Exchanges and Exorcisms

Sooo much happens in a week. Where to begin.

 

Well, most exciting this week was probably Tuesday when I got to go on an exchange with Sister RASMUSSEN :) My beloved MTC companion who is one of my favorite people in the world! She came to Deschutes with me and we had one of the best days on my mission so far. It was so fun. We saw so many miracles. We kind of had an exorcism. I'll expound on that in a minutes.

 

So we started out going to lunch with a sweet old lady in our ward and we made it out in less than 45 minutes - the first miracle of our day :) Then we went out to Clearwood and met with a lady we've been trying to set up a time with for like 2 months and had the most amazing lesson with her. She was excommunicated on false accounts and has had a ridiculously hard life and just wants the Holy Ghost back so much. We had such a good lesson with her and after she showed us her craft room which was a dream and she gave Sis Ras some pretty colored yarn (cause she knits too) and she gave me a scarf she made! It was so great.

 

Then we were able to stop by on some people Bishop asked us about that we haven't been able to find at home yet, and they were home! Another miracle!

While we were knocking that night, we had 5 lessons in 2 hours which almost never happens. We work so well together and I just love her. We had such a good day. Oh. And then we went to Diana's for a lesson - she is the one we met last Friday night and let us in and we had an awesome lesson with her. So we got there and she has these super weird twitches and can't focus and talked about things like she couldn't feel and it was just kinda sketchy. She would interrupt us and talk about how she's worthless and Sister Ras asked "have you ever felt peace before" and she shook her head and said "never" and Sister Ras was like, she's possessed, we need Priesthood stat. So I called Brother Blake who lived down the road and he came and talked to her a minute and gave her a blessing - and oh my gosh. She was a new person! I can't tell you how amazing it was, she couldn't stop smiling and I don't think she's really smiled since we met her. He said some stuff in the blessing about the evil influences around her and how she'd be protected if she did things and other things, and the Spirit was so strong. And so we asked her again, "do you feel that peace?" and she smiled and nodded and said, "yes" ! It was so cool. I have never seen anyone so calm and happy. So afterward Sis Rasmussen was telling me how she has never felt that anyone was "possessed" but it just kept coming to her and she knew she needed a blessing right then. And the room was so different afterwards. It was crazy.

So we went back the next morning for another lesson with her and her husband answered the door in his robe and was like "It's too early for this, she's still in bed.." and in the background all the sudden we heard "NOO! I'm coming!!" and hear Diana jumping out of bed and said "I'm coming!" and her husband rolled his eyes and let us in, hahaha. It was awesome. She came around the corner and just had the biggest smile on her face - it was so amazing! We were able to teach her the Restoration for reals and she didn't interrupt once and just kept smiling and we asked her to be baptized and she said yes!! And she was so excited and happy and it was just amazing. 

 

We switched back that day at zone meeting which was super uplifting and wonderful.

As some things go, the end of this week turned for the worst. We went back for a lesson with Diana on Friday and I was so excited to show Sis Harbaugh "new Diana" and we got there and she opened the door and said, "I can't talk to you anymore. My aunt told me about you guys, don't you ever come back here again." and slammed the door shut... I just stood there in shock and couldn't say anything. I have no idea what happened. So we started to walk away and I was so confused so we turned around and I knocked on her door again and she was just screaming at us to leave and I tried to talk to her through the door and she wouldn't listen. So that really put a damper on things. I was super sad. But you can't let things get you down too long. She'll remember that someday and she may not be able to accept it in this life but I believe she'll find it someday. 

 

Sometimes things go downhill, but I know there are people waiting for the Gospel and are being prepared, we just need to find them. We'll be doing a lot of finding this week since we have no more people to teach (everyone else fell off the face of the earth this weekend too) but I know they are there! Our spirits are still high :) I love this work. I love being able to be here every day. I am forever thankful for my experiences here so far, and I can't believe it's already been 6 months. This week was amazing and difficult and I love it. We gotta appreciate the hard times because those are what make us strong, and I want to be stronger and a better person. I don't have too much time cause the other sisters are coming down here to go hiking and spend the day together! Yay! :)

 

I love you all so much and I am so thankful for your support and love! Have the most amazing week!

Sister Wilson

 

 The sisters in our zone and me and Sister Rasmussen!

 

I forgot to tell the story of park day... (we can't use our car) I believe park days are here for the purpose of just showing to us that God is really there haha, everything goes wrong and everything turns out ok. It's awesome.

So this is a pic of Sis Harbaugh carrying rolls while tracting because our member dropped us off and we had nowhere to put them (and it was pouring rain) So we were just laughing like all night because or situation got more and more ridiculous.

We had no way to our appt at 7 but at the last second a member drove by and gave us a ride, and held our rolls for us til we were done :)