Miracles...

(my favorite picture -britt)

HOLA my people....

how's it goin'? I have SO much to tell you this week. Let's get started.

First off, I want you to know how much the Lord is blessing us here in this area. When I first came to Rhinelander, things were moving, but they were slow. Sister Bishop and I worked hard and then by the time Sister Cousin came things just caught fire. We set high goals... AND we are MEETING them!!! It is amazing to see the miracles that come as we put our FAITH in CHRIST, have HOPE , EXPECT those ANSWERS to PRAYERS and EXPECT MIRACLES. We have been doing that. I recommend it. There are days when I get scared thinking, "oh no, what if this or what if that..." but then i remember that FEAR and FAITH cannot coexist. so i REPENT! :) try it.

We have been teaching Dan & Genni... more on them to come. But last night we taught them about Alma the Younger, per Dan's request. It was AmAzing. I realized as I was sitting there, how much I LOVE the scriptures now. I didn't love them like this before. Anyways, we taught him how Alma saw the angel and for 3 days and 3 nights was in a coma of sorts. We flipped from Mosiah 27 to Alma 36 and read what he taught his son Helaman about being in bitter darkness, but that it wasn't until he remembered his father teaching about Christ's atonement that he prayed ... and is Mosiah he accounts, " 29 My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more."

I LOVE LOVE LOVE all the references to DARK and LIGHT in the scriptures. That has been a theme with dan and genni. I know that we can find ourselves in the darkness, in our own personal states of apostasy ... the only way out is Jesus Christ. Elder Holland says he is the way OUT he is the WAY up he KNOWS the WAY because HE IS THE WAY." As we seek Jesus Christ and REPENT or CHANGE... we will find ourselves in a place of LIGHT and understanding, peace and comfort! That's the ONLY way Alma the Younger could escape is previous life... REPENTANCE. Aren't the scriptures just AMAZING?

I love serving up here in Rhinelander. I have learned so much from the people here... THEY ARE SO RESOURCEFUL. Most people here hunt and fish and that is what they live off of all year long. its amazing. I have had some most amazing venison steaks and things lately. It's so not like me to enjoy that... but it actually tastes BETTER sometimes. Also, more recently many ward members have had baby chicks delivered. The popular amount is 100. They are SO CUTE... but they feed them and then they harvest them and live off of that all year too. It's AmAzing. No preservatives, no nothin'.... that's the way to do it! It's just a different way of life... and i like it!

it's just so small town, ya know? like last week we went in to BB JACKS in antigo and there were probably 25 old men around the bar and surrounding tables with their eyes glued to the big screens because the antigo high school boys basketball team was competing in the state championships in milwaukee and they all wanted to see it! hilarious. you just don't get that everywhere you go.

so i have been having clothing malfunctions lately. oh the joys of wearing a skirt everyday! TWICE since sister cousin has been here I have had my skirt tucked in wierd or twisted funny and she has to fix me. It's mortifying at the moment, but hilarious afterwards. we have a lot of fun together! all we do is laugh... laugh so hard we cry!

Here is the DL on the week...

monday the 22nd

we still had no car. we walked to sam's house for breakfast. we emailed and then walked home. on our way home we got the most delicious ice cream cones from a cute little ice cream shop here in rhinelander... its all chocolate and candy inside... SO YUMMY! that was the best waffle cone i have ever eaten! THEN... it finally happened... WE GOT OUR CAR BACK!!! George at the Chevy Dealership and I are best friends, BFFS if you will. We don't even talk it full sentances to eachother now... it's all code. Like we can communicate in a matter of 2-3 phrases. so funny. He is the best and takes such good care of us. He said we should be set now... no more problems for a while. THANK GOODNESS! To celebrate we had lunch at Casa Real. . . THE MEXICAN RESTAURANT in town. I knew it was a good sign when i walked in and they all spoke spanish! FINALLY... i must say this is the first legit mexican food place i've eaten at in 18 months! i got my usual... 1 deep fried bean burro and a side of beans! it was a good day! we taught Cathey Bayer, a lady we met tracting and set a baptismal date with her for april 11th. i love cathey. we have to teach her more simply... but she is a sponge. such a good lady.

tuesday the 23rd

we had district meeting. Elder Goldsmith is a great district leader. It is so obvious he takes time to prepare to teach us... he always seems to talk about JUST what i NEED! I love him. He brings a good spirit to our district meetings. Then we headed to Antigo. Some appointments cancelled, I HATE THAT, but that's the way it goes, so we taught Holly & Joey & Theresa. Joey is preparing for Baptism April 11th. He is 10 and is so excited about the gospel. I love the faith of a child. We contacted some referrals, one was in SPANISH!!! It was so fun to whip that out again... it's been a while! We then went to the Peters' home for dinner to teach their friend Jim. Jim was challenged by the stake president to take the lessons because he came to the church on the sunday that was branch conference. SO COOL! He is going thru some hard family stuff, him and his wife are separated... but he sees a NEED for the gospel. He works with Bro. Peters' and he loves and respects them so much. You can just see it. Jim brought his daughter and his daughter's friend to the lesson as well. We taught the plan of salvation. It was such a great lesson and they had so many questions. They don't have a strong background in religion so it was all new to them. I LOVE TEACHING THE PLAN OF SALVATION.

wednesday the 24th

basically every single thing we had planned today cancelled. seriously, from members to investigators to EVERYTHING... but we made the best of it and headed to crandon to visit with Andrea. She has MS and gets really depressed, she's been a member of the church for a while, but she has forgetten much because she no longer attends... we committed her to come to church and to pray. I so much just want to do things for people like Andrea... but she has to do the work. SHE HAS TO PRAY and FEEL the ANSWERS, I just can't do that for her... she has no idea the blessings she is missing out on. We then headed to Minoqua to visit with Abram and Scott for a bit on the golf course... that was fun! ABRAM is FINALLY BACK from Utah! He had a great time and plans on moving there this summer. I love Abram. I just wish he too could see the blessings he is missing out on from not committing to baptism. The blessings are AmAzing! He'll get there.. hopefully SOON... i want to be here for that. Then we taught the drivers family the plan of salvation... they are less active and just having a hard time... their kids are wild. In fact, they sent them all away while we taught. so sad, we intended on teaching the whole family... bishop is going to work on that! Family is so important, we don't care if they're wild... we like that! i love a challenge. ha then we came to the church and taught brian with breanne. i love those two. We talked about the book of mormon, how to study it, how to mark your scriptures... etc. it was good. He is such a great convert to the church. Brian is going to be a faithful leader in this church, you can just see it in him. Our last lesson was with Genni and Dan. WHEW... every lesson we have with them is so intense. They are STARVING for the gospel and they are so desperate to get out of the dark... we talked about the relationship between faith and miracles. Dan has a drug addiction problem and we told him how only faith and repentance can really heal him. He just looks at us with so much faith and hope in his eyes. such a good kid. He is so ready for this. i love dan and genni and martha. We told him that we love him and have faith he can do it and he believes us. I'll do anything to see that kid succeed.

thursday the 25th

we did service for sam... helped her sort baby clothes and stuff for her garage sale. Then we Heart attacked the lindner's... he is bishop and his family has been going thru SO much lately. I just love them. They are such honest, sincere people and they have a real love for the gospel. They are so good to us as missionaries. that was fun. ONly their daughter's dog, bruiser was going ballistic... we thought nobody was home. WELP... sister lindner was there and so we had to go in and talk with her for a while. After that we still did the heart attacking. it was fun. on sunday bishop said, "what was that mess on my front door?!" ha we all laughed. Today we were fasting for dan and genni. well i got SO SICK... i had a migraine and was in bed and throwing up the rest of the day. No more fasting for this girl for a while. it was so awful. Dad, can you fast? You get sick too, don't you? Man, sister cousin suggested I don't fast anymore either! haha poor girl. she was stuck inside again.

friday the 26th

we studied. we taught cathey in her home and then went with sister Kagie to the HUNAN for lunch. I had the best SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN i have ever had in my life there. so yummy. that's in eagle river. Then we taught allen at the church with Breanne. We taught him the plan of Salvation. He asked so many good questions. i love that guy... he is a good dad to his little girl Haylie. As we were leaving the church, a man walked in and asked us if we could give him some info, his daughter is in a religions class in Oclaire and is coming home for the weekend and wants to study mormonism. He said he had a good experience with the mormons when he was in salt lake, he toured temple square and he wants his daughter to get some good info too. We invited him and her to churhc sunday. He said she'd be there. what a miracle... we're usually NEVER at the church at that time. so interesting. Vicki taught us at her home with AJ... that was fun. SHe read us the talk she gave last week and taught us the visiting teaching message. New Converts to the church are so amazing. they are constantly building my testimony. I want to be like them... faith so strong they could do ANYTHING! Then we heart attacked martha! we were so smoothe... she didn't even know! We also saw Ray today. He's like the Where's Waldo guy of Rhinelander. We see him everywhere. He finally committed to church! woo-hoo! The Racine sisters called me today! They said, "You are very missed here!" I love that place. They said that president calderwood told them, "i miss sister black, i had some of my best arguments with her!" haha HE is in BALLET now... yes i laughed so hard i cried. i love that man. i love his family!

saturday the 27th

we studied. then we drove to elcho and then went the rest of the way with the palmers to wausau to the STAKE ROADSHOW... both JIM and JOEY from the ANTIGO branch went. it was a lot of fun... why doesn't our home stake do those anymore? i loved it. To end our day we went to arbor vitae to help sister sturma clean her home. she is preparing for open heart surgery on friday. she is a hoarder, everything she has is really really nice, she just has SO much it's in piles and piles everywhere. one person had to distract her while the other packed boxes and put them in her garage. She is a great lady and we had a lot of fun.... but it was a lot of work! we were SO tired!

sunday the 28th

SO MANY INVESTIGATORS AT CHURCH....

the man's daughter: justine

ray

dan and genni

cathey

joey

jim

AMAZING...

we have 7 investigators with a baptismal date!!!!

we had a bomb lesson with dan and genni on chastity... more on that next week!!!

they are kicking me off....

remember, i still check the mailbox everyday and my email every monday!!!! WRITE ME!!!!

i love you all!!!!

love, your little missionary girl