Sweet Is The Work: closing + whitewashing + training = what.....

Where do I even start....

This week has been absolutely nuts.

We've been dying with all the snow! Our car was grounded a bunch of days and it is super hard to get around in the snow without a car. So our week started off a little rough.

Luckily we had sister's meeting on Wednesday, that was a tender mercy. I learned a ton and it was just the spiritual pick-me-up that I needed. Plus I got to see a ton of sisters that are going home this transfer and I will just miss them so much. There are a ton of sisters that came out right after the age change going home, so the mission is having to adjust a lot of things, but I'll get to that later.

Oh, and after the meeting guess where we went....... CAFE RIO. Yep. Best day.

On Thursday we had another lesson with Carla! Ahhh it was seriously so good. We gave her the plan of salvation pamphlet before hand, and once again she had pretty much taught herself the whole lesson before we got there. She had a ton of awesome questions for us though. She told us that she had never understood the fall of Adam and Even before, but when we explained it she just kept saying, "That makes so much sense!" It just totally clicked for her right in front of our eyes, it was amazing. Every time we teach her I feel like she's teaching us, its awesome.

Then that same day we had a lesson with a less-active in the ward. She's an older lady from Guatemala and she is so cute. She joined the church in Guatemala when she was like 18 and all of her kids are active and have gone on missions and all this stuff, but the problem is she has a job that is super easy, so she likes the money, but she works on Sundays and can't come to church. We have been re-teaching her the missionary discussions so we taught her the Plan of Salvation and talked a bunch about the temple. We showed her the Mormon Message, "Temples are a Beacon" and it just totally brought the spirit and softened her heart. We were super bold with her and just told her that sometimes Heavenly Father requires us to sacrifice, in order to bless us even more. She said she would pray that night and ask Him if she should quit her job. So cool to see people recognize the importance of the temple!

Then the rest of the week kind of went down hill from there..... haha.

Saturday we had a huge arctic blast once again. Our car got stranded at the church and our member had to drive us home. It is super scary to drive on these roads because the people here just don't plow or anything! Crazy. But we survived. We tried to work still, but it was rough. A member brought us dinner that night and we had to push her out of the snow in our parking lot in skirts.... haha I'm sure it was quite the sight.

Then, as we're soaking wet from the snow, we walk in and get a call........ the phone said "Mission Home" so I knew we were getting some bad news about transfers, but I was not expecting this! Here's how the convo went down:

Pres: Hi sisters! How are you?

(Etc..... then he tells Sister Wagstaff that she's getting transferred...)

Pres: I have a question for you Sister Fowers. Have you had a new companion every transfer?

Me: Yes, I have.

Pres: Oh goodness, I'm so sorry. Will you forgive me?

Me: Yes, I will President.

Pres: Ok good, because you are getting transferred. Also, your area is being closed for sisters, so make sure your area book is up to date and give it to the elders . Also, Sister Fowers, are you obedient?

(freaking out inside. what about our investigators???)

Me: Yes, I am.

Pres: Good, because the Lord wants you to train a new missionary. We need trainers who are loving and hard working and obedient. Would you be willing to do that?

Me: Yes.........

(at this point I'm freaking out)

Pres: I promise you that you'll stay with this companion two transfers and we'll give you some stability. You'll be a great leader in the mission and will do great.

Then I precede to have a "moment" on the floor of our apartment......... hahaha.

Ahhh can you guys believe that?? Me and Sister Wagstaff are dying!!

We think that since not as many sisters are coming out, they are having to shut down some areas for sisters. UGH, it was the worst to give the elders our area book and hand over all of our solid investigators :(
The ward is so sad to not have sisters anymore and its just a huge bummer.

Then, the fact that I'm training a new missionary..... oh boy. I'll be whitewashing an area with a greenie, so this should be fun :) Haha I am just really praying that I don't mess her up!
I feel like a greenie still, so maybe we'll just figure it out together!

But yeah its been a stressful few days trying to clean out our whole apartment, pack, and say goodbye to everyone.

We stopped by Rosa's house last night and wow.... she cried a lot. But hopefully she'll be alright being taught by the elders. She doesn't really like them, so we'll see hahaha.

Overall, its been pretty much the most stressful week of my mission! I was reading the other day and ran into this scripture though:

Matt 6:34 "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."

In the past, the end of that scripture never really made sense to me. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof?? What does that mean?

But as I read I thought, maybe "evil thereof" means the bad things that happen, the things we sometimes can't control.

AKA: life.

Things just happen sometimes. Things that you weren't planning for. It seems like nothing ever goes as planned as a missionary haha.

But I think that scripture is trying to say that we can't worry about "the evil thereof" of tomorrow. We can't worry about "the evil thereof" of yesterday either. We can plan and prepare, but sometimes we just have to deal with the craziness of today. Things always have a way of working out if we just trust Him.

"Come what may and love it." -Joseph B. Wirthlin

That's not always easy to do, but when we take a step back we can see that He has a plan for us and He won't leave us helpless. So even when you have the craziest week of your mission, or life, sometimes you just have to take a breather and relax.
It's all going to work out. :)

I'm sad to leave Lakeridge and super sad to leave Sister Wagstaff, but I know that Heavenly Father is preparing a new area for me! I'm expecting miracles. :)

I hope you all have a great week! I pray for you all and hope life is great. Remember to laugh and to smile!

Lots of love!

XOXO Sister Fowers

PS. pic #1 is of Jeff..... oh gosh hahaha. Pic #2 is Brother Thompson, the cutest, sweetest old man from Jamaica. Love him so much.