Aunt Jemima Lite!

Hey, hey now..... This is what dreams are made of :)

 It's so hot! This past week has been long, hot, yet faith building.

The members of the Newberg 1st Ward are on fire. They are anxiously

engaged in the Lords work! It is amazing!

D--- (our investigator) was going to be baptized this coming week but, sadly we had to push it back because of some personal reasons. It was heartbreaking but, it was needed. We will be teaching him on Wednesday with our Mission President....can we say stressful!

We sang in church yesterday and I sang part of the hymn solo....that's right insert left leg, right leg...big girl pants are on! We sang Joseph Smiths First Prayer to the Come Thy Fount tune, it was AWESOME! I think I did Grandma proud :) Two of our investigators were there to see us and I could feel the spirit as the words so sound and true came forth.

Funny moment of the week:

We had dinner with Sister M--- on Wednesday, she is this little bitsy tiny thing. We get there and she has a friend there whom she introduced us to, he's so stinky cute and old and wrinkly and has more southern twag than Aunt Cindee :) So right before dinner we were doing some service and he comes walking outside and says to me "ma'am' you look like the woman on the syrup bottle....anyone e'er told you dat?" I said ummm, no I don't think I've ever heard that before. He said "Oh my, well you are so are beautiful!" So, the night goes on and during dinner out of the corner of my eye I see him drooling, yes drooling, I'm talking about he is watching me eat and there is literally water running from the side of his mouth onto the table...DROOLING! So Sister C slaps the table and yells "Y--- Get it together ain't NO body got time for that!" She scared him half to death and I fell slap out of my chair laughing! It was SO funny! And apparently I'm Aunt Jemima...I really hope I'm the lite version ;)

I'm over the half way mark and as much as I want time to hurry so I can get home to my family, I wish it would slow down so I could catch more, see more, do more, be more in the moment of this mission rather than pushing through. Sometimes I feel like the work is so "upon" us that there is never enough time to just "be." Don't get me wrong, it is glorious to see so many coming to feast upon the word of The Lord and I am blessed to have more lessons than I can handle and more investigators than I've ever had....yet, I know this is a time in my life I can never recapture, a time I can never relive, a time that will be over before I know it and already I find myself wishing of all things I had more time!

My words of "wisdom" this week are....find your place inside your life and live it. Don't lose the days, weeks, years - to having, getting, making, doing...make sure to take the small moments to smell the flowers, to walk in the tall grass, to look up at the stars, to ponder a yearning question, to close your eyes and take in the vastness of our Fathers love and the wondrous blessings we have been given to be born in this dispensation. Uchtdorf may have said it best...." Wherever you live on this earth and whatever your life’s situation may be, I testify to you that the gospel of Jesus Christ has the divine power to lift you to great heights from what appears at times to be an unbearable burden or weakness. The Lord knows your circumstances and your challenges. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we may claim the blessings promised in the covenants and the ordinances we received when we accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ.

My dear brothers and sisters, there will be days and nights when you feel overwhelmed, when your hearts are heavy and your heads hang down. Then, please remember, Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, is the Head of this Church. It is His gospel. He wants you to succeed. He gave His life for just this purpose. He is the Son of the living God." 

Find the time, to find your place inside your life and don't miss a moment of it, it is spectacular!

Thank you for the gifts and letters and love, I am SO excited for Daniel and I wish I could have been there with him as he moves ever closer to beginning his mission. I love you all and can't wait to see your faces, and sleep till noon, and go to the pool and watch Walking Dead with daddy and drink a big fat Dr Pepper and leave my clothes laying on the bathroom floor and to wear shorts....but, NOT YET! I have much work left to do!

XOXO

Sister Z