Sister Radmall's Mission Adventure: Week 8 in La Grande

So... on a mission you learn a lot. You learn your strengths and weaknesses. You learn about other's strengths and weakness. You learn what you love. And how to love. And you also learn what your pet peeves are! haha. I learned mine this week. So to put it in one sentence... I really get annoyed when someone starts doing a project without knowing how to do it and wanting to do it perfectly, which in turn wastes their time, my time, and their money. Yup, that's it. haha. Let's just say.... if you ever lay sod, make sure you level the ground BEFORE you buy hundreds of dollars worth of sod.... and then, after you lay it, don't step on it! =) yup, that's what I learned this week. haha! So, this week:

It was really quite a tough week for teaching. A lot of our appointments fell through. My companion got some sad news from home so she was pretty down, which made me kinda down. It was just tough. But we did our best anyway =) We did a lot of yard work! If you didn't already guess. The whole week all we really did was visit a lot of people. Actually, in reality, all we really did was knock on a lot of doors and talk to a few people. Welcome to the world of missionary work. I have a feeling this email isn't going to be very long. Sorry. Or maybe that's a good thing. ;) Won't get bored.

So, highlights...the members love us! Yay!! love it =) Next step, get referrals everywhere! (Side note, if you haven't read "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" READ IT! It's fantastic) We went to a less active lady's house with a recent convert who is just so super excited to share the gospel. At first we thought she wasn't a member, but turns out she is. She has just been a member of the baptist church for a while and that wasn't enough for her. So this less active lady we went with, Sabrina, has an awesome story. She met with the missionaries for years but never got baptized until just this last year. She was living with her boyfriend, so they got married then she got baptized on the same day! Crazy. She is an awesome member missionary. Not afraid to talk to people about the gospel all the time. She took us out for frozen yogurt after we met with her friend. She is only 20 or 21, so my age. And she invited me to come back and do horse stuff after my mission. That will be fun =) So that was all on Thursday.

We taught Kaydon on Saturday and had dinner with his family. Because he is a recent convert we try to get members there to teach him instead of us. But no one was available then so we just did a review game. It was a matching game. We thought it would be too silly for him but we played three rounds with him and his non-member sisters. So that was kinda cool. We just made some cards with a gospel question and then the answer on a different card and played memory. Simply brilliant. haha.

Sister Mackelprang spoke in sacrament meeting today. That was fun. She spoke with a returned missionary. Then we had dinner at a fun family's house. Funny people are awesome =) just fyi. haha. Later we taught Colton with two of his friends. Wow are they in-tune with the spirit. And so gospel oriented. It's so fun to watch. We were planning on having a lesson on Thursday but thought Colton canceled. Turns out he didn't. So his friends taught him about the Book of Mormon. The one, David, said that he gave Colton a rock and said that if you just read the book of mormon it's kind of boring like the outside of the rock. But if you pray and study and want to learn something from it then it's like the crystals in the inside of the rock and it's beautiful. What 13 year old boy comes up with an analogy like that!? Seriously. It's awesome! Colton is a lot like that too. It's so cool to see him growing. He was ordained a deacon today! So he gets to pass the sacrament next week. Super excited for him. And he gets to go to the temple in September. Wish you could all meet him!

That was pretty much our week. I get to go to the Boise temple on Friday the 15th! I am so excited! Usually we go at our half mark, but I'm going a little later because I'm so far away. For some reason I get to go this time though. I'll be driving down with Sister Duncan. Sister Bowler and Breen will be going with me too. I am so excited! =) It's a special day. Last

August 15th is when I went to the temple for the first time. So that's cool. And it's also my cousin's wedding. I love little coincidences like that, that aren't actually coincidences but they happen for a reason.

I know the temple is so special. And everything that is done there is done by the power of God. We learned about temple marriages this week. And it made me so grateful that mom and dad were sealed in the temple so I can be with them forever! I hope to do the same someday.

Be safe! Listen to the Spirit! And SMILE!

Love you all

~Sister Radmall