Sister Marli MacLay: "I've Been out 2 months today!"

Us and Danna at the temple

Jaide and I at the temple

Hey y'all!

I've been out for 2 months today! It has gone by so so fast but also kinda slow all at the same time. I'm absolutely loving it here and I've already seen so much growth in myself the last 2 months! All good change comes through Christ (:

Soooo this week's highlights:

We are meeting with this lady named Ni Ni! She is super awesome and loves Christ and the Bible (who am I kidding though, everyone here does). She is planning on being baptized soon! But after we met with her last Monday night, we have tried by her house almost every day and she hasn't been home! We left notes on her door and they're still there! So we don't know what the heck happened to her. Lol.

Tuesday we had district meeting 2 hours away. We visit our small outlying towns on our way back home. We found some super solid people to teach! We met this guy named Tim who tried to tell us he was atheist but he had two giant crosses tattooed, one on his back and the other on his arm. He was joking around with us and is supper sarcastic and funny and seems kinda interested! When we were talking to him, there was this lady in a truck in his driveway. Her and Tim were both just fixing up their trucks. After talking to Tim, we went over and started talking to her. We have a goal of sharing 15 scriptures a day and so we shared one with her and she started crying. We started talking about repentance. She really seems to have a lot of pain from past stuff. Her name is Alicia. I'm going to go see her with my new companion tomorrow on our way back from Amarillo! I'm sure stoked! Pray that it can all go well and for alicia!

Also, Hector is trying to quit smoking so he can be baptized! He was the man who said he wasn't going to be able to do it, so he wasn't even going to try. When we were inviting him to quit that one lesson awhile back, we talked about some of his favorite candies and foods he could replace it with. He said he love candy canes! When we went over the other day I saw he had something white in his mouth and it was a candy cane! He said he is sucking on them instead if cigarettes! Be hasn't quit completely, but you can tell the difference! He used to smell wayyyy overpowering of smoke but he doesn't anymore! We're so dang proud of him! When we were sitting in his porch and teaching him, I was sitting parallel to him and there was a bunch of flies on his porch. He was shooing away a fly and swatted it from where he was sitting to my mouth hahaha. He had no idea. Good times.

Also, we started meeting with this girl named Caitlin! She has been dating a member and trying to work up the courage to come to church for 2 years! She is the sweetest ever, and has been through so much but isn't bitter at all! She is so so solid and has a ton of potential! I love her so much already!

Saturday we went to the temple with Jaide!!! It was amazing! The drive there was much smoother than last week. Haha. We also got to go with Danna, who was baptized a year ago! She got to get baptized for her mom and it was so special. She is going to get her endowment in a couple of weeks! I am so excited for her! She feeds us every Monday. She's also the relief society president! She truly is incredible! I have so much love for her!

Jaide amazes me. She is the most kind and genuine soul. She is so strong! She decided she wants to serve a mission after she graduates this year!! She is going to, and already is, changing so many lives!

Yesterday we went over to the Stingels home. The dad is the 2nd counselor. With every missionary, they do this thing where they let the missionary pick some guns out from his crazy collection and take a picture of us "killing" them. When a missionary is going home, theyre considered to be dying, and whoever their last companion is is their murderer. So we got a pic of me murdering sister allart. Good stuff.

I am getting a new companion tomorrow and leading out the Childress area! Her name is Sister Eggett and she has only been out 6 weeks longer than I have! I'm excited to see what I can learn from her!

Welp I love you all! This week, make an extra effort to turn to the Lord and put your trust in him! He always has his hand stretched out to us!

Sister MacLay