Terra -- We called the cops on our referral.

Brother Blackham made a bonfire, and we got to roast biscuits on it!! (sometimes people have to have scrunchy faces..)

I'm quite the biscuit-by-the-lake-by-the-fire cooker!

We went back to the bonfire after planning

This email may be shorter than most because I have spent a lot of time emailing others (since I can now.  Oh yeah, new rule! I can email anyone!!)  but nonetheless, it will be great. Let's hope. :]

Just doing some shopping!

This week was kind of slow, but a few interesting things happened. We called the cops on one of our referrals. It was a strange situation. We were actually parked in a neighborhood trying to find our referral, and we were making some phonecalls. There were some people standing outside this house across the street talking. A black SUV (sounds intense) pulled up, and one of the girls got in the car. As the black SUV backed out of the driveway, they rammed into a parked car across the street! The driver pulled forward, got out and looked at the car, and then drove away!! So Sister Ward and I got out to look at the car, which had big scratches and scrapes on it, and then called the cops. We got the SUV's license plate number too. And they totally saw us watching them. Anywho, the next day we went to go contact our referral, and it ended up being that house!!! That house where the girl was picked up from!!!! So...we didn't contact her, haha. We were afraid that we'd get beat up. So we're waiting on that one for a certain member to come with us. 

Happy almost Easter! 

Last night these two nine year old twins were trying to guess my name. I told them it started with a T. One of them guessed "teacher", "tinkerbell", and "tyler"... aaaand I really don't think I look like a Tyler. Do you think I look like a Tyler? I don't think I look like a Tyler. But they are cute, nonetheless. These two girls say really funny things. 

This is at a member's house. Their door handle is way at the bottom!!

This week I've been praying a LOT for the gift of discernment. We know our investigators pretty well, and it's just a matter of knowing how to keep them progressing and being persistent enough not to push them away. I've been struggling with knowing how to help them and keep them going and encouraging them to not give up. I love them all so much and I want this so badly for them! If they only knew how wonderful this gospel truly is!!! And how blessed their lives would be if they let it enter into their hearts fully! They're all at turning points. The adversary is really working against them. This week we went and saw Denny and Jody, and during one appointment they just argued and contended back and forth. It wasn't a peaceful environment, and we did our best to calm it down. But, it was kind of entertaining, because Jody has dentures and they kept falling out when she yelled. I had to keep in my giggles.

We often take pictures after planning, and most of them are REALLY awful and funny.  But here's a nicer one.

It's comforting to know that Nephi pondered a lot, because I ponder a lot too. And if he pondered, that means it's a good thing to do. If Laman and Lemuel were the ponderers, well...that would be different. But I like knowing that I am similar to an ancient prophet in that way. Pondering is a blessing. It's a nice release. It's nice to be able to find peace in my head when everything can be crazy and stressful around me. It's not too stressful, but I do struggle. I miss home. I miss a lot of things about being home. I so badly wish I could have been at Grandma Allen's funeral. Seeing all those pictures brought me to tears. I wanted to be there. I wanted to be surrounded by family. I wanted to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort. That's where I struggle. I wish I could be in two places at once. I wish I could be in a lot of different places at once, but wishful thinking is for wishing wells. Not for how-it-really-happens wells. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't hope. We should definitely hope. It says in the Book of Mormon that we cannot enter into heaven without hope. So we have to have it! Hope is believing that something can happen and expecting that it will. Sounds like wishful thinking to me, and so sometimes I struggle with hope. But God encourages hope. He asks for it. So therefore, I will hope. At least I'm working on it. I lost a lot of it last week and I'm working on gaining it back and gaining even more than before. Progression is awesome, and I love it. We should all always think about how we can progress. I can tell you one way that is a great way to progress. That is by having the character of Christ. Everyone should read Elder Bednar's talk called "The Character of Christ". (see post below).  It's amazing and it changed my perspective on EVERYTHING. The character of Christ (to sum it up) is to turn outward when it is natural to turn inwards. I made a list of examples this week of how to turn outward towards others. It's pretty long, so I'll just name a few:

-If you feel like complaining, or if you're having a bad day, seek out those who are also struggling and do what you can to serve them and help them
-sacrifice what you want so that somebody else can have what they want
-do unto others as you would have others do unto you, but don't get upset if they don't do the same to you
-always be willing to give and share
-pray for the gift of discernment, and strive to discern how others are feeling
-don't make rash judgements or assumptions
-find happiness in the happiness of others
-don't find or create reasons to get angry
-don't justify situations
-think of the welfare of others before yourself
-discover attributes that you like in EVERY person that you meet

Those are just a few. My time is up! But I love you all. I love you Mom and Dad. I'm excited that I get to email more people now! It's so fun! Everyone should serve a mission! Woo hoo!! Okay. Enjoy the pictures like you would a nice bubble bath.

Love, Terra

P.S. Mom, I LOVE what you said about Jane Austen movies.  And I LOVED all of your funny quotes. Especially the Pee Wee Herman one. :] :]

Sister Ward gave me permission for this one. There's a video that goes with it. Sister Ward just can't be explained (to which I replied, "I won't put this on the blog though" and Terra wrote back, "Yes, you can!"  So, here it is!)

This is a house!!!  It looks fuzzy!!

The elders and ward missionaries really enjoy blocking us in!