February 25, 2019

Hello, again! Sister Yates and I have been so busy! We have been taking planning sessions with one of the assistants to the mission president over video chats, and he's been helping us to become better weekly and daily planners. It's really helped a lot because we've learned how to plan more efficiently for how to help the people we're teaching, how to help members with their own missionary efforts, and how to plan to find new people to teach. It's definitely a time-consuming process, but it's helped so much! Because we've been planning so much, our days for the past two weeks have been absolutely packed. By the time we get home for the night, we're exhausted, and then before we know it, our alarm goes off and it's time to do it all over again! I'm so grateful for the opportunity we have to serve the Lord, and He definitely holds our tired bodies up so we can continue His work!

We went back over to the apartment of one of the people we're teaching and she was so excited to have us back. She feels really alone in her apartment, and she says she lives in kind of a sketchy part of town, so she never feels safe. She's said that there have a been a few times where she's come home and she can tell that someone has been in her home because things are missing/ moved around. She really enjoys having the company and she says she feels peaceful when we're over and talking about God. We taught her the Restoration before, and we've kind of just been going over questions she's had from that lesson, because it sounds crazy to her. The more we talk with her about it, the more excited she is to learn more because she says she wants to know if there is more knowledge Heavenly Father has for her. We gave her a large print Book of Mormon because she has a hard time reading, but she said she still has a hard time reading the words, so we've been reading verses with her that we feel will help her best, and she really loves them. She asked me to write down Mosiah 24:12-15 after we read it with her so that she could read it all the time. Those verses talk about how the Lord will comfort His people during their times of trial, because He loves them. When we came back she told us she was going to frame that piece of paper and hang it up, which if I had known that I would have taken more time to write the verses out more nicely haha. I feel bad this cute little lady is going to have sloppy handwriting hanging on her wall. Anyways, she's really sweet, and we're hoping to have her come to church in the coming weeks.

We met with the person we have on date to be baptized again this week, too! It had been hard getting in contact with her, but she is so awesome! She wants to do everything she can to give her life to the Lord because of all He has done for her, and she wants her kids to have the best lives possible. Since we've been meeting with her Satan has been throwing all kinds of things at her. Sister Yates and I feel like we get a message from her almost every other day about something else that has gone wrong. There have been a couple times when I wonder how in the world we, as 19 and 20 year old missionaries, can help her with her trials, or how she will be able to overcome them. When those thoughts come into my mind, I think about one of the Bible videos we've been watching. In it Jesus tells his disciples that there will be a time when he will be persecuted and killed in Jerusalem (Matthew 16). Peter tells Jesus that this can't be, and Jesus turns to him and says "Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." Sister Yates and I always get a giggle out of that video, but Jesus is so right! We have to remember that we might not understand or agree with what Heavenly Father has planned for our lives or for the lives of others, but He knows what is best and what needs to happen, so we must trust in Him that He will deliver us, and if we continue to follow Him, everything will work out in time. Sister Yates and I are so excited for her to be baptized, and we have faith that it will happen.

I'll write more about how the other people we're teaching are doing next week, but for now I'll end with a funny story haha. So this morning Sister Yates and I were getting ready to head out and do some shopping. We said a prayer and headed out, and I was struggling with one of my contacts because there must have been some dust in it or something, and because I was so distracted with my contact, I locked the door and walked out. Right as I closed the door I realized that I didn't have our car or apartment key because I got distracted. We tried calling our apartment manager to see if she could come unlock our door, but the apartment office is only open Tuesday-Friday, so no one answered. One of the members of our ward gave us a ride to their office to see if we could contact them in person, but nobody was there. She gave us a ride to Aldi so we could buy our groceries because she was headed there anyways, and the whole time we were shopping we were trying to call different people and figure out how we could get back into our apartment without paying for a locksmith. The sister who have us a ride to the store suggested we call one of the brothers in the ward we hadn't even thought to ask because he's a Jack of All Trades, and he ended up coming to our apartment 15 minutes later and opened our door with a credit card. It was pretty sweet, I almost asked him to show us how he did it, but I didn't want him to think we were planning on breaking in somewhere, so I didn't ask haha. Anyways, the whole point of that story is that Heavenly Father is really watching out for all of us. Sister Yates and I kept saying prayers to Heavenly Father asking Him to help us, and everything ended up working out.

I hope you are all happy and healthy, keep moving forward!! I love you all, have a good week!!

Love, Sister Priest

This is my screensaver. I LOVE JESUS!!

 This was this morning when I
locked us out of our apartment.