Tuesday, September 3, 2013

I have a confession to make I have an obsession with Nutella, I carry a little container with me everywhere I go with a plastic spoon. The only problem is.... I ran out. It was devastating. I fell in love with Nutella a mere two weeks ago, it will be another three days until I can get my little hands on another container. Monday's are the worse day of the week, all I do is eat and eat, and then I eat some more. You will have to roll me around when I return home. Don't worry too much I am implementing an exercise and eating program as soon as I can figure one out.

This week hasn't been the most spiritual week but no doubt it has been a good week full of interesting and wonderful events. As you all know the work is going slow right now. Door after door, referral after referral people keep turning us down. People think they have the right to be rude because they are from Southern Utah so they know everything and anything about Mormons.We just keep having a smile on our hearts and on our face.

While contacting former investigators we ran into Adele who is a Catholic and never let missionaries in her home before. We were trying to find someone else but has moved recently. We must of said the right thing because she let us in for a few moments. We have an opportunity to tell her a little bit more of what we believe and in exchange she shared more what she believed. It was going good until her friend came along and we had to leave. It was neat though because she kept repeating "I've never done this before..."

It was my companions twenty-first birthday on Wednesday, I helped her celebrate by pulling weeds for a lady in Cane Beds. It was hard work. Seriously, this was not like a garden weeds, those weeds were taller than me. We were sweating out in the Arizona heat. Afterwards we headed to Colorado City to see a family we visit. They weren't home, so we gave them a call, they were up the hill in their Uncles home, she invited us over. As we drove up the hill, there was a giant brick home with a eight foot privacy wall and "Zion" over all the doors. We both were really confused and a little intimidated to go in. We are not allowed to go to home like that because that generally means that they still belong to the Fundamentalist church. We decided that we were going to give it a try, turns out she was waiting for us at the door. We walked in and notice something different about this home compared to others we have been to in Colorado City, it was cold, not like temperature but like Spirit wise. It was an odd feeling. We helped the children with their school work while the mother did laundry. Work in Colorado City is much different because we aren't supposed to proselyte. But we were able to talk a bit about the Gospel. The Bishop invited them to church and they went! FOR ALL THREE HOURS!

The best day was Thursday, we had our weekly district training meeting in Hurricane, but this time it was different. Our mission president and his wife joined us for our meeting. I love my district, so many personalities and we work hard but enjoy it at the same time. The Elders in the district made my companion a birthday card and cookies to enjoy after the meeting. President and I had a meeting together afterwards then we headed back to Kanab. This time was different, us six didn't pile in the mini van and drive back together. My companion and I went back with our mission president and wife. We had alone time with them for three hours! They visited almost our entire area, our are is huge. We went down to Moccasin, Kaibab, Red Hills and Juniper.... Try to find those on a map... You won't. Well two of them you might. It was so cool, so cool to be able to just talk in an informal setting. I forgot the second best part! We are going to be having a sleepover on September 6th, because we are going to be having a mission wide conference in Salina the next day! One of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are going to be speaking to us! We are going to travel up there in a bus! HOW COOL! All of the missionaries in one place, sleepover and an Apostle! Yes, our mission is the best. Which means dad, that I need cute new clothes : )

The day gets even better. We had another super spiritual experience that evening with Greg. We had a lesson about how can we strengthen our testimonies, Greg has a testimony he just can't recognize it due to doubt and lack of confidence. The spirit just took over all the words I was saying, it was so neat. I honestly felt like being a mouthpiece for God. He has changed so much since the first day I met with him. He has been coming to church, reading his scriptures, and praying. He has more confidence and QUIT chewing tobacco. Someone said to me and it was the greatest compliment "Sister Roth, you are here for Greg!" That's what I feel like, I feel like I am still here in this area for him. It is so neat to see his growth in the Gospel and the love I have for him to grow and everyone else I have the privilege to serve.

Saturday I decided to fast for a friend who is very dear to me, the hardest part about fasting while being a missionary is that members always try to feed us. We were in a lesson, and I just started my fast and they offered me a cookie. First of all I forgot I was fasting so I just started to eat it, then I can't taste any of my food because I can't breathe because I am sick now. I've been eating for two days without tasting my food, do you know how sad that is! I've been eating good looking food as well, I don't know if it tasted good...

Oh, my companion and I spoke in one of our wards yesterday! It was probably my second best talk, my first best talk was at Stake Conference, you all should have been there! Anyway, my topic was about 'How does the Savior Forgive?'... I have no problem or fear about public speaking, I actually enjoy it.

My companion and I are really great friends, we love each other and we have a really good time together.

I received my first letter in three weeks on Saturday. It was a hoot. We went to the mailbox and there was three envelopes, I handed them all to my companion because I don't get mail so I don't expect any when we go. So she was like "NO! Do you know who this is!?" I looked at the return address, there wasn't any but a name. We were like freaking out in the middle of the post office, we opened it right there and read it. We were frantic, in shock and laughing so hard. That someone randomly wrote me after only meeting me once. If only I had a return address....

-Sister Roth

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