Afflictions are but a small moment

Hello Hello! 

I am not getting transferred so that's good because there is still so much work to do here.  It has been a crazy week. It was definitely a trial of my faith, attitude, and diligence but it all turned out okay! There were also some miracles! First off, every single one of our appointments fell through. Every. Single. One.  And we had quite a few set up for last week too. It was upsetting but everything worked out okay. We could have easily allowed ourselves to get discouraged but we didn't.  We stayed positive having faith, and laughing and making jokes! Sometimes it was hard to be optimistic but overall we did it! 

We are out of miles for the month now so for the rest of this week we will have to walk everywhere.  This is the long country road we walk down to head toward town.

It's a looooong walk to town so we have to start early

One day last week we parked our car down the street from the police station while out street contacting.  As we were walking back to our car we passed the station and a cop ran out a couple minutes after we walked by and chased us to our car and was yelling to get our attention.  I was thinking "Oh wow... we are being chased down by a cop."  No big deal though.  He caught up to us and asked us to come to his office and talk to him.  He told us to be very careful in this area and never go out at night (which we already knew) and then he gave us his cell phone number and said to call him if we ever need his help.  Then he told us about a woman in town that had an addiction to drugs.  He said that he has been trying to work with her and help her to get clean.  He saw us walk by earlier and felt like he should ask us if we would go visit her and maybe uplift her a little with one of our messages. So we agreed and went by her house.  The crazy thing is that she is a woman we were trying to find earlier that day.  It turns out she is actually a member of the church but hasn't been in years.  She is on the church records under her deceased mother's name and the address we had for her was an abandoned house.  She moved out of that house a while ago and the church didn't have her new address but this officer knew where she lived.  It is so amazing how things work out.  Heavenly Father is so aware of each individual even drug addicts who feel like the world has forgotten them. 

On Friday we went to Culbertson, a little town in our area. We had an appointment, but it ended up falling through. Again, we tried not to get discouraged, but it was hard. We didn't eat a very good dinner because we packed it from home, but were out of groceries, so what we packed was lame.  But we ate our lame dinner real quick and then were going to leave to go back to Fairview since we no longer had an appointment in Culbertson; but then we decided to stop off at a gas station to grab an ice cream bar to satisfy our hunger and lift our spirits.  We walked in and felt like we should talk to one of the employees and invite her to hear our message so we did and she was very interested.  We were able to set up an appointment with her for this week.  Then we grabbed our ice cream bars and before we checked out, a customer walked up to us and he told us that he is a member of the church but hasn't been to church in years.  His records are not even in our ward or anything.  He is far from home and was so excited to see missionaries so he gave us his number and we will also meet with him this week.  Sometimes our appointments fall through because everybody has agency but Heavenly Father always provides when we work hard and have faith.  This also applies to real life.  Everyone has agency and we can't control the decisions others make; but we do have a loving Heavenly Father who is always aware of us and knows that all our "afflictions are but a small moment."

Despite our hard days, it was a good week.  We showed up to S and P's home twice and they let us in to teach them.  They are the older couple we found a couple weeks ago while tracting.  They are slow progressors but they read the Book of Mormon every single day together, at least a chapter a day, sometimes more.  This week we taught them the Plan of Salvation.  Wow, the spirit was so strong and silenced them.  They were amazed by it. We invited them to pray and ask if it was true. We weren't expecting them to do it right then, but S, right then and there, said a very sincere prayer and once again the spirit was so strong.  We could tell they felt it too.  They were quiet when we left but I felt like I should give P a hug, so I did and I could tell she needed it. She was so happy I hugged her, and then we asked about her grandchildren, which also made her happy. S and P are amazing people who are thirsting for the atonement to cleanse them, and we are the gateway for them to feel that. Line upon line, precept upon precept, little by little, they are understanding and progressing towards faith, repentance, and baptism. 

I am excited for another transfer in this beautiful area.  This area is tough and slower with progressing but, just like S and P, needs the same amount of attention and love. We can feel the people here changing.  We are also seeing a lot more "no trespassing and soliciting" signs, but there are wonderful people who are ready and prepared here. 

Our district!  The Bro Zone has four sisters now.  Yay!

I heard a cheer that I love that represents Minnesota and North Dakota.  

Lutefisk, lutefisk,

lefse, lefse,

can we beat them?

yah you betcha!

Lutefisk and Lefse are Scandinavian dishes.  Scandinavians settled in Minnesota and North Dakota in the 1800s so they have a big influence up here.

Go Northern States :)

Love, 

Sister Park