Goat Yoga - WEEK 22

If you've never done goat yoga, I'd highly recommend it. It's just like regular yoga, but the twist is that baby goats hop on you the entire time. It was the greatest thing I've ever experienced and the goats are SO CUTE!! We'd be planking or bent over and a goat would just hop from person to person. They make the most adorable noises too (blehehehe right in your ear) and even bite your hair sometimes. Long story short: I'm obsessed with goat yoga :)

Also got to do a bunch of longboarding this week which was DOPE and I miss it so much. We met some friends at the parthenon who let us ride their longboards around the park. Seth from the ward brought his boards to dinner one night too and let us borrow them!

Made more than 100 cookies last week for a ward service activity! We put a few in each bagged lunch and delivered them to a bunch of people in need! After the activity we taught the Plan of Salvation to this super sweet girl named Cat who's atheist but loves learning about different religions. She said the Plan of Salvation makes more sense than anything she has ever heard in her life and asked about a dozen times if we had a Book of Mormon she could read and have for herself! She said she'd read the whole thing asap!! It was incredible!

Played some basketball with the elders on Thursday morning. Gave Pete a church tour later that day, had some more deep discussions about baptism and the sacrament, then he came to institute with us. Our friend Nicole came too and brought her adorable dog!! Elder Gee, Elder Hart, and we have a new joke where we put random things in each other's cars like chairs or Christmas trees hahaha. So we passed the tree onto another missionary car that night and they got a good laugh out of it.

On Friday we got to volunteer at Habitat for Humanity for the day with the elders! We built and assembled a bunch of stuff like kitchen cabinets and counter tops. It was so fun. Moved a lot of furniture (and each other teehee) with dollies around the store! Had another lesson with Jackson that night at the temple! We went to this delicious burger place in Franklin that night with the elders.

Saturday morning we had a bunch of lessons then went to Nicole's house to meet her parents since they were in town! They gave us the cutest little "I am a child of God" necklaces. Highlight of the day was getting to see Elder Thomason on a Spanish study video call. Transfers suck but reunions are always sweet!

Sunday was Elder Hart and my 5 month mark as missionaries! TIME IS FLYING TOO FAST!! Church was great <3 Allegra played her harp and sang "If you could hie to kolob" and it was the most angelic thing I've ever heard. We had dinner at Ethan's house that night with all the elders! Had delicious peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes. We met some of our neighbors in our apartment complex who go to Belmont and started teaching them about the gospel!

On Monday we taught some more lessons then had lunch with Emily from our ward and her family. They're Colombian and they made us a feast of all their favorite traditional foods. Wowowow it was so good. Played more basketball and then got sushi with Abbey that night <3 :) Went to the Parthenon with the ward for FHE and played ultimate Frisbee, tag, and did a lot of gymnastics and jiu-jitsu haha. Something amazing - we had a lesson with our friend Alex on the steps of the Parthenon and taught the restoration. It was getting super dark outside, but as soon as we started sharing the First Vision, all the lights of the Parthenon turned on and it got so bright. It was incredible and the spirit was so strong. Alex - "Now if that's not a sign from God that this message is important, I don't know what is!"

On Tuesday we had district council and I led a training on teaching for commitment and extending prayerful, meaningful invitations. Our district went to a Thai restaurant after! We met with Sunnie from our ward Tuesday afternoon and started planning a huge "culture night" where everyone in our ward and their friends can learn about temples and family history! Emily and her family said they'll cook more Colombian food everyone who comes to the activity and we are so excited! It's gonna be epic. We went to dinner at Andrew's and had curry and peach cobbler! Then had some more lessons that night! What a crazy fun week :) I'm still so brain dead at the end of every day but my spiritual battery is happy and full! I love these missionaries and the people we get to meet every day! This work is my joy! God is so good to us.

I wanted to share a miracle and answer to prayer from Saturday night. One of our friends who was baptized not too long ago had gone completely inactive and not talked to us in months no matter how many times we called, texted, sent messages with scriptures or gospel videos, sent words of encouragement saying how much we love and miss him, etc. We felt inspired to tag him in the bonfire that night (which is a live Facebook broadcast put on by our mission with Christ centered messages and music) and he responded "I hope yall are doing well today. Blessings to you and may the Lord continue to give you the strength to do the work that continues to give." That was the first we had heard from him in months. I screamed with excitement when I saw his message and we gave him a call. After so long, he finally answered and we talked for a long while. I was literally so happy I cried. We were able to hear about all that was going on in his life and help him know that we're here for him and love him. Invited him to come back to church and he said he will this next week :,,))

He said that even though he hasn't responded to anything from us and went completely MIA, he watched every uplifting video we sent him, read every scripture, listened to every voice-mail, and read every text. He said our kind words and efforts to reach out gave him the strength to get through each day. He said it meant the world knowing we would never give up on him, no matter how long we had to wait. It touched his heart knowing how much we care.

Moral of the story: it doesn't matter how far people wander or how long they disappear, we must seek out the lost sheep. We must love them and care for them ALWAYS. We can never give up on those we love. Every child of God is precious, and we have the opportunity to strengthen each other in our times of trial. Jesus Christ, our Shepherd, would leave the ninety nine to find the one lost. John 10:14 "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine." Matthew 18:11-13 "For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray." Our Savior gave it all to save each one of us. He seeks us out when we fall away. He calls us by name and beckons us to return. We must follow His example and search for those who are lost or alone or suffering. We can bear one another's burdens. I invite each of you to pray to know who you can help this week :) God will help guide us to His lost sheep and we can gather them into the safety of His love.

*abrazos*

<3 hc

- coooookie

- abbey <3

- sushi w/ the squad

- girl gang

- me when abbey tries to leave me and move to Utah

- girl gang part 2

- elder gee, elder Johnston, and Andrew recreating our pic

- habitat for humanity volunteers

- our last Sunday with abbey :(

- the temple!