The One Where We Teach All the Convicts

 Hey y'all! Another week in paradise (aka the hood of Las Vegas)! It was kinda a hard week, but Another day, another dollar (aka blessing)! Let's get into it....

Some happy things and what I learned from them:

• We got to stop in a go to the last little bit of our ward's relief society activity. They were making Christmas crafts. We helped them clean up and I got to chat with people. It made me realize that I have gotten to meet so many members so far! Yay!

• Barbara!! We were walking in a neighborhood and saw a lady scream ranting to her friend in her garage. We usually talk to everyone, but we didn't feel good about talking to them in that moment. So instead we said that we would talk to them when we wrapped back around to their house. So we did. And she was calm. We started talking to her and she stopped. The she asked, " wait are you LDS" and we said yes and she just paused and we sat there for a sec. Turns out! She was a member. She had gotten baptized 6 years prior and then her husband was murdered and no one reached out to her and make sure she was ok. But she said she wanted to come back to church because that is where she felt the most joy. Yay!! We need to make sure to check on people. It hurts when people don't reach out. Ministering to people is SO IMPORTANT. Go give someone a call and tell them you love them and are thinking of them!

• We put the dad of the family with 6 kids on date for baptism!! Yay! They are so awesome. We had an awesome lesson and our fellowship was amazing. We taught him about baptism and faith and enduring to the end. He loves the community of the church. It's just crazy, because I have grown up in the church and I don't know what it feels like to not have the community of the church. I am so grateful for ward families!!

• We did a service project with our zone yesterday!! It was so fun! We got to help families and homeless people shop for thanksgiving with the Salvation Army. It was so humbling to see that so many people are in so in need of just the bare necessities like food. One lady was talking about how they literally only had some canned refried beans left on their pantry shelf at home. It's crazy. I have never seen so many homeless people than i have in Las Vegas. So sad. Anyways, the service project was SO FUN! We got to meet, talk to, and help so so many people. It was a amazing. I think it is worth mentioning that i met a guy named Grumpy. 

Some hard things and what I learned from them:

• Brody!! We met his mom and she said she isn't religious at all, but her 14 year old son is. We set up a lesson with him. The lesson was so hard. He did not know ANYTHING about Jesus Christ or God. I am so bad at teaching simply. I struggle with it a lot and get super anxious. I think we overwhelmed him. But the Lord's work is perfect. He is still anxious to learn more. The words that you say is never gonna make someone not accept the gospel, because the spirit is what teaches them, not you.

• I HATE ROLEPLAYS! That's all i have to say. I just laugh the entire time and do so bad. 

• We had only 2 friends at church this Sunday compared to the 5 friends last Sunday. It was such a let down. People don't understand how important church is!! It's so sad.

• Yesterday, I had a feeling to knock this one door. So we went and inspire knocked it and as soon as I knocked the door, my heart sunk and it felt really hard to breath. The spirit was shoving us out of there. I'm not sure why, but we left. The spirit truly is any feeling that you get to protect you or comfort you. I have been able to notice the spirit more and not brush it aside as myself. Anything good comes from God.

Some funny things that made me laugh:

• Now for the title lol. We are now teaching a total of 6 people who have been to jail and were recently let out. One guy actually said, "God has changed me, I used to love to rob people. All the time I rob people. It was so fun to me." Lol. Another guy we talked to literally 3 hours before we met him. And another guy had been in prison for 27 years a year ago. Lol. But they are all super cool.

• Crazy story. So one day i was riding my bike and spotted a guy from my high school literally living in my apartment complex!! Ahhh it was Ravi for any of you who know him. Anyways, we got talking and we invited him to church. He came on Sunday!! But when he first got there he went in to give me a hug and I completely SWERVED him. Like so bad. I felt so bad!! It was just my first instinct. Oops. It was a great Sunday with him though.

• So we have a family of cats that live in our apartment complex. We named them Diamond, Opal, Sapphire, Moisenite, and Ruby. They follow us around, but usually don't let us get close to them. WELL this week, Diamond sat down when we started calling to her. We got closer and closer and then SHE TOUCHED ME!!! So exciting!!

• I crashed my bike and broke my water bottle and then had to leave it behind because it was dead weight and couldn't close. So sad, but it made me laugh.

Drum roll please...... Sister Rose time. 

Humility. Humility is knowing and believing that anything good comes from God, the Lord's timing is perfect, and you desire to do His will completely. When you understand this, you understand that His commandments are only there for you to be blessed even more and He has reason for every commandment that you have been given. Your Heavenly Father loves you. 

I love y'all,

Sister Rose

1. Me posin with Santi Claus

2. We ran into the Elders so we had to take a pic

3. Exchanges with Sister Walker

4. Our cutie zone at the service project

5. Sister Seibold and I with Diamond!

6. Windiest walk to church

7.Sister Seibold and I 

8. The crime scene of my water bottle breaking and bike crash

9. We parked our bikes on a no parking sign

10. I'm not very good at driving a bike tbh