Called to Serve: week 37: somos las hermanas CAMINANDO

Our car went into the shop this week, so we were on bikes and foot for a few days. Wednesday night, we got dropped off for a lesson on the other side of town and when it fell through we decided to just knock and talk the whole way home. We did that for an hour and a half and then walked the last bit home until 10pm. 6 miles in total and only took 2.5 hours with stops haha. Real missionary work right there!

We taught lessons off the walls this week! We found another 5 friends this week and are currently teaching 20 people!! My brain is constantly on overload trying to remember everyone haha. We had a zone challenge on Sunday to ask 10 people for referrals and our ward had only 15 groups, so we only asked 8 people. But Monday night we had a member lesson and asked for any referrals. Brother Lamb gave us not just 1 or 2, but 26!!! He told us basically all the Hispanics in his trailer park and said at least 5 would be baptized!! We started knocking them this week and already started teaching 3 people! The very first door to open was a girl named Maria. We walked in and she was SO excited because her sister had lessons from missionaries a few years ago and she had been praying that they would come back so she could be baptized! She is another 9 year old(I guess Heavenly Father knows I wanted to teach 3rd grade before the mish and is giving me the chance now haha). She was SO excited when we gave her a Book of Mormon stories and is so pumped to be baptized in August!! Our goal is to work with the whole family and get them all coming back to church. She is already setting a great example and it is awesome! Keep her in your prayers!

On a funny lesson note, we started teaching a guy named Gustavo this week who is golden! He already had a Book of Mormon that was given to him by his friend from Nicaragua. Turns out that friend was our fellowshipper's son!!? #inspired! Well Gustavo flirted with Hermana Zayela during the lesson and ended up asking her out after. HA! As we left, she grabbed my arm and goes, "Don't leave me! He wants me!" We ran out to the car and I jokingly said, "Flirt to convert??" and she responds with a big grin and "That's how we do it!" Keep in mind this lady is 60+!!! Hermana Miller and I were DEAD!!! Missionaries or matchmakers?? Haha, but he is seriously awesome and that connection was the cherry on top of an awesome spirit filled lesson!

Natalie Castillo's baptism was the best day!! The 6 hour road trip to Springville was so worth it to see Natalie and her whole family so excited for her special day! Her dad was also able to baptize her after working this month to becoming worthy again! That's what we love!!! It was also President and Sister O'Riordan's last baptism to attend as mission president! Talk about an awesome surprise! I gave the talk on baptism and used my hard boiled egg analogy (iykyk), but Natalie didn't really know what to do with it. First she just chucked it in the trash and then she crushed the egg instead of peeling it which totally threw off the object lesson hahaha. I was so embarrassed and trying not to die laughing like everyone else, but it was kinda a mess ngl. Classic Hermana Dougall move, especially in front of Prez oof. But Natalie loved it and she won't forget that part of the baptism for sure haha. It was a great evening though and made my missionary heart swell to see everyone so happy!! This is what missionary work is all about!

MILAGRO: 2 parts to this week's miracle! (You might want to read this one folks) Utah has been dryyyyy this year and we finally got some rain this week! Not my favorite weather, but the storms were kinda fun haha. And it smelled like Vegas rain!! But speaking of rainnnn, I found out on Tuesday that I'm going to England on August 12!! When I saw the email, I started to cry out of nowhere. Totally mixed feelings. I'm excited to finally go to my original call, experience the British culture, and meet the people there, but I'm sad to leave Utah and Spanish and the amazing people I've met here! I know everything will work out for the best though, so in the meantime send British memes haha.

We had the chance to listen to a super awesome devo this week about loving, sharing, and inviting others. It was really inspiring to hear people, especialmente kids, talk about their missionary experiences!! When we share the joy we feel with others, whether it be joy that comes from the gospel or joy from eating chocolate cake or running 10 miles, it helps to lift others!! This week we held a sports night to invite ward members and our friends and it was a HIT! We shared the joy we feel for sports and were able to make lots of friends in the process through spikeball, volleyball, and frisbee. Super easy, normal, and natural thing to invite someone to right?? Well my challenge for y'all this week is to extend an invite to someone for something that brings you joy! Invite a friend to go to a movie, invite a coworker to get ice-cream after work, invite your parents to go for a walk, invite a sibling to play a game of soccer. It's easy and it is the fastest way to build a good relationship! "Love, share, and invite!!"

bueno, Hermana Dougall

Also one last funny!! When we said goodbyes to president last night after the baptism he was asking me a question, but I couldn't understand with his Australian accent. All of a sudden he went full American and says, "are you TIIIIRED?" I think that was the first time I ever heard him make fun of American accents and it was by far the funniest thing he has ever said to me. Still laughing 12 hours later.