7 Month Re-cap

With Jonathan Stewart and his wife. Jonathan is a dear family friend.. His parents were at my parent's' wedding .
He is the ward mission leader in the neighboring ward. Here we are at lunch. Such a great connection.

Hey Everyone!

The other day I was thinking about my mission. What it's done for me. How I've changed. The people I've met. The amount of vinyl siding I've seen. And, I just started to laugh! Seven months ago I had a completely different perspective on life. I was so caught up in things that I rarely think about now. Do I still ask people what their favorite movie is? Yes. Do I still hum John Mayer songs in the shower? Yes. Do I still take really long showers? Yes (sorry Dad...some things never change). But my whole perspective on life has really changed. Sounds generic but it's true. 

In 7 months, I now know that no one has a perfect life. Trials make us stronger. And, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is really the only answer to the question, "How can I be truly happy?" These little realizations are constant reminders of the importance of life. Every day, something happens. Whether it be laughing at district meeting or driving around like wild bandits with my main gurl, "Sister #choosethewright" that make me realize, "Wow, I'm so grateful to be here." 

Northern Virginia may not be the most "exotic" place with the "greatest weather" but it's the perfect fit for me. I used to have a hard time with the fact that out of all the places in the world, Northern Virginia is where God wanted me to be. But being out here, I realized that I wouldn't trade my experiences here for ANYTHING. Not even a mission in London ;) I have made some life-long friends and angels have truly been surrounding me while I've served. (Shout out to all the angels in Oakton and Franconia...you know who you are!). 

This week was a really good week. We had some tender things happen to us. For example, I love our progressing investigators, Whitney and Andrew. As you know, Whitney's mom will not let her get baptized until she is 18. And, Andrew's dad won't let him get baptized until he is convinced Andrew "knows what he is doing." So frustrating. But the miracle is that WITHOUT FAIL, they still come to church every week. They still have lessons with us. They still grow and learn. For example, Whitney is already planning on attending BYU and reads General Conference talks in her spare time. The ward considers her a member at this point. Same with Andrew. This past week, we took Whitney to the temple visitor's center. Since she has already been there four times, we just looked around and talked and laughed. She wants to get married in the Rome temple and Sister Wright and I will be the bridesmaids. Yes! 

Another wonderful experience happened at the temple that day we went with Whitney. Sister Wright and I realized that we didn't have a ride home from the temple. We were worried because we had an appointment with Dara. She is one of our investigators who is the Olympic boxer in training. We freaked out. We called Dara, told her the situation that we would probably be really late to the appointment. We prayed and prayed to find someone to take us back to Alexandria. I felt like such a loser. I was tempted to take a taxi home! BUT DARA PICKED US UP. I REPEAT DARA DROVE 45 MIN AND PICKED US UP. AHHHH! she's so great. We had so much fun with her in the car! 

Also, last night...it dumped buckets of snow and we couldn't drive. So we had to WALK. It was freezing but we had a blast. We got a little sidetracked with taking pics but we were able to teach a family from Ghana! 

Have a great week everyone! Love you!

xoxo Sister Kelly