g - Hello everyone!
This is going to be much less verbose than my other emails but just as full of love I hope! The Lord has touched my heart so much this week. Prayer really is the gateway to miracles. Ask and ye shall receive.
We met with some fascinating people this week! One young man was an atheist who said his religious background was playing a cleric in DnD in a campaign last year. He extended an invitation to us to watch My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Episodes 1 and 2 because it does a great job of explaining his perspective on the story of Abraham and Isaac's sacrifice.
Another man was an accounting student who didn't believe in God and wants to reform the education system. I gave him a couple TEDtalks to listen to about education and told him to read the Book of Mormon too. He listened to the TED talks but didn't read the book, but it's a start!
We had an on the spot lesson with an atheist computer science major who loves Brandon Sanderson novels. We used lots of Sanderson / coding analogies to explain the gospel, but it wasn't sinking in. BUT. I just learned Brandon Sanderson is a member like 2 hours ago and cannot wait for our lesson with him tomorrow!
We helped move a returning member's E X P A N S I V E book collection to her new home and let me tell you I'm not just growing spiritual muscles on the mission! I was rebuked by Sister Powell a wee bit because I got distracted by her plant and national park books and just kept pointing to the picture of Zion and saying THAT'S MY HOME THAT'S WHERE I LIVE!
It blows my mind how many people we talk to that have been to St George! Every member we've visited but one has been to Zion along with random people on the street, like a lady from Thailand we met at a castle this morning!
Cool experience: I forgot my bus pass (it's a very typical Sister Allen thing) so we were hurrying to our next appointment but I was also practicing smiling as we booked it across town so I smiled at this one older gentleman AND HE SMILED BACK which doesn't happen a lot so we stopped and talked to him even though we were late and he has been reading the Book of Mormon lately and loves it and wants to meet with us next week the next time hes in town! He is only in Aberdeen every other Friday but the last two times hes bumped into missionaries in the exact same spot and is ready to meet with us! KEEP ON SMILIN, FOLKS!
Thursday was Sister Powell's one year mark! We made a double batch of our weekly chili and made S'mores with digestives! (chocolate covered cookies) to celebrate! They were delicious and I'm patenting the idea when I'm home. The Sister Training Leaders gave her a card signed by random people on the streets that they talked to! They said it was a great technique and even got a lesson set up from it haha, it said everything from Happy birthday to Happy Anniversary and was soooooo good! Speaking of good, we have a lot of fun with cooking! Sister Powell said shes never had this much variety in her meals ever in her mission haha, I guess I just get bored easily. This weeks panini was Chicken + pesto with chicken nuggets! Highly recommended for both the broke college student and posh uptown bistro alike!
This week we met a kindred spirit named Madahna. She is a young woman who teaches at a school for young girls and loves Jesus with her whole heart. She said she is not interested in the tissue paper facade of the world but has her eyes set on eternity. Madahna has a beautiful soul and we had a beautiful deep connection right off the bat. She had met missionaries in the past but didn't accept the invitation to the feast as she said. But she said she's ready to listen! This reminded me of 3 Nephi 11 so we read it with her and she said-NOPE out of time I'll tell you next week!
--in the meantime read 3 Nephi 11 and enjoy these pictures! I promise I do real missionary work. God is calling out to you!
Listen for the voice and find peace!
LOVE YOU ALL,
SISTER ALLEN
bailee.allen@missionary.org
