Week 20 (7/16/18): "I think the pulpit must have a strong magnetic field..."

"... because whenever I'm up here, my memory is erased."

-the high council speaker who spoke after me

This week has been crazy. I don't even remember what all happened this week. 

We finally figured out how to do missionary work in this area. We discovered that tracting in the morning is better, and if we talk about family history work, people will actually listen to us. But hey, if I get to talk about and do family history more, I am ecstatic! And I made a lot of progress on mine this week, which was so cool! 

The person we tracted into last Friday or Saturday is actually interested in learning more! She had read a little bit from the Book of Mormon since we'd last seen her, and she was interested by it. This is so exciting! I'm kind of in shock, since I've never had this happen before. 

Then Saturday was fun. Sister Howard went all out (well, as all out as she could) for my birthday. She even got up 15 minutes early to put up streamers, and she is not a morning person. And she was so concerned about making sure that it was a good birthday for me. I felt so loved! 

Then we got a phone call from Temple Square during planning or companion study, and they had a referral for us! She has met with missionaries before, and asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon, and she's even come to church in Chowchilla before! We met with her briefly, though it wasn't a good time, but we're hopeful! She even said that she was excited to get back into the Book of Mormon! 

Then I got to go down to Visalia for Steven Farmer's baptism. It was amazing. And my talk, which I'd been asked to give 24 hours before, went really well. Seriously, he's the most prepared person I've ever met. And I got to see people from Mill Creek again, which was so good. 

And the fact that my family came to Chowchilla to drop off a birthday present for me was also amazing. They know me so well. They got me Expo markers! And barbeque potato chips! I'm really glad that they didn't decide to meet up with Sister Stocker at the church, because we were at the church right then!! But it all worked out, and it was nice to feel so loved. Plus they did the temple work for the family I've been working on for over a year, so that was amazing!  

All in all, it's been a good week. Sorry this is shorter than usual. I'm fighting off a bug, so I'm really tired. But I had a 3 hour nap this morning, so I'm doing better! 

Love you, bye! 

Sister Cate