7/20-7/26

Herro herro my favorite humans! :)

Last District Activity

Whip Cream Challenge

Oh boy, I have learned so much this week. I hope I can squeeze it all in here!

Monday-- We took out the newbies that came into the mission! They were so cute and super excited to start working! :) One was from Middleton, ID! Woop woop!

We watched the Restoration movie in the Himle's theater room and it was so awesome! Jacob, Elizabeth, Chris, Emma and the McMurtrey's came. The spirit was really strong, and I just love that movie so much! :) I miss everyone in Stockdale so much.

Tuesday-- Transfer meeting was a bunch of mixed feelings. So sad to be getting transferred, and so sad to see all of my friends leave and go home! But also so happy to see some of my favorites. The missionaries on this side of the mission sang in a choir for it! We sang a song that an elder wrote while he has been out on his mission and combined it with the hymn, Called to Serve. It was so powerful. The spirit was tangible and it was hard to keep the tears back from the power that I felt by bearing my testimony of missionary work in song. I'm so grateful for the chance I got to be a part of that. 

Goodbye to Sister Himle

Small World - Summer was this sister's RA!!!!

My new companion! --> Sister Long is from Louisiana! Haha she is the funniest person. I just love her to death! Her Aunt grew up by the Bayou and she is just so hilarious with all of her stories about life. I love it. She's so entertaining, I just laugh always hahaha :)

 Sister Long and Sister Loar

We got to our new area, which is just in North Bakersfield, and settled in, went to the store, and went to an appointment! On Tuesday nights, the members in Highland Manor ward (my new area) go out on visits with the missionaries! It is awesome and they've seen some amazing miracles in the past from doing it. I'm pretty stoked about it! :)

Wednesday-- Sister Shimmons in the ward goes out with the sisters for the morning and it was great going to see people with a member! She is awesome and has such a strong testimony. 

That night we were trying to contact one of our investigators, Donisha, but she wasn't home, so we tried contacting people at the park nearby. There was this super fun family playing some basketball, so we started talking to the wife, Kawana that was just watching and she seemed semi-interested! So we gave her a pamphlet and then I started playing some ball with little Keenan! It was so much fun! Always a good day when you can play some pick up in a skirt. :) 

Then we tried contacting some other people, but no one was home or interested. We were stopped at a stop sign and I saw some words underneath the word STOP and I looked closer and it read, "Stop. Collaborate and Listen." hahaha YES!! Vanilla Ice is BACK! So obviously I had to pull over and take a picture of it. So as I was doing this I hear, "HEY! WE ARE MISSIONARIES!!!!" And Sister Long is running down some teenagers that were on some bikes! (haha classic Sister Long) So then I stopped, collaborated, and listened (and also joined in to teach) with them on the side of the road! They ended up being sooo awesome and pretty interested! When we were explaining the Book of Mormon and read some verses out of it, the boy, Isaiah was reaching for it and couldn't get it in his hands fast enough! :) We have an appointment set up for tonight, so hopefully that goes well! Heavenly Father KNEW that I would stop and take a picture of that sign and He knew Sister Long would be brave enough to run people down on the street! So cool to see how everything works out when you are in the right place at the right time. :) And also now I can't get that song out of my head.. 

Thursday-- We planned and them planned some more!

We did have a lesson with Teagyn--- This girl is so awesome! She is 13 and she is Sister Nowak's grand daughter. She just started living with her grandma and she is going to be baptized on August 8th! :) She's doing so well! We have a lesson with her almost every day to help her be prepared!

We had a lesson with Kathy and her 7 grandkids who are now in her custody-- 5 of them are boys and are all named Martin... hahaha so they have different names for each one of them! There's Tracer, Marty, Jr., Little Marty, and Seven... hahaha their dad and their grandpa are also named Martin. So Seven, is Martin #7. It is pretty much my favorite thing ever. They have a pretty crazy life and have had a rough upbringing. But we shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with them and they are little sponges and want to learn about God and Jesus Christ sooo much! Kathy.. the grandma (who has lung cancer and still smokes and blames the cause of her cancer on the Bakersfield air quality..) is holding them back from really progressing! She said she would bring them to church this week and she didn't.. and also she started to ask us ridiculous questions and kind of started bible bashing with us in the lesson..? But we had a secret weapon! Sister Lindley (the Primary President in the ward) came with us to the lesson and she would just testify and it was so amazing! She is such a great missionary! So glad we had her with us!

Friday-- I had to do a training in District Meeting and it went well I think! I focused on how developing Christlike attributes can help us become consecrated missionaries. Something I needed!

When we knocked on the door of our dinner appointment with a member-- we got the wrong door! But the girl who answered was really interested! :) Miracle! She doesn't live in our area though.. she was just babysitting.. So hopefully the missionaries on her side of town will get a hold of her! We sent them her info so they could!

Saturday-- We tried contacting someone Sister Long had met briefly and they didn't answer, so we went and knocked on their neighbors house and a young mom named Tracy answered the door! She was a little hesitant to talk to us at first but really loosened up at the end. She told us that one of her ex boyfriends was a Mormon and she knew a lot about the church but never looked into it. She has two kids, one is a baby and her last boyfriend just walked out on her in December.. She doesn't have a job and is in a really tight situation. We are going to get her some info for the Church Employment center in Bakersfield to hopefully help her out! :) She was super grateful for that. We are hoping to start teaching her this week if she is willing to listen!

Sunday-- I was asked to give a talk on Sunday and I talked on something similar to my training I did in the meeting earlier that week. I focused more on the differences between sin and weaknesses and how we can overcome both through the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. The whole reason why any of that is possible is because of not only what Christ did for us, but WHO He was. He experienced everything we would ever have to endure in this life. So when we recognize our weaknesses we can rely on the enabling power of the Atonement and pray for help and strength to change and become better and more than we are by ourselves, we can BECOME more like Him. We receive a peace and joy that is indescribable. 

That night we went to go see Donisha, and started talking to her neighbor, Randy and his brother, Pierre that was outside! They started asking us the REAL questions. Questions of their souls! Randy was struggling a lot. He was going to lose their apartment the next day, and he didn't know where him and his girlfriend were going to go. So we taught the Restoration and testified using scriptures from the Book of Mormon. One of them being Mosiah 24:12-16. We talked about how in our trials and circumstances the Lord can lift our burdens and make them feel light so we can endure to the end! It was just the coolest teaching experience. I love being a missionary!

This week I struggled a lot. I felt very fatigued and tired, and I didn't feel adequate to fulfill my calling as a missionary. I prayed each time I felt those things and EVERY time I was able to overcome my weaknesses and be strengthened to be able to endure. I know, with all that I am that Christ lives. He is our Savior and He can help us overcome any trial or weakness that easily besets us every day of our lives. I know we can become better people and become the person He wants us to become.

Sorry this is a lengthy email, So much more happened and I wish I had time to include absolutely everything! I love serving and I'm so grateful for all of you for making this such an amazing experience. 

Love,

Sister Loar

xoxo