Tender Mercies

I cannot believe I'm already past week 4 of my mission! It feels like I just got here a couple of days ago haha. But, it has been a wonderful experience so far with an amazing week this past week. We had to start our week without a car because there was a small dent in the back from some past missionaries getting hit by someone else, so we left the car at a body shop for a couple of day (Elder and Sister Poll, the senior couple that lives in our district, gave us a ride home from the shop, but before leaving Elder Poll told the owner that we needed that car back quickly, so he should try to get it done sooner than a week [which he had originally told us would be how long it would take], and because of that we got our car back on Wednesday! It was awesome, and we are so grateful for Elder and Sister Poll). Since we didn't have the car for a couple days, my companion and I thought we should figure out the bus system. So, we got a couple maps and tried it out! We walked over to a bus stop and we knew we had to talk to someone, but we didn't know how to start since we are both kinda new/rusty at street contacting (you can't street contact during the winter here, so every summer missionaries have to relearn how to do it haha >.<). But, after standing there for a second, we actually had a guy come up to us and look at our name tags before striking up a conversation about Christianity! Gotta love how the Lord looks out for us ;).

Later on in the week we had the opportunity to give a church tour to one of our investigators. We came a bit early to clean everything up and know what we wanted to say and where to go for it. It was easy to do until we found that we didn't have a key to the baptismal font! So, we thought we would just find a picture later to show her. Once she got there everything went really well. We went through the building and when we got to the baptismal font my companion had the idea of going through the side door from the bathroom to show her the font. Luckily the door was unlocked (tender mercy) and we got to show her the baptismal font. She said she really liked seeing it and it was nice to be able to clear up some questions that she had about baptism that we never even knew she had until then. After that we moved to the chapel, where we explained a bit about Sacrament meeting to her, where we again got the chance to clear up some confusion that she had never brought up before. It was such a wonderful experience to be able to explain everything and comfort her in any nervousness that she had about church. So, later this next week we will be inviting her to church for our Sunday services.

We ended the week with exchanges! I was really nervous because my companion was going to the sister training leader's area and the other sister training leader was coming to my area to spend the day with me! I still felt like I didn't know the area well enough to survive a day without my companion, but luckily we were able to do it. The sister that came here was Sister Waite. I was very grateful that we were exchanging on a Friday-Saturday because we had a bunch of meetings/activities that took up a lot of our time, so I felt more comfortable with knowing what to do when. It ended up being a wonderful learning experience and I loved being able to see what it is that I actually understood about the area by myself. I love exchanges now and can't wait to try them again in the future :).

Well, that has generally been my week :). The work truly is progressing here, and I am recognizing more and more ways to find those who are seeking for the truth brought through the gospel.

Sincerely, Sister Tyler

Sister Waite and I during the Ward building clean up (we helped to transplant a bush from one side of the building to another after trimming it and all that fancy stuff haha ;) )