Free Market, Polynesian Culture, and the Temple Trip

Hey everyone!  So this week flew by.  And it was a lot of fun.

The heavens opened

On Monday while we were at Walmart, a lady came over the intercom and said, "If you own a silver Toyota, your dog is hanging out the window.... distressed."  It was the funniest thing ever!  I laughed so hard.  Of course, poor dog, but it was so funny!  It was even funnier when I tried to tell other people. =)  Made my day.

Our Teddy Bear:  Bruce.

On Wednesday the church had a free market.  They have everyone bring their stuff in that day and set it all up in different rooms.  Clothes in the gym, toys in the primary room, crafts in a sunday school room, etc.  Then at night everyone came and took what they wanted.  Then they put all the left over stuff in the DI trailer.  It was pretty cool.  We made a poster board and put it above our table full of free materials... we were practically invisible.  No one wanted free 'salvation' but everyone wanted free 'stuff' :P lame.  haha.  We seriously gave out almost nothing in the 2 hours we sat there.  Talked to some people.  But most of them were members.  But what I have learned on my mission is that no effort is wasted.  If you try to do missionary work, you are doing missionary work whether you see it or not.  So we did something by sitting there trying to talk to people.  Probably got some of the members excited to do missionary work because they saw us doing something. =)

Thursday we went to a relief society activity.  It was a Polynesian cultural luncheon.  Learned about Hawaii, at good food, and talked to some less actives and non-members that went =)  I love when we can do missionary work and play at the same time ;)  It's the best.  haha.

Friday I went to the temple!!!  It was better than I remember =)  I want to go again.  Haha.  But can't until April.  I learned so much there.  And felt the spirit so strong.  None of us missionaries wanted to leave.  We just wanted to bask in the spirit all day long.  We probably would have if the next session didn't start coming in.  It was great.  And what made it even more special is that I was able to go on the same day that I went last year for the first time.  And I got to go with 3 of my companions (3 out of 8).  So it was super special.

It was so fun to see Sister Bowler again.

We slept at the mission home Friday night so we could drive home Saturday morning.  We got to celebrate a sister's birthday who also stayed the night there.  That was fun =)  Then we made a quick stop to Walmart to get road trip snacks and went on our way back to La Grande.  I was exhausted after that!  So we practiced our organ piano duet for a while, then visited some people.

First time in my whole mission that I wasn't the driver!

Sunday we got to speak in the Elgin ward.  First time I've been to that ward.  It went well.  Sister M talked about 'the why' of missionary work and I talked about 'the how'.  Then the high councilman that we spoke with talked about following up.  It flowed great!  I decided to be brave and not write down what I was going to say word for word.  I had 1 sticky note with 5 bullet points and went off of that.  Used "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" a lot.  It went better than I thought it would.  I was able to listen to the spirit more.  It was very cool =)  Never been brave enough to do that!

At the beginning of my talk I shared an analogy that I randomly came up with about missionary work... I love chocolate!  If I came across someone that had never tasted chocolate I would want to go buy them a bunch and have them taste it because it is so good!  Because I know they love it.  I love the gospel!  If I came across someone that had never heard it I would want to share with them as much of it as possible!  Same concept.  We might even be a little scared to share chocolate because what if they don't like it?  What if they don't like the gospel?  We still want to give them the chance to taste it... to hear it. Because it just might change their lives! =)  

Hope you all have a great day!  Don't be afraid to share what you love =)

~Sister Radmall

Elder Maximus... the only Elder I can hug.