Halfway there!!!!

Hello everyone!! It's been another week and I'm also half way done with my mission already! Wooooo!!!! 

So some fun things happened this week and some miracles! We had this really awesome miracle and it kinda got handed to us??? Idk but it was still pretty sweet! So we randomly got a call the other night from Oregon like out of the blue and we had like no idea who it was so we answered it and it was these two elders that had just referred someone over to us! This person is a truck driver they ran into that lives in Stockton! He had been distant from religion but he just recently started turning back to Christ and these missionaries were able to teach him the restoration, gospel of Jesus Christ, AND asked him to think about baptism!!!! Woooo!!! So then another fun thing that happened was that we got to do exchanges and I got to go with Sister Callister! It was so fun!!!!! We also got to do team ups and I went with Sister Fine and we met some really cool people! We also got to have this girl thats Sister Fife and I's age in our ward join us in a lesson named Kayla. The lesson fell through but then we got to visit our friend Elizabeth and she made her one of her "granddaughters" haha! Literally so many blessings this week!

So then for silly things we found this place that's exclusively in Stockton and it's literally called yummy sushi burrito. Idk if y'all have ever heard of a sushi burrito before but just basically picture the thickest roll of sushi you've ever seen in your life and then BOOM! It's so good! 10/10 

Anyways I have a spiritual thought for y'all. So this past week has been kinda tough for me personally and also a lot of the people have we've had lessons with have asked why God allows us to have trials and basically why bad things happen to good people. I've wondered those things myself and I'm learning that the adversity we experience in our lives shapes us into better people. It humbles us and brings us to our knees so we can turn to our Heavenly Father. It gives us a reason to trust in the Lord and have faith in Him and teaches us how to be more like the Savior. One of my favorite quotes from a couple general conferences ago is from Brad Wilcox in his talk Worthiness is Not Flawlessness and he says, "God loves us as we are, but He also loves us too much to leave us this way." God gives us trials because He loves us that much. It seems completely backwards but He knows and loves us as we are and that we have a divine potential to become like Him and have blessings that are so much better than we can even begin to imagine. Sometimes it's hard to trust in the Lord and it feels easier said than done to really believe that those blessings are real and will actually happen. I know though that sometimes when we feel this way it's a test of our faith and we need to show God that we're still willing to trust in Him even when it's hard and not lose hope. God has never left you and will never leave you anytime soon. He is with you every step of the way and He already knows what you're going through and where you've been. He just wants you to turn to Him in prayer and tell Him about it so He can help you and bless you. He loves you more than you know!!

Anyways! I love and miss you all! Please let me know if you need anything or jusr reach out if you want to talk! I will update you all soon! 

Pictures:

1- you ever had a sushi burrito before????

2- back at it again with the froyo

3- idk what this picture even is
4- kayla!!