So honestly, I really don't know what to say in this email so I'm probably just going to explain my week through the pictures lol sorry.
Okay but I do want to give an update on our investigator José real quick. I LOVE JOSÉ. He is the most dedicated and willing investigator I have met so far on my mish. We taught the Word of Wisdom to him this week and of course out of any other lessons, he chose THIS ONE TIME to come with a cup full of coffee. When we saw him walk in Sister England and I just looked at each other and were like, well great. We were able to teach him all about the Word of Wisdom and the entire lesson he didn't touch his cup of coffee. When we ended with a prayer he got up and threw his full cup away. José is still homeless and looking for a job so he doesn't hardly have any money at all. But he told us that he took the money that he had, to buy a white church shirt so he could wear it on Sundays. One of his friends in the homeless shelter gave them his tie and I just love José and all of the sacrifices he is willing to give. He bore his testimony in second hour during our Gospel Principles lesson. Witnessing things like that make all of the hard times as a missionary sooooo rewarding.
During our lesson with José he compared the gospel to a recipe. He told us that he wants to make sure to follow all of the steps and do everything the way it tells us to. He told us that when you're cooking something you follow exactly what it says so that your food turns out right and he said that's what he wants to do with living the gospel. He wants to do everything exactly right because he knows the good that comes from this gospel and can see the greater blessings. Proudest moment of my life.
I was asked to give a talk yesterday on the revelation for receiving the priesthood in 1978 and seriously if that isn't the boldest topic someone could speak on, I don't know what is. I basically just decided to skirt around the entire topic and talk about faith instead, haha classic.
SPIRITUAL THOUGHT- I found this quote that I shared in my talk but I have no idea where it came from or who it's by, "While we don't know everything, there are a few things we can know. We can know that God loves us and has a plan for us to be a united, eternal family. We can know that this is the Lord's restored church and that He leads it through his prophets. Having a personal witness of these truths can help us as we move forward together through the opportunities and challenges we face on the path to becoming like Him."
xoxo,
Sister Beal
My new address is:
4812 E Schooner Rd. Apt B
Columbia, MO 65201
Pic 1: last p day we went caving with all of the Sisters in our Zone which was so legit. Apparently Missouri is known for their caves, which I probably never would have guessed. This cave that we went through goes on for 7+ miles!! So we only did some of it but it was super cool & then we got sno cones after :')
Pic 2: Every year in Columbia the church puts on this huge race called the Parley P. Pratt Run on the 4th of July. So all of the missionaries in our Zone came out to volunteer & our mission president and his wife came out to run it! They tell the story of how Parley P. Pratt was put in jail in Missouri and one night he asked the guards if they wanted to race him. So the guards agreed and Parley totally out ran them and that's how he escaped. So go him, that's legit.
Pic 3: MOD Pizza
Pic 4: we made our investigator, Dennis, a Word of Wisdom Calendar. He is really struggling with losing the desire to smoke so we came up with this legit idea that hopefully starts working soon. We threw a scripture underneath each cinnamon jolly rancher to help motivate him.