Gratitude

Hey Everyone - 

For the past couple weeks, I've gone through this roller coaster of really loving my mission...and then really NOT loving my mission. I got really negative towards my situation and was constantly comparing my mission experience to others' experiences. I was wishing I was either in another area or in a totally different mission. Then it hit me one morning while I was walking to the gym that the problem was not my situation--but my attitude. I think every other human being has already had this epiphany so excuse me for being late and revealing old news but WOW the gratitude thing hit me like a sack of bricks. Yeah, I'm grateful for things like: four working limbs, a roof over my head, family and friends, etc. I realized that I have gotten about a C- in being grateful for my situations...good, bad, and otherwise. 

I've seen a lot of blessings this week and I have been so much more positive. Gratitude really is the catalyst of all Christlike Attributes and even though I'm no master at it, it's been such an edifying experience in having the "genuine gratitude door" being opened. 

And, staying in the gratitude vein, I wanted to share an amazing experience we had this week. 

When I arrived in the Potomac Ward there were only a handful of ward members that had a relationship with the missionaries. Don't get me wrong, the ward members are awesome, but as things go in a singles' ward, most of them are really busy and have no time for us. This was something that we totally respected but also got sad about since we felt REALLY distant from the ward. We knew we had these incredible people in our ward and we wanted to get to know them! So, Sister Corey and I started scheming. We found our lost dinner calendar and re-vamped it. Then we were asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting, so the ward could see us up front. By the way, this idea came by inspiration from our bishop (who I adore). So many members came up to us afterwards to introduce themselves. As a result, we are teaching a member's boyfriend!!!! We had a lesson with him last Thursday and it went so well. The ward passed the dinner calendar around yesterday and we had so many dinner sign-ups that we even have double bookings. We literally have a dinner every single night for the next 2 months. THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED TO US BEFORE! So long Taco Bell and Mr. Microwave...I've got home cooked meals to eat. 

On Saturday, we had this awesome correlation meeting with our Relief Society Presidents (yes, we do have 2 Relief Societies because our ward is HUGE) and I seriously felt like I was reuniting with kindred spirits. LOVE those women SO much. We had so much fun with them and we were at Einstein's Bagels so long correlating/planning that we had breakfast, and then lunch! Such a miracle for them to be our Relief Society presidents. We have such strong, educated and exemplary women in our ward. It's been such a blessing to get to know them. 

The Potomac Ward is awesome and I am so grateful to have Sister Corey as a companion. She is amazing. She goes running with me...Sister Kelly ain't gonna stop anytime soon. I have less than 6 months left! 

This past week, we had this huge prompting to check on a less-active sister that we had never met before. One of our Relief Society Presidents told us to check on her. When we arrived at the main doors of her apartment building, they were locked--BUT, a nice man who lived there let us in! SO, we found her apartment door, knocked and she let us in. Okay,  this girl is "the bomb." We love the same music and we totally connected. We ended up being there for almost 2 hours and there wasn't a dry eye in the room. We talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how He understands ALL pain. We shared this amazing quote by Cheiko Okazaki and she started to cry...then I started to cry...and I think Sister Corey was close to crying. It was amazing and we're going back next week. 

Love you all! 

Sister Kelly