Another Wonderful Week!

   I logged on today thinking that I didn't have any pictures to send home! Thankfully, I got like 4 emails from missionaries with all the pictures they took, so there might be quite a few today. Enjoy.

   This week I have had to learn a valuable lesson: biting my tongue. For some reason, we encountered and had to deal with a lot of unfavorable people. There were so many things that I wanted to say!! None of them were really insulting or bad, but the Spirit directed that we remain silent.  After the experience or lesson or whatever it was, each of my companions also expressed their desire to be defensive or speak up. They too got the impression that we should just take the criticism and insults. I don't really know what difference it made, but I am grateful that we were each able to recognize the subtle promptings of the Spirit and follow them. 

   In addition to hard experiences, we also had some tender mercies this week. We actually went to see a family to set up a Restoration lesson with them and became instant friends! Later, when talking to the Relief Society President, we realized that they were less-active and that a lot of people had a hard time even contacting them.  We were shocked! Anyway, we taught them the Restoration with that in mind, and it was SO cool. The dad was actually able to bear testimony to his children about the power of the Holy Spirit. It was way intense. I loved it. 

   Also, we had dinner with Bishop Wheelock and his wife. They recently sent their son on a mission! When we got there, they told us that their son's best friend was coming to eat with us. We were kind of surprised, but not too worried because we knew the boy and that he had a lot of LDS interaction.  After the meal, Bishop asked us to each share our favorite scripture. I chose Moroni 10:3-5 and just testified that I had taken that challenge and gotten an answer for myself. It was so powerful, and I know he felt the Spirit. His parents have taken the lessons before and are a little bit Anti... (in fact, they were some of the people that I mentioned in the 2nd paragraph) but I know that we helped this young man understand the path he needs to take in order to find the truth of our message.

   In other news, our ward got split last night.... literally half of it got taken away, so that will be an adjustment!

Love you all!!

Sister Pratt

Pioneer day festivities! The stake had a huge shindig, so all the missionaries were there. BSU frilly apron. yup.

Our zone!! or.... almost all our zone. I love these missionaries.

 

Tug-o-war! We were against the Elders and we ALMOST won...... 

We're kind of obsessed with the game Signs. These are everyone's signs. sort of.

 

P-day activities. We had a wall-sit competition....

.......and a planking competition. Sister Kingsolver gave up and I died shortly thereafter. 

Double dutch!! We are basically masters. It's the best thing ever. I love it!

Hermana Broberg from Leadership Exchanges last week! I love her

 

I Finally Feel Like A True Missionary

   I have earned my right of passage. I am officially a real missionary. I don't know if any of you could even guess what happened to me yesterday......

or if you did guess, you'd probably be kidding. I got bit by a dog!! I know, right? It was crazy! I can laugh about it now because we know that I'll probably keep my finger and not die or anything, but at the time, I was freaking out! The dog has had all of it's shots and everything, so now it's just a waiting game to see if my finger gets infected or not. It shouldn't......

   Other than that, this week was pretty eventful! We had Leadership Exchanges (basically the whole mission is on exchanges for a day), and I learned so much!  I was with Sister Broberg (who is amazing) in the YSA ward (which was crazy fun).  For some reason, during Leadership Exchanges, miracles always happen. It's always SUCH a learning experience. I feel like I caught a glimpse of the missionary I could be, and now I am working harder than ever to realize that potential within myself. It's a good time.

   We also helped a recent convert to move and clean her outside windows. We are basically professionals, now. Sister Kingsolver almost died trying to get off the roof, but it turned out alright.

   That was basically my week! I hope you all are safe and happy.

EPED

Sister Pratt

One of my comps gave me a Winnie the Pooh bandaid to go over my other one to make me feel even better!

This is an awesome bumper sticker I saw

D&C 4:1

 window washing

 

The 3 Musketeers!

 Thus have we been dubbed, and thus shall we ever be called.

   I love my companions! We get along better than I ever thought that we would. It's a miracle. I was so nervous about being in another trio because as some of you know, my last one was pretty hard.  I didn't know how it was going to be, but it has turned out to be such a blessing! I really think that it is because of all of the prayers you have been giving on my behalf.  The Lord has blessed me with the strength to learn and grow with the situations that I have instead of being burdened and worried about them.

   Thank you so much for the encouragement and love! I want you to know that I really have been feeling your prayers.  It's such an odd thing, and I don't think I've experienced it before.  It's wonderful, though.  I have just had so much peace in my situation with my companions and my area.  When we got to the area last week, I discovered that we don't have any investigators it the area at all, and some of the ward missionaries don't really like each other. It's weird.  Lots of work to do, that's for sure! When I thought about it, though, in each of my areas I have arrived with 1 or 0 investigators in the area.  I guess I should be used to it by now.  I need to learn something that I haven't learned, yet.  I hope I can figure out what it is. :)

   I cannot tell you the love I have for my Savior.  It is overwhelming at times.  I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to build my relationship with Him.  I want you all to know that no matter how much I love and miss you, there is nothing I would rather be doing that preaching the gospel. There is no place I would rather be than Star, Idaho.  I love my job.

Sister Pratt

We're crazy........and very bad at selfies!

Also.... just when I thought I was rid of Jackson (the dog), these two guys showed up in my life!

A giant Jackson and a mini Jackson :)