Five plates, five miracles

September 8, 2014

This week was very unconventional, but awesome. You already know about Monday.

Tuesday we had district meeting, and then I got to email, and then some other great stuff happened. And then that night our investigator LG received a priesthood blessing. We asked if she wanted one because of everything she's been going through, and we kind of explained it. She said she would like one, and so we met at the home of some ward members, and they were able to give her one after we had a brief lesson on the priesthood. She described her feelings afterward as like "walking on a cloud." She really appreciated it. She still has not come to church though, so we are praying and working on getting her to attend church.

Wednesday was the day of the miracle cookies. We had promised a less active man some chocolate chip cookies, but had still not come through. So Wednesday we made cookies while we printed out some maps of the area so that we, and future missionaries, could figure their way around better. But going back to the cookies, we didn't have any brown sugar. So they became snickerdoodles. Turns out, snickerdoodles were the better choice.

Five plates, five miracles:

Plate #1: We deliver it to the less active man we promised them to. His mother answers the door, and we learn that he has had a small stroke and is in the hospital. We now know this information, and he will now receive cookies at this crucial moment. Sunday follow-up: he came to church after telling us two weeks ago he was never going to come back to church.

Plate #2: We decide to bring a plate to another less active family that stood us up for an appointment earlier. We catch her outside, and have a lovely conversation with her in which we learn she did not stand us up on purpose, and we set a return appointment. Also, snickerdoodles are her favorite.

Plate #3: We deliver a plate to our Ward Mission Leader and discover he has been sick since Saturday night. Snickerdoodles are also his favorite. He went back to work the next day.

Plate #4: We deliver a plate to the D family who we have not seen in a week and a half. I am freaking out, because I'm afraid they've been avoiding us. We discover they have not, they're just really busy (go figure). And yeah, they're seriously discussing baptism again, the husband is okay with Joseph Smith, and he listens to the Book of Mormon on CD in his truck.

Plate #5: We don't have a plan for this plate. We think, "Who could use this plate of cookies?" We decide on the E family, a less active/part LDS family. We arrive, and find the husband (less active member) outside. He says thank you, and that his daughter wants to go back to church, what time does our church start?

Five plates...five miracles.

That night we were also invited to judge the youth night cupcake war. They had a fruit cupcake, and then a "meal" cupcake. The chips and salsa cupcake was strangely good, the hot dog and ketchup one just had a hint of weird, but the BBQ sauce and baked bean one was just nasty. Good times.

Thursday was just crazy good. It was MLC (Mission Leader Council) that day, and so that meant I got to see Sister Webb. Not only that, but she came and picked me up :). So we're outside waiting for her, and it turns out that the mom in the D family happened to come by, and decided she was going to wait for her too. Well, she walks up to me, gives me a big hug, and tells me that she and her husband are going to get baptized the 13th! "Of this month?!" I ask. "Yeah! Next Saturday!" Oh my goodness. And then not a minute later Sister Webb pulls up in her big truck. It was just a glorious couple minutes. I had so much to tell Sister Webb. MLC was really great, and then I returned back to have a lesson with a less active woman we've been trying to see forever, and then to have a lesson that night with our investigator B who is progressing right along. Such a good day.

So yeah - we have a baptism this coming Saturday :D

Friday was hot, we weekly planned, and just a tad miserable.

Saturday was one of those eternal days where nothing is working and you just want it to end, or at least take a nap, but you can't. But it's over with.

Actually, Saturday morning was pretty great, because you know how we did service last Saturday for that family? Actually...let me back up.

So back in June Sister Webb and I helped set up for a wedding. Well, we still keep in touch occasionally with the couple whose daughter it was who got married. Two weeks ago Sister Magleby and I stopped by and were talking to the husband. Long story short, we ended up inviting ourselves over to rake his leaves the following Saturday. So last week we showed up on Saturday and raked his leaves, which I wrote about. Then this past Saturday we went back and helped the wife with some stuff for her class, as she teaches first grade. So that was good, and she fed us lunch.

they have a pet bobcat

Okay, so Sunday. Sunday was pretty great. We encouraged this family to reach out to their friends, and so they invited a bunch of friends to come see their baby get blessed on Sunday. They told us that they didn't think anyone would come. Boy were they wrong. Twelve people showed up. They were so excited. And that night we had a lesson with the D family where we worked out the details of their baptism. They're more of spur of the moment people (I guess their wedding was planned in one day), so this is a little out of their comfort zone. We're trying to make it as painless as possible. I'm still pinching myself that it's happening. And guess what? At the baptism I'll get to see not only Sister Webb, but also Sister McConkie. All icing on the cake :)

So that was my week. A pretty good one, all things considered. I have to start thinking about school though, so that's a little uncomfortable. Our mission president actually said that if you're about three months from going home, and don't start planning for the post mission life...then that's unwise. Crazy town.

Hope all is well out there! Love ya!

Sister Tanner