We Aren't in Idaho Any More

Well this week was crazy. Very interesting. Tuesday morning we woke up and I looked at the phone and bam! A lot of messages about a tornado.... :) We slept through it. We called the Madison Sisters and they had to take shelter at 1 in the morning and there was a tornado that touched down in Madison but we were fine in Sun Prairie. Next day, I am sitting at my desk in the morning while Sister Packer is getting ready for the day and I looked out the window and noticed it is unusually dark outside. Almost nighttime dark and it is just pouring. The next thing I hear is Sister Packer nervously calling me into the room. We go out to our porch and there is constant lightning like right above us and the sky was green. It was so eerie. It did not feel right so we went and looked at our phone and sure enough we just got an emergency weather text telling us to take shelter immediately! The weather worsened in a blink of an eye, the wind was just howling and the rain was crazy! We scrambled and grabbed our scriptures and water and booked it! We are conveniently on the outside top floor of our building so we had to go outside and run to a laundry room in the middle of the building. We had to have been outside for less than 7 seconds and we were soaked! It looked like we'd been in a 20 minute shower. We had no basement and just hid between the washing machines. We were trying to call and text someone who knew what was going on! We were pretty freaked out and the sirens were blaring the wind is blowing and the lights are going on and off and here we are isolated from the world! We called the Madison sisters and apparently there was a funnel cloud headed right for us! Over all there were 6 tornadoes but it mostly did damage to the trees and nothing else. It kind of looked like a hurricane with that wind and rain. It died down real fast but to be honest we were pretty shaken up! In our prayer when we got to safety I could barely say it I was shaking so bad! We read the Book of Mormon out loud while we waited and we were basically yelling to block out the sound! We eventually called one of our friends in the ward and she told us everything that was going on and that we were safe and could go about our day like normal now. Haha! We were probably just a sad sight. 2 scared girls from Idaho! When we got back to our apartment I felt like I just ran 5 miles and cried all morning. It was weird. Not the ideal start to a day :) Most our day understandably fell through, everyone cancelled because of the tornadoes so we went and made pies with a less active which was fun!

Then that night we get a text from our bishop and a less active and recent convert in our ward that have been living together decided to get married! The next day! We were super excited and we made a lot of treats to help out! The next day we went to the store and were cooking all throughout our weekly planning and 2 pies, brownies, and rice crispies later we get another text saying the wedding was cancelled! It had to be delayed because of paper work. It was super sad, everyone was so excited for the wedding and the whole ward was pulling together. We were left with a lot of treats :) I must say I ate way too many! We gave most of them away though.

But a highlight from that day! We got a church headquarters referral which never happens. The last one we got was 8 months ago! So we go and find out his wife used to be a member and he is catholic and they aren't interested. Bummer right? 10 minutes later we get a call from his wife stating she is not a member anymore but would like to have us over for dinner sometime! That is cool! So we are going this Friday to eat there!
Friday, we go serve lunch but we go to the computer lab for an hour to go onlds.org and catch up with mormon.org and we now have a friend there Andrew who is an athiest. We have been talking to him for about a month now and we have had really good conversations. Friday though he just attacked like the core of our beliefs. Questioning everything and saying everything of man. It was crazy, you see it all the time in the Book of Mormon and we tried to answer his questions for a bit but he was just hashing our faith, not Mormons but our beliefs. I went silent and I was almost shaking with anger. How dare he make all these assumptions and how does he have the right to tell me to doubt. The image of Joseph Smith standing up and yelling, "Silence!" went through my head. He saw we were upset. We didn't say anything because that would bring contention but he apologized and tried to cover up for it. I am so glad for the steadfast testimony I have in my Savior. It was immovable in that moment. I knew what I stood for and I knew why I was here. I wish I could have punched him, it is a good thing I am a missionary other wise I would have. I'm not violent I promise :) I'm ok now, it just really shook me up!

It was kind of a rough week to say the least. But it did cause for a lot of soul searching and I sought for a lot of help and had to rely on the Lord a lot. I read a lot about hope and mercy. No matter what happens in this life, it will be but a short moment. And more importantly, it will be for my benefit. I am so thankful for my knowledge that there is more out there and we are striving for something so great! Eternal life with my family, both Heavenly and earthly. I know I can see my Father in Heaven again and dwell in a state of complete happiness! With that knowledge, I can find happiness in any circumstance I have now! Hope for a better day! Hope that my Savior will pull through and give me a hand! I know he helps me everyday, and I can receive that power and strength! I know that he has given us the Book of Mormon to show us the way! We were still blessed to see miracles everyday in handing our Book of Mormons! We handed out 13 this week and at least 1 everyday. It is the coolest thing and truly a miracle and a blessing. The Lord just wants to help us and he can bless us all he wants when we keep his commandments! I love this gospel!

Yesterday was fantastic and I was pulled out of the gloom! Church was amazing! Brother Schroeder gave a talk about fortifying ourselves with the BOM. This guy is a Marine and he has some amazing stories. He talked about because he had the knowledge of the Book of Mormon, when he was sailing the route Marco Polo took past Thailand pirates started chasing their ship and they defended themselves against them! How crazy is that! He told lots of amazing stories! I am excited to eat there this week :) Then we had dinner with the Davis family and it was SO fun! All 6 of us ate there and their kids were just a riot! We were all laughing so hard! It was crazy, they were running into doors and whatnot :) I loved it! And we had 10 minutes to tract, so first door we go to we only see kids. One opens the door and this little girl just runs out full speed and gives me a great big hug! Out of no where! I loved it! My favorite door yet! There are 6 little kids and we ask if there is a parent and their dad eventually comes out and he took a Book of Mormon and is super excited to meet with us again! Then we went to Katt's and unloaded on her and had an amazing gospel/science discussion. If anyone wants to discuss the theory of relativity with me and the gospel, feel free :)

It was a crazy week and I love it! I hope you all have a fantastic week! I almost cried when I saw my car going bye bye :( Sad day! I love her! I love you all so much! Give some hugs for me ;)!

Love,
Anne