HEY EVERYBODY!!!
This past week has definitely had its challenges, but it has also had its blessings and tender mercies! I have definitely seen the Lord's hand in my life over the past few days MUCH more than usual; and although I've had to go through HARD HARD days to see it, I absolutely LOVE it and I am SO grateful for these experiences!!! :)
First of all, the Fourth was SOOOOOOO fun!!! We started out the day celebrating our nation's birth by eating at a Mexican restaurant with a non-member. ...Hey, why not? We had a SUUUPER lame Cinco De Mayo celebration that Sister Cushing (Sister Woodbury's MTC companion) called Cinco de Americano cause we celebrated it the day after Cinco De Mayo and ate at Burger King. Ya. BIG mistake. But it's fine. So we thought we'd make it up by eating some real Mexican food on this blessed day. :) Later, we went with some members in our ward to see the fireworks and it was really cool! I am SOOOO grateful that I have the BEST MISSION PRESIDENT EVER and he let us watch the fireworks!!! ...as long as we stayed within our mission - AKA: no going into DC. But it was still cool cause we're close enough to DC that we could see them really well from where we were! :D To finish the night off since we were able to stay out til 10:30 (we had to be IN by 10:30, but that's still an hour and a half later than our normal curfew, so it was a BIG deal!!!), after the fireworks were over, we went with the Williams (the members who we watched the fireworks with) back to their apartment building and went on the rooftop and just looked at the city lights. It was a really cool view. ...until some semi-high guy walked over to us and handed me a freshly-lit sparkler... I grabbed it and held onto it for about half a second until I remembered that it specifically says in the white handbook that we CANNOT play with fireworks!!! Not even sparklers! So I did what anyone else would do in that situation and I panicked and dropped the sparkler on the ground. Sister Williams said, "I'll take that for the group," and picked it up off the ground while the guy gave me a weird look and walked away... It was fun. Haha!
This past week has definitely had its challenges, but it has also had its blessings and tender mercies! I have definitely seen the Lord's hand in my life over the past few days MUCH more than usual; and although I've had to go through HARD HARD days to see it, I absolutely LOVE it and I am SO grateful for these experiences!!! :)
First of all, the Fourth was SOOOOOOO fun!!! We started out the day celebrating our nation's birth by eating at a Mexican restaurant with a non-member. ...Hey, why not? We had a SUUUPER lame Cinco De Mayo celebration that Sister Cushing (Sister Woodbury's MTC companion) called Cinco de Americano cause we celebrated it the day after Cinco De Mayo and ate at Burger King. Ya. BIG mistake. But it's fine. So we thought we'd make it up by eating some real Mexican food on this blessed day. :) Later, we went with some members in our ward to see the fireworks and it was really cool! I am SOOOO grateful that I have the BEST MISSION PRESIDENT EVER and he let us watch the fireworks!!! ...as long as we stayed within our mission - AKA: no going into DC. But it was still cool cause we're close enough to DC that we could see them really well from where we were! :D To finish the night off since we were able to stay out til 10:30 (we had to be IN by 10:30, but that's still an hour and a half later than our normal curfew, so it was a BIG deal!!!), after the fireworks were over, we went with the Williams (the members who we watched the fireworks with) back to their apartment building and went on the rooftop and just looked at the city lights. It was a really cool view. ...until some semi-high guy walked over to us and handed me a freshly-lit sparkler... I grabbed it and held onto it for about half a second until I remembered that it specifically says in the white handbook that we CANNOT play with fireworks!!! Not even sparklers! So I did what anyone else would do in that situation and I panicked and dropped the sparkler on the ground. Sister Williams said, "I'll take that for the group," and picked it up off the ground while the guy gave me a weird look and walked away... It was fun. Haha!
Friday, the day after the 4th, was when all of the challenges started. It was just a terrible day, let's be honest. We all have those days, but the important thing is that we don't dwell on the negative and we take the hard things and learn from them and let them make us stronger. I'll honestly say that I know that this day has strengthened me more than almost anything else in my mission so far. We started the day off with the temple - THANK HEAVENS, or I don't know how we would've gotten through that day - which was really good. People in DC are just used to life being WAAAY fast-paced, which I am NOT used to AT ALL, so it was a little bit different feeling a little bit rushed at the temple, but overall it was still a wonderful experience. I LOVE the temple!!! From the moment we got back from the temple, Satan started working on us and our day started going downhill from there. NOTHING was working out. Appointments were falling through left and right, and on top of it all, Diane (one of our seemingly SOLID progressing investigators) DROPPED US. We cried a little bit on her porch. And then nobody was talking to us or listening to us on the street. People were NOT happy to see us. It was terrible. But this wasn't all - while we were finishing dinner, it dawned on me that we COMPLETELY forgot about a lunch appointment that we had with a non-member (one of the receptionists at the club house of our building, actually. Her name's Mary and she's wonderful)!!! We totally stood her up - COMPLETELY unintentionally, but we stood her up non the less. That was the final straw. We felt AWFUL! We both started crying and ran to the club house to see if Mary was still there to see if we could make it up to her somehow, but she had already left. We were DEVASTATED. As hard as we tried to keep our spirits up and be positive after that, we just couldn't do it. But we pushed through and went out and kept working! And you know what happened?? God began showing us his love and tender mercies left and right because we were still doing our best to serve him - despite everything that had happened that day.
We went to an apartment complex to check on a member, and it was a lock-out building, and a nice guy waited a minute or so as we walked up to the door and he was going out, and held the door open for us! He said to us, "You guys look like visitors, so I thought I'd hold the door open for you!" Well that right there was enough to begin to raise my spirits! THANK YOU, KIND SIR!!! I don't think he realizes how much of an impact that simple act of holding the door open made on me and Sister Woodbury, but it really meant A LOT. After that, we went to check on the members, but they weren't home. So instead we stopped by to see some other members (the Williams - who we watched the fireworks with), and they were home and immediately welcomed us in with open arms and let us sit down and talk with them and eat fresh blueberries. That would've been just great if that had been the end of our tender mercies, but Heavenly Father doesn't work that way. :) As soon as we walked out of the apartment complex, I had a strong feeling that we should go to the Potomac Nursing Home. At first I thought that it was to visit Alma, but that would've been silly since we had just visited her the day before. Well, just before we walked into the Potomac, I knew why we were there. It wasn't to see Alma; but it was to see another resident, Rene, who we had met a few weeks before who had played the piano and sung for us. As soon as we walked in, Rene was sitting there at the front desk, as sad as ever because of family circumstances. We were able to talk with her and help cheer her up, as well as talk with the receptionist, Myeesha, who loves us and said that she wants to come check out church sometime!!! We gave her all of the information for church as well as our phone number! Pretty soon, we were on FIRE and back to being better than we were before! :) But it didn't even end there - we stopped by to visit another non-member (kinda) investigator named Negeset, and we had a lovely talk with her and since we told her that Sister Woodbury should be leaving this week, she gave us both a hug and told us how much she's appreciated our visits! :D
The Lord truly knows what's in our hearts, and just as it says in D&C 4, "if ye have desires to serve God, ye are called to the work." He WILL provide a way for you, I KNOW he will, because he did for Sister Woodbury and I. He pulled us out of the depths of misery and endless woe... Ok, that was a little dramatic... But seriously though. When you feel like you're at your lowest of your lows and just can't cheer up, no matter how hard you try, He WILL raise you up, I PROMISE He will!
We went to an apartment complex to check on a member, and it was a lock-out building, and a nice guy waited a minute or so as we walked up to the door and he was going out, and held the door open for us! He said to us, "You guys look like visitors, so I thought I'd hold the door open for you!" Well that right there was enough to begin to raise my spirits! THANK YOU, KIND SIR!!! I don't think he realizes how much of an impact that simple act of holding the door open made on me and Sister Woodbury, but it really meant A LOT. After that, we went to check on the members, but they weren't home. So instead we stopped by to see some other members (the Williams - who we watched the fireworks with), and they were home and immediately welcomed us in with open arms and let us sit down and talk with them and eat fresh blueberries. That would've been just great if that had been the end of our tender mercies, but Heavenly Father doesn't work that way. :) As soon as we walked out of the apartment complex, I had a strong feeling that we should go to the Potomac Nursing Home. At first I thought that it was to visit Alma, but that would've been silly since we had just visited her the day before. Well, just before we walked into the Potomac, I knew why we were there. It wasn't to see Alma; but it was to see another resident, Rene, who we had met a few weeks before who had played the piano and sung for us. As soon as we walked in, Rene was sitting there at the front desk, as sad as ever because of family circumstances. We were able to talk with her and help cheer her up, as well as talk with the receptionist, Myeesha, who loves us and said that she wants to come check out church sometime!!! We gave her all of the information for church as well as our phone number! Pretty soon, we were on FIRE and back to being better than we were before! :) But it didn't even end there - we stopped by to visit another non-member (kinda) investigator named Negeset, and we had a lovely talk with her and since we told her that Sister Woodbury should be leaving this week, she gave us both a hug and told us how much she's appreciated our visits! :D
The Lord truly knows what's in our hearts, and just as it says in D&C 4, "if ye have desires to serve God, ye are called to the work." He WILL provide a way for you, I KNOW he will, because he did for Sister Woodbury and I. He pulled us out of the depths of misery and endless woe... Ok, that was a little dramatic... But seriously though. When you feel like you're at your lowest of your lows and just can't cheer up, no matter how hard you try, He WILL raise you up, I PROMISE He will!
Saturday was a MUCH better day! We went out to lunch to Chipotle in the Mall with a less-active member of our ward named Rob. It was our last little sha-bang together before Sister Woodbury leaves the area. After we were done eating, we stopped in the candy shop called "Sweet Factory" and I may or may not have accidentally spent $16 there... I'm sorry Mom and Cory! I didn't realize how much gummy worms and peachie-O's weigh (cause they charge per quarter-pound), and I guess I got over a pound of that... I'm sorry again! Happy early 21st Birthday to me! Haha! :)
Sunday was really good! We had our third lesson with Reacha (I think I mentioned in my last e-mail that we had dropped her a while back cause she wasn't keeping commitments, but she just recently came back around and REALLY wants this now!!!) and I think she's really trying this time! She's keeping all of our appointments and is really genuinely interested in understanding the scriptures! I love her SOOOOO much! She's WONDERFUL!!! Thank goodness for her coming back to us because (of course we LOVE her like crazy and we've missed her) we only had four lessons this past week, and Reacha was three of those four! I LOVE REACHA!!! And Sabrina, her niece, sat in on our lesson last night, too! I REALLY hope that they continue progressing! :)Today has been WONDERFUL so far!!! We were able to go to Great Falls with Sister Williams and her adorable little one-year old boy named Isaac, and hike around for a couple of hours or so! And the best part is - our MTC companions, Sister Lochridge and Sister Cushing (who just so happen to be companions now), came, too, and we hung out with them! It was SOOOOOOOO good to see my sweet Sister Lochridge again!!! I've missed her!!! Plus, Great Falls is a BEAUTIFUL place - in fact, Mom and Cory - you might wanna consider stopping there when you plan your trip 15 months from now when you pick me up! I really think y'all would LOVE it! :)
The Church is SOOOOOO true!!! My testimony is still growing each and every day! I love it SOOOOOO much!!! :) Today I studied 1 Nephi chapters 20 and 21. POWERFUL chapters!!! I STRONGLY encourage y'all to study them! :) Also - for zone conference tomorrow morning, they asked us to study Alma chapters 48 - 50. ...I'm not gonna lie, I've been forgetting to read them, so I'll be studying that tomorrow during personal study, but that should be a great thing to study as well! :)
I LOVE YOU ALL!!! Thank you SOOOOOOOO much for your constant love and support!!! :D
Remember my birthday a week from today! :)
Love Always,
Sister Aubrie Orrock
P.S. I just remembered something else about last week that I forgot to mention in my last e-mail. On Wednesday afternoon while we were walking down the street, we saw a lady standing in her yard, so we went to talk to her. She was holding a HUGE knife (almost butcher) and was just pointing it right at us as she walked toward us. It was pretty intimidating, I'm not gonna lie. But no worries, she put the knife down eventually. Haha. Crazy, crazy people!
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