Farr Along The Road I Traveled: The Struggle Bus is Real! ...and it Broke Down in Childress!

Howdy howdy family and friends!

So, at a recent Zone Conference our wonderful Mission Mom (Sister Heap) started a new phrase (the Struggle Bus) when she said that President got on it that morning. haha, so this week has been a rollercoaster, and it ended with the struggle bus breaking down in Childress, so get excited to hear about that haha.

But we'll start with the good stuff! Sister Clark (along with some awesome neighbors and help) succeeded in making the celebration of the completion of 23 years of life the BEST ever! I think my birthdays that fall on Thanksgiving end up being the most memorable :P

But, yeah, last Monday our neighbor started off the week with making me a 3 tier birthday cake! And delicious Mexican casserole, we had cake again on Tuesday at our district meeting, crazyness on exchanges following that, the STL's helped make Wednesday the be Birthday-eve ever, then my actual birthday was just filled with SO much Thanksgiving fun (I got sung to by a lot of strangers, we had Thanksgiving with the Keys clan, 4 generations of them! (and one generation has 10 kids in one family!), we played football and someone even pulled over to take a picture for Me and Sister Clark, when we were taking a picture near a Childress sign!) and then the struggle bus pulled up and I was just kind of knocked out Friday and Saturday with the flu, and then Sister Clark got it yesterday...

I have honestly never been so sick in my life, as I was on Friday, I felt like a little kid, because it just hurt to move, open my eyes, or even lay there, I didn't even have enough strength to open a bottle of water and y'all know I"m not a wimp! :P haha, when Sister Clark made me eat 2 bites of banana with the medicine she gave me, we were both surprised that I just burst into tears! :(

I finally got feeling well enough Saturday to go out for a couple hours, but by Sunday everything except my stomach was pretty functionable! :)

Anyways, the missionary work this week went great too! Even better than birthday festivities. We had one of the BEST district meetings of my mission, and we were able to really see Heavenly Father's PERFECT timing at work during exchanges!! :D Also, Scottie, our wonderful recent convert, Danny's nephew is going to be baptized this coming week!

So, so soooo much goodness. Since I can't talk about everything, because time is really running out, I just want to talk about the 2 highlights of the week: 1- Heavenly Father's timing and 2- Service in Quanah!

First, Heavenly Father's timing, so we had my last exchanges this week with Sisters Plante and McFarland, and we had surprise construction on our house start haha, so literally EVERYTHING was moved around in our house, and we couldn't cook for almost 2 days because they were sanding the floor, and part of our front wall to our house was missing hahaha! But it all worked out sooooo perfectly, because, we really needed an extra set of missionaries with the appointments we had set up, and we taught literally every hour we were out! Heavenly Father knows what's up! And later that night when I was a little anxious, becasue the house was a wreck, y'all know I like things organized right... anyway, he answered a really simple prayer, and I woke up, in the same disorganized house the next morning with no anxiety! :)

Second, SERVICE IN QUANAH! this overlaps a little with Heavenly Father's timing, because having the other sisters here was sorely needed for help in the kitchen on Wednesday (good thing we were all Sister Missionaries!!) Then we got up early and spent 4 hours thanksgiving morning in Quanah and made over 200 meals for people in town and in some of the surrounding areas too! It was probably my favorite service activity that I've ever done, I'm excited to try and top it next year! :P

Ah! Well, my time is far spent, but I love, love, LOOOOVEEEEE you! and my scripture for the week is:
Alma 34:38 "That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yoursleves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you."

Keep looking for truth, searching for the spirit, and living in gratitude! I'll do the same!

With all my heart,

Sister Heather Ann lagrosa

Pictures:

1- Football on Thanksgiving!

2- Struggle Bus Day 1

3- Sunday Night :(

4- The front wall of our house kind of missing!

5- Our Quanah Crew on Thanksgiving day!

6- Birthday Flowers from my Mommy and Pops :D

7- Making sure those teeth sparkle!

8- Awk district pic, we made the elders try to look like they love each other :P