September 30

Hello world!  Okay.  So I have so much to say.  So many miracles, so many stories, so much amazingness.

So this might be a little tiny bit lengthy but I promise you it will be worth it!

So to start off, let me tell you about Celeste.

She is one of the most faithful, amazing, and prepared people I have ever met in my mission.  In my life, actually.  She is the product of years of pain and mistakes.  But she is indescribable.

We went over there randomly one night.  Sister Fredrickson just got this overwhelming feeling that we needed to go... and we hadn't earlier because she lives like 20 minutes away in a different little city.

So we started the journey (mind you, we don't have a GPS so I am trying to figure out how the heck to use a map and direct Sister Fredrickson without accidentally taking us to San Francisco- which would be very very bad news).

Anyway.  We finally get there, and after some more adventure we find her house.  So she invites us in (mind you, this is our first time meeting her) and we are talking to her and stuff and we meet her family.  Rafael (16), Firmen (15), Cesar (14), Melody (8), Coco and Chiyo (2), and Abel (1).  And they are just the sweetest family.

So we were talking to her about what missionaries in the past have taught her, and then she just started opening up about how we were a direct answer to her prayer.  Earlier that day she was angry at God.  She has gone through a lot- and she was mad that things were happening this way.  And she was just talking to Him.  Saying how she feels like she was forsaken.  She was just going to leave.  She was so mad that she felt blind.  She had no idea where she was going to go, but she was going to leave.

And then we showed up literally an hour later.

We were not planning on it.

Nor did we know why.

Miracles really do happen.

So we went by the next day and started talking to her and halfway through she realized that Rafael had left. He and Celeste had gotten in an argument and so him leaving was not a good thing.  And so they ran out trying to find him and after a while, there was no success. And at that moment, Sister Fredrickson and I both had this mental image of us driving down a street and finding him.  We both described the street perfectly the same way and so we knew that we had to go find him.  Even though we had no idea where this street was. So we told Celeste we needed to leave and she just looked at us and said, "can we pray?" SO MUCH FAITH!  AH! So we got everyone gathered and prayed together.  

And then we left.  And after a while of driving around and literally just turning where the Spirit told us to turn, we found him.  Walking down the same exact street we had pictured.

That night we set a date for him to be baptized. 

Celeste and her other two sons drove by on their bikes a little while later and after seeing us she said, "I knew you guys would find him!  I just knew it!  The pack is reunited!"

I wish I could describe just how we felt at that moment.

Literally on top of the world.

Nothing is better than being an instrument in the Lord's hands.  Nothing.

"In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of greater importance"

-President Uchtdorf

I love being a missionary.

So!  Funny story of the week.

Sister Fredrickson and I live in a basement.  And it is fine, except we have a lot of little critter friends.

So the other day we go home and I walk into the kitchen and there is this GIANT spider.  Just chilling.  So if we would have killed it, it would have gotten gross guts everywhere!  I definitely didn't want that!  So my thought was just use the cup and paper trick.  That is always how we caught scorpions back home, so yeah!

But the spider was giant and up against the wall.  So there was no way to get it in the cup.

So there was like 15 minutes of me walking super close to the spider, trying to get it in the cup, and then having an emotional breakdown and screaming and running away.  So eventually, Sister Fredrickson put it in the cup and I did the paper deal, flipped it over, and now it is our pet(:  We fed it a cricket this morning.

I am not really sure what to do with it now.  I don't want to kill it, but I don't want to set it free and then find it eating my companion the next day.  Because I am pretty sure it could eat her whole.

So yeah!

Yay!  I love you all!  

And I challenge you to pray to be the answer to someone's prayer this week and then send me a letter all about it!

I LOVE LETTERS!

Love,

Hermana Bryant