Hello everyone! MAN!! I just love missionary work! Time flies when you're serving the Lord! Saturday was my 1 month mark! It's a bitter sweet because even though I am still at the beginning, I want to hold on to every moment I can! Just a warning, once again this week will be a smorgasbord of random things...but I just love it all!
First and foremost: My sweet companion eats eggs and rice every day. As previously mentioned. What I forgot to mention is that it really is good...and I'm not complaining! SO I had her write down her recipe for all to have! This is the simplest version including only eggs, rice, and cheese. She has gotten it down to a science that requires less than 10 minutes to prepare, eat and clean up! Can anyone say speedy gonzales?
Note: we make the rice ahead of time, preferably jasmine rice, and make it with chicken bullion cubes for flavor. :)
I will type exactly what Sister Thurber wrote exactly..she thinks she is funny XD
-Turn on stove
- PAM on pan
- Open fridge
-Get out 2 eggs
- get out cheese
- get out rice
- Close fridge
- Get compost out of freezer (here, we have recycling, trash, and compost. It's weird...we just do it.)
- crack eggs on pan
- Put eggshells in compost
- put compost in freezer
- rinse hands
- put rice on plate
- put rice in microwave for 1 min 30 seconds
While rice is heating:
- prepare cheese
- get out cheese grater
- place prepared cheese on cheese grater
- get out salt and pepper
- get out spatula
- put rice back in fridge
- when 10 seconds are left on microwave, salt and flip eggs
When Rice is done heating:
- grate cheese on top of rice
- put eggs on to rice and cheese
- put pepper on top
- put cheese back
- put salt and pepper back
- soak dishes in water
- place pan on separate stove to cool
-sit
- pray
- eat (3 min)
- do dishes (2 min)
A funny thing that happened...we were walking along a walking path contacting in the rain, and a lady was walking by. Sister Thurber says: "Beautiful day, eh?" and she responds: "If you're a duck!" so funny! We were laughing so hard we couldn't even try to continue a conversation!
We are always looking for ways to have more fun while serving, and last night we were both a little tired...so we decided to run inbetween each house! The driveways were long and steep and we were laughing having so much fun! It made it so much more upbeat as we were talking to people (even though we were totally out of breath!) Missionary work is and should always be fun!
The other day, we were talking some of our investigators, a sweet 9 year old and 11 year old. Their mom just got baptized in January and we are working on giving the girls courage to know they are ready! They really are! They are just a little hesitant. They had some friends over the other day when we were teaching them, and one of them, a 12 year old girl asked for a Book of Mormon! She promised she would read it and was really participating in the lesson! Of course, she needed parental permission...so we left it with the family we are teaching, she called her mom later and got permission! I hope she really does read it! We asked where she lives and she found out she lives in a house that we had contacted and they said they were not interested. The Lord works in mysterious ways!
Sometimes I wish I could quote Mosiah 13:3 at doorsteps. ;) Of course I won't...but look it up!
A chapter I have really loved so far in my mission is Mosiah 14. (Also found as Isaiah 53) I love my Savior so much! Verse 6:
"All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all."
Wow. It makes me wonder. In day to day life, how have I gone astray? How can I turn back to Him? To repent means to "re-turn" to God. To literally turn ourselves to face Him again. He has done so much for us and loves us all perfectly and unconditionally! May we all turn to God and our Savior, who has done so much for each and every one of us!
We had a beautiful experience the other day in Peachland that really helped us to recognize how the hand of the Lord plays such a huge role in everything we do, and how much he loves His children. We were on foot knocking doors (e'ery day!) and Sister Thurber got a little frustrated. Because she has been in the area over 4 months, it is rare we find a place she hasn't been, and she felt like we had nowhere to go. I felt we should go to an area I could barely see through trees. Honestly didn't even know what it was, and she said she had an idea of how to get over there. We wandered around trying to find a path and finally found a walking path to get there. Turns out, it's a little trailer park for 55+! She had never been there.We knocked on the first house, and a guy answered saying he wasn't interested. *always ask everyone for referrals* so we asked him is there was anyone in need we could uplift with a message in the area. He thought about it for a minute...like pondered. And said "You could try #16" It was awesome! We made our way to #16 and there was a lady on the porch. She said straight up "If it has to do with religion, I'm not interested!" Normally we respectfully bow out, not wanting to push and wanting to keep in everyone's good graces as representatives of the church. Sometimes we ask for a referral. Sister Thurber asked "Is there something that happened in your past or something that is making you feel this way? Something like that. This shocked even her, she told me later. The lady ended up opening up! She said she was raised catholic but turned against it because of decisions some Catholics make and such. She believes in one God. She does not believe in drinking. She has decided to just investigate churches at home online. Then, she finally put together who we are representing. (There are a lot of Jehovah's Witnesses missionaries in the area and apparently she thought we were them.) YOU'RE MORMONS?! She got so excited! She said that our religion has come the closest to what she believes. She said that someday she would like to buy a "Book of the mormons!" Sister Thurber and I both had Book of Mormons in hand the whole day as a commitment to be ready and get out of our comfort zone! She wanted to give us money for it and I simply told her that the only thing she needed to give in return is to give her time to the Lord by reading it. She promised she would! We are seeing her again on Saturday!! WOW!! The Lord really prepares people to be taught!! Just as I have already learned to love this sweet daughter of God, I know that Heavenly Father does and led us to her! Between finding the area, talking to that man that wasn't even interested himself....! There is no coincidence that we found her! I can't wait to teach her more!!!
I know that this church is true! Heavenly Father loves us all SO much!! If we pray for guidance and commit to follow, we will ALWAYS be blessed with an answer. We all have the same obligation to take upon ourselves the name of Christ! We covenanted to when we were baptized. I may have his name on my name tag, but we all need to strive to allow others to meet Christ through us! He has blessed my life in so many ways, how could I hold back from sharing his gospel to everyone!! I wish I could shout it on the housetops! THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST IS TRUE!!!
"The standard of truth has been erected. NO unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing! Persecutions may raise, mobs may combine, armies may assemble and calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly,nobly and independent until it has penetrated every continent,visited every clime, swept every country and sounded in very ear until the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done!"
Joseph Smith
I love you all so much! More importantly, Heavenly Father knows and loves you!!
Sister Alissa Van Valkenburg
Beautiful Kelowna vinyards! They're everywhere! Lots of wineries too...
You can see the Lake from just about everywhere...so beautiful!
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