Another great week in paradise.

another great week in paradise. 

the lowest it gets at night has been low 60F, but i still turn on the heat in the car ;)

sister Arndt and i taught the relief society lesson at church yesterday, and it went well. we had lots of participation and good comments. we started with a video that shows how a family does missionary work day to day through simple means/ after the video i felt prompted to ask this question: "What did the spirit teach you as you watched that video?" There were many comments and the spirit was there. Sister Arndt told me after she had been prompted to ask that same question but didn't and let me go first speaking. It is amazing to feel the unity of our companionship as we let the holy ghost teach through us. sister Gilliland came to church and stayed for all three hours (which was a first in years) during the lesson she said "we have remarkable missionaries in this ward, if it wasn't for them, i wouldn't be here."

Going backward, on Saturday we had a great time tracking in bridle path. It is a housing development that is residential but has huge backyard lots for horses and stables. one side of the road has a normal sidewalk, the other has a double wide sandy path- the bridle path, where people ride their horses. 

we drove up there to knock on a man's house (his name is bill and the night before we planned to go see him the following day at 2:30) and it became a wild goose chase. not really but it was cool to see the hand of the lord direct us to where we needed to be. We got out of the car and saw a couple in their driveway we tried talking to them and they ignored us, we offered service went up to hand them our card and he yelled at us and walked away. BUT because of the time we spent with them a woman walking her horse passed us and we started talking to her. she is 26 and teaches high school, "I am very impressed with my LDS students, they have such a good honor system." We walked with her for 15 minutes, and when she left, we were FARRRRRRR away from our car. 

we also had the sand/dirt in our shoes from walking on the path for so long. we stopped and emptied out our shoes and ended up talking to another girl in her 20's who was getting her mail, "we promise we aren't stalking you, we are emptying out our shoes. Her husband who was all tattooed up came out with their 1 1/2 yr. old son. He talked about how they want to get baptized as a family. He grew up with god, fell away but found him in prison, and his wife said, "he saved our lives" their son caleb was getting fussy, but they said we could come by next week! The lord literally guided us to their house by a horse, and timed it so far those 10 seconds she was out checking her mail, we would be in front of her house. There are miracles everyday!

As we trekked back to our car, we got the impression to go down a side street. we knocked on a door. no one answered. we look across the street, there is a garage open a a man in the front yard. we walk toward him, "May i help you?" "actually we were seeing if there was anything we could help you with?" he was pleasantly suprised, he told us about his horses and that we can come feed them when he's gone, he took us to the barn and showed them to us, then introduced us to his wife, and even told his friend who walked by, "Theses girls are going to help me with the horses," then he turns to us, "Give her a card." his name is Michael Mayo, which sounds like it could be a name from a movie. By the time we got to our car it was 3 hours later (we talked to a few others) and time to go to dinner. 

moral of the story? follow the promptings of the spirit, it may not take you to the destination you're expecting (bill's house) , but you will be guided to the right destination (the family). 

I just love seeing the Lords timing play out. another cool miracle was yesterday. we went to see a woman named felisa who we met walking her dog 2 months ago. no one answered, so we talked to a few neighbors and walked by Lacey's house and she was outside! Lacey is 13 her mom is very less active and they sometimes let us in to teach lessons. but it had been a really long time, and we had decided we we're only going to try to teach her one more time before focusing our efforts else where. We've had a hard time finding her fellowship because she is a little different and i guess she doesn't get along with a few of the girls her age at church. A week ago sis arndt got the idea (bing! inspiration) to try to get an older girl to fellowship her. Her name is emily. then the other day we decided we should ask lacey if she wants to go pet/feed emilys horse (obviously a bridle path resident). so Lacey was outside she got her mom, and we were invited in. They both liked the idea of "hanging out" with us and emily and the horses. And she actually texted us back yesterday, so there is still hope!!!!

then as we left Lacey's there were ALL these crows out. like HUNDREDS. 30 or so on a few houses, many swirling around in the sky. It reminded me off wizard of oz and the flying monkeys. we were looking at them and then saw Felisa outside looking at them too! we hugged, explained we had to go to dinner, but set up a time to come by after dinner. So we did and we had a lesson with her.