Sister Rachel Anne Morrow: Week 3: My God is a God of miracles!

Hello everyone!

So it has been one crazy week.

On Tuesday, we woke up at 3:30 to pack and get ready for leaving the MTC at 5:00 a.m. We got ready on time, thankfully. With a room full of six girls, getting ready got interesting at times. But we took the bus to the airport and I waved goodbye to Utah from the airplane window. See ya in a bit, Utah. Once we landed here in Seattle, President and Sister Larkin were at the airport to pick us up. We all grabbed our luggage and packed into minivans and a full sized van. I was expecting to do a little sightseeing, but that was not on the schedule. We went to the mission home where we had some orientation and training. After that we went to the church building where we met our trainers.

My trainer is Sister Mosbrucker. She is 22, from Ft. Collins, Colorado. She is very "let's get down to business" like me, which I really like. I've finally been able to get her to open up a little bit though and be silly with me. She has been in the mission for ten months. I feel lucky to have such a seasoned trainer because a lot of the Sisters and Elders were being assigned to trainers who have only been out in the field for six weeks. We are getting twenty six Sisters next transfer...so chances are I will be training. So I am grilling Sister Mosbrucker and making her train me really well just in case.

We are in the Auburn area, in the Lake Holm ward. It is kinda up in the mountains. There are tons of trees and it is absolutely gorgeous. We live with some nonmembers who have four dogs and four horses. It is a beautiful area! I love being tucked back in the woods a bit. We go down to Auburn for shopping, etc. I met our ward yesterday, and they are pretty great. I feel slightly awkward because I don't know anyone and Sister Mosbrucker knows EVERYONE. She has been in Auburn eight out of the ten months she has been on her mission. So I kinda just stand awkwardly to the side while she has conversations with people. I try and introduce myself and stuff but people don't really care about the greenie haha. But whatever, no worries! Next transfer determines what mission we will be in: Federal Way or Seattle. If I am to stay in Auburn, I will be in Federal Way. So it will be interesting to see where I end up! If I do end up in Federal Way, they send us new mission calls haha. Exciting, right? :)

Sister Mosbrucker is the Sister Trainer Leader, so she had a meeting all day on Wednesday which means I had to go on a transfer with someone else. Weird. My first day in the mission and I wasn't even with my companion. But oh well. I spent the day with Sister Boyce in the Puyallup area. It was a pretty overwhelming but good day. I was pretty homesick and emotional on Wednesday, but I am doing so much better. I am really focused and loving it here! I just hit those waves of homesicknesses every once in awhile.

Thursday we visited some less active sisters who were absolutely wonderful. It was a beautiful day, so we sat outside in their gardens with them and talked. I loved it! Washington is so beautiful when it is sunny! The trees, the flowers, the birds--I love it!

On Friday we had a zone meeting. Elder Cook, a friend I met through Jared Workman at BYU is in my zone! Crazy. And one of my zone leaders is Elder Grandstaff, a guy I went to Jr. High and High School with, and a fellow Farmingtonian. At zone meeting, we were informed that President Larkin had made the goal of putting 100 people on date for baptism in the mission that day. What a daunting task. But we set out to meet our goal!

That evening we went tracting in a sketchier area called Lea Hill. We were knocking in apartment buildings, and I had some fun experiences haha. Experiences I definitely wouldn't have in Utah! One guy was growing pot and wouldn't open his door all the way, another guy was SUPER high...I dunno. It was interesting and kinda entertaining haha. My California friends can't call me super sheltered anymore because I now know what pot smells like. ;) But tracting was disappointing because absolutely no one was interested. We started discussing the gospel with a guy from Africa named Julius, but it just turned into an argument. Needless to say, when you are arguing about the gospel, the spirit is not there. So we said a prayer with him and left.

It was a bummer of a day. It was 8:30 and we still hadn't placed anyone on date. I asked Sister Mosbrucker if we had any potentials in the area, and she said we had one named Chad. We went to Chad's house and said a prayer in the car before we went to talk to him. I prayed that we would have the faith to put Chad on date for baptism, and that he would feel the influence of the Holy Ghost. Long story short...he is on date for June eighth!!! It was such an incredible miracle. With ten minutes left in the day, we had put someone on date. I know that the Lord does answer prayers, and that my God is a God of miracles.

On Saturday we met a man named Mike who's friend was rushed to the hospital the night previously with a heart attack. We shared the message of God's love with him and prayed with him and sang to him. (Oh ya. This mission is a singing mission. I HATE SINGING. But, I'm going to have to learn how to love it because we sing everywhere. God is obviously trying to teach me a lesson about singing haha.) I shared 1 Nephi 11:27 with him, and explained that I don't know why bad things happen to good people, but God loves us. I know that he truly does. We put Mike on date for June eighth. :)

Also on Saturday, we had dinner at an inactive family's house. They are absolutely wonderful people. They have a cat named December that reminds me a lot of Miko. She likes laying on her back too. :) But after dinner we shared a message about the Atonement and asked Brother Wallace (the father of the house) what the atonement means to him. He got very emotional sharing about the atonement and expressed that he want to be sealed with his family. The spirit was so strong in that room. I expressed to him that my reason for coming on my mission was so that families can be together, so that the Wallace family can be together forever. I love families so much, and I am so thankful for eternal families. When I get down, I remember my family and that I am here so that others can be with their families forever. I love you guys. :)

Yesterday we met with a hispanic woman named Brenda. We taught her the first lesson and put her on date for June fifteenth. :) We are going to have to refer her to the Hermanas so that her husband can learn too, but she is super solid and ready to be taught.

It was so good to see your faces yesterday. :) I love you all so much. Thank you for all your encouraging words and thoughts and prayers. I need them and I feel them.

I love this gospel! I love Washington! I love being a missionary! Hurrah for Israel!

Love, Sister Morrow