Best and Worst

February 23, 2015

This week has been awful but it has also been amazing. Losing Sister Wawro was worse than a break up. All I wanted to do was eat ice cream and watch chick flicks yesterday but you just have to suck it up as a missionary and go to work. It's just so crazy that she is seeing her family today and I am so happy for her. I'm glad that I was able to be her last companion and even more grateful she was my first companion. Sister Covington is awesome too. And I know this transfer is going to be awesome! This week we got new investigators, got tons of potentials, worked our behinds off, and we taught tons of lessons. This week literally was the best and worst week of my mission. How that is possible I do not know but everything is possible through Jesus Christ, lol. I'm not really sure what else to say. Usually I have 10 thousand billion things to say but this week was just full of faith and success. Prayers and blessings. Crying and laughing. Man oh man, welp...

Sister Covington and I teach really well together. We had immediate unity and every single lesson has gone super well. We have gotten 3 people who haven't prayed in 20 years to pray out loud and say our closing prayer. We have seen miracle after miracle after miracle. Heavenly Father really does hear and answer our prayers. This email was crappy but I don't even know what to say...

k bye, haha
xoxo

sister rodda. :)

It's Raining Cats and Dogs...but mostly cats

Feb. 17, 2015
This week has been crazy. How is already Tuesday? I don't know. Life is weird. So this week was cat crazy... here is the list.
1.         One morning we went for a chilled run. On the way back a cat followed us home. It was a homeless kitty and it was so cute (I still don't like cats). It followed us everywhere. Then we went inside to shower and get ready and the cat is outside our door scratching and crying. So then we got it a box, a blanket, and tuna. It loved us. We didn't name it or let it in because then it would be a pet and that is against missionary handbook. So no, it wasn't a pet. Just a nice fellowshipper. Then that night we get home and the cat is still there. I'm taking pictures of it and this car is just staring at me. Well not the car but the lady in the car. Anyways, she gets out and is still staring at me. So I'm like, "Hi, uh, is this your cat?" She said no, so I asked her if she wanted a cat. Then we start begging her to take the cat. Long story short, she took it and we found out she is less active. YAYYYY!
2.         Cats like have a thing for me. They follow me everywhere. I think it is the spirit of Calli that makes them all draw nearer to me. (draw nearer to me? this mission thing is changing my vocabulary. ew) but anyways, they love me. It’s like mom and mosquitoes. 
3.         Friday the 13th and black cats need I say more.
4.         Cat crossing. Cars literally stop for a cat crossing 5 lanes of traffic. It's like It’s an old woman crossing the street or something. But no, it’s a lame cat!
5.         Last but not least I got a letter this week from grandpa saying he is looking for a cat to get for grandma. I don't know what it is with cats. But... geez.



I got a new companion and transfers are next week. We got a call from President yesterday morning and he was asking us all these weird questions about our apartment. Then he said a sister was coming to live with us and she will end up being my companion. She is from Kansas City, MISSOURI. She is 21. Graduated from Utah State. She served in Everett for 6 months then went home because she was sick or something. And now she is back. Sister Wawro is here which is totally awesome. I didn't just have to get to know someone and take over the area all by myself. It is a smooth transition. I don't want Sister Wawro to go. But Sister Covington is cool too!

We went to “Come See For Yourself” - a stake/mission fireside.  It went really well. Sister Wawro sang. I was just a spectator. Her number one fan of course. But it was really spiritual and swell.

We did the trail service again where we go up in the beautiful forest and make trails. Just fyi:  I made it on the flyer. I will send one home. It is quite awesome. I might even sign it if you’re lucky. lol.

Besides all that nothing else is really new. Still trying to find people to teach. I love it out here and I love being a missionary!

Love you all. xoxoxoxoxoxo

Ups and Downs

February 9, 2015

This week has been crazy. Up and downs all over the place. I feel like this week was a more disappointing week just in the sense that all of our lessons fell through, people didn't come to church, and lots of uninterested people. But I don't feel down or discouraged at all. Missionary work is awesome and I love putting on my name tag every day, even if it means people ignore you or change spots in line so they don't have to stand by you. True story. But I know that I am a representative of Jesus Christ and that I have a purpose. 

Don Price (Sister Price's husband) passed away this week. They are my mission family so it was hard to see him go. The funeral is on Valentine's Day. The Price’s are doing really well and we have shared tons of messages with them. We weren't able to go to the hospital this last time because Sister Wawro was sick (but I guess it wouldn't have made a difference- not funny) It really makes you grateful for the Plan of Salvation. How people can even go on with their lives without that knowledge is incredible to me. It is so comforting to know that we can live with our families forever. I hope the rest of the Price family can come to that conclusion one day too.

A is not on date for baptism right now. She was supposed to be baptized on Valentine's Day but she stopped calling and texting us. She didn't show up to church and yeah... long story short she got antied but some spanish missionaries. Yes, they were elders.

We visited a lot of less actives this week and did a lot of tracting but not too much success. It's true that if your numbers don't show your hard work, but you still feel successful, then you know you are doing all that you can. I don't feel down or discouraged. This week was fun and I learned so much. I just didn't have the number and statistic success. We worked harder than ever and I know the blessings will come.

One of the coolest things I learned this week is that we are all unprofitable servants. I read this in Mosiah 2: 23-24 this week. Everything we have comes from God and we are indebted to him for our very lives. When we are obedient he "immediately blesses us."  We may not see those blessings immediately but they are there. They are the tender mercies of the Lord. But the most important blessing is the atonement. Because of the atonement we can live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again and we can live with our families forever. Because of the atonement we can become better every single day. Because of the atonement all things are made possible. Jesus Christ paid to redeem us and all mankind. We may not ever be able to repay him but we can keep the commandments and do our best. God delights in our efforts to be the best we can be and become better every day. Learn from our mistakes and trust in God. It is in His way and in His timing. The church is true and that's all.

Thanks for all your love and support. Being a missionary is incredible.

Sister Rodda.



Faith

February 2, 2015
This week has been amazing, duh! Every week is amazing out here. We did a lot of tracting this week which makes the days a little long but hey, it's already Monday again. How does that happen???? Sister Wawro and I make tracting fun though. This week we met a slug named Homie and he was so slimy and cool. We put him on our bikes and rode around with him all day. We let him go that night. But don't worry, he wasn't our pet or anything because that is against the missionary handbook.

This week we went on exchanges with the sister training leaders and I always get so nervous before but there is no reason to be. I went to a young single adults ward and it covered like 4 cities so I saw a ton of Washington. It was also a really spiritual day and we had some amazing lessons to some of their investigators. We tracted into a crazy drunk who let us in and she literally had so many pets it was a zoo. She had this bearded dragon (I think is what it was called) and I held it. It started crawling up my neck and I got just a little freaked so I “gently” tossed it to the lady across the room.

Sister Wawro and I also met a missionary this week who is serving a mission to convert Mormon missionaries. Long story short it was an hour long bash of him asking questions and us testifying. He was cool. He wore a short sleeve shirt that had a picture of a lizard on it that said "I Guana Be Like Jesus" over a long sleeve green thermal shirt. He had khakis on that were pulled up to his belly button and sandals. It was cute. He could probably win Americas Next Top Model or something serious like that.

We also had a really spiritual lesson with B, our recent convert. He has spent 25 of his 43 years in prison and just got baptized in November. If the atonement can work for him then it can work for all of us. PS: I saw Sister Wawro cry again. Life complete.

A is still on date for February 14th and she has been coming to church so hopefully we will see her in white soon!!! We love her!

The most important thing I learned this week is that faith is crazy. I had been struggling a little bit with faith. Everyone I talked to had this huge testimony and knew so much about the gospel and I'm like, "what the heck am I doing here on a mission. I know jack-diddly squat." but... in my personal study this week I read Alma 32 and it is all about faith. In verse 21 it says, "faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things." and I was like well I have only heard that 50,000 times before. But then I read verse 27, "and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you..."  I really liked reading this because life is hard and sometimes we might not think we know everything or have a strong testimony or can do this or that but if we have just a particle of faith and exercise it or if we only have a desire than we are planting that seed of faith. The seed will grow and become plant, then a tree, then it will have roots, and then fruit, and then we can feast on the fruit and share it with everyone.Wwe don't need to know everything but we can faith and trust in God, his time, and his way.

So yeah, quite a swell week. I wish you all the best from the northwest.

xoxo
Sister Rodda

1. Faith is nothing more than a desire
2. Charity is the pure love of Christ
3. Throwing lizards leads to rejection of the gospel in homes