Pinto Bean Fudge 2/23/2015

What an interesting week it has been. It was quite the roller coaster I would have to say, but we all got through it! Many of the sisters at the TC have been very sick and struggling, so it's been a bit stressful for us as leaders to know how to help them. We saw so many miracles from this opposition though! You have to have opposition in ALL things or there's no progression. For 3 weeks in a row none of the TC sisters have been star companionships and that is something that President Weston has really been pounding on us lately. Which means you have no 0s in your key indicators.  Well, Sister Cragun and I decided to invite all our sisters to join us in a fast last Monday because we felt very strongly that we could have 4 out of 6 companionships be stars. Let's see what came of it...

Monday was fantastic! We both got a haircut! Woohoo! Been needing that for a while, so I was quite happy. We went to Wal-Mart...Little nervous for that, but it turned out great! Just needed to trim my split ends. Ok, sorry, I just had to mention that. It was kind of a big deal for me. BUT, it was definitely not the highlight of my week. Haha that night we saw Chris and Girly. We brought up baptism to see if Chris was still aiming for March 28th and we ended up setting both Chris and Girly for that day and Chris even asked if Bishop Ostler could marry them and of course we said he would be MORE than happy to, so that was really great to hear that Chris is finally getting on the ball and moving that along. 

Tuesday we were supposed to go on exchanges with the Millard sisters, but poor Sister Durrant was very sick, so Sister Weston told us she didn't want her going out that day. Sister Cragun and I had a full day in our area together on a Tuesday! First time EVER! It was so weird and the day started really slowly because no one was home so it was a bit disappointing. THEN, we randomly decided to text this lady named Marie who was a referral that we got forever ago to ask how she was doing and she told us she was really struggling and didn't have enough food to feed her boys. We decided to go home and grab some cans and things that we would never use and bring them to her and had an amazing lesson with her. We even had a member with us who had volunteered to come with us to try to see some people so it worked out perfectly! She's now a new investigator and super solid. Wants us to see her twice a week and is ready for the Gospel! She even came to the Relief Society activity that night. Miracle! We also saw Deangelo and taught him the last little bit that he needed to be baptized, and then that night we went to the Relief Society activity with Marie. Ha! It was so fun. Sister Legate who is in our ward was in charge of it and she is so hilarious. She's all about not using electricity and she does absolutely everything on her own. Hunts her own meat, grows her own vegetables and herbs, makes her own cream of chicken etc, makes her own butter, everything. Absolutely everything. She's nuts! Love her to death though. Anyways, she taught us a lot of different ways on how to use our food storage and gave us recipes for pinto bean fudge, black bean brownies, and all sorts of other weird stuff. She even brought some things for us to try and those brownies and fudge were delicious! Weird!

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty normal days. Just district meeting, then TC. And Friday we were at the TC and then the Clinic. 

Friday we were on chat in the morning and had a really great chat with a gay man and at the end he asked for a Book of Mormon so we were able to send one to him! Very cool chat. That morning we also got a call from Sister Ridgeway telling us that Deangelo wasn't going to be able to get baptized the next day...There are some family issues and so Deangelo won't be baptized for another couple weeks. Pretty disappointing, but it's obviously not meant to be yet. Heavenly Father is in charge though and I know it will happen soon. That night the Barlows took us out to dinner at Olive Garden because Sister Cragun is leaving very soon....in about a week and a half....so that was very enjoyable! I love so much. Then they came with us to see our investigator Heather. She is a hard one. Always has so many silly questions that aren't necessary for us to know in this life. We talked to her about faith and I don't know...it was just kind of an interesting lesson. Just kind of a bit of a disappointing day. 

Saturday we played Jeopardy for TC training though which was so fun! We're really trying to help the sisters to learn the history better. Then we saw Valeri and had an amazing lesson about the Plan of Salvation. We set her for April 18th...MY BIRTHDAY! I think she can be ready that day. It would be the best birthday present ever! Anyways, she's been reading the Book of Mormon every day and progressing a lot! 

Sunday Sister Cragun and I were asked to play a musical number, so we played this beautiful piano duet of an arrangement of I Am a Child of God. I love playing the piano so much <3 It was great! We went out with our Bishop that afternoon and saw some people which was good, then had dinner with the Bacon family. Stinkin adorable family! Then saw Christy that night who is doing better. She does still want to be baptized and we found out that Jimmie is still looking for a ring, so they haven't given up! They are still thinking about marriage sometime in the future. 

Well, that was my week! I love this work so much. I love being a leader even though it can be very lonely and disappointing at times. I just continue to learn and grow more and more every day. I look forward to another week! Hope I don't freeze. Yesterday it felt like 2 degrees. Baaah!

Love you all!

Sister Ferrara :)

Dinner with the Barlows at Olive Garden

 I found my dream car! haha jk...Sister Marshall (senior couple here) bought this for me.
Don't know where she found it but it's perfect!

Chat shift...have to take pictures!