Fleas, Ticks, and Lice!!!

Wow, this has been some week! I know I say that every week, but this has been an interesting one. First off, holy cow! Can you believe I am already through my first month in the mission field? It has gone by so fast, and I'm scared that the next 17 will go by as fast as this one did haha. This week the Lord has shown to sister roper and I some really tender mercies, and dare I say, miracles. On Tuesday, we went out to Newport to do a little tracting and to contact some less actives and investigators. We went to visit a potential, Trisha, and again she couldn't have us over for a lesson, but we have high hopes for this week. Afterwards, we went and visited a less actives, named Brother Himes. Let me tell ya, this guy is the kindest, most spiritually in tune guy I have ever met. He had a really troubled young life, but he recognizes Gods hand in everything, and really knows God has saved him spiritually and physically on multiple occasions. Love him to death, and I wish he'd get to church! After that we went to a lass actives house, and found out they had moved, but, the lady who lived there now took a book of Mormon, so that was awesome. That night, we had dinner with a potential investigator who was a refferal from the ward. Her name is Amanda, and she is AWESOME. She is so ready for the gospel, whether she knows it or not. We taught her the restoration and she even asked to keep the pamphlet and a book of Mormon. We have very high hopes for her. Plus, she makes an out of this world peanut butter pie haha. On Wednesday we had a world wide missionary broadcast and there were some big changes made. Our schedule has now been changed so nothing is at a set time, except basically when we wake up haha. We now get an hour extra of sleep if we choose, an extra half hour to prepare for the day, and our planning and study periods are whenever we want them to be. The new schedule gives us the power to use our agency more and to have more time to proselyte. It's pretty sweet. They also reduced our key indicators that we report weekly from 9 to 4. So now all we report is how many baptisms, how many new members, how many on date baptisms, and how many investigators at church. That's somewhat discouraging to us out in little ole New Bloomfield, because we don't often have baptisms and most of our work is with less actives, but we know God will provide a way. Thursday was probably the weirdest day yet on my mission. We went to provide service for a potential investigator who has been in contact with us and wants to start up the lessons again. Anyways, she wanted us to clean her house. We drove down and what we experienced was probably the saddest thing I've ever seen. The house was very broken down. Everyone in Pennsylvania smokes, has a cat or dog, or both. And most people we visit are not the best house keepers, we are used to that. But, needless to say, we came home and took scalding hot showers for fear of bed bugs or lice, to say the least. All I could think and do was pray for her kids, and hope our message may bring them a better life. They are so kind, and I loved visiting with them, and I hope we can continue to. On Fridays we go to a food bank and that's my favorite part of the week. Service is the best and in our circumstances, it's usually the only thing people want from us haha. But we are working hard, and putting ourselves out there so people know who we are. Saturday was an awesome day. We went to visit the booth family, who recently lost a daughter to suicide. The mother and husband werent home, but the grandmother was and so for about 4 hours we quilted with her. She's not a member, but she's so fun and we had such a good time learning to quilt and talking. She really opened up to us about Dawn dying, and told us she felt like it was all her fault and the details about the days before it happened. It was heartbreaking, it still is, but we were able to comfort her and share a message of hope that hopefully helped her feel better. After that, we went to loysville for some tracting. I am TERRIFIED of tracting. As a missionary, I have lost a lot of confidence in myself I used to have, and in return gained some anxiety issues haha. So I had been dreading it all day. The very first door we knocked on, a girl our age opened the door and was so excited to see us! She knew a lot about our church, and let us teach her the restoration and she absolutely loved it! She ran upstairs and came down with a Spanish book of Mormon she had found in a park. It was tattered up, with some rain damage, and she told us that she has been wanting to read it so bad that she's been improving her Spanish just to read it! So we gave her an English one, exchanged numbers, and are meeting again very soon! I think the whole time we taught her my jaw was probably on the floor. God works in very mysterious ways and I think He really chastened me with that experience. Sometimes it's easy to forget that this is the Lords work, and we have to put our trust in him. He never ceases to put me in my place, and slowly but surely, I am learning to let Him guide me and becoming a more humble missionary. This week one of my favorite scriptures is from Alma 26:16, "Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." I love you all, and have absolutely loved getting your cards and letters, keep them coming! You're the best, and I pray for you all often! I hope Yins have a good week!