Nice, NORMAL Day on Lake Pleasant!!!

We had a nice day at the lake today!  Katelyn had it off so we decided to go today, instead of later on in the week when we knew it would be crazy busy due to the Fourth of July.  We invited Jordan and Katelyn invited Shea Pribyl.  It was such a chill day and we all got PLENTY of surfing in!  Shea learned really fast and Jordan can throw the rope now.  I am still working on staying up after I throw the rope but I’m getting more of a feel for it now.  It was such a fun, relaxing day and things just feel normal out on the lake.  No Corona worries out here!  It's the BEST!!!

The Lunatics With the Book of Mormon (Brooke's Letter)

Hello family & friends!

Lots of stories from this week! 

Starting off with a funny one! One of our friends is reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning & she reads on her own & then we come together & review & then read the next chapters. Well in one of our lessons this week, she told us she was in chapter 16 so we flip to Nephi chapter 16 & we are like oh boy it's the Isaiah chapters... Haha so for the next 15 minutes we are explaining all about Isaiah & she's asking some cool questions & stuff & then I got thinking... Wait wasn't she just reading about Nephi and his father's dream last time? Didn't we just send her the video for that... I feel like Isaiah isn't that close to those stories... Trying to figure this out in my head & then I look at what chapter we are in & it's SECOND Nephi! Hahaha so I nudged Sister Norton & told her & we both just start busting up laughing & told our friend that we were so sorry & totally just confused the crackers out of her & she laughed too haha! THEN we went back & had a lovely discussion about Lehi's family getting the liahona & Nephi's awesome example! 

We made & sang a song for our zone in one of our zone calls this week! 

We've had lots more lessons reading the picture Book of Mormon & I think it is so cool how our Karen friends learning English just LOVE THAT BOOK! Those lessons are the best! One of our newer friends got her Picture Book of Mormon this week & at the end of our call she was just hugging it with the cutest smile on her face! WOW I LOVE THESE PEOPLE & THIS WORK! 

We've also had some awesome lessons with Dah Wah this week! He got to 3rd Nephi in the Picture Book of Mormon & you know what that means! Jesus comes! He loved that chapter & it is just so cool & so fun to watch him learn! He had an ahah moment about the Plan of Salvation during that lesson & asked so many good questions & gave so many awesome comments! He's the best!

Okay okay now for a STORY. For the past couple of weeks we have been working on a video for our Facebook page where we videoed young women painting & stuff. But on Saturday we were out in front of our apartment finishing our parts of the video so we were painting and then switching places & painting & then taping things & moving things & as I'm painting Sister Norton tells me that some guy in a big semi truck is watching us haha but we just keep doing our thing & then the guy gets out of his truck & starts walking toward us & tells us he doesn't mean to be rude but is so curious what the heck we are doing & couldn't figure it out! Hahaha so we told him what we were doing & kind of explained who we were & stuff & then for the next hour we just talked to this guy & he talked about his life & church & stuff & we just felt like we needed to listen & not really say anything. Anyway it turns out as a semi driver he was going to be sitting there for a couple days kind of resting for a bit so we asked if we could have a lesson the next day & he said "I'll be here!" Haha we went to our car to get him a Book of Mormon & weren't super sure if he'd accept it but then he starts coming back toward us to give us some truck calendars & told us "here's to remember the lunatic who told you a bunch of stories" & then Sister Norton handed him a Book of Mormon & said "here's to remember the lunatics who gave you a Book of Mormon!" THEN yesterday we got to have a lesson & he had already started reading it! He has a super open mind & said he doesn't want to shut anything out! AND he had told his wife about it & she wants to read it too! Wow longest story ever but what we've learned is how nothing is a coincidence! 1st- us making this video was so inspired & meant to be. 2nd- us making our part of the video outside our apartment when it just so happened he'd be there. 3rd- him parking on our street! Apparently one of his friends told him to just park at the Kmart down the road instead, but he felt fine about parking there! 4th- him coming down to talk to us to see what we were doing. 5th- all of the other tiny miracles that taught us that God has a plan & when we get to see that plan falling together (coincidences) we should recognize God's hand & take joy in those moments! I think it's maybe less often than we'd like where we get to be a part of these super crazy cool coincidence filled moments & stories that we hear about & we may get discouraged when it doesn't seem like they are happening in our lives, but I know that even when we don't see all of the build up & lining up & outcomes that that is ALL Heavenly Father sees! All day every day He is working & lining things up & if we could see things from His perspective, I think every single second of our lives we would see had so much preparation put in & that every day there are "coincidences" that He has organized! Tender mercies I think is a better word for them ;) 

Ok last thought I wanted to share was from something one of the Karen Elders shared at our last mini sacrament meeting yesterday! He shared a story from a talk where a little boy & his dad were in a store & saw one of those boxing dummies where you punch it & it comes back up. The dad asked the little kid why he thinks it comes back up after punching it to the ground & the boy said "maybe it's standing up on the inside!" & the elder in our district talked about how we can do the same! Even when life is hard or our circumstances are hard we can stand up on the inside! And that made me think about self worth again & how on the inside we are all children of God! So, if we stand up on the inside & know who we are, then no matter what the world tells us or throws at us, we will be happy! God is good! He loves us! He has a plan! I love you all & hope you have a fantastic week! 

Love, Sister Freeman ဖီပြံဝါ

Pictures: 

1. Our zone

2-5. More pictures from our last time with President & Sister Barney 

6. Haha we called the Karen Elders & this is how they answered 

7-8. Fancy breakfast 

9. Zone calls 

10. It feels so good to be out & about even if it's only a little! 

11. TRUCK GUY 

Package for Brooke!

I sent this package to Brooke today!  (We opened it together the following Monday on her P-day!)  It had A LOT of things in it... a new wallet (hers was falling apart), quarters, clothes, LOTS and LOTS of snacks and candy, and several other things I thought she'd like.  It was fun putting it together!  I love my missionary!!!!!

Birthday Dinner @ Olive Garden for Mac!

McKenzie LOVES Olive Garden so she talked us into going to dinner there to celebrate her birthday (which was yesterday) tonight!  It was a nice, quiet dinner with the 4 of us and she got a dessert too!  Happy 26th birthday McKenzie!!!

HEY YOU YES YOU (Brooke's Letter)

Heyo!

I hit a year this week & it made me realize how flipping fast this time is going! Wowza! 

Anyway we had some awesome experiences this week! 

Missionary work is opening up a bit where we can meet people outside or at the church so on Monday we told a member we could meet up with her & holy moly I have never seen her so happy! The pure joy in her face when we ran to see her made me SO HAPPY! Gosh all this Corona stuff has been hard/sad (*but also good in many many ways) but I think it makes the reunion so much sweeter & more meaningful! I guess you have to know the bitter to know the sweet right? And so with that, I am grateful for the bitter because I LOVE the sweet! 

We had several lessons with one of our newer friends this week & she is just absorbing everything we teach! And she wants to get baptized! She lives in Wisconsin so it has been quite the adventure getting in contact with missionaries over there & we had our first lesson with them & her this week & it went well! Despite the language & technology barrier we could all still feel the Spirit! We are excited to keep teaching her! She is the cutest! 

We had our last zone conference with President & Sister Barney this week! And today we saw them for the last time in person & said goodbye! Wow we love them & are going to miss them so much!

We got to do a picnic with the sisters next door this week! Sister Marshall is there now!! Wow so fun! 

There were more birthdays this week! We got to tune in to one virtually! And the other one we came to the window of her apartment and sat outside! Little miracle with that! It was raining and then when we got there the rain let up! It was so nice! And it didn't start again until we got home! I really miss these people so much & wish we could be there for these special moments in their lives but I am grateful for the things that we CAN do! It has been a lot of fun getting creative & doing the things we CAN do & looking forward to the day when we'll be able to do more! :) 

OK now I wanna talk about something that's been on my mind for a while now that I think everyone needs to hear! Lately, I've been thinking a lot about self-esteem/love/confidence. I think Heavenly Father has been teaching me a lot about it & this week it came up with several of our friends & I got to share some of the things I've learned with them! I've learned that no matter how we see ourselves, Heavenly Father ALWAYS sees us as one of His BEAUTIFUL creations. ALWAYS. FACT. And as we come closer to Him & especially to our Savior, who can help us turn our weaknesses into strengths, we can grow to love ourselves more! Our potential is endless! And that goes for every single person! I've also been learning tips & tricks to help with self esteem & it starts with seeing other people as God sees them & realizing that God sees us all as equal! I won't go on too much longer on this rant but if you want to hear more shoot me an email! Just know that YOU YES YOU! YOUR WORTH IS ENDLESS! We talked about this with several of our friends this week and it really just hit home with them & I think it is such a big thing for everyone! We shared a quote with them and then they wanted to share it on their stories & they got several people thanking them too! So I'll attach one of those so you can read it too! 

I really know that Heavenly Father loves us! All of us! As His children! He IS aware of us & He is cheering us on! I'm grateful that we got to celebrate Father's day yesterday! There are so many amazing fathers here on earth & one amazing all seeing, all knowing Father in Heaven! I pray you may all feel His love & see His hands in your life! I love you all! 

Love, Sister Freeman ဖီပြံဝါ

Pictures: 

1-5. Bahywahs!! One virtually and one through a window!! And the FOOD :) 

6. We accidentally called Ya Kho at the same time as the elders so we just did a joint lesson! 

7-9. New Zone/kickball! 

10. The quote :) 

11. Goodbyes for President and Sister Barney :( 

12-15. Lots of fun lessons outside! 

16. Love this Chica! 

17-22. Meeting up with Mae Paw and Wah Paw for the first time after Corona!!