I love you all so much. I hope you are doing well.
So here's my week: Monday: We went to Jeff City and "toured" the capital building. Mostly we just walked around and looked at stuff. And then Sister Crandall decided to be proactive and ask if there was any way we could get to go to the tippy top of the Capital. Well, we found out that there was and then we jumped on that bandwagon and got ourselves a "tour guide." She was actually an intern but she said she loved taking people to the top and such. So we went up to the VERY top of the capital building and looked at Jeff City. We got to go outside on the dome. It was really neat. I don't have any pictures though because I didn't have my camera. Because it was still at the member's house that I lost it at. [but no worries. I have it now and it works like a champ.] So that was a really neat P-day.
Tuesday: I can't remember what happened on Tuesday... sorry. or Thursday or Friday...
Wednesday: it was snowing when we woke up. my first thought was, "for real?" It was Bunkerville snow though-- it didn't stick to the ground. So that was good. Then Wednesday night we got to go to Mutual because we were invited and they had a non-member there! They did this really fun "Cake Boss" competition. My team won. Our cake was the Birth of Christ and let me tell you... it LOOKED like the nativity. We had a lot of fun. And then one of the members of the Bishopric challenged Sister Proctor and I to have a milk chugging contest... And being the competitive kid that I am, I couldn't say no. So we had a chugging contest. I didn't win. But then others got involved and then pretty soon it was the missionaries and all the youth outside ready to chug. So it started and then poor Sister Linton just couldn't take it and milk started coming out of her nose. It was reallllllllly funny.
Saturday we went to a memorial for a little baby. It was really sad-- but at the same time it just made me super grateful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. But the baby's dad was a firefighter so all of his colleagues were in their dress blues and I just thought of Dad all day.
Sunday we spoke in church. We were asked to speak on overcoming adversity. Sister Linton spoke first and she talked about peace. There is a really good article in the April Ensign about peace called "Where Can I Turn For Peace." and that's what she talked about. Sister Proctor spoke next and she spoke about trials and tribulations and how we all have them and when we do have them we need to turn to the Lord. And then we sang a REALLY SHORT intermediate hymn and then I had the rest of the time. It was 10:40 when I started speaking.... luckily I have inherited some really great genes that allow me to talk for long periods of time. hahahah. But I spoke about overcoming adversity through the Atonement and what has helped me in my life. I used a few quotes as bullet points. They were "All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ." And that is from Preach My Gospel. The next one was from Les Miserables and it was, "Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise." and with that one I quoted the song, "He Hears Me" because that song always seems to come to me when I am struggling. And the final quote I used was "If you don't like your situation, change it. If you can't change your situation, change your attitude." And even though that seems kind of harsh, it is truth. Happiness is a choice. One of my favorite Ziggy cartoons said this: "We can cry because the roses have thorns or we can smile because the thorns have roses." (or something like that...) I know that we all go through hard times, but the Lord promises in D&C 122: 7 that they will be for our good and our experience. To those who have struggled a lot this week, just know that I love you. And more importantly-- the Lord loves you. Our Savior, Jesus Christ has experienced your pain and He loves you and desires for you to turn to Him in your time of need.
I love you all so much! I hope to get some pictures soon! The second picture-- me laying on the ground-- I'm pretty sure I have a double ear infection, so Sister Proctor was helping me clean out my ears. She put hydrogen peroxide in them. That was weird. I did NOT enjoy that.
I love you! I can't wait to talk to you in two Sundays! (I think I might have miscounted a few weeks ago... which was a really huge bummer when I realized that, but all is well now.) Love, Sister Sadie Leavitt
