Week 55: SUBWAY miracles?!

 Hey y'all! Nothing too crazy, but there were lots of small miracles this week! I am always grateful to witness them, I have been praying for them more and more and either my eyes are just opening to them or the Lord really does give us exactly what we ask for. Anyway here's my email, & I hope you all have a great memorial day!

Things to know:

- I went on exchanges with Sister Nygard and it was awesome! She is such a powerhouse, and probably the funniest ever. We had a great time & saw lots of little miracles!

- We had zone conference this week and it was a really good meeting. I got to learn how to better use the Book of Mormon in my teaching and saw lots of good friends!

- May or may not have driven to chick fil a during our dinner hour after zone conference... it made me happy to be in North again. Also someone that called Sister Skinner and I asked for a visit from the missionaries is getting baptized this weekend. Congrats Sisters I love you!

- We had a non member come to church out of nowhere and Sister Hart and I spoke and then had a lesson with him after church, and now we are teaching Him! His name is Nathan and He is super cool. 

- We made someone a new trying to visit a part member family that didn't even live at the address anymore so that was pretty lit! The Lord definitely guides us to find His children in places we wouldn't expect.

- We had a member meal last week and invited our members to think of someone that was struggling while we shared our message. The wife thought of a friend and she came in contact with him this week and he told her that he was in fact going through a hard time. She told him that the only way she gets through hard times is by coming to church, and so yesterday HE CAME TO CHURCH! #Loveshareinvite 

- William was supposed to get baptized on Saturday but is still ghosting us :(( Makes me so sad, but its his choice now. We got to celebrate a fun birthday for Sister Belnap anyway so that made up for it.

Stories of the week:

- So this was truly my favorite miracle of the week. On Friday we did district service and then had comp study with the Moscow sisters, and then after we went to grab Subway for lunch (classic) because we had some coupons. There are two subways there in Moscow and one of the sisters asked which one we should go to, and for some reason I felt like we should go to the one that is further away. So I was like let's go to the Blaine Subway and we all hop in our cars and skeet on over. We get there and I'm casually ordering a sandwich, and then I look at the guy making my sandwich and I swear on my LIFE that it is someone I taught in Moscow back in October, but he has a different name tag on. So I thought well maybe its his brother?! And I asked him if he knew Jonas Crothers. He looks up and says "that's me" and I almost lost my mind! Jonas was someone Sister Archibald and I taught and put on date in our first lesson and then we both got transferred less than a week later. He got baptized at the beginning of the year and I thought I would never get to see him again! Needless to say we had a happy reunion there in Subway! He thanked me for all I was doing and said he was so grateful to see me! (Best part was he said he didn't recognize me at first because of my glasses). What a great day it was.

Spiritual thought:

- I was having some ups and downs this week, and I always feel like it's not okay to have bad days because I just want to be happy all the time. But a friend reminded me of how there is opposition in all things, and without the bad days we can't appreciate the good! I was grateful for that, and I'm also really grateful for my ability to see the positive in all things. I take it for granted sometimes, but I've been recognizing it truly is a gift to be able to look for the good in the bad. I'm grateful for my Savior and for Him being the reason I can find so much to be grateful for! I was reading the scriptures and came across a verse that I really needed to hear:

"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life"

This is actually our mission scripture but it popped up in my Book of Mormon reading at exactly the right moment! I am grateful to be reminded of my calling as a missionary, especially when it can be really easy to get caught up and lose sight of why I'm doing what I'm doing. I have been called of Jesus Christ, and I will gladly declare of Him even if everyone wants to reject me. Because even Him and His apostles were rejected, and I feel honored to stand up for Him and on His side.

Hope you all have a FANTASTIC week!

Let me know if I can pray for anything

And if you want to write me a letter I definitely would write one back 

116 No. Main St. Troy, ID 83871

God is good!

Jesus is real!

They love you!

And so do I!

Sis Diggy

Pictures:

"Hit me with 3 real quick"

B-day lunch!

Best mission mom 

Brandon

Chick fil a

Elder Garner

Gifted a false bible

Jonas!!!!

Moscow Sisters

POV: the Mormons are here

R.I.P. Elder Stead

Sis Belly fan club

Sis Bowie

Sis Fotu!

Sis Nygard!

Sushi addicton

Thrift store service

Wally world

Week 54: A week of R.I.P.'s

 **Important message for Sister Skinner, Allen, or Bird if you are reading this** >>

Please bring my sunglasses and boots to ZC and give them to the office staff so I can get them on my ZC! Thanks love ya'll :)

Haha sorry about that everyone! I put that at the bottom of my email a couple weeks ago but the attempt was unsuccessful, so now I'm trying it at the top. Anyway, this wasn't a super exciting week, but that's okay. There is joy to be found even in routine or "uneventful" days! (I put it in quotations because the days are still eventful, even if it wasn't 'the usual'). My title is "a week of R.I.P.'s" because a lot of things died this week: literally & figuratively.

Things to know:

- The reason why it was more uneventful is because we had a hard time getting in contact with everyone this week. No one responded to us about visits and when we stopped by nobody answered :,( (R.I.P. #1 - everyone is "dead")

- Our friend William was on date for the 28th but he has also been ghosting us, and didn't come to church this week :(( Please pray for William that he will be able to have the faith and desire to overcome his WOW struggles! We are worried he is ghosting us because he slipped up & feels ashamed. (R.I.P. #2 - William & his baptism are "dead")

- We did have a great lesson with April and Allen though and they came to church! We can always count on them. Allen is a huge miracle as well, because the sisters only got him to join in on one lesson before I got here, and April has been taught for a long time! His heart has truly been softened.

- Something exciting as well is that I got to exchange with Sister Belnap! She is such an amazing missionary and I loved every second with her. We saw lots of miracles and cows together!!! Hahaha it was great.

- Sooo sad news. Our mission is getting rid of Instagram for anyone who isn't in YSA. Honestly I'm pretty bummed about it because it feels like everything I worked hard for in tech was for nothing. Swag. But it's okay, I know that the Lord needed to teach me some really good lessons that I could only learn while on tech. Hard to explain but those transfers taught me how to truly rely on my Savior and know that He is there for me. And now we just get to use the tool that has seen more success in finding: Facebook!  (R.I.P. #3 - Instagram is "dead")

Stories of the week:

- So its last pday. I'm just vibing, getting ready for the morning and messaging friends and all that good stuff. I go to put my laundry in the washer, and I see something zoom past me on the floor. A death-defying scream exits my body, and Sister Hart comes sprinting out of the bathroom to see what happened. She thought I got murdered. Sadly no... it was much worse. A RAT! Hahah sorry I was having fun making that a dramatic story. In reality I did scream really loud because the mouse scared the crap out of me. We got some mouse traps from our housing coordinator and set em up. We come back from exchanges on Tuesday night and the Lil sucker was caught. Actually was tragic, he was so tiny and pure and was just trying to get some food. But that’s what happens when you aren't paying for rent. Haha we held a funeral for him and laid him to rest in the garbage next to the confiscated material from William last week. (R.I.P. #4 - Lil mouse is dead)

- Not really a story but we ate at the most BOMB mennonite cafe in one of our lil towns Deary this week. Definitely gonna bring the fam back after the mish. We also do service for a thrift store next door and they let us get a whole bag of clothes for $3... it even has a fun name: Bag day! Needless to say I accidentally got more thrifted t-shirts than necessary last week. I also found a treasure and got to reminisce on my days of rock before the mission... pic attached below.

- Oh also had this homie named Chris try sooo hard-core to bible bash and anti us, and honestly it was awesome. I was not afraid of anything he was saying, and Sister Hart and I stayed calm and bore powerful testimony that confounded him at least 5 times. Totally reaffirmed my testimony of the Restoration of the gospel!!! (R.I.P. #5 - Chris' argument)

Spiritual thought:

This weeks thought goes along with my title haha since lots of things "died". I was feeling a little blue because of other peoples agency (something I have always joked about as the hardest part of missionary work haha), but then I remembered one of my favorite sections in Preach My Gospel! Its under the section called "A Successful Missionary" and it says: "When you have done your very best, you may still experience disappointments, but you will not be disappointed in yourself". Other people may choose to ignore us, disregard our message, or avoid change; but as long as we are doing our part and striving to teach and love them as Christ would, we won't be discouraged in ourselves and in the Lord. Grateful for this lesson I've learned on my mission of trusting in the Lord and doing my best :))

This next week we have zone conference and more exchanges and I'm so excited!

Hope you all have a great week!

Love you all

Sis Diggy 

Pictures:

Adam Sandler vibes

April :)

Bovill sunsets

Elders table hahah

For fun

I <3 Sister Hart

Missing the shred

My people

R.I.P. Lil Mouse

Sister Belnap!!!!

The Pie Safe

THEY FLOCKED TO ME

Twins

Week 53: Un Año!

 Hello all! This was a fun miracle-filled week, and I just had to say I absolutely love this work :)) Hope you're all doing well too!!

Things to know:

- Our friend William wants to get baptized on the 28th and we saw a huge miracle with him! We had a phone call lesson on Friday to tell him he had to give up chewing tobacco and drinking coffee and we showed up for a lesson Saturday and He had all of his stuff ready in a bag to give to us. He even gave us his whole coffee pot! He said he was scared but he knew he could do it, because He has Jesus Christ! 

William is making so much effort and it is so amazing! May 28th here we come!! 

- Hit one year! Yes I know I'm not an hermana and my title was in Spanish, but a Sister can dream alright?  Nah I'm kidding everything just sounds cooler in Spanish haha. I thought it would feel different hitting a year, but its like a birthday for me: it feels the same. I will say tho it is very bittersweet thinking about being at a year! It feels like just yesterday that I started, and I don't want it to keep going by so fast. But I also absolutely love being a missionary! And I think that was the best part about being at a year; just seeing the growth I've made this past year and how I've learned to rely on Jesus Christ and know who I am because of Him! 

- Had interviews with President this week and it went really well. He gave me some great counsel and told me some very kind things about how much he trusts me. He always tells me I'm like a daughter he never had and I just: I love my President!

- We had 5 friends come to church and it was awesome! Saw a huge miracle with being persistent in inviting a friend Jon and getting him a ride. He told us that this was the first time he has felt the spirit at church!!! We were so happy. Saw another miracle with one of our members inviting his nonmember friend Ralph. He came up and asked us a bunch of questions about our church, and we ended up teaching him for all of second hour! We made him a new and have another lesson this week now! 

- Had an amazing MLC and it was fun to be back since my 3rd transfer. We talked about some amazing new things we want to implement in the mission, and I got to see some old friends! Always a good time.

- Saw some gorgeous sunsets and a double rainbow that just reminded me how much God is aware of me, because I was praying for lots of miracles this week and it was almost like they were some mini ones just for me.

Stories of the week:

- Watched President Nelson's awesome youth devotional last night and he said some pretty legendary quotes I thought I would share: "I stopped buying green bananas" and "The ultimate FOMO would be missing out on the celestial kingdom". I love our prophet so much. If you want to know the context of the quotes, you'll have to watch to find out! You won't regret it!

- We were teaching someone we made new last week and she was telling us about how she believes in "icons" in her church. She then pointed to a shrine of Jesus and crosses in the corner of her house and proceeded to recite a prayer from her prayer book. All of a sudden she lunged towards the table in the middle of the prayer, totally catching Sister Hart and I off guard. I will be honest, I had to hold back some major laughs after the lunge because it reminded me of Nacho Libre. I told her "yeah we don't worship idols in our church" lol, and she wasn't very happy. Apparently there's a big difference between icons and idols? But ig I have yet to learn or understand how haha. Oh well. All I can say is I'm grateful our church believes in honoring Christ's name by our actions!

Spiritual thought:

- This week as I was reflecting on all I have learned in the past year, I was thinking about one major thing I have learned and that is to trust the Lord wholeheartedly. I used to have a lot of doubts, but now I am grateful for the faith that I have grown in my Savior Jesus Christ. I know that whatever He needs me to do will be better than what I want to do, and that His plan is perfect. I know that whatever I go through will only be for my benefit, which helps me see light at the end of the tunnel when it seems all hope is lost. I couldn't have learned to trust Him if it weren't for the hard times, and I am truly grateful for the struggles I have endured to help me better rely on my Savior. It has truly been a year of ups and downs, but I am glad to know now that I haven't been alone any step of the way. I am beyond grateful to know Jesus is my Savior, and I hope you can come to know this too. It has brought me more confidence, peace, happiness, purpose, and love. And who couldn't use more of those?! Praying for you always, and please ever let me know if I can help with any doubts or questions, because I will never EVER judge you! I simply want to help because I love you, and answering concerns is like my number one job rn ;)

I love ya'll!

Go expect miracles this week

Big or small,

Because He is waiting to give them to you!

- Sis Diggy

Pictures:

Enjoy 

 #iykyk

1 week in Idaho = cowgirl

Contraband

Elder Neerings

Elder Lotz

Elder Port #rip

Fat Tendermercy

MOD w - MOMscow

ONE YEAR !!

Rainy head

Sis <3

Sister Cravens!!!

Troy

Ye

Week 52: "Just goofin pot-boofin"

 Hey y'all! What an amazing week. I am honestly thriving out here in the boons, I forgot how much I missed it since being in the Silver Valley at the beginning of my mission!!! Also Sister Hart and I have too much fun and have the same humor, it's kinda scary. Hope everyone is doing well!:

Things to know:

- I ran out of contacts and have had to wear my glasses this whole last week. I hope you all enjoy these pictures while they last, because I will never be wearing glasses again once my contacts come. That's all.

- We have about 7 different small towns that we cover, and we rotate through them one/two days a week. This makes time FLY because we are somewhere different each day, and the people are all so fun.

- Everyone here is so receptive, we easily made 7 new (in the city we had to GRIND and would barely hit the standards), and saw lots of miracles with finding people we never would have found if we hadn't opened our mouths to talk to everyone!

- We have a friend named William who is getting baptized on May 28th and we went over for a lesson and he asked if he could move it up to the 25th to do it on his birthday!!! William is so cool. Miracles.

- We are over a ward in Troy and a branch in Potlach, but have to rotate each week because someone had the great idea to put them both at 10. We went to the Troy Ward and Sister Hart spoke, and two of our friends came! William came to the branch and so did another one of our friends! :D

- Tomorrow we have MLC and Friday we have interviews with President, so should be a great week! (Full of lots of driving too haha, it takes 2 hours to get to Spokane).

- I hit one year this next week and honestly I'm starting to feel really weird the more I think about it. I'm not ready to have 6 months left haha, time is going by too fast.

Stories of the week:

- We went to a meeting for new trainers/leadership this last Thursday and I got to see Sister Skinner & my roomies again (Woohoo! I was so happy!) because Sister Allen is 2nd training Sister Skinner and Sister Bird was getting a new missionary. Sister Skinner got to sit in on the meeting so she didn't have to be alone in the hall, and she made a super awesome comment during it. I was having a proud "mom moment" after because she's just so awesome and I was blessed to be her trainer, and President called on me after her. So I said: "That's my baby" before I shared my comment and President stopped me in the middle of my sentence and chastised me in front of 50 missionaries. He said he doesn't want us using terms like 'baby, mother, father, son, daughter, etc' when we refer to trainees or trainers because we should respect our titles. It was easily one of the most embarrassing things that have ever happened to me, and I could literally feel the second-hand embarrassment from the entire room. But it's alright because my goal of humility last transfer prepared me for it, so the corrections from leaders hardly faze me at this point. I'm just glad it was me and not Sister Skinner or another newer missionary that probably would have been haunted by President yelling at them.

- We got AWESOME news on Wednesday night that President is allowing us to message over messenger again! So that was super awesome. Someone in the MLC responded with a hilarious text message and I about lost it, because everyone is always so serious in that chat. So funny.

Spiritual Thought:

- This week I was studying in Alma and I loved this verse in chapter 40 that says:

"Now, I unfold unto you a mystery; nevertheless, there are many mysteries which are kept, that no one knoweth them save God himself" 

A lot of people we meet lately want questions answered for everything. They are on an endless search to fill a void inside of them, that can only be answered by the gospel. Because of the gospel we have the necessary questions of the soul answered, and with our testimony of the basics it leaves us trusting the rest of what God has in store for us. Don't get me wrong, I still have a multitude of questions, but I don't let them get in the way of what is most important. I wish I could help everyone understand that, and how once you have a testimony of the basics it makes it easier to have patience for God's mysteries. I know that God has a plan and everything will be answered according to His time, because of the scriptures and all His promises that have been fulfilled. Luke 12:2 - "For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known" (Seriously can't wait for this day though!) I know that God will answer your questions and make the hidden things revealed as you ask, seek, and knock in faith. It will just be according to His time :).

Quote of the week:

"If a creek is a crik, then are the greeks actually griks?" - Sister Hart

Have a good week!!!

I love being a missionary

Message me on messenger if you're cool

Love ya!

Sis Diggy

New addy if you need it:

116 No. Main St. Troy, ID 83871

(Also if you lived in my last apartment and are reading this, please give my sunglasses and my boots to the ZL's so they can give them to me at MLC haha LOVE YOU)

Pictures:

!!!

"Pot-boof" - Elder Rigby

April

Best friend Molly

Bye

Chicken slingers

Ex - techies

Hahahah

Help

Mc(c)(k)ay(e) x 2

My new area

Rip the Golden apartment

Rusty + Deanna

So much rain

Soaked again

Trio for a day

Walking on Heaven (iykyk)

weiner dogs