Yep, 'bout sums it up. It was a good week though. We're kickin'. Literally and figuratively (see below:). Thursday, we got to go downtown to the Pulaski chapel for SISTERS CONFERENCE!
It was a lot of fun seeing ALL the sisters from the mission! Out of the near 100 sisters, only 10 or so were here before the Woodbury's came!!! C.R.A.Z.Y!!! We now claim 46% of the mission as sisters!!!
#girlpower
For the conference, I was asked to TEACH SELF DEFENSE to all the sisters! It was a BLAST! I taught basic prevention tips as well as how to escape choke holds, hair pulls, and head locks. (Ahhhhhh.....totally brought back the college days:) I got talked into teaching forward take-downs too.....which.....not gonna lie, was SUCH a blast!! Heads up Chi-town.....these girls mean business:) #dontmess
For a while now, I been getting a prompting that I should brush up on my ASL skills. IDK why, but when a prompting like that comes......gotta do whatchya gotta do:) So....I posted a video to FB of me signing my testimony and inviting viewers to message me for more information. No earth-shattering success stories to tell......yet......(maybe it's because my signing was SO rusty:).....but, I'm hopeful! We'll see where it goes!
We're also full steam ahead for the blood drive coming up this Saturday! Ahhhh!! The pressure is on, because there have been hundreds of donation cancellations due to the weather, so the blood drive people are really counting on us to pull through!
#cando #mormonstotherescue
I think they should start an LDS humanitarian effort called Mormon Helping Arms where all us Mormons hand over our arms to donate blood:) #suchamissionaryhere:) Our hope is to get members of the community into the building to see how Mormons support service and community involvement (and to recognize us missionaries in name tags:). A for Effort, right? Hey, ya gotta get creative sometimes:) Pray we get a good turnout and that members will invite their friends!
Another highlight of the week was buying a yoga mat and Jillian Michael's kickboxing workout (chill....they're approved in this mission:)!!! AH! I'm in heaven!!!!! Doesn't take much to make me happy:) #suchasporty! It's been a whole world easier to workout now that I'm not grinding my spine into the hard wood floors doing crunches or slipping all over the room doing yoga in socks:) #1stworldprobs
Our weekend, once again, was a.m.a.z.i.n.g.! We had four member-present lessons in just two days!! Ah! It was beautiful! And then on Sunday, we had four investigators at church!!! Booyah! During sacrament meeting, Josh was also able to pass the sacrament!!! The same joy we felt at his baptism came flooding back all over again as we watched him in white shirt and tie, pass the sacrament for the first time!!!!
#joyrush!
THERE IS NO OTHER HAPPINESS TO BE FELT IN THIS WORLD!!! #missionpride
Margaret and Abass are still well on their way to baptism! We are SO excited for them!!!! They have growing testimonies and their eyes light up when we come to teach! Dawon is also doing well, slow and steady, and we love meeting with him! He has a sincere desire to know God's will, so pray that he gets a confirmation of the truthfulness of this gospel!!
Our adventures for the week included trying to cook with our oven while our faulty fire alarm WOULDN'T stop going off.....I resorted to standing under the blasted thing with a broom stick, waiting to shut it off every other second. We also went and helped the bishop's wife decorate cookies for two hours....#sweetservice #literally:) Sis Teare and I have resorted to RUNNING back to our apt from the parking lot every night to escape the cold.....#suchdorks #pencilskirtskillz:) and we managed to avoid a run-in with the police this week!!! Yea, I know, you're all impressed.....well, ya should be:)
We're hanging in there, trying to out-live the cold, getting jammed up with Nashville Tribute Band, lovin' our investigatin' peeps, and seeing the hand of God in our lives every day!!!
The most powerful lesson I've learned this week is that the best way to access the atonement is through PRAYER. Sounds obvious, right. That's what I thought, till I really started studying the atonement.
I feel like before the mission, I knew the atonement was real and powerful, but I had no idea just how truly SAVING it is. I don't fully understand the atonement now (IDK that I'll ever completely understand
it), but one thing I do know, that when there is NOTHING else left for you to fall back on or run to, THE ATONEMENT OF JESUS CHRIST IS ALWAYS THERE.
A mission is intended to be hard, to be demanding, and to be expanding. It also inevitably brings you to a point where you are literally dragged to your knees, begging for help and strength when you have nothing left to give. When it seems like there is nothing else you can do and when you feel like all hope is lost, PRAYER opens the windows of heaven and allows the atonement of Jesus Christ to come into full effect in your heart.
I can't even say exactly how it happens, or why exactly prayer is the gear that sets things in motion. I do know, though, that somehow, when you fall to your knees in your last attempt to find saving, the atonement is there. IT'S THERE! I know that it's power to heal and to comfort is limitless! It has the ability to take away pain that no eye can see and weight no shoulder can bear! I know from this week that as soon as I said, "I can't" is when He said, "Then I will." The atonement is real. It was performed for YOU. Those blessings--peace, comfort, direction, power, healing--are available specifically for you, if you just reach out and accept them.....accept HIM!
I love this gospel! I love my Savior!! I love this work!!!
Onward and upward,
Sister Anna Parker
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| First time eating out: Sis Teare's 3 month mark! Partay up in here:P |
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| All the sisters in the IL Chicago Mish!!! |
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| Best. District. Ever.!!! Love em! |
