Week 75 (7/29/19): "When the Spirit says Panda, but God says no."

"Pretty sure they're on the same team..."

This week was good- stressful, but good. We probably spent 6-10 hours coordinating rides and lessons. But everything worked out so well!

Probably the best thing this week was Matty's baptism yesterday. We saw him every day this week, which took a lot of organizing, but it really helped him finish getting ready. He was SO prepared! He asked us for the baptismal interview questions so he could go through them to be prepared. (Elder Curtis was so nervous to give his first baptismal interview! Even more nervous than Matty was! He couldn't even write his name correctly on the baptism report!) The bishop said it was one of the largest turnouts they've had. Matty's brother Ben came down to baptize him and made it so easy on us! He figured out jumpsuits before we even had a chance to talk with them! It was nice to finally meet Ben in person. I can see where Matty gets his personality from (he wants to be just like his brother!)

I am very proud of myself. I am on track to finish the Old Testament this week. That's been one of my goals my whole mission. So that's been my "light reading". I've learned a lot, like don't forget the Lord, trust the Lord and an angel will destroy your enemies, and that whoever organized the Old Testament must have been on something because a lot of those books are not in chronological order. But in all seriousness, I got to know a people who didn't truly know the Savior and watched as their lives fell apart. They lived the law, but they didn't know Christ in a personal way. I still have a ways to go,l but I'm grateful that I have grown a personal relationship with the Savior. He has my back and helps me through everything and anything. He has become more real to me and has become my personal Redeemer and Friend when I had no one else. I kind of had my own Liberty Jail experience and I'm grateful to look back and see Him there and know that He will work all experiences for my good and will never leave me.

Love you, bye!
Sister Cate

Week 74 (7/22/19): "I will sing to you in the key of off, in which I do all my singing."

The quote this week is from Scout camp from Dad. I liked it so much, I figured I'd use it.

This will be a shorter email, since there is still lots to do today.

We saw some awesome miracles this week!

On Wednesday, we got written permission for Mattie to be baptized! And we figured out why his mom isn't active. So his baptism is next Sunday! His brother is coming down from Manteca to baptize him! Saturday night is the ward barbecue, the biggest event of the year for this ward, which brings all the less actives and a lot of nonmember friends. So it is going to be a great weekend!

Another miracle- one of the many days we didn't have a car, we took a couple hours to call all the potential people to teach with phone numbers and one person who did't pick up when we called  called us back! And he was so excited when we said we were the missionaries and he invited us over at a set time!! It was awesome!

But we have a lot of good things set up for this week, lots of lessons with Mattie with members and some rides out to Waterford. It should be a crazy, but amazing week!

Sister Cate

Week 73 (7/8/19): "I'm going to go repent his diaper." (sent July 8)

The full quote is "So we just learned about how repentance means change, so I'm going to go repent his diaper." We died laughing!

The 4th of July was fun. We went to a barbecue with a family in the ward, and they live kind of on top of a hill by the river. The nice thing was that because they were on a hill, they overlooked a neighboring town with a lot of illegal fireworks, so we got to watch more fireworks than we otherwise would have been able to.

This will be really short because I have some college stuff to figure out, but I wanted to share one cool experience from this week. So one of the people we were teaching is super excited to be baptized, but his parents are less active, so they have kind of been avoiding us, and we kind of lost contact with him. But because his mom is recovering, he will be staying the next couple weeks with one of his brothers in Manteca, which is out of our mission, but it's his only active family member, so we're going to do a video chat lesson tonight! While he's with his brother, he's going to get the support he needs, so we are super excited for him to be able to make more progress!

Now to go do grown-up stuff...
Love you, bye!
Sister Cate

Week 70 (6/24/19): "I need you. And bring your huaracha."

One of the things I did not think about before leaving was that I would have to kill my own spiders. It has taken a while, but I finally discovered the best instrument for spider assassination- a huaracha. These are the Mexican sandals, and besides being super comfortable and one of the few sandals we can wear (they have to be closed heel and toe), they are very effective spider killers. I think it's Huarachas at least 10- Spiders 0. That doesn't mean I don't wish Dad could take care of them for me, but I feel like you truly become an adult when you kill your own spiders.

My biggest achievement this week was that this morning, I finished going through Preach My Gospel and finding all the changes! I'm sure I missed some, but the final count was 1434. That's crazy! It's been interesting seeing all the little changes, including what they changed investigator to (there wasn't one specific phrase), the fact that doctrines is now doctrine, and all the things that are completely new. It has been mind boggling to see just how exact they have been. And how inspired it is. It's not that it wasn't before, because it totally was, but it has been updated for our days. And I love all the insights to be gained from what they have changed.

Sister Penrod sang at the adult session of stake conference on Saturday night, and she did an amazing job! She is a vocal performance major, so she is seriously good. She sang an arrangement of Nearer My God to Thee, and it brought the Spirit so strongly! It was just heavenly.

Quick question for each of you- what ideas for ministering do you have? Please send me any ideas you have so we can help those who haven't done ministering because they just don't know how! Thanks!

Tune in next week for the updated results of Huarachas vs Spiders!

Sister Cate

Week 68 (6/10/19): "You could go into the wilderness together!"

This week has been so awesome! The biggest miracle was that there is a family in the ward where the dad removed all their records without asking the wife, so the wife and kids got rebaptized recently, but he still won't always let them come to church. Well, we went to meet them earlier this week and it turns out that he works in the exact field that I want to go into- 3D printing! So we were able to connect with him, and while he was busy this weekend, he let his wife and daughter come to church and was actually upset that they couldn't have us over! We talked to the wife yesterday and it has been such a miracle to her that God cares enough about her family to send a 3D printer obsessed missionary to the area (and whitewashing it two transfers in a row!) And for me, it's amazing to know that God knows exactly where He needs me.

But we went to Yosemite today, so I have no time, so that's all for today!

Sister Cate

Week 65 (5/20/19): "So which are we sending to Jerusalem and which to Guam?"

So I was crazy busy last Monday because I got transferred! And I'm training another two transfer missionary! Her name is Sister Penrod, and she is absolutely amazing! She is actually related to the Penrods in first ward! She hasn't been to the MTC, but she is totally pre-trained. I really don't have all that much to do.  The fun thing is that we both have ADHD, so if you can picture that... She's a vocal performance major, so we are going to have fun using music to share the gospel!

The ward here is absolutely amazing! They are so willing to help us and have been so welcoming. And it is so nice to have a church building in my area again. It makes such a huge difference. Plus I have access to a piano again.

We have seen some cool miracles. We were standing outside someone's house praying before going up to the house and she drove up! And so we got to have a good conversation with her! And yesterday, we were outside trying to contact someone and some members walked up to their house and invited us in, and it was exactly what we needed.

Well, I'm going to go and maybe play some more piano. I'm loving that I can play more often!!

Love you, bye!
Sister Cate

Week 63 (5/6/19): "We wait for the ceiling to cave in..."

Okay, this will be really short. But a couple miracles from this week.

We helped a man find his mother's death record. It was even more amazing because we'd tried to teach him about a month ago, but he never really talked when we met with him before. But we started talking about family history and he totally opened up, and we're going back Tuesday! We are super excited!

Then today we went to Doller Tree and one of the people we're teaching came in and said hi to us! She recently got a new job and we hadn't been able to figure out her work schedule. But we were able to set up an appointment and find out when she's available! It was totally a miracle!

Anyways, back to figuring out classes...

Love you, bye!
Sister Cate