I Know that my Redeemer Lives

Weird WA fact of the week: People in Olympia are obsessed with frogs. I'm going to keep a tally of how many frog ornaments I see in people's yards this week. I'll let you know the total next week.
Also trash cans are so small they stand barely taller than my waist. Recycle bins are the size of normal trash bins in Mo.

So funny moment from last Monday. We were leaving the library after emailing and I was backing Sister Sandau out of her parking lot. The guy in the car next to us got out and apologized for parking too close. He thought that I couldn't open my door to get in (I totally could have). I loved the face he gave me when I told him we always back out this way.

This week was very crazy. Tuesday was Zone Conference. That was fun and really cool. In one of the classes we did role plays where we had to approach the potential and strick up a conversation (eventually steering it to the gospel) using a random prop. I was the only greenie that ended up playing the role of missionary. It was interesting because the prop we had was a rubix cube. Sister Blatter (my mission mom) was very surprised when I took 30 seconds to connect with my potential and then used the rubix cube to talk about how life is so confusing and the only way to truly solve the puzzle of life was through the gospel. (thankfully I was one of the last to go and had plenty of time to ponder how to connect it). Still not a fan of role plays though. In that same class there were a lot of Star Wars gospel related comments. It made me laugh a lot. Thanks to Tara I actually understand all the references now!

We just started teaching this guy named Paul and I was really bummed when he didn't come to the baptism or church this week. I had such high hopes but then last night he called us and apologized for ditching out. We're meeting with him again tonight. So the hope is still there.

We have a recent convert who has a almost 13 year old son who is very troubled and needs some help. The child development major in me kicked in and Sister Sandau and I have developed a plan that will hopefully make him realize he is special and worthy of people's love. Whether I get to see a change in him or it occurs 10 years from now I just have to know that we never gave up on him.

Saturday was amazing! Christina got baptized! We didn't really do anything along the way but encourage her. In our lessons we would introduce the subject and she would bare her testimony on it already having studied it. She had already read 5 of the teachings of the prophet books. Watches nothing but church movies and is writing missionaries that are serving other places who's families are in the Oly 4th ward. She is amazing! Her baptism was awesome. She got Confirmed on Sunday and her blessing was so amazing. One of the members was so impressed with her blessing they leaned forward and told us we had just welcomed in a very special new member to the church. She is really that amazing. I've learned so much from her.

Well that's it for the week! Enjoy the pictures. I hope everyone is doing well! Love you all!