Maren in Milwaukee: Week 78

Well, well! Hello all my favorite people! This week has been suppaa rad. So good. On Monday a group of us missionaries went on a #hikeofdeath. It was a littttle sketch, but we made it. We're alive. It was really fun! I just love all the missionaries I've been able to become friends with here in Wisconsin. We went to the Cooks post-hike for dinner and Sister Cook made my favorite, breakfast food.

love these hermanas of mine!

on the edge of a waterfall thing

selfie from a very sketchy point of our hike....

elder ipson, elder fry, elder stokes, elder bastian, hna hixon, hna brian, me, sister hansen

Tuesday we had our zone training meeting and it went really well! Sister Hansen and I gave a couple different trainings. One of being effective and efficient and another on being JOYFUL. The spirit was strong and all the missionaries in the zone had really great things to say. The zone leaders gave some awesome trainings as well. After ZTM, we got some Noodles & Co while we waited for the Marquette sisters to finish up their interviews with President. Then we went on blitzes! I must be theee luckiest sister to get to go on TWO blitzes with my baby, Sister Garner! She is just one of the most wonderful sisters I've ever been able to serve around. She and Sister Crandell are working miracles up in the UP! We had a full day, but unfortunately all our appointments fell through. We did get to see Cayla, though!! It was really good. We talked a lot about her baptism. The lesson began with her saying that she didn't want to get baptized, to her telling us she wants to keep working towards her date on the 6th. I just really need this McD's coffee special to go away so it won't be such a big deal. We committed her to read the Book of Mormon every single day. She said she would. I just know with all of my heart that if she reads daily she will find answers and will gain so much clarity and peace in her life!! Also she wants to start the hashtag #catslivesmatter 😹 On our way home guess who we saw riding his bike!? RICHARD. We gave him a call and ended up playing phone tag with him for a while. He never called us back after a while. Sad. But it was good to know that he's still doing well. I mean, as far as I could tell on a bike. When we got home we got a call from the Hmong elders saying that Benson (their recent convert) wanted us to go teach his mom!! We are super excited to start working with Mai Pa!!

Wednesday we finished our blitz and said goodbye to the Marquette sisters. We had interviews with President Williams. Which was fantastic. I just love the Williams so much! I feel so blessed to have been able to serve with two mission presidents! Both so lovely and both SO needed. God is so aware of us and I know He has called President Williams to this mission for a grand purpose! Later that evening we went to our downstairs neighbor's apartment for tea. Herbal, don't worry :) She is the cutest old woman. She's lived in the apartment complex for over 20 years and all the time that missionaries have lived there she's never talked to them about what we believe! So she invited us over and it was a really good meeting. She said that she would really love to come check out a church service, as well, so yay! We also had dinner with the Rau family out in Denmark. I almost killed bambi. Whoops. He made a narrow escape, so no worries. Then we headed further into town to see Mariah and Daylin. We had fun with an object lesson and all the kids. They requested "colors of the wind" be the closing song for the night. LOL. Probably won't ever have that happen again. They're cuties, though.

Thursday was death by weekly planning. Sooo that was great. Just kidding, it wasn't that bad. We were just going a littttle stir crazy by the end. We did go to a return appointment with a new investigator, Joshua! He's black. He is so sincere and so full of questions!! We were reading through the introduction of the BoM with him and in the middle of reading it he holds up the book and says, "THIS BOOK IS TRUE. You can feel it..." then holding it up to his nose flipping through the pages, "...you can SMELL it"! One hundred percent, Joshua, haha. For dinner Karlene, one of my absolute favorite YSA's, met us at the church building and fed us dinner! It was thhheee best. She's such a light to me and it was so fun to be reunited.

Friday consisted of froyo with Lilly, all-day mcgriddles, contacting a very loud, very drunk man (his daughter consoled us by giving us pina colada otter pops), going to Tammy and Selena's for dinner, phone tracting and "meeting" a way cool guy named Jarante who we referred to the Sheboygan sisters, and meeting with Shawna at the Moore's. Busy, busy day.

Saturday began with a call, mid-hair straightening, from the zone leaders. They explained that there was a family from the Spanish branch that was down in Chicago prepared to be sealed at noon, but they didn't have written consent from one of the kid's, Paco, birth mother. Since they were up in Escanaba on blitzes they asked us to go to her house, get the written consent, take a picture of it, then email it to the temple president. No big deal, just an eternal family on the line. So we went to the mom's house. We heard kids voices behind the apartment door, but after knocking probably 7 times still no answer. Her Muslim neighbor opened her door, though, asking for a mattress (??). Good times... so we called the ZL's to ask what we should do if she doesn't answer...yikes. We ended up writing a sticky note for her to call us ASAP. Before we left, though, the spirit was like "PRAY". An obvious solution, right!? So before I have time to close the prayer, we hear the doorknob jingle and the birth mom opens the door!! WHAT A MIRACLE OF HEAVEN. Our jaws were on the floor. Clearly Heavenly Father really wants me to understand that there is power in prayer!! We also had the stake relief society activity, dropped off the extra food at a shelter for victims of domestic violence, and met with Joshua (who was trippin' on something...) and a billion of his cute little cousins. We also were able to see Ashley!! She is back on her feet and we were able to read the scriptures with most of her kids AND her husband! Which was great b/c he has never been interested in hearing the lessons before. The day ended by getting my bday package from my cute family and a very kind letter from one of my favorite women on the planet, Karen! :) That made my heart so happy! Thanks for the bday love!

Well, kudos to you for making it to the end. WAIT. I forgot about Sunday? Haha, my brain sometimes. SUNDAY. Cayla came to church and stayed for all three hours! She loved it and gave the opening prayer in Relief Society! She was so nervous, but she did so great. I was so proud of her! We also had dinner at the Ballards, whose home is #straightouttapinterest It's beautiful! We made chicken sushi...yum. Before our appointment we had a few minutes so we ended up talking to their neighbor, Brian and his son, they weren't very interested, but it was good contact. We also contacted a way cool referral, Cory last night! She took the lessons when she lived in New Mexico. The spanish elders tracted into her and referred her to us. She works a ton so it will be hard to catch her at home, but she is way nice and so willing to hear our message! Biggest miracle of the day though, is that we went tracting during the Packer game (accidentally) and we lived to tell the tale!

Okay, well, NOW kudos to you for making it to the end. Hopefully you had some snacks or something while reading this. ;) I know that God is real and that He is so aware of us and our every need. I know Christ lives and loves us. I know that through Him we can repent and become clean every day of our lives. So grateful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. Grateful for my family and friends. And especially grateful for the time I have to serve my God! Love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! CTR, y'all.

Xo,

Sister Quist