Strong As A Bullfrog

Hello my dear family and friends!!

 

How are my favorite people in the whole world?! I hope the subject title has intrigued you to read this email even more. It was a good but crazy week. I hope you had a good week. Grandpa and Corey, how were your birthdays?! I hope you got my card!! Ciara your birthday is coming up. Woo hoo!! Any plans? July is a good month for the Magness family. Any fun Pioneer Day celebrations? Haha I didn't even realize it was this weekend until they all spoke about pioneers in church. I sure miss the good ol' GV Stake breakfast. Also do the Olympics start soon?! I think the 27th right? I feel so lost in the world. The only songs that get stuck in my head now are hymns. Maybe that's a good thing :)

 

Well, thanks for all the love you sent my way this week. I know I always say thank you but I feel so blessed everyday. To everyone who sends me mail, I just want to give them a hug so know that I love you. Mrs. Jessie Webb requested a shout out so here it is. Happy Family Home Evening to you and Michael. Hope you got my letter!

Oh and Karee - Thank you for the chocolate and sweet note. You are awesome!! (hope you read this haha)

 

Well like I said this week was a little crazy. Crazier than the car incident. How could we top that one off? Well its possible. So last prep day after we rested, wrote letters, etc. we went out with one of our missionaries, Sister Polk who is 93 years old. She always comes with us to our lessons and she is such a help with missionary work. Well we were going out to a lesson and walking up to the steps...(you probably know where this is going). I am right behind her, helping her up and before I know it she is face first on the concrete. Yep, she fell. We got her sitting up and she had a huge gash in her forehead with a lot of blood. I think I said 10 mental prayers from when she fell to when we got to the hospital. The man we were going to teach came out and was just staring. We kept asking if he had paper towels or anything to stop the blood but he didn't respond. So I found some tissues in the purse and we booked it to the ER. We spent the rest of the evening at the hospital, she just got a couple stitches and she is fine but we felt horrible. Much worse than a broken car. She is doing well but it added some craziness to the start of the week. Sister Boone said she has never had random crazy things like this her entire mission. I am starting off great haha.

 

Oh and Sister Polk kept saying, "I am as strong as a bullfrog." Over and over haha. So that's a good motto I guess? Bullfrogs must be strong. She is a tough lady though. No tears. And after we left the hospital she was just like, let's go to the lesson! We didn't since it was already past our time but she has a strong spirit.

 

We had an RS activity this week and our progressing investigator was there. It was a good activity for her to get to know more women in the ward. They had Christmas in July. So we ate a big Christmas dinner and sewed sponges? I have no sewing skills and that was evident. Sorry mom, but it was embarrassing. I gotta work on that :) Our investigator, Sis Watts really loved it though!! She actually said yes to baptism this past week!! We have asked a lot but she always says she isn't ready so when we asked this past week I was expecting the same answer. But she surprised us and said yes! A good feeling comes when they say yes haha. First time I experienced that. BUT she has some memory problems cause she is older. So we need to make sure she is really ready to make the committment. We will see when it happens but she has the desire.

 

We met a wonderful part member family this week. The Renz family. They are awesome!! We hadn't seen them because they don't like missionaries in their home, don't like visiting teachers, etc. etc. but we went. And what do you know? She let us right on in and then invited us over for dinner the next evening. It was a miracle. We shared 3 Ne 17:7-8 about how Christ can heal us and can heal anything we have - physical, emotional pain, etc. She is dealing with breast cancer so it really helped her. She said her faith was increased. We are excited to keep visiting her and her family.

 

During our weekly planning this week (every Thurs for about 5 hours!!) Sister Boone and I reflected on our blessings we received from Pres Shumway. We both have noticed a difference in how our week has been. We have seen little miracles from Heavenly Father and are noticing them each day. That blessing really gave each of us strength.

 

We had Zone Meeting this past Friday in Carthage. It is about 20 minutes from Joplin. It was good to see my zone again!! We talked about how to have more success in the areas and working on goals. Our whole zone gets on our knees for prayer at 10:20 pm every night to have unity and pray for success. I will let you know how that goes!

 

Oh I ate at Braum's after the meeting - thought of OKC and Ciara and Corey's Oklahoma adventures.

 

Mom thanks for the lesson inside the learner article from the Ensign. Sister Boone and I loved it!! I will definitely see how I can use it.The Ensign is just great.

 

Tracting this week gave some good experiences. We found a woman's home who we talked to at the laundromat a couple weeks ago who we wanted to find again. And we found her home! Not a coincidence. I also had my first Bible belt experience. A man came out of his house before we even knocked and rattled off 15 scriptures. We just simply testified and he said he would pray for us because we were so lost. Hmm...interesting. Look forward to more haha.

 

Had a ward activity this week. Sis Boone and I were in charge of pioneer games. We did the pull stick game from Joseph's time and 3 legged race. Who knows if that is pioneer but it worked.

 

Saturday was a really good day!! Dad that was the day I got your card about having a spiritual experience THIS day and it happened. We taught a man and his wife who we have tried to contact for a month (since I have been here). They both were home which never happened and we testified of the B of M and they are very interested. We are so grateful and look forward to teaching more with them. We pray each day that they are reading cause we feel like they are prepared!!

 

I could go on and on with random things that happen but I gotta wrap this up. Things are getting better. A mission is way harder than I thought, BUT I am learning so much and am noticing Heavenly Father's hand in this work each and every day. It is a blessing to be here, even in the small town of Nevada, MO :)

 

Have a wonderful week!! I love you so much. I pray for you often. Thanks for all of your love!!

 

Until next week,

Love Sister Magness

 

PS - sorry no pics!! I totally spaced it this week and didn't take any. I will next week!!