A Heat Wave Of Miracles

Hey, friends and fam! This week we had some amazing miracles! It's so cool to see the tender mercies that come when you are at your lowest point.

Tuesday we spent most of the day finding. We felt prompted to tract in some apartment complexes but everyone we tried was locked. We met a lady outside one who told us that we couldn't get in and no one there was interested, but pointed us toward another complex a few blocks away. Away we went in the hot heat and tried a few of the doors. All locked. We stood there for a moment discouraged, hot, and exhausted. We decide to try the last door of the building and we find a man sitting outside on the step! We talked to him for a while and discovered that his name was Ed and he was just about to leave, but we told him about the temple and asked if we could come back and he said definitely! We went back the next day and taught him the restoration! He told us that it was an amazing message and is looking forward to learning more! Whoo!

Wednesday we looked for more service opportunities. It was hard because most places have to do a background check that takes weeks. Obviously, that won't work with the nomadic lifestyle of a sister mish. But! We prayed really hard and found a nursing home that was looking for volunteers. We don't have to have a background check and we can even set up a devotional type event for next month! :)

Thursday we had a fun District Meeting! The AP's showed up and we did street contacting role plays using pass along cards. That night we saw even more miracles when we had a lesson with Brother Bishop, a less active that we have been working with forever. We had planned to talk about the priesthood with him but we ended up talking about the sacrament and how IT is the number one reason we need to go to church. He hadn't known that and it was pretty groundbreaking for him. And guess who finally showed up at church on Sunday? That's right! Brother Bishop!

Friday and Saturday we went on exchanges and melted. It was SO hot! Sister Warnock came to P1 and we tracted all day but the most incredible thing happened. We met a woman outside and started talking to her about her family. Sister Warnock asked me if I had any Philadelphia temple pass along cards and sadly I didn't. I only had the standard ones with a picture of Christ on it, but I pulled it out anyway. Before I could give it to her she ran inside her house to get us a drink of water because she was a kind soul. When she came back out I looked down the card and IT WAS A PHILADELPHIA TEMPLE CARD!!! I looked at Sister Warnock who looked as shocked as I was. We had both seen a picture of Christ on the front of that card. We were able to show the woman the card, tell her about the open house, and testify of eternal families. She wasn't interested in meeting with us but was interested in the open house! The Lord is preparing people for this temple in such an amazing way!

I have such a testimony of this gospel! It is true! God is our Heavenly Father and he loves us so much!! He has provided a way for us return to Him and that way is Jesus Christ.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and week! :)

Love, Sister B

Celebrating Sister Maiden's year mark with Rita's!

District Meeting!
(The Proper District)

Elder Moreno is not pleased.
(The Crazy District)

Korple and Pahn from English class!

I forgot these from the week before.
Saying goodbye to Sister Abbott.

Sister A, one of my dearest friends!

My Lovely African Sisters! :) 

Twilight Zone

This week made no sense... None. I am still trying to wrap my head around it.

It started with transfers. My new companion is Sister Maiden! She is pretty great! We haven't even been together for a week and we've already shared laughs and tears.

Wednesday was literally a day out of the Twilight Zone. I woke up super lightheaded and ended up passing out and going back to bed. I woke up to the sound of breaking glass and our house surrounded by policemen. One of the owners of the office in front had barricaded himself in and died! The police had to break an office window to get to him. After finding that out, we left our apartment and walked down the street for more bizarreness. We were waiting at a crosswalk and a car without a driver rolls past us, through the intersection, and hits a pole. The police were there in .5 seconds (because of the dead body at our apartment) and asked us where the driver went. We had to tell them there hadn't been one. The day was topped off when we went to find an investigator and their ferocious dog busted through the door and chased after Sister Maiden, like a rabid animal. When hitting it with her bag failed she climbed over the porch railing. That night the ugliest bug I've EVER seen climbed on me and after chasing it around the apartment with a mop, we trapped it under a bowl. It's a hybrid between a spider and a cricket and it's terrifying.

Thursday we had an interesting District Meeting and we got to see Carol! I love Carol so much! We taught her about the Book of Mormon and she was so excited to read it. She has the sweetest spirit I've ever encountered.

Thursday evening we went to go see Steven because he hadn't showed up at church and hadn't been answering our calls. We knocked on his door and while we were waiting his neighbor came out and we asked if she'd seen him. She informed us that Steven had passed away on Saturday from unknown causes. Honestly, I'm still trying to come to terms with it but I'm so thankful for my knowledge of the plan of salvation. I know that Steven will continue learning about the gospel where he is now. I hope we get to see and teach his wife again.

The rest of the week was a blur. We taught the Farole's and a few new people. Sunday was fun! Because the speakers for sacrament weren't there, members of the congregation picked their favorite hymns and shared how that song had strengthened their testimony. The congregation then sang that song together. One of the sisters that we teach in English class got up and picked I Am A Child Of God. It was pretty sweet!

The gospel is true, the book is blue. I hope you're all doing well! God bless!

Sister B

New companion! Sister Maiden!
 I am absolutely wearing two name tags...

Window of our building that
the cops had to break.

Sister Brown and her cool drawings of
what we read in the Book of Mormon!

Carol! The sweetest human in the world!

Carol Showing me the flowers
we helped her plant.

Me and Sister Bustard! :)

And for fun... Sister Maiden trying to ride away from weekly planning! haha

Slippery Floors

This week was a tired blur and all of our lunch breaks were converted into naps. I'll try my best to remember the important stuff.

We got to teach Christine and her daughter! They are golden! Christine really wants to be baptized and we set a date for her. The only problem is she works a lot on Sundays. We are praying for a way to get her to church.

Tuesday we had a long day of service. We actually got to help with invitations to the temple open house! A woman in our ward is in charge of sending out invitations to all the religious leaders in the area. It got us even more excited for August!

The Farole family is steadily progressing and are making lots of friends in the ward. It's such a wonderful feeling to see them walk in to Sacrament Meeting every week! They told us at their lesson on Wednesday that they really felt the difference that the gospel was making in their lives. Whoo! The church is true!

District Meeting was super awesome this week! We talked about Alma 47 and Lahonti being on the mount. Coming down from his camp just a little bit was his downfall. The adversary poisons us little by little. We need to stay firmly on the mount and "give no quarter!"

Saturday we gardened with our sweet neighbor Carol. She is in her 70's and the cutest person I've ever met. After we gardened, we had a lesson and she asked a bunch of questions. We ended up teaching almost all the discussions in 45 minutes. When she was packing us up a dinner to go she was rambling about how nice members of the church were and joked to herself, "maybe I should convert to Mormonism!"  *Mic drop* 🎤  Well, that would be ideal (took all we had not to go out dig a hole, put water in it, grab a few worthy priesthood holders,💥 boom baptized).

Saturday night was transfer calls and Sister Abbott is leaving. :( I am so sad. We have been through so much together and she helped me in more ways that I can count. But I know the Lord needs her somewhere else, and she is going to do great!

I hope you all have a blessed week! Keep smiling! :)

Sister B

PS- Enjoy the videos of Sister Abbott and I in our sleep deprivation.

Me posing with a big huge raven!

This neighborhood gave off a nice
 "zombie apocalypse" vibe.

I entered the Matrix at Sister Geraghty's house. 

Waiting at the church for a lesson.

Still waiting and taking
 artsy-fartsy pictures of each other. 

Peter Rabbit was in our yard!

Lazy Pday goodness. Watching Johnny Lingo!

Mint Plants and Tums

Hello! This week was a week full of service and miracles!

On Tuesday we went to help Sister Harrison garden! It was a blast! We found a nest of baby bunnies under a hay bale, we raked leaves, we got her garden weeded, and transplanted all of her vegetables! It was super rewarding work! To top it off, Sister Harrison gave me a mint plant when we were done and we named it Mahonri Moriancumer! :)

We have been praying for new investigators his week and not long after, the city elders sent us a referral of a woman named Christina and her daughter. They had been teaching her but we're having a hard time finding members to come with them, so now we get to teach her! We have a lesson with her today and we are super excited! Miracles!

In other news, Bishop Ard is awesome! We got to meet with him this week AND he came to a lesson with us for the Farole's! We were running super late and when we got there we found out that instead of waiting for us, he had just gone in and started teaching them about the priesthood. We were so thankful! Best member present ever! But, with the Farole's, Anthony is praying about baptism and we are so excited for them! We got to testify of eternal families and we could tell that they were excited! :)

Thursday was lame because I got the stomach flu. I was incapacitated most of the day. It didn't help that the next evening the two of us had a whole large pizza and a box of hot wings at a meal appointment, We had to walk down to Sister Cullen's for some Tums afterward. Thank heaven for those Tums.

But Friday we got to see Sister Burnet! She's the sister who was hit by a car. She is in rehab already and doing incredible. The Lord is seriously watching over her!

We had a lesson with Steven on Saturday about the Plan of Salvation. It was so cool! The spirit is so strong in our lessons with him and he is preparing to be baptized on June 5th! He said on Saturday that everything we have taught him has made a lot of sense. Yeah! That's because it's true! :D

We also got the opportunity this week to help Sister Bustard with her college class's science project. Sister Abbott and I had to work to dig through our missionary brains in order to help her out. Hopefully it won't be so hard when we go home and back to school. It took us a few good hours but we got it all finished and in on time.

The highlight of my week was definitely getting to see my incredible family on Mothers Day! I loved seeing how much they've grown and progressed. It brings joy to my little missionary heart to see people progress. :) I love my little family so much and I am so thankful to know that they will be my family forever. (Big shout out to Sister Cullen for letting us skype at her house and then feeding us afterward! Mission Mommy for the win!)

Well, that about sums up this week in Philly! Thank you all for your love and support! It means the world to me. God bless! :)

Sister B

Whoopie Pies!

Eating Whoopie Pies!

Trubel the cat

Zone Training! ....

.... Elders are weird.

Prettiest place ever! Whitehorse Village, PA. 

The City! :)

The other side of the city. :O

Philly life!

Mohonri Moriancumer!! I think it might be dying? 

Let It Go

Hi, friends and family! It's been quite a week full of ups and downs.

We found a way to drown out our neighbors music but it involves turning on the AC. It's safe to say by the morning we are Popsicle's. We've had to channel our inner Elsa and not let it bother us.

Tuesday we taught our new investigator Steven and his wife Jemimah! It was awesome! They are so prepared and the spirit was so strong as we taught them about the Book of Mormon. We invited them to be baptized if they learned for themselves that it was true and they said "of course!" I'm so excited to see this gospel bless their lives!

Wednesday we had another lesson with Michael and his parents. We asked his dad, Anthony if he wanted to be baptized like Michael and he said he was open to it but wants to learn more. We can definitely work with that.

This week in English class we have been teaching the sisters "I Am A Child of God". As we taught them the words and their meaning, the spirit was so strong and testified to me that each and every one of us are children of a loving Heavenly Father and He wants us to return to him. When the sisters understood the meaning of the song we were teaching, the way they sang it changed. It was such a tender experience.

This weekend was difficult. On Saturday, one of the less active sisters that we work with was hit by a car. She had serious injuries and swelling in her brain. We were glad to hear today that she is responsive and recovering quickly. The Lord is definitely watching over her. Another nightmarish situation we had this week was with one of our investigators. They were arrested and it looks like they will be going back to prison for a very long time. Some things you just have to brush off and know that you did your very best.

This transfer is going by so fast! I can't believe it. The church is true, the book is blue! The Lord answers prayers. Have a great week, everyone! God bless. :)

Love, Sister B

This should be our license plate.

Rita's with Sister Bustard!

A funky looking tree...

Me and my companion Sister Abbott.

The Walking Dead

Hey everyone! This will be a short letter, there isn't too much to tell. We have been struggling without a car and are super sleep deprived.

Why sleep deprived, you ask? Well, our neighbor likes to blast music all night, every night. Not for himself of course, but for his birds... that's right, his birds! He plays music for them at night so that they don't get lonely. Yeah. So, we are running on almost no sleep. Hiking around Philadelphia hasn't really helped that cause either. 

We had to find our way around in the city from the hub of 69th street. Ran into our district leader, he asked if we knew where we were going (we were running on nothing by then) he asked if he could help us and asked for the address... uh, yeah... both Sister Abbott and I had looks on our faces of "What's my name, and how did I get here?" Vacant stares. We have felt a little like tumbleweed napkins on the streets of Philly.

The good news is, WE GOT OUR CAR BACK TODAY! We are so happy! As much as we love having stories to tell from public transportation, it's been so hard to see people these past few weeks and we are excited that it will be going back to normal now! No more looking dead tired and completely lost.

We went on exchanges this week and it was a blast! I went to the Philadelphia 4th area with Sister Kartchner! We had lesson after lesson all day and it was awesome!

We had three of our investigators at church yesterday! William was there finally! He has a baptism date coming up and it's great to see him progressing again! And Michael came with both his parents! It was a good Sunday!

The Lord has really helped us get through the past two weeks. They've been rough but we have learned so much!

I hope you all have a wonderful week! God bless!

Love, Sister B

I've been studying the last chapters
of Alma this week.
Mormon was a big fan of  Captain Moroni.
Kind of a fan girl.
He even named is son after him!

It was sunny and warm this week! We loved it!

Good ol' row homes!

Picture I drew for Dulce and David.
They helped us out a lot this week so
we repaid them with muffins!

The day we walked through the rain.

 

We have never been so tired in our lives.
Yesterday we became aware
that this is the look we have been giving people
as we process what they are saying.

We made some for Sister Cullen too
because she came and saved us from the
badlands of the city when our
appointment cancelled.

WE GOT OUR CAR BACK! HALLELUJAH!

Hopeful Wanderers - Week 18

Hello everyone!

I don't have much to tell this week because it was mostly full of walking (Lots and LOTS of walking) and waiting for the bus... (Mostly because we would miss them.) And a majority of the time we weren't even in our area. But that's okay because we still saw miracles!

Thursday we had Zone Training and Sister Abbott and I gave one of the trainings. Talking in front of groups is getting easier little by little, but it's still not my cup of tea. Right before we went up Sister Abbot started breaking out in hives! She was super allergic to something that is still unknown to the both of us. It got worse and worse throughout the day until I finally made her call the nurse and take some Benadryl! That knocked her out for about 4 1/2 hours so I just did weekly planning by myself to pass the time. Loads of fun... I had to wake her up twice. Once when the Relief Society President called to ask us if we were okay with doing the lesson on Sunday. Another to ask her if she wanted to go to our dinner appointment. She doesn't remember any of it and was pretty disappointed to find out that she had said yes to teaching on Sunday and no to going to dinner. Benadryl is some heavy stuff!

Because we had spent most of the week trying to get around the city, we were struggling with finding people to teach. Friday morning Sister Abbott and I prayed that we would find a new investigator. On our way to city we stopped by Carol's. She is the sweetest old lady and a potential investigator that lived near the train station. Sister Abbott and her last companion had done service for her a month or two ago. She invited us in, talked with us, and brought up the Plan of Salvation. We were able to teach her a little bit before we had to leave to catch our train and she wants to know more! We are excited to teach her!

In other news, Philadelphia is still a scary place and we feel like we are wandering around without a clue most of the time. Luckily, Heavenly Father is looking out for us. We have a few members who are angels in disguise that have picked us up from some pretty sketchy areas and driven us home. I am so thankful for them! Elder Rose said it would be about two more weeks before we get our car back, so we'll continue hoofing it until then.

I love you all! The gospel is true! The book is blue!

God bless! :)

Sister B

The pictures that basically sum up our week.
 Maybe the GPS can tell us why
we got off at the wrong stop!

Lost?? Maybe a little... 

Valley Forge East Zone!
 (And the beginning of Sister Abbott's allergic reaction.)

The comic that cheered me up this week!
I was also reminded of a quote from conference:
 "Murmuring is the scriptural equivalent
of childish whining."

My new favorite food is fried plantains!
They are SO GOOD!

Waiting for the train! :)
The back of my neck got a killer sunburn.