The Struggle is Real‏

So, I've been sitting here for, like, 5 minutes trying to figure out a creative subject line for my email this week. Nothing. So you get that. My mission brain is mush right now. This week has been interesting to say the least! On Monday we got to go out to Texas Roadhouse thanks to my bestie Lily! She's great. We ate like queens that night ha-ha. 

On Tuesday I got to give an instruction in District meeting. We are trying to teach more like the Savior and use stories and analogies and it’s made teaching so much more fun! I got to use a gymnastics analogy for the Plan of Salvation. Yup. I'm still me just as a sister missionary! We got to do some service for a lady in our ward who is struggling physically quite a bit. It was nice to be able to simply help someone who has done so much for us. Service is the best :) Lorely, an awesome young adult in our ward also made us dinner on Tuesday :) Authentic Mexican food. It's the best! She said we were the first sisters she's ever fed. I feel super special ha-ha. She's hilarious and her little boy Paco never fails to make us laugh. Paco loves to eat dog food. He threw a big fit when Lorely told him he couldn't have any more lol. She thinks it's disgusting, which is true. It reminded me of that one time my little sister ate dog food... sorry Lu, couldn't keep that one secret! 

There's also been lots and lots of thunder and lightning storms this week. It's so hot and humid so they've been happening at night. I'll be leaning up against my wall and it feels like I'm getting a back massage because the thunder is so strong! It's been fun driving through some of those lightning storms :) One Wednesday, Sister Hokafonu got her gold teeth removed! She got to keep her gold and didn't have any bad reactions to medicine this time, so that was a blessing. We got to teach Tearra the first half of the plan of salvation with Sandra and she loved it! She also announced to us that she's 4 weeks pregnant! She's super excited to be a mom! We just hope her boyfriend will put a ring on it soon! Her progress is going really well, though. She just has to come to church two more times, get married, and then she can get baptized! We also found a new investigator named Connie this week! She was sitting outside on her porch waiting for us to stop by and deliver a bible. We gave her a Book of Mormon as well and taught her more about it. She loved the idea of having more scripture and said she'd like to learn more! So, we'll be going back this week to teach her the Restoration. Hopefully she gives us enough time to talk. She's a talker ha-ha. 

We also had dinner with a new family in the ward. The Wood family. They are seriously an answer to prayers. We've been praying for a family to help us in missionary work in the ward and then they come and within two weeks they already invited us over for dinner. They said they bought a mini-van (even though they only have 2 kids) specifically so they could pick people up in Baltimore and take them to church. Who does that? I LOVE them! Oh, and I met another stray kitty. I named him Bob Lynn this time. Shout out to daddy! He just really needed some love ha-ha. Pictures will be attached ;) 

We found a couple other people to teach this week as well as Connie! A mom named Gina stopped the elders on the street and wanted to learn more, so we met with her and she has two kids and she wants to take her entire family to church! She just got out of an abusive relationship (her boyfriend was just killed... sadly, that's a common thing here), and she's looking towards God. She's super great and has soooo many questions! We also started teaching a lady we met yesterday named Jaunae. She was a former investigator of two years ago and we randomly knocked on her door. She said she felt like God had sent us to her because it was perfect timing and she'd been feeling like she needed to go back to church! YES! I love spiritually planning! God definitely puts us where we need to be when we need to be there :)

Other fun events from the week include mowing a lawn for over an hour and a half in 100+ degree weather, receiving revelation at Missionary Leadership Council (seriously, I love that meeting. I learned so much about righteous suffering and the Atonement. It's because of the Atonement that God can soften hearts. There's a power in righteous suffering that I can't explain. I've felt it, but I can't explain it. And the more you get to KNOW your Savior, the more you can feel that power and that's what leads you to have "no more disposition to do evil" like it states in the scriptures. So Cool! I just want everyone to feel that power!); we hit up tag alley last Monday and I have pictures to follow. I was asked to play my flute on the 17th when an Apostle comes to visit our mission... so I'll be practicing that quite a bit! We got to talk to a cute old lady named Grace (I think I mentioned her a few weeks ago... she's the one that kept saying, "you're so beautiful! You look 16!" yup, she still said that when we visited again...) and her two granddaughters were there! They all said they wanted to visit our church and see if they like it! Hopefully you'll be hearing about them again soon :) 

On Sunday we got to teach the youth Sunday school class because the teacher didn't show up... so we talked about preparing for missions! And one of the elder's investigators, a 13 year old girl who came with the rest of her family, was there and she wanted to learn all about how she could be a missionary one day! Boo yah! I love hearing that! 

That was another week in the life of Sister Humphrey! Hope you were entertained enough. Between getting caught in rainstorms and making a fool of myself in public, my life could be made into a comedy. It's pretty great. I have one more week this transfer and will be finding out Sunday if I will be getting transferred or not. I hope I get to stay in Baltimore another transfer, but we'll just have to wait and see! I LOVE IT HERE! Just saying. I hope you all have a great week! Keep praying for those missionary opportunities! They're out there! Members make the best missionaries :) I love you all! 

Quote of the Week: "The work of our missionaries is a magnificent expression of the Lord's redeeming love." -Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Scripture of the Week: Alma 56:45-48

Love, 

Sister Humphrey

"My Life Be Like..." -Grits‏

Ha-ha, the songs I learn as a missionary. Enjoy that one. So, this week was pretty eventful! Kinda. Let's just say, being stuck inside as a missionary for three days straight with absolutely no entertainment (not even the Restoration video!) will drive a missionary crazy. That was my week. Ha. 

So, on Monday we got to see our recent convert Teresa and watch "Miracles from Heaven" with her. That movie is adorable ha-ha. She cried :) We got to do some good service for her and now she's out of town for three weeks. I miss her already. 

On Wednesday we got to go on exchanges with the Eldersburg sisters! I went to Eldersburg with Sister Warner and had a blast! She's such a hard worker! She's been out almost 9 months (oh and I hit my 14 month mark...), and we just went so hard! We gave away nine copies of the Book of Mormon!  And we picked up a new investigator for them and talked to a bunch of people. It was great. I love days where you just work work and work! And I got to eat at Panera's and try this thing called Sno-fluff, which is basically a snow cone with marshmallow fluff on the bottom and top. It was diabetes in a cup, so that was great :)

On Wednesday, Sister Hokafonu had to have a wisdom tooth pulled! She was hilarious ha-ha. The medicine she was on made her look like one of the "leaners" you see around Baltimore. She was so out of it that she walked into the apartment, went to the fridge, and dumped all her stuff in there... including her scriptures. I have pictures, don't worry ;) Then she went straight to her bed and slept with her sunglasses and shoes on ha-ha. She was so fun. The dentist also did it for free. He even volunteered to take her gold teeth off, for free, if she wanted him to. She's been wanting her gold teeth off for a while now, so she said yes and we'll be going back this week to have that done! That was a miracle. It's over $2000 just to have them removed and he's doing it for free. Such a blessing. Missionaries are seriously so spoiled. People are so generous. I actually love people now. It's weird.

Unfortunately Sister Hokafonu had a really bad reaction to her pain medication, so we ended up staying inside from Wednesday until Sunday, basically. With no movies. And nothing else to do. I updated the area book, cleaned the entire apartment, and read my entire binder full of talks. I almost went crazy. Almost. Sister Hokafonu slept, and I didn't talk to anyone really. Ha, being a missionary, but not being able to do missionary work is rough. It was funny, our last day inside, the Elders dropped off "17 miracles" for us to watch, but they didn't check inside the case and the DVD wasn't even there.... I had already lost all hope of being able to watch something that I wasn't even mad. I laughed. Out loud. I'm sure glad that's over. 

Sister Bindrup did get to come see me, though! She and her family bought us groceries :) And Sister Hokafonu felt well enough to try going out to lunch, so they took us to Olive Garden :) Her family is so cute ha-ha. It's fun being able to see Bindy. It's weird seeing her without a tag, though. She's a blast :) 

On Sunday we got to start working again! Sister Hokafonu wasn't 100%, but she was doing better! Our investigator Tearra even came to church!!! WOOT WOOT! She's officially moved in to our area and we're officially teaching her now :) SO GREAT! We ended up teaching Singing Time in Primary, which was interesting. I gained a greater appreciation for my Mom, as she's had that calling multiple times and she's currently serving there. That's a hard calling ha-ha. We had to teach the kids a song I'd never even heard in my life. I'm so glad kids are so loving. I made a fool out of myself, but they didn't care! Kids are the best :) I love them! :) 

We also had an amazing lesson with the Jones family! They really want to progress and be baptized, but the mom doesn't want to feel like a hypocrite at church. She knows she's not doing everything she should be, so she doesn't want to come just to "look" like a good person. We explained to her that no one who goes to church is perfect, and that's why we need church. The Spirit directed the entire lesson and we ended up sharing the account in Matthew 3 when Christ was baptized and it was so good! They realized how important it really is to be baptized and committed to coming to church next Sunday. I pray they actually do. It felt so good to be out working again! We drove home in a giant lightning storm and we felt like rock stars :) God is good.

That was my week for ya! This next week will be super busy! I'll be emailing again in no time! I hope you are all praying for your very own missionary opportunities! They happen everywhere! Just while emailing my mom a man came up and started asking us about the church. It's amazing :) I love being a missionary! 

Quote of the Week: "God gives us difficulties to bring out the best in us." -Marvin J. Ashton (Yes, mom, I totally stole that quote from you today.)

Scripture of the Week: 2 Timothy 1:7 "God had not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." 

Love, 

Sister Humphrey

#TempleTuesday!‏

Is #TempleTuesday still a thing? Because we totally went to the TEMPLE this last Tuesday!! Woot Woot! I love the temple. Every single time I go it's exactly when I need to go. I'm so glad I have the opportunity to go to the temple even though it's outside of my mission boundaries. It's the greatest place on earth. It's seriously Heaven on Earth. I love it there :) I didn't want to leave! But, the work must go on. And I'm sure glad it did! 

I got to go on exchanges with the BYSA Sisters! Sister Tripple was my companion for the day! She was trained by my follow-up trainer Sister Bench! Shout-out to Alisa :) It's Sister Tripple's last exchange and transfer, so we partied it up (while doing missionary work, of course). She's awesome :) She grew up in Haiti in an orphanage until she was 15, then was adopted and moved to Idaho for a bit, and has been living in Alaska with her family for the last few years! From Haiti to Alaska ha-ha. She's great :) We got to meet a lot of Born-again Christians while on our exchange and got preached to almost more than we preached ha-ha. It was very different. We even found a free car wash so we could finally wash our car! That might not seem like much to y'all, but Sister Hokafonu and I have been praying for that since the beginning of our transfer together. I swear, it was a miracle from God. 

This week we got to watch “Meet the Mormons” with Sandra and Tearra! That was fun! And, the best part of the week, SANDRA GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!! (Happy birthday shout-out to my big bro Cam for last Saturday). She's finally clean and she says she feels "like a brand new baby" :). She's amazing. It was a beautiful ceremony and Sandra has been waiting a long long time for that day. And it finally came and she's fully committed to living this Gospel for the rest of her life :) People like her and Teresa, and basically everyone I've had the opportunity to teach and witness their baptisms are truly miracles. God is so good. 

That was basically my week. I wish I could just write down all my thoughts and feelings throughout the week and all the miracles that I get to see every day, but I just don't have time for that. I truly love this work and wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world but here right now. Baltimore owns my heart. The people here are the greatest! Many are misunderstood and all of them just need more love. I never want to leave! 

I hope you are all able to have your own missionary opportunities wherever you are. It brings the greatest joy into one’s life if they just let it. I know this church is true without any doubt. I love it :) I'm happier than I ever have been despite all the stress and trials and such that go on around me. It's the service that makes everything better.  Trust in your Savior and He will help you. I love you all lots and lots!

Scripture of the Week: Ether 12:27 (because we all know I have lots of weaknesses)

Quote of the Week: "It is impossible to fail when you do your best and when you are on the Lord's errand." - Elder Ballard.

P.S. Here are some pictures of us at the temple!! LOVE IT!! 

P.S.S. More fun pictures :) 

Love, 

Sister Humphrey

The Gift of Being Broken‏

So, I read this talk earlier and I really really enjoyed it, so I thought I'd share: The Gift of Being Broken. It truly is a gift to be broken, because you learn to know your Savior. "And with His stripes, I am healed." (Isaiah 53:5). He truly does heal you. I KNOW that. It's fact to me, no doubt about it. And I love Him more and more each day I get to experience His healing, help, and love. I hope you enjoy this talk as well! 

This week was just as phenomenal as most! We started the week with a zone training focused on teaching by the Spirit and Obedience. We can always use more and more reminders about obedience. I truly love that topic :) 

We also got to go shopping with our Recent Convert Teresa. She had to buy some clothes for her friend's funeral, so she reached out to us and we were able to come with :) She's so strong. She even bore her testimony on how she came back to God since we've met with her during Gospel Principles class on Sunday. She went from being super shy and closed off to open and willing to share her experience. The gospel truly changes people. 

We got to pig out at Golden Corral two days in a row this week... I better stick to my workout routine! Ha-ha. Food is always great :) So, funny story: we were visiting a former investigator who just had a baby two weeks ago, and she was remembering her expensive stroller she left outside; so, she decided to hand me the baby (she more like threw the baby in my arms.... in the most gentle way possible) and ran outside to get it. So, here I am, holding a baby... just totally breaking the missionary rules. And there was nothing I could really do about it. I'm not going to just drop the baby, of course. So, I sat there, mortified, and waited until she got back. Sister Hokafonu got a really good (really ugly) picture of me holding her ha-ha. The things that mortify missionaries...

We also got talking with a lady at Golden Corral who was in her 50s'. She told us she had missionaries over at her house when she was a teenager and LOVED having them. She REMEMBERED THE MISSIONARIES! Her family never accepted the gospel, but she was telling us of how good she felt whenever they were over. We got her info and passed her on to the sisters in her area to see. Cool little random miracle. 

On Thursday it started pouring rain and we got caught in it. But we were able to get into Sandra's house to go over the baptismal interview questions. She also invited our investigator Tearra, her caregiver, to be baptized as we were going over the questions ha-ha. She doesn't sugarcoat things. She was telling Tearra all the things she'd have to do to get baptized, and, get this, she said yes! And she's moving into an apartment right next to ours! SO she'll be within walking distance :) YAY! God's tender mercies are everywhere! 

We also picked up a new family of 4! The Jones family! They'd met with missionaries before, so we stopped by and starting talking with them. I met them while I was with Sister Bindrup, but it's been pretty off and on with them. They couldn't come to church this week due to a birthday party, but we've been in constant communication with them and they are all in! They still expressed their desire to be baptized, and we answered some of their concerns about coming to church. They seem to be all set, but I'm sure they need lots and lots of prayers! 

I think the biggest and best part of the week happened on Saturday. We got to go to a baptism in the Jones Falls ward (it neighbors our ward) and visit with President Christiansen a bit! Sandra came with us to have her baptismal interview with President and they were talking for AN HOUR! A missionary really starts to get worried by this time, but, then again, it's President. And we all know he likes to talk :) But, SANDRA PASSED!!!! She's getting baptized this Saturday on August 6th! YAAYAYAYAYAY!! She's truly repentant. I love her so much :) Oh missionary work is the best! I'm so lucky to be serving here and to be able to witness all these miracles. There isn't a single place I'd rather be right now. I learn so much every day and I just wish I could share them all with you. I often get people who ask me why I serve a mission. There are a million different reasons why I chose to serve, but Elder Bednar explains one of them just perfectly in his talk "Come and See," a talk I would invite all of you to read, member or nonmember. He says," When we invite you to attend church with us or to learn with the full-time missionaries, we are not trying to sell you a product... we do not receive prizes or bonus points in a Heavenly contest. We are not seeking simple to increase the numerical size of the church... we are not attempting to coerce you to believe as we do. We are inviting you to hear the restored truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ so you can study, ponder, pray and come to know for yourself if the things we are sharing with you are true." The magical thing about my job is that God calls the weak and simple to work with Him. That's why He called me. I'm definitely one of those weak and simple. As missionaries we tell people NOT to take our word for it. Instead, we ask them to pray. Ask God with a sincere heart and contrite spirit. If we can help people actually pray, our job is done. That's how I KNOW this has to be God's church. It has to be true. There is no harm in trying it out. Trying to pray. Trying church. There is no harm, but there are great blessings. I know there is a God who LOVES you. He is aware of YOU. It is no mere accident that there is life on this Earth. Divinity is the ultimate answer. 

If you have questions or concerns, please ask me or another member of the church around you. There are NO strings attached. Our friendship will not be severed if you do not accept the gospel or chose to live it, but our friendship will be strengthened as we grow together. I love you and I'm grateful to be able to call you friends. Family. Know that you are often thought about. Each and every one of you. Even if you don't think I think about you, I do! And so does your Father in Heaven. I love you and I'm grateful for you.

Discover why you're here today.

Scripture of the Week: 2 Nephi 5:27

Quote of the Week: "Come what may and love it!"

Love, 

Sister Humphrey