Week 58, 11/18/2021

 MY HEART IS BROKEN

Yup my heart broke on Thursday when I said goodbye to Sister Morley and a few other members of our district. The past two transfers might have been my favorite of my whole mission! We've found the most success, met some of my favorite people, and I was privileged to train Sister Morley and watch her grow over these past 3 months. It's been SO fun! But everything on the mission comes to an end eventually. As sad as it is to see people go, you always end up meeting more people that you grow to love! And we had a fun and productive last few days together including an epic volleyball night and lots of good food. :) (always the best)

Here's a super cool miracle that happened on our last day together on Wednesday! 

We had our usual chalkboard activity and our friend Ally came to most of it. She's a members girlfriend who has been coming to activities, church, and has been reading the Book of Mormon, but we haven't been able to teach her yet. We're pretty good friends though, so she stopped by and we were talking for a while and she started talking about how much she loves the Book of Mormon. Long story short she wants to start having the lessons and she's already thinking about baptism! She hung out with us for most of the day and after the event we had a lesson with our girl Caroline, and she even wanted to stay for the lesson. She stayed and Caroline totally thought she was a member it was awesome. She was quoting scriptures, bearing her testimony, and sharing experiences, she needs to go on a mission already haha. Caroline is still praying about her baptismal date and I think talking to someone else who's in the same position was just what she needed. It was definitely not a coincidence how everything worked out that day. I know that God knows his children, what they need, and this is his work! 

My two favorite people ever!

So that was a super cool miracle, we'll start officially teaching Ally this week so I'll let y'all know how that goes! 

After saying goodbye to Sister Morley on Thursday, I got to spend the day with my other favorite person ever: Sister Allman (my MTC comp, love that girl) then I met my new companion Sister Hancock. She's also awesome, we get along great, and she's a hard worker. Her family is from Italy so she's a really good cook...that's only a minor plus. 😅

Welcome to Gainesville Sis Hancock

We've got an exciting transfer ahead of us! We're both STL's (sister training leader) so we're in charge of all the sisters in the zone, and they're all amazing. We're friends with everyone we're teaching, and we introduced introduced the Book of Mormon to 4 people this week. Gainesville is seriously such a promised land, we're doing great, and I love it here!

Even though I do love Gainesville, that doesn't mean that there aren't days where I get a little exhausted from missionary work. Its tiring stuff! There are definitely days when I miss home and my family.  I've been out for 13 months now, and sometimes I just get so excited to hug my mom again that I find it hard to focus on the work. So something I've been studying about a lot lately is being an instrument in God's hands.  I want to be someone that God can trust and use to help accomplish his work. The whole purpose of this life is to make covenants so we can eventually return back to him, and it's a blessing to be able to be apart of that! 

"And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work." Mosiah 26:3

This is such a missionary thing to say, but it really is a blessing to be apart of his work. Life can get hard sometimes and when it does, look for ways you can serve others. I know from experience that helping God's children will always make you happier:) that's something that helps me when I get a little down.

But I'm so grateful for all the experiences I've had on my mission so far, the people I've met, and the things I've learned. 😇 It can be hard but I wouldn't change a thing. 

Hope y'all had a good week and until next week! 

-Sister Bonny ❤