"How Great the Wisdom and the Love" - November 7, 2022

 Welcome family and friends to this weeks email!!

Transfers are on Thursday! I'll let everyone know what happens next week!

I got a little sick this week, so that was exciting! I tested negative for covid, though, so we continued working! We met with Donald and Ashley! They are doing good. We went over feeling the Spirit and Lehi's Tree of Life vision. We showed the Book of Mormon video along with it which helped so much! We invited Donald to pray about if these things really are true. Please pray for him! Later that day we met with Matt! Last Thursday Sister Smith and I met him on exchanges! We had given him a Book of Mormon. We went back and taught the Restoration! He had read everything up to about 1 Nephi 3, including the testimonies from the 3 and 8 Witnesses and the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was awesome! He had also looked up the Church and was asking questions about the Word of Wisdom. We invited him to continue reading and to come to church! He ended up not coming but we have high hopes for Matt!! 

Wednesday we met with Tracey! She's She's taught off and on by missionaries. We had an amazing lesson with her a couple weeks ago and finally were able to meet with her again! We met at the church and did a church tour with her. Somehow we led the tour so we ended at the baptismal font. It was awesome! The Spirit was so strong! But, this is when our own human weakness comes in. Neither Sister Livingston or I asked Tracey to be baptized. It was a perfect moment and we didn't follow through with the Spirit. We did invite her to church but she ended up being sick. I just wanted to share that because sometimes as missionaries it seems like everything's going great and perfect but it's not. We make mistakes all the time. We are imperfect people doing our best to bring others closer to their Savior Jesus Christ. Through His perfect Atonement we can be forgiven and have another chance to try again! What a beautiful plan!

We met with the Mapels on Thursday! They live way way out in the boonies but the drive is beautiful!! We knocked a couple of their neighbors but none of them were interested. We had a delicious dinner and then got to help feed their calf! His name is Po Jo. He is adorable!! The Mapels have goats, chickens, geese, cats, dogs, Shetland ponies and cows!! It's amazing! We shared a message on the temple because they went to the temple for the first time on Friday! We shared some of our thoughts and answered some questions they had. It was a wonderful evening!

We had our last district council on Friday. I love this district so much! The elders can be wild but they each have such strong testimonies and have helped me become a better missionary. Sister Livingston and I brought Yan Dogs for everyone and Elder Winchester made some No Bake Cookies! Later that afternoon we drove to Morgantown and did a blitz with the Morgantown Sisters! I was with Sister Garrison!! I love her so much! We did some knocking and met some sweet people! One cute kid got super excited when we told him we were there to talk about Jesus! It was adorable. 

Saturday was so good!! We met with Megan and her kids!! We went over the Plan of Salvation. It was beautiful. I love sharing this lesson with people! One of the best parts is talking about being with our families for forever. It's all possible through Jesus Christ! I am so grateful for my family! They mean so much to me and it's wonderful knowing that we can be together forever!! Later that day we had a doorstep Restoration lesson with a sweet lady named Belinda. She was found by previous sisters but wasn't ever very available. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and she seemed very excited to read! Please keep her in your prayers!

Song of the Week: "How Great the Wisdom and the Love" Hymn 195. I've been pondering the Atonement of Jesus Christ this past week. In my scripture reading I've been studying Mosiah 1-5 which talks a lot about the Atonement. Something that stands out to me from both of these things is the Christlike attribute of Obedience. In verse 4 of the Hymn it says,

"By strict obedience Jesus won

The prize with glory rife: 

'Thy will, O God, not mine be done,'

Adorned His mortal life."

Through obedience to God's commandments, Jesus Christ over came spiritual and physical death. In the scriptures listed above a big theme is obeying God's commandments. Mosiah 2:14 talks about how when we obey we are happy. Obedience is so important! However, sometimes we falter because we just do. None of us are perfect. That is why we need the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for this amazing gift that Jesus so freely gave, through His obedience. The least we can do is to try our hardest to be obedient, too.

I hope you all have a fabulous week! Talk to y'all next Monday!

Love,

 Sister Sariah Francis

Pictures!!!

A huge fiberglass spider 

Always powerlines

Sister Livingston and I tracting out by the Mapels

The Mapels farm

Feeding Po Jo

District picture with our Yan Dogs

The District - Elder Winchester, Elder Elms, Elder Kelly, Elder Woolstenhulme, Elder Bowcut, Elder Andersen, Elder Wardle, Sister Francis, Sister Livingston 

Morgantown Sisters

Cute little Cafe for dinner on Saturday