Rain from the sky and my nose

Dear family,

It was been a fantastic week, with so many blessings and tender mercies. I started getting sick on Tuesday and now I have a pretty bad cold, so this might be short because I need to go take a nap. It is also flooding from the huge storm we had last night. It was crazy! School was closed in some places and we couldn't drive on some roads. It's so much fun when it rains here. We heard the flooding was worse in other cities, like Phoenix.

The Lord is blessing us so much!!! He is helping us find the elect. We taught a wonderful lady named Cheryl this week and the best part is that a family in our ward took her to the Gilbert temple open house back on February and felt like they needed to follow up with her and see if she wanted missionaries to teach her. Well, this sister, Sister Biggs, decided to ask her and she said yes!!! We had the lesson on Friday night and Cheryl accepted the invitation to be baptized!! She lives in another area, so we will have to pass her off, but it's so great that the members are getting more involved. You never know what will happen when you invite someone and then follow up!

Another great thing that happened is that Sister Clancy felt prompted to go visit a member, Sister Jorgensen. This lady in the ward was happy to let us in, even though it was late (like 8:40) and she had great news for us! She was at the park and met a young mom the other day and shared the gospel with her and she seemed to like it. We invited Sister Jorgensen to invite that lady to have her come to her home and let us teach her. Today we got a message from Sister Jorgensen and the lesson is set up for tomorrow!! It makes us so happy when the members invite their friends. This is the way it's supposed to work! We are also so happy because The Lord really does lead us to where we need to be when we need to be there.

On Saturday Marybeth, Tatum, and Tray-Ce got baptized, as well as Misty (a girl I taught in my first area). Their baptisms were at exactly the same time and Misty asked me to give a talk at her baptism, so we only got to go to hers. It was a wonderful baptism and I'm so happy for all four of them who got baptized!!

It was really special because Misty's husband, J.R., got to baptize her and he had not been active in the church before she started taking the lessons. I taught her from August to February and I'm SO happy that she made this decision to be baptized.

I have learned a lot while being sick this week. I got a blessing on Thursday and immediately I started to feel better. I already had a cold by then, so it didn't go away immediately, but I know that the blessing helped me feel better. I'm so grateful!! I was also blessed that as I keep working, that our area will be blessed and our work will be pleasing to The Lord. This has happened!!! For some reason we have been able to see lots of people we have tried many times, but haven't been able to. Even though I didn't feel my best, we still went out and did our best. I feel like The Lord gave me an opportunity to exercise my faith a little more and then blessed us to see miracles.

This week we also got to weed in a sister's backyard with most of our zone. We started at 7:00 am and we did it for over two hours. It was so much fun! I have come to love service even more on my mission. This week we are going to help a family paint a mural on their wall in the basement. They have the cutest kids and their dad is not a member.

We got transfer news this week!! We are both staying!! Yay!! We are both happy about that because we have a good rhythm going and we have really become more unified in the last week. I love Sister Clancy!!! She is funny and proper and always prepared. She is also very motherly and helps me find my shoes when I don't know where they are and she gave me lots of tissues when I needed them.

I am learning to trust in the Lord's timing. He really does know best what we need and when we need it. I love the scripture Alma 26:37

Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.

He really is mindful of every person and all of our circumstances. He is always close to us and is waiting for us to open our hearts and our eyes to see how He is blessing us and how He wants to bless us. He wants us to pray to Him continually.

We also met a super great lady named Debbie this week! She is from Texas and doesn't believe in modern day prophets, but she loves to talk about Christ and how her life is so much better because she believes in Him and follows Him. She's so great! I feel like I'm going to be friends with her forever and I can't even explain why. I love how she's just so open about talking about God has blessed her. I want to be more like her. She's looking for a church to go to here, but she's not open to the restored gospel yet. We helped her move furniture and she really felt like we were supposed to meet her for a reason. I know that one day she will be baptized. I love all the people I get to meet on my mission!

I found out from President Jenkins that missionaries can't usually get permission to extend their mission, so it looks like I will just have to come home in January. That makes me want to make the most of every minute of my mission and work with all my heart.

 I left my blood, sweat, and tears in Mesa this week. I sweat a lot all the time, but this week I actually sweated into the soil while doing service. I was bleeding because of all the mosquito bites I got (I probably have like 20 bites). I also cried during church because I was so happy about how much The Lord has blessed us and I felt the Spirit strongly.

Have a happy week!!! I love you all!!! :)

 Love, Sister Sallstrom