Farr Along The Road I Traveled: Happy 1-year/ "You are Dorks!"

hahaha

Howdy howdy family and friends!!

I hope this day is filling y'all with as much joy as it's filling me with!

Oh man, it's been quite the week! We had a really jam-packed p-day with the other Midland sisters, an amazing last Zone Conference with President and Sister Augustin, and Sister Hoover and I hit our one-year mark on Thursday! It was a really HOTTTT bike day, we went over 20 miles probably, but it was soooo good! We were so busy that we just packed pb&js to eat while biking between appointments... but they all fell through and we were 5 miles from home, so we took a surprise dinner break on the front porch swing of our Relief Society President's house. :P

She saw us outside, and asked if we had rung her doorbell. When we said "No, we were just catching some shade" She said: "You are Dorks!! Well, if you need anything, water, snack, air conditioning, come on in!" hahaha it was good, and the ice-water she gave us was a huge blessing. It was definitely a very missionary-esque day for us to celebrate, literally everything we'd planned fell through, but we were really tired and happy by the end of it. :P

The bench we took our dinner break on in front of our relief society president's house, haha happy 1 year! :P

Later in the evening, since we aren't supposed to play with fire, we burned little baby shirts sister Hoover cut out of another shirt, it was a good time. :P

Burning the little shirts we made haha.

But yeah, the work is going really well. We cover a lot of area and work with a lot of members, but the Lord has really been blessing us as we've been learning!

Something that really stood out to me this week was truth, and looking/searching for and seeking out truth. I stumbled upon this quote by Austin Farrer: "Though argument does not create conviction, lack of it destroys belief. What seems to be proved may not be embraced; but what no one shows the ability to defend is quickly abandoned. Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate in which belief may flourish."

This was really cool to think about as I reflected on an experience we had at a member's house on our 1-year mark! The 12-year old daughter Kaylee, shared with us an experience she had in school where she had to defend the fact that Joseph Smith did not write the Book of Mormon, but he translated it. The young man, her peer, who was arguing with her told her that she didn't know what she was talking about. She replied:
"I'm a Mormon, I KNOW what I believe."

This story really impressed me, and it reminded me of a Baptist man who told us to "Study the founder of your church" commenting on a biography, as he was disrespecting something about Joseph Smith's life.

I really did want to tell him that I do, every day, when I read the scriptures, because the founder of my Church is not Joseph Smith, He is Jesus Christ, and we learn of Him and His teachings through the scriptures...

Both of these instances reminded me that I really do need to search for truth, and not put anyone else down. Jesus Christ clearly states in the scriptures that if we are to DO the will of the Father we need to know the doctrine (John 7:10-18)... and I know that my faith is not just in the Lord's teachings, but it's manifested in how I act... which is slowly improving every day ;)

haha, but life is good. Truth is REAL. And I know with all of my heart this IS the Lord's work, and He's in the details of it, and His arms are outstretched to those who will receive Him! No matter where we are on our walk.

I love you all, I hope your week is wonderful!

All my heart,

Sister Lagrosa!

My beastly bike Perry. Covered in duct tape to be protected from the transfer bus, and matches my purple water bottle I got for 3 bucks at the HEB! :D Sometimes I LOVE being a missionary! :D

The most beautiful sky in the world. Seriously, it may be the only beautiful thing down here, besides the people, but, it is pretty dang amazing, and I get to see it EVERY morning and EVERY night!!!