Episode 9:AMERICA

 

Hallo Freunde und Familie!

This was a good week with lots of ups and downs, which meant a lot of lessons learned. ;) Looking back I can say: "man, I'm not sure I want to go through that again, but I'm glad I did!" The big lesson from this week was that exact obedience brings blessings (point blank period!) God can tell when our heart is in the work, and He'll bless us accordingly. Our efforts don't have to be perfect, just as long as we're good and getting better. Just like Jesus loved the widow's mite, God loves our flawed effort. I don't think He really appreciates talented people who don't push themselves. I do think He appreciates imperfect efforts from intentional people. For example, this week we had a few days where we were kinda grumpy and moving really slow. Lessons either fell through or didn't go well... no bueno. The next day, we decided to say a repentance prayer and we tried much harder to be happy, on time, and sacrifice. We had a lesson opportunity come up (a true rarity these days!), and all the rest of our lessons had the spirit. Of course, things don't always work out like that 100% of the time (God is not a vending machine), but it was nice to know that God recognizes when my intentions are right even though my actual performance is flawed. 

GUYS! It was the fourth of July!!!!! InDePeNdEnCe DaY! This is Sister Sintz's favorite holiday (what a patriot) and she was a little sad about missing some good ol' BBQ (I was too tbh). However, she had a good attitude about it and we filled our day the best we could. That morning, we got a call from a sister in our ward inviting us to join her family for a BBQ before our 6pm curfew! What a tender mercy! (Shout out to Sister Okabe! You're a true saint!) Turns out God blesses us when we try to go forward with a good attitude... who'd a thunk? It was absolutely amazing and there was so much food (Japanese pork rolls, hamburgers, Korean BBQ, pie, salads, watermelon, the works.) It was nice to be remembered. If you ever wonder what you can do to help me, just do me a favor and call your local missionaries on a holiday and let them know they are remembered. It will mean the world to them.:)

During the day for the 4th of July we did a free lemonade stand and it was sooooo fun! It was cool to see people's reactions: "Free? You're not raising money? You don't expect to do something? What is this?" It was nice just to talk to people in person (With masks;)) and bring some happiness. One man said: 'This lemonade is good! Tastes like kindness!" We were able to listen to a couple people talk about some things they are going through and share a quick prayer with them. It was awesome! It definitely wouldn't be summer for me without standing at a booth at some point in time ;) We got to see SO many fireworks from our apartment!!!!! It was amazing! Celebrating America by blowing stuff up and eating food is probably the best thing ever. 

We live next to Sierra Madre, a small town nestled in the foot of the mountain. (Worth a Google!) We affectionately refer to it as the fairy town because of all the little shops, funky houses, viney plants, and quirky decor. We went there on one of our morning walks and took some fun pictures, so enjoy that.:) There are also a few little book exchange boxes around the neighborhood, and I got a fun business management book that I'm excited to read when I get home. Any walk with fairy houses and books sounds good ti me!

We got a new mission president!!!! His name is president Hall (A fellow Ute AND an accountant, so I was pretty thrilled about that!;)) Him and Sister Hall are very neat people and fans of creative missionary work (they gave us the thumbs up for the lemonade stand, which was a huge blessing.) They want us to take this time on our missions to learn how to govern ourselves and reach out to people in ways that are meaningful and convenient. *Maybe* our Facebook teaching can come back in the future! If not, I'm still very excited to be working with them.

Alright, I'm done rambling! I love you lots! BTW, we are allowed to teach people from anywhere over zoom/phone/messenger now, so if you know someone who is in need of a good message or they simply want to know more about Christ, send them my way. Ya'll are the bomb diggitiy!

Much love,

-Sister Schramm