Let It Go

Me: "Sis Bishop....we should do something fun and crazy for P-day." 
 
Sis Bishop: "Ok.....like what??" 

Me: "Like playing the whipped cream game" 

Sis Bishop: "Ummmmmm........" 


#hatersgonnahate


So as soon as we get home from the store on P-day, we hit the backyard in our junkies and played the WHIPPED CREAM GAME.


We kicked it off and by the time we'd tried 5 or 6 times (and failed almost every time), our faces and arms and clothes were spattered in whipped cream, but we were having a B.L.A.S.T.


Outta the blue, our neighbor, a dude covered in tattoos and swearing every other word, comes poking around the corner, wondering what two chicks having party on a Monday afternoon are doing.

 First think out of his mouth: "So...........ya guys smoke??"



Uhhhhhhhhhhh.......



Better. We play the whipped cream game.

I couldn't help it....so I responded...."Nope! Ya wanna give this a try instead??" and offered him the whipped cream bottle.


Kid couldn't resist. He took it from me and joined right in. (I knew it!.......everyone's mormon deep down;) haha


Eventually, his buddy comes around the corner wondering what's up, and turns the corner just as his friend gets whipped cream all over his face:


"Duuuude.....what the h-- are you doing???"


Only awkward as you make it......sooooo...of course, we offer the bottle to his friend with "Ya know you wanna try it to;)"



We girls got tactics.....



Aaaaannnnddd....pretty soon...two sister missionaries and two hood rats are partying with whipped cream instead of smoking pot. 


#findwhenyouteach                  #teachwhenyouplaywithRediwhip



The guys hung around till the last of the bottle and then said, "Well, we'll see you around, sisters! I go to church, but everyone needs more of Jesus!"


Yes....yes, they do. You're next.

 
Prob the best "finding" story I've got from the mish so far:) I should of had that as a bucket list item..... 



On Wednesday this week, we showed up to a members house to teach their teenage daughter's friend, Bethany, who came once to church a year ago. She came and following her experience, she said, "I couldn't get it out of my head. I'd been looking for a religion for a while, and everything I experienced there stuck with me."

She continued to investigate the church on her own for a YEAR following that one visit to church. Meanwhile, her member friend invited her to listen to the missionaries, but she declined. Come to find, there were only elders serving in the area at the time.


Get this.....FOR A YEAR SHE PRAYED FOR SISTER MISSIONARIES TO COME.


She waited patiently for a year, praying that sisters would be put into the area so that she could be taught by them and feel comfortable learning more. A year later, when her member friend offered again, commenting, without knowing Bethany's prayer, that sister missionaries were now serving in the area, SHE ACCEPTED!!


By the end of our lesson, we were rightly convinced that Bethany knew nearly all of the doctrine we were teaching because of her own personal investigation into the church for the past year. When we got to the end, we asked if she'd be interested in being baptized.


"Yea! I've been thinking a lot about that and YEA, I'd like that!"


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! These are miracles!!!!!! First it was James, and now it's Bethany!!!! She's is one of the most beautiful girls I've ever met, both in and out! She's got such a sweet spirit and a willingness to accept truth!


If nothing else, this experience taught me to NEVER doubt that The Lord is preparing people to accept the gospel, both now and in the future. Bethany's time is NOW and I count myself so blessed to be the answer to her prayers!!! The Lord works in mysterious ways!!! and miraculous ways too!!!!!!


James is still doing amazingly well! He's being blessed in miraculous ways both temporal (yea, like becoming the top Oreck salesman in the NATION! Woop woop!) and spiritual (like tons of missionary opportunities.....love those:) because of his decision to be baptized! He got to bear his testimony in sacrament meeting on Sunday and.......AH! I was SUCH a proud mama!!!! He's got it!!! And his mom, Edith (a non-member) came as well!!! She's next:)




One day this week, Sis Bishop and I were driving somewhere and she suggested we see who could go the longest without talking......with the loser paying for ice cream.


This is only difficult when played by two EXTRAVERTED girls.


#silencedchallenged                #nerdalert


It's harder than it sounds. Like a lot.

UNLESS......that is.......you're bilingual in the only language that doesn't require any talking......


SIGN LANGUAGE.

Sis Bishop didn't think that one through:) guess who payed for ice cream??.......


 
#winnerwinnerchickendinner



Sis bishop and I also discovered the only Jamba Juice around and it's only 10 min away......whaaaaat. I was s.t.o.k.e.d.......Felt like I was back in Provo again.....


#motownmemories


 Some do Starbucks....I do jamba:)..........(oh and btw.....they sell gift cards...just FYI;)




So yes.....mission life is going. Sis bishop and I talked for a long while once this week about how missions are really all about trust. They're about trusting everything and have and everything you are to God. The more you give yourself entirely over to Him, the more He makes of you. The more you rely on Him, the more He strengthens you. If He's on your side, nothing else matters.


You're winning.


Yea, you'll experience setbacks and disappointment on the mission.....they can't always be easy.....but those shortcomings make you rely even more on the atonement and Jesus Christ to pull you through.



 Sooooo.....let it go!     (#teamdemi:)



Let it go:  your will, your pride, your strength, and your desires. And instead, embrace His and He in return will embrace YOU! Like Elder Holland says, you're in the hands of the divine potter.....He'll mold you to be more than you could ever be on your own.....if you let Him!

Onward and upward,

Sister Anna Parker

 For those of you who don't know how to play the whipped cream game.......

my beautiful comp demonstrating the whipped cream game

#win after 20 #fails:) 

new-found neighbor;)

beautiful mess <3