Hello friends!
Can you believe it's been more than a month since I left? Some days it feels like it's been forever, and some days it feels like it's flying by. Most days are somewhere in between, though. The days are very long, but the weeks seem so short.
This week has been so packed with wonderful things! We had an absolutely incredible zone meeting this week with President and Sister Young, and we all left feeling so motivated and inspired to be the best missionaries there ever were! They are wonderful, and I am so blessed to have been put in this fantastic zone. I got complimented by President Young in front of the whole zone during our roleplays for being excited and happy and sincere...slightly embarrassing, of course, but so very cool. And afterward, President Young came up to me and Sister W specifically and said, "You two. All I can say is 'WOW.'" So we must be doing something right! He is so inspired and so connected to the Spirit...I took over two full pages of notes during that meeting. It was wonderful.
Another truly marvelous thing that happened this week was J's baptism!!! He is incredible and was so prepared by the Lord for this Gospel. He is already excited to serve in the Church and wants to help us with our missionary work...he has been such an example to me and such a great reminder of why I am out here. We had such wonderful support from the ward at the baptism--we had at least thirty people there, and he was expecting about twelve, so it was a nice surprise! Sister W and I sang "I Need Thee Every Hour", and we have been asked to sing it again at church on Sunday, so I guess we sounded alright! I'm sure we could have sounded better, but we were both just so excited and nervous for J that we were shaking...which probably gave us some unnecessary vibrato. Haha. But the Spirit was strong and J bore his testimony after he was baptized, which was a great experience. The other people in the picture of five people are the W's--we had all our lessons at their house and they really befriended him and are such a great support to both him and us. Also, Sister W and I went tracting in the craziest storm the day of the baptism, so although we looked all cute and put together in the morning, by the time the baptism rolled around, we looked a little homeless...hahaha
Also, speaking of pictures, I got to hold a massive snake! We teach a less-active couple every once in a while, and they live with a member who has these huge pythons...one of which, we get to hold! It was sweet.
And I have officially had my first misson-scary-dog experience! I didn't get bitten or anything yet, but we were walking up to the house of this family we teach, and we knew the dog should be somewhere, but it was creepily quiet. So we walk around to the porch, and he is just sitting in front of the door staring at us. Sister W says, "Hi, Scout!" and he just bolts at us, growling and trying to bite us. And Sister W screamed. And it was scary. That's all. Haha
It has been such crazy weather lately and soo stormy! Our water and power went out, so we were freezing when we woke up and didn't get to shower or anything, but it was back on by the time we got back from our meeting, so all was well. And trees are falling everywhere, because the ground is so soft that they just tip right over in these huge winds we get on the coast. The tree that's in the picture was so soft that it just shattered all over the road when it fell. It was crazy.
I also got to go to Bandon for exchanges with Sister M this week! That was so wonderful and I learned a ton. And she is just adorable and such a good missionary. I love exchanges.
And we found out earlier this week that the olympics are happening? What?! Haha, we are so out of the loop on everything...which is great, I guess! We definitely get to focus on the Gospel and how to bring others closer to Christ and become the best we can be!
In light of that, there is a wonderful scripture on coming closer to Christ: "Yea, come unto Christ and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." --- Moroni 10:32
Have a blessed week! Be happy and safe and serve those around you! Thank you all so much for everything--I am truly so blessed to be surrounded and supported by such amazing people. Love you!!
Sister Partridge
Oh, and Happy late Valentine's Day! I love you all so much and I am grateful for you every day! On the 14th, I did a little scripture study on "love" and here are a couple of my favorites:
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
John 13:34 "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."
Romans 8:35,37 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."
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