Hey hey hey!
Okay, first off, I’m sooo excited for William and Mariam! I can’t believe they get married in 5 Days. Wow. That is so exciting. I still can’t believe sometimes that I have never actually even met Mariam... it feel like I have. And I am so happy that they get start their own life together. I am forever grateful for Mariam bringing back the old William and making him happy again. That alone makes me love her. And how exciting to have another sister! I’m happy for them.
Thank you so so so much for making that video! It was better than I thought. I figured it would be because you are #BOMB at that type of thing, lol. I shared it with the zone and they loved it, and we showed the stake RS President and she loved it too! So, it was a hit. I kinda wish I would have asked the elders to record in their proselyting clothes though... it’s kinda weird to have them in street clothes. Oh well! It’s cool. And mom, you should totally memorize one of those beautiful documents! I’m planning on memorizing the entire Proclamation now that I did the paragraph. So, it should be cool! I was going to try to memorize The Living Christ, but never did. So that’ll be next for me!
So, Jai was able to come to church, but she rescheduled her lesson (again) for tomorrow. So, hopefully it’ll work. But she’s doing well, and it seems like she and her husband are acting again to be able to work toward the temple sealing. That would be an amazing day!
Dad, I think it’s so great that yesterday was calm enough that you got to minister as the Lord would on that individual level. And also, way to follow a prompting. It has to be one of the best feelings in the world, knowing that God asked you to do something, and you did it! I have had a few really powerful experiences with that this week, and am so grateful for His guidance. Sister Walker and I have been working really hard on being as open to spiritual prompting as possible, and acting in them as fast as we can. Let me tell you, it has been an amazing week! There’s probably a cool story from almost every day that I could tell y’all about when we decided to just DO everything we thought that Heavenly Father was prompting us to do.
I want to share only one of those stories though. It was Friday night, and literally EVERYTHING had fallen through... we had had two appointment that night we were excited about that both canceled, and the afternoon hadn’t been much more of note. So, by 7:30, we were out of set plans and was about to commence drop-bys to try to find someone home and willing to talk to us. The first person that came to my mind to visit was Ulu.
Side note: have I told you about Ulu? She’s in her 40s, has 5 kids (which are all baptized) and she just separated from her “partner” which has been a really hard time for her. She’s Samoan, from Hawaii, and has been coming to church for many years. But, she’s never been baptized... she has a date for mid June that we’re trying to push up for her... anyway, I love her. It’s hard to keep set lessons with her. So, drop bys tend to work best.
Anyway, back to the story... we decided to just do it, even though we were also both not sure if she’d even be home. But she was! And more than that, we knocked on her door at just the right time as she and her oldest daughter were talking and struggling to process everything that has happened lately. Really, they were looking for peace. We talked for a bit, and shared a few verses from Alma 58 (one of my current favorites chapters. It’s about deliverance from our enemies, and the patience it requires, you should go check it out). Anyway, we ended up calling the senior couple in the ward, and he came over with the bishopric second counselor and gave them both blessings. It was Ulu’s first ever, and the spirit was so strong! It was such a special moment. Especially because we knew it was exactly what the Lord wanted. And though it wasn’t what we had planned for that evening, it was so much better. I am so grateful for the Lord guiding us and for seeing his hand in my life to bless others that way. It has to be one of my favorite parts of being a missionary!
I’m excited to watch some of those home videos when I get back. And tell Gned I miss him also, tell Buddy “hi”. I’m so happy he is still doing well. I’m pretty sure he’s never going to die. He will just be with us and our family forever.
Do y’all think you’ll get a new puppy when Buddy passes? You know, for the grandkids? Especially now that you might actually have grandkids in a few years?
I hope y’all have a good week. I’ll let you go now. I love you so much! And I pray for y’all every night.
All my love,
Sister Erika Marks
P.s. “ Mawage. Mawage is what bwingth uth together today”
Okay, first off, I’m sooo excited for William and Mariam! I can’t believe they get married in 5 Days. Wow. That is so exciting. I still can’t believe sometimes that I have never actually even met Mariam... it feel like I have. And I am so happy that they get start their own life together. I am forever grateful for Mariam bringing back the old William and making him happy again. That alone makes me love her. And how exciting to have another sister! I’m happy for them.
Thank you so so so much for making that video! It was better than I thought. I figured it would be because you are #BOMB at that type of thing, lol. I shared it with the zone and they loved it, and we showed the stake RS President and she loved it too! So, it was a hit. I kinda wish I would have asked the elders to record in their proselyting clothes though... it’s kinda weird to have them in street clothes. Oh well! It’s cool. And mom, you should totally memorize one of those beautiful documents! I’m planning on memorizing the entire Proclamation now that I did the paragraph. So, it should be cool! I was going to try to memorize The Living Christ, but never did. So that’ll be next for me!
So, Jai was able to come to church, but she rescheduled her lesson (again) for tomorrow. So, hopefully it’ll work. But she’s doing well, and it seems like she and her husband are acting again to be able to work toward the temple sealing. That would be an amazing day!
Dad, I think it’s so great that yesterday was calm enough that you got to minister as the Lord would on that individual level. And also, way to follow a prompting. It has to be one of the best feelings in the world, knowing that God asked you to do something, and you did it! I have had a few really powerful experiences with that this week, and am so grateful for His guidance. Sister Walker and I have been working really hard on being as open to spiritual prompting as possible, and acting in them as fast as we can. Let me tell you, it has been an amazing week! There’s probably a cool story from almost every day that I could tell y’all about when we decided to just DO everything we thought that Heavenly Father was prompting us to do.
I want to share only one of those stories though. It was Friday night, and literally EVERYTHING had fallen through... we had had two appointment that night we were excited about that both canceled, and the afternoon hadn’t been much more of note. So, by 7:30, we were out of set plans and was about to commence drop-bys to try to find someone home and willing to talk to us. The first person that came to my mind to visit was Ulu.
Side note: have I told you about Ulu? She’s in her 40s, has 5 kids (which are all baptized) and she just separated from her “partner” which has been a really hard time for her. She’s Samoan, from Hawaii, and has been coming to church for many years. But, she’s never been baptized... she has a date for mid June that we’re trying to push up for her... anyway, I love her. It’s hard to keep set lessons with her. So, drop bys tend to work best.
Anyway, back to the story... we decided to just do it, even though we were also both not sure if she’d even be home. But she was! And more than that, we knocked on her door at just the right time as she and her oldest daughter were talking and struggling to process everything that has happened lately. Really, they were looking for peace. We talked for a bit, and shared a few verses from Alma 58 (one of my current favorites chapters. It’s about deliverance from our enemies, and the patience it requires, you should go check it out). Anyway, we ended up calling the senior couple in the ward, and he came over with the bishopric second counselor and gave them both blessings. It was Ulu’s first ever, and the spirit was so strong! It was such a special moment. Especially because we knew it was exactly what the Lord wanted. And though it wasn’t what we had planned for that evening, it was so much better. I am so grateful for the Lord guiding us and for seeing his hand in my life to bless others that way. It has to be one of my favorite parts of being a missionary!
I’m excited to watch some of those home videos when I get back. And tell Gned I miss him also, tell Buddy “hi”. I’m so happy he is still doing well. I’m pretty sure he’s never going to die. He will just be with us and our family forever.
Do y’all think you’ll get a new puppy when Buddy passes? You know, for the grandkids? Especially now that you might actually have grandkids in a few years?
I hope y’all have a good week. I’ll let you go now. I love you so much! And I pray for y’all every night.
All my love,
Sister Erika Marks
P.s. “ Mawage. Mawage is what bwingth uth together today”