Week 37 (11/19/18): "I don't care if He's purple! He's your Savior!"

This week has been absolutely nuts. Between the smoke from the fires, starting the 5-7pm finding time and getting a new bishopric (which meant losing our ward mission leader) and figuring out how to work with the assigned counselors in the Elders Quorum and Relief Society, it has been a little overwhelming, but also really good. We have seen so many miracles from the 5-7 finding time, including being able to meet with a couple less active part member families for the first time. And we've met lots of amazing people. Everyone here in Chowchilla is feeling that the work is hastening. 

I have learned so much from Sister Smith. Sometimes I feel like she's training me. She is so good at focusing on our purpose, and is so optomistic. We laugh so much, and we work together so well. Can she just stay here in Chowchilla with me forever? 

I can't believe this transfer is already almost over, but I am so grateful to be here in Chowchilla with Sister Smith. This really is the best place ever! 

Sister Cate

Week 35 (11/12/18): "It's a form of mass hysteria."

That quote is kind of a good summary of this week. We had zone conference this week, and SO MANY CHANGES! We're setting aside 5-7pm for finding new people to teach every day from now on, eating dinner from 4-5 in our apartment, and eating with members only on Saturday and Sunday. It's really a higher and holier way of doing missionary work. This was tested in a couple missions, and they saw convert baptisms double!! That's exactly what Chowchilla needs! I am so excited!!! 

In other news, we get a new bishop next week, and my ear infection has progressed to a double ear infection. Good news though is that it's not really hurting as much anymore. And we've been able to do missionary work mostly like normal, so that's what's really important. 

Sister Smith has been so patient with me as I've been in pain. Seriously, I don't handle pain super well. It makes me want to stay in bed and do family history all day, but we've gone about missionary work mostly like normal. And she's been such a source of strength for me. She really helps me better understand our baptismal covenant to bear one another's burdens. She is such an amazing example, and the ward loves her. And so do I. She is so good at extending commitments and helping people to change. I am learning so much from her! 

Anyways, there will be so many miracles to tell you about next week! 

Love you, bye! 

Sister Cate

Week 34 (11/5/18): "I now understand why babies with earaches are so grumpy!"

Wow, this week was even crazier than last week. We got sick (earaches are not fun), got to call the police (long story short, someone gave us some information that we felt obligated to report. But we didn't really get involved at all. So don't freak out Mom), had this guy named Modesto from Puerto Rico come up to our car and talk to us in hard-to-understand Spanish for a while (it was really stressful, I could only understand maybe 40% of what he was saying), helped someone change their Gospel Library into Hindi, did a bunch of family history with people, tried to do service with one less active almost every day this week (it still hasn't happened), played the piano a lot (while we were sick, at a homebound sister's house, and in sacrament meeting yesterday), helped someone be able to read their patriarchal blessing for the first time in 20 years (we actually showed up at their house about 30 minutes after the bishop and stake president left), and helped out in nursery (not by ourselves, and mostly with crowd control, but they really needed help in there). 

So yeah, crazy. But it was so good. We had so many people to plan for during weekly planning! It's awesome how many people we are working with! And a lot of less actives are starting to come back, so that is awesome! We have seen so many miracles! Sister Smith is amazing. Seriously, she is an amazing missionary. She has such a desire to help people progress. The members, and those we're teaching, trust her so much already. And she has so many good ideas! Chowchilla is so ready to grow! And it's going to be fun to see how the Lord will work miracles. 

Love you, bye!

Sister Cate  

We checked off one of the items on my mission bucket list: take pictures in an almond orchard (grove, forest, field???)

We had just a bit of a stomach bug, so we didn't go out (so we didn't spread it), and Sister Smith had fun playing with my hair. 

We put out a bowl of candy. And all that candy was in the apartment already. 

Week 34 (10/29/18): "Mole is just spicy fondue."

This week was absolutely amazing. And absolutely exhausting. It's funny how often the two of those go hand in hand. 

We have been doing a lot of strengthening the kingdom. A lot of the people we've been teaching were sick or had family who was sick, so we couldn't meet with them. But we did start teaching two new people this week! Well, one is not new, but we started teaching her again, and she is making some progress for the first time in a long time. And there's another we're kind of starting to teach, so that's cool! We had quite a few people we've been working with for a while come to church yesterday, so that is exciting! 

Honestly, I don't really remember what happened this week. It's been a blur, but a good blur. I feel like I've grown a lot, even just over the past week! 

Anyways, love you, bye!

Sister Cate 

Week 32 (10/15/18): "This is why I hate biking..."

This week has been really good. Honestly, it went by so fast, I don't really remember what happened. Oh, two exchanges. That was fun. The first one was fairly normal. We saw some awesome miracles! The second was good too, but it was absolutely crazy and absolutely draining. Both Sister Howard and I were exhausted afterwards. I was down in Selma and we got a call at 10pm saying that one of the people planning on  getting baptized on Sunday wouldn't be able to be confirmed the following Sunday because he would have to work. So they asked to move it to Saturday. So after a lot of craziness, we ended up spending the rest of the evening and most of the morning trying to plan a baptism in 18 hours. Then after talking to them again, they told us something slightly different, so we moved the baptism back to Sunday and arranged for them to be confirmed that day. And then had to call everyone we'd called and told that the baptism would be on Saturday. We probably made 30-50 phone calls... But everything ended up working out. 

So we got transfer calls and I found out that I will be training. I am excited and incredibly nervous to train. It definitely makes me see all my weaknesses so much more clearly, but really, I think some greenie fire is exactly what I and Chowchilla need. I think Chowchilla will be perfect for her because the ward will welcome her with open arms, though they are sad to lose Sister Howard. And so am I. I will miss Sister Howard a lot. She has been an amazing companion, and I have learned so much from her. But they need her elsewhere. She's getting doubled into an area again... It takes an amazing missionary to do that! But I am excites to meet my new companion.You know, I still don't know my trainee's name...

I've been reading the Book of Mormon. I'm only in 1 Nephi 1... I just have been learning so much! But somehow I'll finish before the end of the year. President Nelson said the Lord would provide a way, so I'm holding Him to that. 

Having our car in the shop complicates everything, but at least being in Fresno for a couple days while waiting for my trainee to arrive means I don't have to bike them. I caught my skirt in the chain last night... Luckily a couple members came to our rescue. But I am grateful things are working out fairly well!  

Love you, bye! 

Sister Cate

Week 32 (10/8/18): "How long have you been planning this?" "Oh, about a month."

This week was definitely an interesting one. It's been good though. And General Conference was amazing!! (I mean, how could it be anything but amazing?) It was way too short, but I received a lot of revelation and have lots of ideas about how to move forward. I can't wait for the talks to come out online so I can reread them, but it definitely has given me a lot to think about. 

We got to spend a lot of time with the Sheppards. We have been working with them for the whole time we've been here, and they absolutely love us by now. There were some sisters in the past who really pushed them, and they pulled away, but we've really just been trying to help them feel the Spirit and strengthen the parents. So this week, Sister Sheppard had a huge fundraiser she was helping with, so we went over for a couple hours and helped her bake and wrap raffle items. Another member saw her later that week and said that she'd said that we helped her so much, and so that was cool! Then we watched the Sunday morning session of General Conference with them, and we brought Conference Bingo, so that was a big hit. It was amazing! We are so hoping that they will initiate their kids being baptized. The 2 hour church will help them though, because they might actually stay both hours! 

Sister Howard's birthday was this past Wednesday, which was super fun. I put up orange and black streamers (because she always has a Halloween party), and I had fun making a cake (I had the idea for the design about a month ago, and have been gradually getting stuff since then), and we had dinner with our ward mission leader, which was awesome. She is so enthusiastic about everything, and it's infectious. 

So it was a good week. 

Love you bye!

Sister Cate

The cake

Us and the Sheppards

Week 31 (10/1/18): Getting raisins off the bottom of your shoes is not fun...

How is it Monday again? This week was so good! We saw tons of miracles! Seriously, Saturday was one miracle after another! First, one of our not so recent converts went to the temple for the first time! Then we went to visit them, and his mom, who recently went to the temple to receive her endowment, finally found a lead on her family history, which has been really hard because her family won't tell her anything. Then we went tracting and met someone who is willing to read the Book of Mormon and continue to meet with us! Then we met a former and they know a ton of members and said we're always welcome to stop by. After that, we went to the church and there was a guy sitting there, and we were able to talk to him for a while and share about prophets and the Book of Mormon. Then we had dinner with a returning family and were able to talk to their less active son! Later, we visited another returning family and met their other less active daughter and talked about General Conference, and they plan to watch it! 

One thing I have been doing this week is reading all of President Nelson's talks. Probably the biggest thing I've learned has been just how many footnotes he has in his talks! He has a scripture for just about every other sentence! And it's really made me think about how I use my scriptures in teaching. Ever since our zone started the 500 Book of Mormons challenge (did I tell you about that? We're handing out 500 copies of the Book of Mormon in 5 weeks.), I fill my bag with copies of the Book of Mormon, so my personal scriptures don't fit. Sometimes I'm tempted to just leave them in the car, but then I remember that in Ephesians 6:17, it says that my sword is the Spirit, or the word of God. So when I choose to leave my scriptures, I am leaving my sword. It makes me want to make sure I'm always armed. And after seeing President Nelson's example, I want to use them more in teaching. I think what I'll do is unsheathe them at the beginning of the lesson and then maybe it'll help me remember to use them more. 

Love you, bye!

Sister Cate