I Didn't Grab No Shoes Or Nothing

This week, I've been inside of a refiners fire. It actually got so hot that I became numb to it. I want to start off with saying, I am now so much better! I just needed to continue moving on, knowing that everything happens in the wisdom of who made all things. It started off with one of my best friends, Elder Warnick. Things were happening, and Salt Lake determined it'd be best for him to finish his mission in Utah. It was really hard knowing I couldn't help him, but I'm so glad that he gets to be in a better place now. 

I'm now in four wards, and they are very spaced. The other two are on an Indian reservation. I guess they don't like missionaries because we think we know about them. In our defense, I heard a story that their ancestors buried their weapons and entered a covenant of peace at one point. Sounds like the Ammonites to me. Anyways, it's a bit dangerous there, since Elder Hess found a scalp on a stop sign. 

Remember the kid I taught the Zelda lesson to? We finished up that lesson with a Plan of Salvation chart which he put together first try rather quickly. I was so impressed with him! He has come so far from when we first met. He is now set to be baptized in June. I don't think I'll be here for that, but I'm glad I got to participate in teaching him. 

I'll talk about my rubiks cube testimony soon. I wasn't able to share it, but I will soon, and then I'll tell you guys. I'm excited, it's a pretty good parable I think. But I now can add to it. My temporary companion has a cube he has been trying to figure out for quite some time. I requested to use it and found out that it was unsolvable because he switched some pieces around. We worked together and fixed it, and now it's how it used to be. That has a lot to do with it. 

On Sunday, I was in another ward in an apartment like an hour away from mine. That apartment actually needs to have the bathroom door open, because if not, it gets so cold that the pipes will freeze. When I woke up, I was very cold and so I was anxious to go take a warm shower. I grabbed all the goods and burst into the bathroom. After a good warm shower, I realized a critical mistake. I left my towel in my suitcase. I had to spend the next 5 minutes trying to brush off all the water I could. I then took a small washcloth and used it to dry myself to the best of my ability. I ended up dry but cold. Ripped off.

I went to Winco for the first time. They have the most glorious thing I've seen in Idaho. You just go and put chocolate in a scale and then buy it by the pound. I bought half a pound of chocolate kisses and pretzels. So great!

That's about all I have for this week. I was greatly afflicted, but I bore my time of pain well and am now doing great.

Because why not

A Week Inside

A portion of my week was spent inside. Some stuff was happening with my companion, so we couldn't really go out and teach. But there's still a few things we got to do!  Since I've been sitting around inside, I've gotten really good at that Rubik cube. I now have the algorithms memorized and can do it rather quickly. My fastest time is one minute and 3 seconds. That cube has been mastered. 

One family had us over for dinner and made us spaghetti. They said, "We wanted to give you something you probably don't have often". I was grateful for the dinner, but incredibly amused as well. That's one of the most common things. Anyways, another family made us clam chowder. I've never liked the smell or taste of seafood. I said a prayer to help me tolerate it, and it actually wasn't bad! I might add, I was called on to say the prayer at all of these dinner appointments, and even in sacrament. What's going on. I ate a ton of salad this week. The veggies are starting to really not stand a chance against me. If you know me, you'll know how incredible that is. 

We taught an 11 year old the Plan of Salvation. It took me an hour, but I made an entire lesson revolve around the newest Zelda game, Breath of the Wild. It was amazing! He paid attention the entire time! And he said Ganon represented Satan before we mentioned it! It was a way fun lesson to teach. Thank you, Nintendo.

On one if the days where we stayed inside, we got two new investigators. Pretty crazy. One was a referral from other missionaries, and he's even on date to be baptized! The other was the kid for the Zelda lesson. I was so surprised that a day of nothing yielded so much success.

Throughout this week, I was getting incredible headaches. I was pretty surprised and glad when I realized what was causing them. I don't like hearing people sigh deeply, but it doesn't bother me too much. My companion wasn't feeling well at all, and so he'd do three of them in a single minute, consistently throughout the day. It would irritate me and so I found myself leaving to go to another room and dwell on it. The negativity would give me huge headaches. Once I made the connection, I made a goal to be more patient. I haven't had a headache since! 

That's about all I have to share. Hopefully we can go out and do more this week!

Bubbles

Snow, because why not

They have weird snow

Parable of the Rubik Cube

Parable of the Rubik Cube

Many people have a Rubik cube in their homes. However, only a portion know how to truly solve it.  Some people have one they don’t care for. Others have earnestly tried but failed to complete it. There was a period of time that many people could solve it with ease, but those days have come to an end.  Instructions have been handed out, but through the ages, changes have been made. Some steps were lost in translation. Others were purposely altered to lead men astray. Some aren’t even for the complete cube and only exist to create patterns.

One day Elder Ruth received a cube that had instructions with it, written in Chinese with poorly translated English.  He worked hard to follow the steps as best as he could. It felt like he was making some good progress. However, it got to a point he couldn’t pass.  No matter how closely he followed the instructions, he couldn’t do it right. A wise man watched him struggle in silence before coming unto him. “If you allow me, I can help you.” Elder Ruth rejected the help and continued trying to solve the cube.  He looked up and watched as the man, now in the distance, gracefully solving his own cube. With more determination, Elder Ruth worked on the cube again. No matter what he did, he could not solve the cube using the Chinese instructions. The man spoke up again.  “If you allow me, I can help you”. Elder Ruth dropped his pride and listened to the man. They worked together with different instructions and solved the cube. New life entered Elder Ruth as he saw the truth. He finally found his way and unlocked the full truth.

Similarly many people know of Christianity.  However, only a portion know of the true church.  Some people don’t care. Others have earnestly tried and failed to find the truth. There was a period of time when all Christians knew the truth.  Those days have come to an end. We once had a perfect Bible, but over the ages, changes have been made. Some things were lost in translation. Others were purposefully altered to deceive many and some changes were there because man thought it made sense.

One day a very good man received a bible.  He read through the entire thing and was determined to change for the better.  It felt like he was making good progress. However, he eventually felt like he was trying to fill a cup with a hole in the bottom.  No matter how hard he tried, he could not keep the sense of peace and comfort with him. A wise man watched him and eventually came up to him.  “If you allow me, I can help you”. The man rejected him and continued reading the bible and praying. He eventually looked up and watched the man who offered to help.  He seemed genuinely happy and things worked out well for him. No matter how hard he tried, he knew he couldn't succeed like that man.

Eventually he asked the man to help him, using only the bible.  H was able to offer some help, but something was missing. He spoke again, “If you allow me, I can help you”.  The first man agreed so the other man handed him a Book of Mormon. Together they worked and learned and grew until the first man was truly happy.  He had found the true church of Jesus Christ.

The bible isn’t perfect, but it has many good things in it.  When the Book of Mormon joins it, the two work together to dispel false doctrine.  The verify and validify each other. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ.  

My Week

This week was pretty great, despite the weather. It snowed a lot, but it also rained a lot, too. The snow was eradicated, and it was usually cold. Never knew what we'd have to deal with each day. 

I was so grateful for all the birthday wishes. I am 19 now! I feel the same. But I appreciate all you wishing me a happy birthday, it was really good. Someone even brought me a cake! [a missionary mom that Lori found.  She is the sweetest!]  Thanks everyone:)

We brought a member who had been having tons of family struggles to Stake Conference. Every single talk seemed to speak directly to him. It made me so happy to see Christ's light in him. He is ready to change things around and become the father he knows he can be. 

For some service this week, a DI center had us breaking a bunch of ice in the parking lot. They had a large tool to destroy the ice, along with a garden hoe and something else. I absolutely destroyed that garden hoe, and another one of us broke the other tool. We used the last remaining tool to just demolish all the ice. We weren't in trouble at all for those breaking, thank goodness. We then unloaded 88 heavy boxes assembly line style out of a semi truck. That was exhausting! I kept thinking to myself, "give me strength, because I've never broken the word of wisdom! 

I can't wait to share a story about a rubiks cube I got for my birthday. I will share it next week, after I share it during fast and testimony meeting. 

We just had miracle after miracle this week. We got a new investigator, pulled an old one out of the woodwork, and helped tons of people. I felt like an instrument in the hands of the Lord. It was an amazing week. I'm so glad to be here in Idaho. (Never thought I'd say that :'D) 

That's all I have for this week!

My birthday cake that a Missionary Momma made for me!

Say the Prayer, Elder

The snow came down and the taxes went up. It snowed badly thrice this week. We had one day where we were overwhelmed with shoveling for old people. We did it the entire day, and it was brutal. Muscles level up. 

There's a trend going on that I'm not a fan of. It's "Ask Elder Ruth to say the prayer." I don't mind praying, but it's every prayer opportunity there is. I said it at every dinner appointment and lesson we had this week. I even said the opening prayer in priesthood meeting at church, and was then called on to give the closing at the end. They then realized and called someone else. Sometimes people ask us to pray on the streets. I said all those, too. What's going on.

We needed to mop at a food bank, but all the sinks used for filling buckets were taken. I remembered a life hack and put a dust pan into the sink. It funneled to the handle and then dropped down the handle to the bucket on the floor. Sweet.

There was no shortage of singles jokes directed towards us as missionaries on Valentine's day.

I was surprised to see a Pleasant Grove Vikings sticker from 1953 on someone's house. I would've taken a picture if we didn't get distracted immediately by an urgent phone call.

One day, we had three back to back lessons. It was really satisfying to do all those teaching appointments. A good day for pretty much all missionaries in this mission is one lesson a day. All three lessons went pretty well. We even received two new investigators this week. I had a lot of fun with one of them, a 10 year old who loves video games. Teaching kids is way more fun than adults. Anyways, I hope more days can be like that one. It's tough hearing about other missionaries in foreign places get 10 new investigators a week and 5 lessons a day, but it's alright. 

Elder Warnick knocked me out on accident. One missionary gave me a diffuser with lavender in it to help me sleep because I'm terrible at that. While I was saying my prayer, Elder Warnick excitedly got the diffuser and got to work. The only problem is, he's not familiar with how they work. He didn't put enough water in it, and he put far too much lavender. 5-7 drops of oil is easily enough. He said he lost count around 12. I started praying around 10:15, and I woke up at 11:10, still kneeling at my bed. He told me the next day he didn't realize I was asleep until I started snoring loudly. What an adventure.

That's all I have. I challenge you to go read the scriptures and learn something new. 

Tag picture for Mom

Ocarina

I'm learning how to play it!

Come out of the cold, kitty.

Fold tons of boxes for a free pizza

And yesterday it was 50 degrees!

Snowy Trees

A Good Lesson

I wanted to start off my email with the subject line. When you enter the Spokane mission, they have you take a personality test, the color codes! My result is something like 13 white 12 blue 12 yellow and 6 red. In the past, I have almost never been able to get along with a red person. Somehow we always end up angry with each other. There is a sister missionary in my area who is notoriously red. Whenever I heard her name, people always said that she was red. I met her and was extremely nervous around her. I spent the rest of the day dreaming up scenarios where she would get angry with me, and I kept thinking to myself, "what is the problem with her?" I then saw her a few more times and nothing bad happened. I became more and more of a friend to her, but I kept thinking to myself, "what is the problem?" I eventually got to pondering about the topic and had a thought come to mind. Though nothing had happened between us, I realized that I was the problem. We are not defined by our colors. Once I was able to see this, things became great and we are now happily friends.

I've been having a pretty good time in Idaho. Even though it's usually 20 degrees and it's dark and cloudy, it's been real good. One of my favorite things is working at a donation center. We did the clothes sorting, and it's a ton of fun. There isn't always clothes in these bags we take out. I've found many marvelous items such as knives, dolls, change, jewelry, and much more. That being said, it IS clothes donations, so I've found a lot of clothes that I wouldn't want to be seen with. Nevertheless, it's a ton of fun seeing all this cool stuff and being grossed out by the nasty stuff. I almost impaled my foot when I opened one bag. A bunch of knives slipped out of a terribly made sheath within the bag. I grabbed the one that fell by the handle just inches from my foot. So anyways, most of the volunteers there are actually people who have committed some bad crimes, and so they have to be. They were baffled when they asked why we were here. We do service to help others as representatives of Christ. They seemed to light up when they heard. We can't exactly teach about Jesus as we sort clothes, but we can share our spirit!

I've learned not to trust other people's judgement. What was said to be a short walk ended up 5.5 miles round trip. That was a mess. 

We got a new investigator for one of the wards I serve in. Proud to say that it is that wards first new investigator in three months! We also taught a lesson to a man on date to be baptized in March. I learned a lot from that lesson! We sat around for most of it just listening. It was really great getting to hear his spiritual insights. 

A lot of things were not great, but a lot also was great. This week was good and I learned lots about myself and the gospel. I hope I can better express what I learn in the future! Also, our apartment is now clean! Thank goodness. Have a great week everyone. And email me back if you want. I will respond to you. But on Monday.

My collection thus far

Creepy Gingerbread Man

Found a ripped dollar

My car!

Got locked out of the apt

Bail, Bail, Bail (part two)

I've finished my days in Spokane! (probably) I had a lot of good times, and I'm leaving behind some friends I loved dearly, but it's good to be in a new place.

 

We've been in a long process of transferring our area book from paper to electronics. I finished up my area book on my last night, and now I'm in Coeur d'Alene Idaho, where there's still have an area book left. Nooooo. But that's alright. It is partially keeping us out of the rain which has been constant the entire time I've been here.

My new companion is pretty fun to be around. He loves the gospel, but he also loves stupid stuff like video games. We've gotten along pretty well. He's been out for 18 months now, but we are both called "senior companion". I was a bit confused, but it's alright. I've had to drive the car for three transfers straight, and so I gladly let him have the keys. We may have almost died a few times, but here I am, so we're good!

We had the chance to visit with someone on our second day. It was a first time investigator and her member boyfriend who made us tacos. I was thrilled to see how well we shared the lesson with barely any preparation. Me and Elder Warnick have really clicked. We were able to teach her the first lesson and she's committed to read with her boyfriend every night. Other news, I tried habenero pepper for the first time. Not bad at all! I slipped it right into that greasy taco.

We had the opportunity to volunteer at a couple places. The food bank didn't need our help. They've got a pile of expired food, and I saw my favorite cookies in there. The food in there is mostly just a day or two expired. I jumped and the chance. After my first bite, my tongue informed me they'd been expired for weeks. We also went to a clothes donation center where we opened up bags and either threw stuff away or kept it. It was incredibly fun seeing all the weird clothing. I guess I just forgot that underwear is clothing too. I had a few scary encounters with some nasty nasties.

Legions of missionaries have lived in my apartment before me. To tell a long story short, we made three different dumpster runs in the same day. 

On Sunday, I attended two different wards. It was a bit of a long day. However, I was glad because I got to go up and share my testimony in both sacrament meetings. It was a good chance to introduce myself to the wards. I'm so glad to be in Idaho. Everyone here who hears I came from Spokane apologized to me. I guess it really is tough there and I'm not quite the weenie I've made myself out to be.  

It was the Super Bowl last night, and we were told that if someone is watching the Super Bowl to not knock on the door. It was pretty dark, and I was in black clothes. I could see a woman in the window watching t.v., but her t.v. was at an angle I couldn't see. I stealthily crept up her lawn in the shadows to try and see her tv. Right before I was about to behold what she was watching, she turned and saw me and stood up, so I turned and ran as fast as I could as Elder Warnick tried to keep up. Bail Bail bail!

There's a real fancy restaurant on the Coeur d'Alene lake. They've got these huge ice creams called Gooeys. I guess it makes you pretty popular if you can eat one by yourself, and I wanted to prove to myself that I can do hard things. I then set to work. I had to stop halfway through to put on my coat. I shivered so badly, and it took at least 10 minutes, but I ate that entire Gooey. I don't have any more friends than I started with, but I'm still glad I accomplished this feat that I'll never make myself endure through again. It was kinda almost as big as my face.

I'd probably have better things to say if I had my journal with me... ;) 

Ride on Elder Ruth!

Onward I say!

Behold:  The Gooey

Elder Ruth and Elder Warnick

Last selfie with the Sister Missionaries!

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