11/17-11/23

Hey Hey! 

This week seemed like it was forever long, but also just so much happened!

Tuesday-- We got up super early and got to go to the TEMPLE! :) Sister Smith took us and it was the best experience ever. It was Sister Kay's birthday a little bit ago so we got to go for that.
The LA temple is so amazing. I just love it so much. I have been feeling a little overwhelmed with everything and trying to figure out how to be a better missionary and all of the other worries and stress that comes with missionary work. As soon as I walked into the temple all the worries in the world just washed away! It was so amazing to feel so renewed and the spiritual strength I was searching for was replenished. I am so grateful for temples! WE ARE SO BLESSED! We went to this local Brazilian restaurant called Don Juan's with the Ramirez's for dinner and it was super good. We love the Ramirez's!!! We talked to a former investigator that night and were able to understand some of her concerns of why she stopped talking to the missionaries and we have an appointment with her next week after the holiday! 

Wednesday-- We taught the Millers, the part member family we have been working with and it went super well! We talked about Prophets and the blessing of the Gospel, and things are progressing super well with them. We taught a few lessons that day that went well, lots of our investigators are gone for while because of the holidays, so that is hard, but it is all working out well! We stopped by the Smith's and made some cookies really fast that night, they always know how to cheer up some missionaries haha!

Thursday-- We were invited to go with one of our investigator's, Heather Mason, to sit with her at her kids' Thanksgiving/ Veteran's Day programs that were held at a baptist church, so we totally went and it was so awesome! Haha she was super happy we showed up and sat with her. We love the Mason's and they are doing so well! We will hopefully see them this week and continue to teach them!

Friday-- Some of our investigators told us not to come back, so that is always rough, but it is alright, the Lord will provide a way for them to find the truth some other time through other missionaries. Later that evening we decided to knock doors on a certain street, we prayed that we would find at least one person that would be interested. The last house we knocked on a young woman answered the door and she started to tell us about how she was a baptist, but that one of "our member's" actually lived at that house but he was gone. We had never heard the name of the guy before, so we were a little confused, but just went with it. I said that I had gone to BYU before coming out here and she told us that she had a lot of friends go there and then later on in the conversation, we realized that she thought we were Jehovah Witnesses! Hahaha so we cleared that up real quick and she got sooo excited that we were Mormons!! She told us all about how she grew up going to Seminary and had lots of friends that were Mormon and everything! We asked her if she had a Book of Mormon and she didn't think so, so we gave one to her and she was so happy! We are going back to eat some tamales with her tomorrow! WE ARE SO STOKED! Heavenly Father totally answers our prayers, we asked for atleast one person, and voila! We meet Porsha!

Saturday-- We are starting to teach some recent converts, Zach and Darby, in the ward about the temple and helping them prepare for that so that was really fun to talk to them! We had dinner with the Nichols in the ward and they are totally going to their family's house for Thanksgiving this week in, you will not guess where, NAMPA, IDAHO!!!!!! Hahaha I about died when they said that! I was like WHAT?! That is my home! Hahaha they were not looking forward to the coldness up there at all haha but it was super cool! Small world!

Sunday-- Church was great! We had Alyssa, Jeff, and Robert Miller at church! Woop woop! It was a good time! :) We taught a new investigator named Charles who is a Vietnam vet, practices American Indian culture stuff like getting nakey in the woods and talking to animals and the birds and stuff for like 4 days, even though he is totally Polish and Irish. Haha and he totally loves the Book of Mormon, because it talks about the American Indian ancestors! Haha we will see how well he progresses! But isn't it super weird, we totally were teaching another man named Charles, who is a Vietnam vet, and also practices American Indian culture stuff like a few months ago.. Crazyyyyy sauce. We went over to Christian's after that and we got the best news ever! HE WENT A WHOLE DAY WITH OUT SMOKING! Holla! So exciting! We were so pumped! Progress! :) We got to meet his grand babies that were visiting from Phoenix and they were so cute! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!! You guys are the best! I miss you and love you all so much! :)
The church is true, I promise!

Much love,
Sister Loar

xoxo