We got Scripture Slapped!!

Helloo Everyone!

I hope you weeks are going well. Life in Idaho continues to be exciting and you know saving souls everyday. It has been quite interesting adjusting to life in the town of Payette, ID. But I'll get into that later. I know your all dying to get an update on BoBo the raccoon. I went to visit him and his family this week. He is a whopping 65 lbs, probably the fattest raccoon every in existence. And I got to pet him, just to say I did. I wash my hands forever after that experience though and he didn't hiss at me or anything which was nice. I think BoBo might be a diabetic he eats fruit loops for breakfast, dog treats, marshmallows, and cookies for dinner. He is a fatty. It'll be sad when he dies. 

So we got scripture slapped this week. It was yesterday actually we went to visit family who just had knee surgery the wife and the husband will have his this week. They are pretty old but may they know whats up! So we just went to meet and visit them since we don't know everyone yet in the ward. We chatted for a little bit because when everyone hear's your the new missionary they want to know EVERYTHING  about you. Well I learned that he son went to SVU at one time, and he talked about how much he loved the university. We starting talking about our roles as missionary and Brother Mann (who scripture slapped us) started setting us straight. He talked about how we can better understand our purpose as missionaries and fulfill the calling the lord has giving us. He gave us some awesome counsel that we didn't even need to share a message. He would just open the Bible or Book of Mormon and start telling us where to find things, if we mentioned a question that our investigator had he would just tell us where the answer was and how to find it. He also gave us scriptures to study and when we come back for dinner hes gonna teach US. Hes so awesome I wish everyone could meet him. He also can tell you were every scripture is about whatever topic and if he cant remember the reference he tells you where on the page you can find it. Man we walked out there with so much homework! But we love him we cant wait to go back! 

Another cool thing about Bro Mann. Is that he grows grapes! Did you know there are different flavored grapes? Well there are, he grows cotton candy, lime, strawberry, irish cream and sweet shelly to name a few! Blew my mind. They are sooo good. He told us not to but them at the store and just come to his house. We left with a huge bag of grapes and squash. Everyone likes to give the missionaries stuff from their gardens here which is nice for sure. I love the Mann they are just such a sweet family.

So we do have a number of investigators which is nice, we also spend most of our day visiting less actives and helping them in their lives by sharing messages or whatever they need through service projects.One of the people we helped this week was a sister who is staying at a womens shelter, she had been praying for help and called our Bishop. We were able to meet with her at Burger King and she was able to unload tons of heavy things, we taught her a little bit and she said she felt better and that she would be at church on Sunday. And she came! We had another experience when prayed about who we should visit and we went to an elderly lady's house we just had surgery on her hi and it was her birthday! We didn't know she we got to celebrate with her so she wasn't alone. We got to help some people move out of they're house this week that wasn't the cleanest. But we prayed our way through packing the house and moving boxes. We were there for a LONG time. And so was the food storage because some of it was rotten. hah Anyway it was good to serve and help people. Also its deer hunting has opened here so everyone is going crazy!

My last story is about our investigator we taught her the first discussion and she were teaching her about the atonement. She started crying and telling us about how bad the world was and that she didn't feel like Christ felt her pains and sorrows. We shared with her Alma 7:11-12. We testified of the love our Savior has for us. She then looked at me and said how did you prepare yourself coming to a place that doesn't treat people of other races right. I look at her and said "Everyday I wake up and put my name tag on it bears my name and the Saviors. We are a team. Whatever people say to me, I don't worry about because I know that my Savior loves me and has felt the emotions that feel." She said I hope so and I told her I know so and he has felt and will walk with you. I love testifying of Jesus Christ he is the reason we have a church and through him all things are possible.

This week was hard for me adjusting to Payette. And i was like how it can be hard its only your second week. But it was and I realized I needed to be humble enough to admit it. Many people here call me the "colored" sister. And have deep rooted feelings about my race and share them many places we go they bring it up or just stare. It was beginning to make my companion uncomfortable. we talked about it. A mission is hard in ways that is different for every missionary and the lord gives us experiences to teach us. Missions are hard in ways I cant really describe but they are the only time your life that you'll be able to walk to closely with the Savior.. He doesn't have a timetable for when he will teach us he starts teaching us even in our second week. To one person I taught them about the importance of knowing we are all children of god, so they shouldn't see me as the "colored" sister but rather a child of the god that gives them life everyday and I see them that way too. I have learned that the Savior loves each and everyone of us, that when we face hard experiences it teaches us to love and invites us to come unto Christ. We begin to tap into  Moroni 9:46-48 when we begin to develop that pure love of Christ and see him as he is will be able to see other people as they truly are! We you have some hard experiences at work, home, school, remember that the lord invites us to come unto home through those experiences and they will be for your good! 

Have a good week! Thanks for the prayers :)

All my Love,

Sister Cleveland