White Christmas - December 17, 2018

Hey friends! Okay, this week was one of the happiest life changing weeks of my mission. It for sure hasn't been the easiest, but I'm grateful for all the growth that I've experienced within the past week alone. On Friday, Sister Hutchings and I both had very strong promptings that we needed to ask President Leishman for a blessing. And friends, the priesthood power is REAL!!! I am so grateful that the power of God is here on the Earth and that it is here to bless us! In the blessing, he blessed me that I would be able to be strong-- physically, mentally, and emotionally. He told me that there is still a lot of work to be done in Olympia and he blessed me that I will be able to accomplish the work as I lean on Christ! In the blessing, it also talked about how proud my Heavenly Father is of me because I have given my greatest effort every minute of the day. It was exactly what I needed to hear in that moment and instantly I felt a huge peaceful feeling wash over me. Since then, I have been SO happy and just feel so great about life. My nervous feelings have gone away and I feel optimistic about the future. I feel the Lord blessing my efforts as I give it my all. I have such a STRONG testimony of the power that comes from the priesthood! This just goes to show how much God truly loves us; He trusts us and loves us enough to be able to use this power to help His children receive peace and comfort! I am so thankful! On Wednesday, Emory was baptized!! For all of you that didn't see my facebook post, almost 4 months ago our good friend Bailey was baptized and on Wednesday he baptized Emory!! Once again, I love the Priesthood! Since Emory's baptism, her complete countenance has changed. She's been telling everyone that she's on "Team Jesus" and that she feels like a new person. I'm grateful for this gospel in allowing us to repent each and every day! On Thursday, we had a lesson at the Howe's home. And for reals, it was probably the coolest lesson of my life. John Howe is a non member husband whose wife has been a strong member her whole life and all his kids have been married in the Temple. He's taken the missionary lessons for YEARS and lately, we've been really feeling the spirit and a great sense of urgency for him. Thursday night as we taught him in our trio, the spirit was SO strong and SO bold! The words that were coming out of each of our mouths were not ours and we didn't leave the house until he had committed to pray about a specific date to be baptized. And you guys! He received his answer and committed to be baptized! But not until August. Baby steps (: This is huge for his family so it would be awesome if you could pray for him and his family! On Friday, we had MLC then later that night Tim Brand was baptized! If you guys remember, he was someone I found and taught in Parkland. He's married to Rebecca who's a member and almost went on a mission! They're the cutest and were some of my best friends in Parkland. It made me so happy that they're one step closer to an eternal marriage! I love you all so much!!