Brianna is the best. :)

Hello again!

 

Another week has flown by! I literally do not know where July went. All of a sudden it was over! Now it's August 7th! How crazy is that???

 

Yes, Brianna is one of the best! Thanks for sending me a bunch of pictures of Keira. She's so beautiful and is getting so big!! It's so weird!

 

So much happened this week! We were so busy! Each week we teach more lessons than the last which is fantastic! We went from 3 to 10 to 11 to 15 and now this week we are shooting for 20 which is the mission's "Standard of Excellence." We can't wait to see the miracles that Heavenly Father provides. We've been up in Tulsa/Claremore for 2 days of the week for Mission Leadership Council and so we have two less days to get the 20 lessons but we are going to work our hardest and be fanatically obedient so that we can see miracles and have God's help in achieving what He wants us to do! I'm so grateful to have the companion that I do. I couldn't do this without her. She is truly amazing.

 

We had a scare with the Rileys this week. Sis. Riley texted us and told us that they don't want us to come over anymore and that Bro. Riley had decided that they weren't going to go back to church at this time. So, naturally, we went over that very day, a few hours after they texted us to see what was going on. Sister Riley is all on board but Brother Riley is just having some doubts and some concerns that he needs to overcome. We challenged them to fast and pray about it and they said that they would so we will see what happens. They didn't make it to church because Sister Riley had been throwing up all night. :( We pray for them all the time and so I know that God will help in this situation!

 

Brother Henry is super amazing!!! He practically teaches us the lesson that we have to teach him. He is so prepared and we are so glad that we get to be a part of his conversion process. His date is for the 17th but we are going to see if we can move it to Sunday the 18th so that more people can be there. We just have to talk to the Bishop about it and see what he wants us to do.

 

We picked up a new couple to teach. Aaron and Nancy. They have a 4 year old daughter named Caitlyn. They're super nice. We met them at Sonic. We had gone to get a slush because it was a super hot day and (I don't know if I've told this story yet) they were sitting at one of the outside tables. At first I didn't think anything of it but then I looked up one time and I felt like we needed to go talk to them. So we did. We had a really good first lesson with them. Aaron just wants to know why we read the Book of Mormon. He said that he probably won't "turn Mormon" but he just wants to know and to understand. We told him that he won't understand until he reads and prays about the Book of Mormon. So he said he would do that and we have another appointment with them today. It should be good!

 

On Wednesday, I went on another exchange up to Van Buren, AR. I was with Sister Breaux this time. She actually has a sister going up to BYUI at the same time as Nani so maybe they will meet and be friends. That would be cool! We had a really good day. Sister Breaux is SUCH a good missionary! She's only been out for almost 6 months and she's training. She went from being trained for 2 transfers to training a new missionary. She really is amazing. She is so happy all the time and has a great attitude about everything. If I could be more like anyone, it would be her. I am striving to have that happy attitude. I love it and it makes people want to be around you.

 

There was a Ward Activity on Wednesday night. I didn't get to go but Sister Ficklin said it was really good and it turns out that there were about 150 people there. We normally have between 90 and 100 in attendance at Sacrament Meeting. A lot of the people that were there were less active or non members. It was so cool! In turn, we had a good turn out for Sacrament Meeting this last Sunday! Last month, for Fast Sunday, the Ward did a fast for us to see less actives that we can bring back and new members that we can bring in. It is so amazing to see the results of that fast! I truly feel that the fast is the reason that we have been able to find less actives to teach and investigators to teach!

 

It is so rewarding to be a missionary! I really love it and wish I could do it for longer than my alotted time, but I can't, so I am trying to do everything that I can with the time I've been given. They say that the more we understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the more we will want to share the gospel. I really have learned A TON about the Atonement on my mission. I can't even begin to explain the things I've learned. But in turn, I have a greater desire to share my testimony with others. Mosiah 28:3 is a great scripture to explain my feelings regarding missionary work. We all should share it and feel the way that the Sons of Mosiah did. We truly are blessed to have what we have.

 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!!!

 

See you soon then!!

 

Love, Sister Pahl