The Miracle that Rescues You and Me

Happy (early) Halloween! I hope you all have a blast this Halloween! Don't forget to send me pictures! 

So, today I just realized that's it's been a year since I decided to go on a mission. ONE YEAR! So, most of you who know me know that I never wanted to serve. Ever. I never thought of myself as a missionary, nor did I ever want to be, but a year ago Heavenly Father told me that this is what I needed to do, whether I liked it or not. And from the moment I decided to follow Heavenly Father's counsel, my life has been changed forever. I'm not to the point in my mission where I can say that I never want to leave, but I have gotten to the point where I can say that my mission has forever changed me. I am a different person. I am not the person I was when I left. And that's okay, because I'm growing, changing, and becoming (hopefully) the person Heavenly Father knows I can be.  And I just hope I'm doing Him proud. 

So, this week we had a lot of stuff happen! And I'm basically on cloud 9! Two of my investigators accepted the invitation to be baptized on Nov 21st this week!!! YAY! Due to Satan's attacks, however, they're not sure if they can still do that day, BUT they definitely still want to be baptized :) All in the Lord's timing, I guess. And all 6 of our investigators are learning and growing and The Lord is just blessing us immensely! 

Also, the 8 year old daughter we're teaching (who was on date for baptism) has officially given me the nickname of "Crazy Cat Lady" and I think I proved my point today when I bought myself a 2016 Kitty Calendar. I'm in love. Ha-ha. 

So, I got to go on exchanges again with Sister Jeppson in Hagerstown! She's going home next week, so she got to be my first exchange and I got to be her last :) How precious ;) Anyway, she's awesome and I always learn so much from her! I never feel judged, only loved, when I'm with her and she makes my life so much better. I'm sad she's leaving me, but I'm also excited for all that she has in store for her! 

So, I have a cool story that has totally just made my entire mission....

DAVE WAS BAPTIZED!!!! Dave is the husband of a recent convert in our ward, Holly, who is basically like my missionary mom. She's awesome and we're over at their home at least once a week. I just love them both and Dave gives me ice cream :) This last Saturday was the day Dave committed to be baptized and it actually happened! I got to speak at his baptism on Baptism (go figure) and then sing with a couple of the other sisters, "The Miracle". Beautiful song. Dave cried. I cried. Sister Bench cried. We all cried, let's be real. And Dave is seriously just so awesome. When I found out why he decided to get baptized, my respect level for him went SO high (not that it wasn't super high before), but he told us he decided to get baptized the day that his son Jake told him he loved him, which doesn't happen all the time; and he knew that he needed to get baptized and start living the life that was going to help his son. And he knew this was it! Because it is! And it's just the beginning for this family :) In a year, they can go to be sealed for time and all eternity!!! I hope I get to be there to witness that :) It was basically the happiest day of my life. I'm just smiling from ear to ear! GAHH!!! I love that family, :) and I'm so proud of them! That definitely was a miracle :) And it's because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ that we can all be changed for the better. 

I love this Gospel :)

So that is that. The Church is True. The Book is Blue. Go tell somebody ;) 

Quote of the Week: "I am confident that an even greater harvest will be achieved now as righteous, committed missionaries fulfill the Savior's commandment to preach His Gospel." -Elder Cook

Scripture of the Week: D&C 6:36

Love, 

Sister Humphrey

Miracles Come After the Trial of Your Faith part 2!

Hi all! I just thought I'd let you know that I love you! I promise this week's letter will be better than lasts! So, I'm going to quickly catch you up on some things that happened last week:

A nonmember husband of a member of our ward told Sister Bench and I that we were the most intelligent missionaries he's talked to in the last 50 years... (He was trying to argue with us and we just weren't taking any of it).

Our investigator asked me what my first name was and Sister Bench told her, then she promised to always call me by my last name....a few minutes later we hear her shouting from downstairs, "TERILYN!! How do you pronounce your last name!?!?" Hahaha, we couldn't stop laughing. No one has called me that in a REALLY long time! 

We taught a lesson on the streets to this teenage boy who is totally interested in the church and wants to read the entire Book of Mormon to find out if it's really true. 

Sister Bench and Elder Tharp prophesied my future husband... Let's just say I'm going to be one lucky girl ha-ha.

We picked up THREE new investigators last week and TWO new investigators this week! Four out of five of them have already accepted the invitation to be baptized!!! God provides after the trial of our faith. 

I just found out that because of a commitment I left with a member that my companion was a little hesitant about, two more nonmembers watched General Conference! Sweet! 

Our two new investigators are a mom and a daughter and they both LOVE this Gospel already and have been defending it from their family! 

Okay, now more from this week:

Sister Bench's mom gave awesome words of advice: "Converts are only happy bonuses of missions; the true harvest is from the strength provided to the church from the experience the missionaries gain by doing hard things. It pays off for the rest of their lives and beyond."  So cool. We also taught in District Meeting last Tuesday with the Zone Leaders there and it went really well! We taught about teaching for understanding which was great! We also got to go to our investigator's daughter's track competition this week! So fun! 

"First I do, then I understand" - words of advice from Sister Hinckley. SO perfect when thinking about the commandments and this Gospel. 

So, this week I learned that God will not depend solely on me to help His children find the Gospel. Sister Bench and I basically taught THE WORST restoration lesson ever. It was awful, BUT the Spirit was SO strong there and our investigator could feel the Spirit so much and she accepted the invite to be baptized! Heavenly Father will not depend on young teenagers to bring these people to Christ! We have a huge responsibility. We have to go out and work, but Heavenly Father will make things happen as long as we're trying. Talk about stress-relief. So that was cool. 

We also got to go to a Young Women's choir concert and we watched their show choir... oh my goodness, not appropriate at all. I just keep thinking about the world and the way society is going and it scares me. 

Also, go look up Christian Busath on FB and all his videos on YouTube. I know him and he's hilarious. Apparently he's an actor in "Inspired Guns" also. So, our investigators are doing awesome :) My friend Dave is getting Baptized next week and I'm speaking. One of our investigators was hugging her mom after our lesson with her and she just kept saying, "Momma, I wanna feel it. I wanna feel it." AWE! The Church is True! She knows it! She just wants to feel it now! Alma 32:27! If you just have a desire to know, that is enough. So awesome! I love seeing how the Gospel changes people and their lives. It happens every day. And I am privileged enough to be a part of it. 

We had a huge ward Festival on Saturday. Our investigator totally won the pie eating contest and she's stick thin. Seriously. She's the bomb. And it was Social Media Split Saturday! So hopefully there are picture of us online. We played Ultimate Frisbee and tug-a-war and a whole bunch of other games. It was a blast! Oh, and Utah doesn't have this amazing thing called Sheetz, but it's seriously the best gas station food ever. And they have Hot Chocolate that is TO DIE FOR! Peanut butter hot chocolate... I just can't get enough of it! 

Speaking of Hot Chocolate, two nonmembers invited us into their home last night as we were walking in the freezing cold and offered us hot chocolate. It was seriously the best thing ever. 

And a young boy spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday and he said something SO profound! "God gave all of us something special and we may not know what it is, but I know what mine is. It's that I'm a child of God." WOAH! We're children of God! ISN'T THAT AWESOME! He loves us and that makes us special. Something to think about. And I had to mention the Awesome Liddell Family! We were over at their home yesterday and we watched the new Mormon Message and their son Alex had some profound words! He talked to us about how it was like Heavenly Father talking to His son. It was amazing. Watch it. And don't get depressed.... it does seem depressing at first, but think of it like Heavenly Father talking to you, then it's SUPER cool :) 

So, to end the email, I want to share with you a text message our investigator sent us after our last lesson with her. She's learning and growing and it's just more proof that this Church really does have something that people are looking for. She said, "Thank you girls so much. You guys are so awesome in what you do and what you try to teach me and J (her daughter's name's been changed) about the church. Every time we have met I learn more about you guys and the Mormon religion and the more I learn, the more I want to become one because it seems like you guys have given me something that was missing from our other church." SHE'S GOLDEN! The Church is True! The Book is Blue! Now go tell somebody :)

Ponderizing scripture of the week: D&C 24:8

Quote of the Week: "Sometimes it may feel like no one can understand the depth of your despair, but Jesus Christ, Our Savior, understands." -President Utchdorf

I love you all! Send me your Miracles! 

Love, 

Sister Humphrey

Miracles Always Come After the Trial of Your Faith

Another crazy week here in Harpers Ferry! Sorry this email won't be as detailed as previous weeks! I only have about 5 minutes to write it. Let's just say that the beginning of this week was really rough. No appointments. A lot of trials of my faith. A lot of asking why. BUT we saw miracles after the trial of our faith! We had interviews with our President this week and that was great, then later that day, after working super hard, the Lord provided us with THREE NEW INVESTIGATORS!!!! And they're GOLDEN! Absolutely GOLDEN! And I can't wait to teach them! They all have crazy stories and they need the Gospel in their lives. Seriously. But it was great, and I just can't wait. We also talked to 150 people this week! Which is a record for me and it's the most anyone has talked to in a week in Harpers Ferry for over a year! The Lord provides! Well, I've got to go. Sorry it's not as long this week. :( Hopefully next week it will be better!

Quote of the Week: "By taking part in the Lord's glory, you become glorious yourself." - Hank Smith

Scripture of the Week: Alma 34:32 (Check it out!)

Also, I've been out for four months now, and I just think that's crazy!

I love you all! SO MUCH! Remember that God really is listening to your prayers. He's just waiting to answer them.

Love, 

Sister Humphrey

Don't Take Lightly the Feeling You Get of Love for the Prophet of God

Didn't you all just LOVE General Conference! Oh My Gosh, AMAZING! I wish I could just send you all the spiritual enlightening I received from conference via email, but I can't, so I'm going to just send you a whole bunch of notes I took that I loved. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This week we had Zone Training and my companion Sister Bench and I taught about making commitments in Preach My Gospel Chapter 11. It was super fun and we had a lot of fun planning it. We gave our mini-missionary the assignment to bear her testimony and it was just awesome. I love zone training now. 

I got to eat more ice cream this week. That's always a plus. So, on tough days when no one is letting us in, Sister Bench and I get ice cream and pray lots... so we had extra ice cream this week. There was some discouragement, but those days are to be expected and they always pass :) There was a hurricane on the east coast and where I am in West Virginia, we got lots and lots of rain. We hadn't seen the sun in a whole week. Today we see the sun and both Sister Bench and I just started singing "There in Sunshine in my Soul Today" as loud as we could! I like sun. It makes me happy. And my feet aren't as wet or cold when it's sunshiny. 

So, a member told me this joke and I have to share it with you... "How do you leave a blonde in suspense?".... I'll tell you the answer next week ;)

Who knows what the Saltine Cracker Challenge is? It’s where you try to eat 6 saltine crackers (and swallow them) in under a minute. Go ahead and try it. I know it sounds easy, but it sent our mini missionary, Sister Cline, running to the bathroom at Chick-fil-a... I won't go into details haha. It's a blast and we got one of our investigators to do it. Haha, he thought it would be easy, too. Boy was he wrong. Oh, the adventures of a mission. 

So, our investigator is praying about baptism! We had a sweet lesson with her about the Plan of Salvation and she's seriously considering baptism! We have another lesson with her this week and I'm so excited to see if she got her answer as she watched General Conference! 

Speaking of General Conference, this year was the first year I physically wrote down the questions that I had and I received an answer to EVERY SINGLE QUESTION (There were a lot...) within the four sessions of conference. Most of them were even answered within the first session! It's crazy how inspired these prophets are. They truly are speaking the words of God and our Heavenly Father knows and loves each and every one of us. He knows what we need and He provides us with ways to receive answers to our questions and comfort for our doubts. Isn't our Heavenly Father the best!? I think so! So, I'm going to try to type up some of my written notes from conference, but I'm not going to separate them by speaker, only by day, because I have little time. Sorry if it gets confusing; I'm just SO EXCITED to share all that I learned! 

GENERAL WOMEN'S SESSION:

"We have come to this Earth to help build His kingdom and prepare the world for His second coming."

"One of the sweetest messages the Spirit will relay is how the Lord feels about you." "Because you are His child, you not only need Him, but He needs you."

"We cannot play with Satan's fiery darts and not get burned."

The internet cannot promise eternal blessings.

No matter what we have done, He has promised that He would atone. And that was that.

Let me ask you this: How much are you willing to give and suffer to live with our loving Heavenly Father again? I don't know about you, but I'd do anything.

"We are the cause for which Jesus Christ suffered, even bled from every pore."

"Thank you for the sunsets and the stars" (I just loved that because I love the stars and the sunsets ;) ) 

Oh, and did anyone else notice the vendetta Elder Utchdorf has against cats? I sure did... 

"God didn't design us to be sad, He created us to have joy."

God will wipe away all the tears from your eyes.

NOW is part of eternity. Happiness will come in the eternities (remember how NOW is part of that?). Forever is composed of "nows." Faith gave me the hope I needed to live joyfully now.

Everything in this Gospel leads to love and that is what makes us happy.

SATURDAY SESSIONS:

"When we chase after shadows, we are pursuing something with little substance." The Gospel of Jesus Christ is SIMPLE.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to improve, but, remember, our weaknesses allow us to be humble.

"Exaltation is our goal. Discipleship is our journey."

"It will all work out."

In order to have a healed and grateful heart, we must first have had it broken.

We don't just try and try on our own. If we work with God, He'll take us as we are and make us into someone greater than we can ever imagine.

Ask yourself, "What lack I yet?" and Heavenly Father will help you know. The Spirit can also show us our strengths. Our direction is more important that our speed. We will not reach perfection before the grave, but it is our duty to work hard every day to improve. 

The challenges and temptations in this life WILL come, but if we are prepared we will have no need to fear.

"Fly right in the gathering storms of the last days."

"Seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel."

No love like the Savior's comes close to the love of a mother for her child. Maternal love HAS to be divine. 

"You are doing better than you think you are."

"No matter how intense the darkness of doubt, we choose its influence on us."

"Doubt not the Lord nor His goodness for we have proved Him in days that are past." (Yes, I know that's a Hymn and I love it!)

NEVER forget when God has been by your side. NEVER forget the miracles and love you see and feel from God. Never Give Up! 

"Mortal life is not easy for any of us."

If trials seem more than you can bear, "Turn to Him."

God is mindful of every people, no matter what land they reside in. One can feel Christ's love “even in prison's walls”.

SUNDAY SESSIONS:

We stand out! We are different and that's OKAY because we are following the Savior. Stand up and Stand out. Be an example of the believers. 

"Our fear will be replaced by the courage in our convictions." 

As we follow the Savior, ours will be the opportunity to shine our light to others.

"Focus not on what I can't do, but rather on what I CAN do."

The fullness of the Gospel will be proclaimed by the weak and simple (Thank goodness because if it wasn't, I definitely wouldn't be able to be out here on my mission haha.)

"To effectively serve others, we must see them through a parent's eyes, through Heavenly Father's eyes." 

Basically, WOMEN RULE! That exclamation comes from my mouth and the mouth of Elder Russell M. Nelson. A prophet said it, so it has to be true (even though those weren't his exact words). The Kingdom of God could not be built without women.

"If you quit now, others will need to painfully learn what you already know."

Speak UP and Speak OUT.

"We need women who have a bedrock understanding of Christ and will teach children how to be sin-resistant."

Step forward. Take your place. Rise to your full stature to fulfill your purpose of your creation.

One man or woman can make a difference; when we have the courage to stand up, something changes within us.

"True disciples represent the Lord when it may not be convenient to do it."

Okay, that's enough for now. If you made it this far, I commend you. I have so much more to say, but I'm out of time. I want you all to know that I love you. God loves you. He's just waiting to answer all your prayers, but He won't just answer curiosity. Remember that. He always answers. I'll try to add more notes next week from Sunday's afternoon session. I myself have decided to take on the 20 year challenge of "ponderizing" the scriptures and the first scripture I chose this week is Moroni 7:45. Go look it up :) Remember to smile and I hope you all have a great week! Email me your favorite parts about conference!
P.S. apparently I haven't been getting some emails. They've been getting lost in cyberspace. If I haven't responded to any of your emails, or very few of them, let me know (or my mom know because most of the time I get her emails), and we can try to fix it. Love you! Oh, and sorry I don't have pictures this week! I'll try to take some for next week :)

Love, 

Sister Humphrey

West Virginia Born, Heaven Bound!

By the way. For those of you that looked up the scripture reference from last week’s email/post she sent (before I fixed it last night). She meant to say 1 Nephi 3:7. OOPS!

Also, if you have a few minutes and are willing, she would really like letters or emails from people other than mom and sisters.

Thanks for your support and prayers in Terilyn's behalf!!

Julie

----- Original Message -----

From: Terilyn Humphrey

To: undisclosed-recipients:

Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 10:23 AM

Subject: West Virginia Born, Heaven Bound!

More miracles in West Virginia! We reached our goal of 100 street contacts again this week! The Lord is providing! Unfortunately, we haven't had any of our investigators progress towards baptism, but Sister Bench and I are working hard at teaching doctrine and trusting the Lord! He will provide! We had a really cool experience this last week when we invited someone we street contacted to be baptized! He said yes and now the elders have a new investigator! That just goes to show how much the Lord prepares the people we meet. He's setting up appointments for us and we always have to listen to the Spirit in order to make those appointments. 

Monday we had an awesome FHE lesson with a member in the ward. The mom is one of my favorite people ever. I just love her. She just had another baby girl and she was holding her during the lesson, and her other little girl decided to take her baby sisters new white socks and flush them down the toilet... Ha, don't you love sibling rivalry? Starting young. 

Tuesday we had our last District Meeting with our district before certain missionaries were transferred. We had lots of fun and Sister Bench gave an AWESOME instruction on Obedience. Oh, and tomorrow we have Zone Training and Sister Bench and I have been asked to give the instruction! So, that'll be terrifying, but super fun. I'll tell you how that went next week.

So, not-so-funny story. Our car tire had a leak in it and we were basically commanded not to drive on it until we could get the spare on and then we had to drive 45 minutes on the spare tire to get the other one replaced. I know how to change a car tire, but Sister Bench felt more comfortable letting the elders do it, so we called them and luckily one of them was a mechanic before his mission because Sister Bench forgot to put the parking brake on and we were on a hill and our entire car dropped down when the tire got pulled off and slid about a foot on the pavement... Opps! It almost took off Elder Rodriguez's hand, but he's okay! The brake plates were bent and it was basically the most terrifying drive to Martinsburg that I'd ever had, BUT the Lord keeps his missionaries safe! The car is now fine and we had many members in the ward who were willing to drive us places, including my favorite family who took us out to ice cream after our really long day... love them! 

Also, I was studying and read a quote about gaining strength in our trails. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said, "The struggle to break out of the cocoon develops the butterfly so it can fly. Without that adversity, the butterfly would never have the strength to achieve its destiny. It would never develop the strength to become something extraordinary." How cool is that!? God gives us trails to strengthen us so we can become something EXTRAORDINARY! Do you want to be extraordinary? I want to be extraordinary. That put so many things into perspective. The trials I've had are just strengthening and that's how Heavenly Father is going to help me become who He knows I can be. Isn't that awesome!? I know trials stink. Don't think I don't know that. But I do know that my track record for getting through hard days is 100% so far (yes, I stole that from a quote), and I think that's pretty good! 

SO, we got another Mini-missionary! This time for two weeks! Sister Cline is actually from our next door ward, the Charlestown ward, and she's loving it! We are always laughing. Let's just say, street contacting has gotten a lot funnier with her around. She's still getting used to the fact that being awkward is a 24/7 job as a missionary; ha-ha. Fun. 

So, I found my favorite Book of Mormon scripture (so far)! Alma 24:13-15. Look it up. It's awesome. I love the Book of Mormon! It's so true :) 

Miracle!!! Our Recent Convert's husband is now on date to be baptized! We've been teaching him as well as the elders in Charlestown (because they technically live there even though our recent convert attends the Harpers Ferry ward). So, he's not technically our investigator, but I've been teaching him since I got into the mission field and it's SO EXCITING! He's on date! I'm so excited for him, I just can't stop smiling! :)

General Women's conference was also this last Saturday. If you didn't get a chance to go watch it, do it now! SO cool. I love it. I took so many notes, but I'm going to wait to share them with you until next week when I get to talk about ALL of general conference! Are you excited! I am! I want to challenge ALL OF YOU to watch all four (five sessions for the priesthood holders) of general conference Saturday and Sunday. You will receive answers to prayers and the Spirit will touch your heart. Heavenly Father is reaching out to you and this is an amazing opportunity you will have to hear what He has to say. Listen. Write it down. Recognize God's hands in your life. I promise you He's there, whether you believe it or not. 

I want to leave you with a quote from a less-active member I met with this week. He said, "If you feel guilty, you have faith." We don't always feel worthy to receive help from our Father in Heaven. Sometimes we decide not to believe in Him. Sometimes life is just too hard to handle some things. That's how it is. But, those feelings we have, they only come when we know that we can be better. That's the Spirit telling us that we can repent. We don't have to live with all those feelings. That's just the truth. I encourage you all to have a conversation with your Father in Heaven. Reach out to Him and you'll see that He's been reaching out to you all along. I love you all SO much! I hope you have a fantastic week and I hope to hear from you all soon! Love you! 

P.s. That last picture is of a blood moon/eclipse we had last night! So cool! 

Love, 

Sister Humphrey

100 Days Serving the Lord

I'M STAYING IN HARPERS FERRY ANOTHER TRANSFER!!! We got call-outs yesterday and we found out that both Sister Bench and I get to stay! Such an answer to prayers! So, my address will stay the same! Please write! I miss getting mail! 

69 Monte Carlo Way

Charles Town, WV 25414

Okay, let's get down to business (and defeat the Huns)! If you didn't get that reference, go watch Mulan. You've been deprived. This week was AWESOME! We set so many goals in faith that the Lord would help us accomplish them, and He did! Exactly! Those miracles will come later, though.

Last Tuesday we had an awesome zone training and had great instruction about increasing our faith in Jesus Christ. FAITH OVER FEAR! So awesome. We had multiple lessons on the street this week, which was awesome. None of them wanted to meet with us again, but we did get to meet lots of people and build their faith in Jesus Christ! 

Miracle! So, a less-active in the ward, who we've been working with, introduced her friend to the Gospel! She's been bringing her to church for the last two weeks and giving her all the pamphlets that we teach the lessons from. She's loved them all and she's been reading in D&C! She LOVES D&C! And, she keeps saying it's time for her to change and she's just loving this Gospel. Seriously. She said this has made her happier than Alcohol and other substances have ever been able to do. And this happiness is LASTING! SO AMAZING! She's definitely been a testimony builder to me. The Lord truly is preparing people to hear this message. We're hopefully going to start teaching her soon, but she's struggling with Word of Wisdom problems and doesn't want to make promises she can't keep. Once she understands the Atonement, I just know all of her worries and doubts and fears will fade. What a blessing. Her daughter who is 28 has also been investigating with her mother and she had asked us about the three degrees of glory that we teach in the Plan of Salvation. When we told her about our liberal knowledge of heaven and how we are judged by the desires of our hearts as well as our actions, her face lit up brighter than I'd ever seen from anyone. She was so happy to hear that SHE could live with her Heavenly Father again. She was able to recognize the Spirit testifying to her of this Truth. She felt it and she knew it. It's been amazing to see how much this Gospel changes people and can help people! Its knowledge that I've had my entire life and people in the world today, way too many of them, don't know about it! They don't know about the blessings of the Atonement and they don't know that they can have lasting happiness NOW. Not just in Heaven. We have such a responsibility to share that. Not just the missionaries. You do. Each and every one of you. Because you have this knowledge and you know how happy it is. You have that responsibility. And the best part is, Heavenly Father always prepares a way for you to share. Read 1 Nephi 3:7. Go and Do and He will provide the way. And you'll be able to reap those blessings and see people truly change! Oh my gosh, isn't Heavenly Father's plan perfect!? It sure is :)

So, that's pretty awesome. We also had the opportunity to share the Gospel with ONE HUNDRED PEOPLE THIS WEEK! So, that might not seem like a lot, but people are never outside in Harpers Ferry so it's difficult to meet people. We've been discouraged from knocking doors because too many people think we're Jehovah’s Witnesses, so we don't really do that, BUT Heavenly Father placed 100 people in our path this week and that's the most I've ever gotten on my mission! Especially being in the wide open fields of West Virginia, it was such a blessing! AND we set the goal of reaching 10 Social Media Splits this last Saturday and let's just say, Sister Bench and I blew up social media! Heavenly Father provided 10 people, though they weren't the people we had planned on. So, everyone go search #Baltimoremission and #socialmediasplit and you'll find us at least 10 times! So FUN! 

Funny quote of the week:

Little boy from my favorite family the H's "I have missionaries for friends, so I don't need you." Said to a playground friend who told him she didn't want to be friends anymore. Haha, glad we can be his friends and that's enough :)

Inspiring quote of the week: "The will of God will not take you where the Grace of God will not protect you." 

Also, I hit my 100 day mark as a missionary! I've been serving for over 100 days now, and I've got the privilege of having so many more to come! 

Love, 

Sister Humphrey

Bring Them Home

Oh my goodness where to begin! This week has been amazing! So, I've officially been out on my mission for three months now. That's weird. I feel like I've always been a missionary, but I'm never going home. I've accepted it haha. And, I had the opportunity to watch all the "12 Steps to Recovery" videos on mormonchannel.org CHECK THEM OUT! Oh my gosh, they are amazing. They are new videos about the Addiction Recovery Program and I can't stress to you enough about how life-changing they are. Those videos and that program are going to help so many people. I can't even imagine! THERE IS HOPE! There's always hope, and that's what those videos and the ARP help people realize. So that was awesome. 

Unfortunately at the beginning of the week, Sister Bench and I got a nasty phone call from a random number cussing us out and telling us we need to practice what we preach. It was pretty bad. But all I felt for this guy was sorrow. Not for myself, because deep down I know he wasn't yelling at me, but at who I represent, but I felt so sad for him! Sad that he'd been hurt so badly that he felt the need to yell at two young girls. Sad that he doesn't have the peace in his life that is available to him. It really put things into perspective. People are hurting. They see our examples and they watch how we, as Latter-day Saints, act. If we aren't acting as Latter-Day Saints, many people will blame the entire religion and then they miss out on all this truth and happiness! Now, I'm not saying we need to be perfect people, because that's just not possible. And I'm not saying that it was any person's fault for the actions and pain of this man or any others that might discriminate those in the church, but it does show how far our simple daily actions go. I hope we can all be a little kinder and serve a little more after hearing about this experience. I hope I can better represent my Savior in my actions every day of my life for the rest of my life, so that when people look at me and how I live, they will see the Savior reflected in my life. And I hope that through me, people will come to know Him. 

So, I ate Lobster for the first time ever at a ward activity. That was interesting. The preparation it takes to eat one burns more calories than the lobster is actually giving us haha. But it's been fun. And Sister Bench and I washed over 200 potatoes for this activity. No joke. My hand was cramping, but it was totally worth it! This is how we serve haha. And I met this lady while street contacting whose father has President Gordon B. Hinkley's signature in his Bible! How cool is that!? 

Breakfast in Annapolis (we got to Annapolis two hours early...)! So, we had the AMAZING opportunity of hearing from an APOSTLE OF THE LORD! Elder Quentin L. Cook came to Annapolis and requested to speak to all of us missionaries in the Maryland Baltimore Mission :) SUCH AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE! We welcomed him, his wife, and Elder Gerard of the 70 into the room by standing and singing "Called to Serve" with our mission song in the 3rd verse. So cool :) He tried to sing along to our third verse, but, obviously, he didn't know it because it's specific to our mission haha. He laughed at his efforts, though. Then, something amazing happened. Elder Cook requested to shake the hands of every single missionary! Elder Cook and Elder Gerard stood at the front and I got to go up and shake their hands and hear some words of encouragement. What an amazing opportunity. And I never knew how funny Elder Cook really was until I met him! Ha, he's hilarious :)

Elder Cook left a blessing on our mission, which was exactly what I needed to hear. AND we got to witness the Spirit working on an Apostle. After he shared his message with us, he sat down and we sang the closing song. Right before the person was about to say the closing prayer, he stood back up and told us that the Spirit kept prompting him to share a quick story and he specifically told us that we need to focus on ages 17-25... If an apostle is telling you to focus specifically on something (especially after he already gave his talk) you better listen to it! So, Sister Bench and I are on the lookout for some prime investigators! We're pretty excited! He also told us that "we are the message." We, as Latter-Day Saints, not just the missionaries, are the message of life and happiness and love to all those who will listen. Our actions and our light will be what people will notice and want. We have to live it to share it and we have to share it to live it. Remember people, YOU are the message. YOU have the power to change lives. The Lord will help you in your efforts. BRING THEM HOME! These people all around you are your brothers and sisters. They lived with you before this life. They are your family and they're just waiting for the way back home. You know how to get there. You know what they need. Help bring our brothers and sisters home. That is the greatest work anyone could ever do in this life. I know this to be true. I know it with all my heart and soul. Nothing is more important than bringing families, including your own, back home to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I can't stress that enough. Please, help bring them home to the safety, comfort, and love of our God and Savior. "The time will come when you will recognize how significant your contribution really is." -Elder Cook. 

So, aside from the Spiritual High that I'm on right now, we had some fun in Annapolis, too :) I hope I get to serve there some day :) We went to Chick and Ruth's (the famous place on Meet the Mormons) after the meeting and I got to meet the owner and twelve pounds of ice cream later, we had nine fat missionaries haha. The Charles town sisters, Spanish elders, and Sister Bench and I ordered two "6 Pound Shakes," chocolate and Cookies and cream, and we ate it all within 30 minutes! WE ATE 12 POUNDS OF ICE CREAM. Yes, pictures will be attached. Oh it was so good. 

So, that was some of my week. SO great. I love being a missionary. I hope all of you, one day, will have the opportunity to serve a mission. If I've learned only one thing so far, I learned that this mission is far from a sacrifice. It's a blessing 100%. I love it. 

I hope you have a great week! Email me some miracles and different missionary opportunities you've had! This is my last week in this transfer, so I'll let you know next week if I get to stay in Harpers Ferry!  

Picture #1 this is what happens when two young adult girls go grocery shopping. 

Love, 

Sister Humphrey