Miracle week!

Love bike riding.

Wow what a week. I don't even know where to start! Let me start by saying this one simple thing: God is so good. This past week we really took President Anderson's words of council to heart and we saw many countless miracles as a result. We applied this beautiful little formula-- Faith + obedience = tremendous miracles. God gave us many opportunities to exercise our faith and we are so grateful. 

I had such a good Birthday! It was really hard to not be with Katelyn but I know we are both where we are supposed to be. We saw many amazing birthday miracles and I am so grateful! It all started with ward council.... the Elders put my name on the Progress Record that it was my birthday so the entire ward council sang happy birthday! haha it was pretty great. The Happy Birthday song was sung to me at least 8 times! There are so many amazing people here I am truly well taken care of.The Bishops son made me a cheese cake and we went to the Papenfusses for dinner and she made me a cake as well that I got to blow the candles out.  I am so blessed to spend the next year of my life on my mission serving the Lord. 20 is going to be an amazing year. 

We were visiting a less active member. We knew she was home but we couldn't get her to come to the door so I sneeked in through the gate to unlock it for Sister Stegelmeier

We had a miracle on Saturday. We harvested this family that is so amazing! Not only are they married, but the Dad actually works and understands his role as a father and provider. They are amazing and have everything going for them except the fact that they aren't Mormon, well not yet anyways. They are struggling right now though financially in the last few years they have had many unexpected situations and literally have no furniture in there house at all. Anyways on with the story. We were teaching them saturday night and we were solidifying them for church the next day and The Mom said they really wanted to go but just couldn't. We asked what was holding them back. She just put her head down and whispered that with everything going they didn't have money to spare for the laundry mat she hadn't done laundry since OCTOBER! (shd washes the neccesaities by hand) We felt so bad. We told them we had a washer and a dryer and we could wash outfits for church tomorrow.She wasn' t going to let us do it but I jumped up and told her that we would entertain the kids while she went and picked out outfits for them all. I surprised myself with how bold I was but it worked. She didn't ask any questions and went to finding the clothes. We sang songs with the kids. It was so wonderful. The spirit in the home was so strong. By the time we left we had the kids singing I am a child of God and families can be together forever almost perfectly. It was wonderful. They came to church and LOVED IT! You should have seen the kids in primary. They were naturals. I can't wait to continue teaching them and see them get baptized just in time for the new year! Wadline (the mom) felt so bad for us doing her laundry she wanted to give us something in return, so she gave us some of there dinner. It was one of my first experiences with haitian food. It was SPICY!  It was okra with beef and rice. It was interesting but I ate it all and it was pretty good. 

Sister Stegelmeier and I still get along really good. I am learning so much from her. She is such a good missionary. I am so blessed to have her as my trainer. Everyday I learn more and more. Looking back I can see how much I have grown and I am so grateful. I am becoming more confident in teaching. I still have a long way to go but I am happy to see progress. I am even finally enjoying role playing. Role playing is truly an eternal principle and I am going to do it for life. haha Role playing is awesome.  I love contacting people on the street. Especially when we are on our bikes. It is always a good time. 

Thank you for all the love and support from home. Countless emails and letters and I am so grateful! Thank you everyone for all the love and prayers. Here is a special shout out for  CARLEY TAYLOR! I can't believe you are married. I may have shed a tear or to when I saw the picture. You look beautiful and I am so happy for you two! 

Ho Ho Ho

I love The Sommerfeldts

Celebrating my 20th birthday at the Papenfussses

Decorating our Christmas tree in our apartment