seemed like she was interested in what we had to share. So that was awesome! Then it dumped cold rain on us as we biked home cuz we were trying to make it on time to our dinner appointment 😐

On Saturday we had a lesson with Mayra. She actually read out of the book of Mormon! She wants to learn more. She had so many questions, and she questions her priest back in her church too! She's not quite ready for baptism yet, so we'll have to move her date, but she still wants to continue the lessons. She was afraid that we were going stop teaching her! She has some obstacles to overcome, but I think she is really sincere and is just pushing right along on her journey to find truth.

We sang a rendition of Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer for Sacrament meeting on Easter Sunday, that was stressful. Sister Johnson is a pro and played the piano (she learned how to play that song the night before) and sang. She was shaking so bad, but we did it! The Pearson's came again because they are fabulous!

The talks on the Atonement were wonderful. I really appreciated Sister Rodenbergs talk about how the Atonement has affected her life. She basically said that before she actually used the Atonement in her life, she was drowning in doubts, anxieties and fears. After someone helped her realize what the Atonement can do, she gave it all over to Him, because He already felt that for her, He knows her, and she didnt need to be carrying all of that around anymore. It's not that she doesn't have hard things happen anymore, she just chooses to put her faith in the fact that Christ can heal all things, and that she doesn't need to worry, it will all be okay. I loved that!

That talk really helped Sister Pearson. She met with President Rodenberg, and he was just so spirit led and answered the questions that have been eating away at her for weeks now. She came home from church "feeling a hundred pounds lighter" in her own words. Her experience really reinforced in me the need to go to church. Someone could fulfill your needs that very day, but you won't know if you don't go. You could find the relief that Sister Pearson felt. You could have answers to questions you couldn't put into words to ask. And also, our church leaders aren't perfect but they try, and they're there to help. They're called of God by inspiration. If you let them, they will help you. They love you, that is why they are there.

We also had an awesome lesson with Jennifer. She is trying to overcome an addiction so she can go to the temple. Well, she quit on Saturday, and she's determined to not turn back. We're going to support her as much as we are able through this, but I think the worst will be this first week and then she'll be okay. We watched some episodes of 12 Steps to Change, because they're awesome and I highly recommend watching them, even if you don't have an addiction.

I've come to appreciate how easy it is to tell that this is truly Christ's original church. This church accepts all, in whatever state you are in, in whatever trials are happening. Doesn't matter if you're broken, confused, angry, tired, or hanging on by the finest of threads. It doesn't matter how the world views you, and it doesn't matter what the world views are, you are welcome in Christ's church. That's one of the ways you can know for yourself if it's really His. He turns no one away, His church, built on His teachings, shouldn't either, and it doesn't. If you haven't felt that that is true, I'm sorry. But what I witnessed yesterday further testified to me that this IS His church, and we are to turn no one away.

Anyways, this upcoming week is going to be busy again. We have district p-day today in Sulfur Well, tomorrow we have new missionary training in Lexington, and the rest of the week is filling up with lessons and service! It's great! The end of April is coming up like a freight train!

I hope everyone had a happy Easter! Love y'all!

With love,
Sister Wilcox❤❤❤