Day 61 Hermiston, OR

Hola!!

Crazy to think I've already been out for two months now...super weird. Time flies on the mish.

So I have two cool stories to tell you this week!

Story 1: So Saturday was my two month mark, and what better way to celebrate that than with a baptism!! Joycelyn got baptized Saturday afternoon and it was awesome. But even MORE awesome was what happened that day. So earlier that week we had invited the Jensens to attend the baptism. (Apparently the statistics of investigators who attend baptisms just to watch them...80% of them get baptized.) So we REALLY wanted them to come. And they said yes. One o clock rolled around on Saturday, which is when the baptism started, and they weren't there. We were super bummed. 1:05 came and went, and still no Jensens. But at 1:10...a van pulled into the church parking lot, and it was THEM!! The whole family showed up and attended the baptism and then we took them on a church tour afterwards. We ended in the chapel and talked about the sacrament and about the baptism. The Spirit was really strong and I think they liked it a lot. Aaron (the dad's) parents came too since they were in town, and they are really strong members of the church. They both told us privately that they were so grateful that we got through to them and that this was an answer to many years of prayer. So this week's goal is hopefully to commit the Jensens to baptism!! Pray for them.

Story 2: There is a guy in our ward named Eric. He was baptized in December and is in his 30's. He has really bad anxiety and was a shut-in for quite a while. At first he had a really hard time even coming to church since there were a lot of people and he couldn't handle it. He now passes the sacrament and sometimes shakes so badly while doing it that he spills the water on people. That's just some background for ya.  So on Tuesday Sis Hovorka and I had about an hour to kill, and we decided that we should stop by Eric's place and bring him cookies and just see how he's doing. We got to his trailer and he came running out and you could tell he was just a mess. He said that the day before he was freaking out about some things and that he was praying but he felt like God was blocking his calls and that no one cared about him. As he was telling us this he was just crying and shaking. He said the bishop was going to bring him food from the bishop's storehouse, and that he had mentioned either blessing the sacrament or giving a talk in church one day. Eric felt like that was way too much way too fast for him because of his anxiety, and thought that the bishop was going to take away his food since he wasn't able to do what the bishop asked. (He's a convert so didn't really know how things worked) Anyway, we reassurred him that it was fine and for him to just tell the bishop how he felt. We called the Elders and had them come over to give him a priesthood blessing to help him calm down.
HERE'S THE BEST PART. Sunday was fast and testimony meeting. After a few testimonies...Eric got up and walked up to the pulpit. And Sister Hovorka and I about fell off the bench. He bore his testimony about how God hears and answers our prayers (and sometimes sends cookies too)...and how that day he had been visited by 6 missionaries, the bishop, and his home teacher. When he had felt the most alone, Heavenly Father sent him help. It was a total miracle that he even got up to bear his testimony. He told us afterwards that he knew it was because of the priesthood blessing and that it was a real testimony builder for him.

I just love how on the mission we get to watch so many people's prayers being answered...and sometimes we get to be the means of that answer. Super cool.

Sorry it was so long, but they were really awesome experiences for me and my comp.

Love you all!

Sister Smaisley Smith

Joycelyn's Baptism

Creepy Echo Lady

Our defense against alien abuctions :)
For those who aren't familiar with the reference, have a fun night
and watch the movie Signs next to a corn field.
This was a family request based on where she's living & the creepy swing-set picture.