February 14, 2022: You pierced my heart

 -Teancum

Happy Valentine's day! 

I wanted to first express my gratitude for my mission president and his wife, President and Sister King. A few days ago, Sister King found out that she has some build up behind her eye that has been affecting her physical state. They will be staying in Salt Lake City until they find out her diagnosis. They told us the news in an emergency missionary zoom meeting. President King said in tears, "We are physically in SLC but our hearts are in Alaska". Please keep them in your prayers, we are praying for a miracle so they can come back to Alaska soon♡. The Assistants to the president are overlooking the mission and President King does interviews online when needed. 

We were in an "eh" mood on Friday when we decided to drive around to find people outside. There was a dense fog, so not many people were out. We found a man who told us he wasn't interested. BUT I asked him who would be and he said the girl upstairs! We went back the next day and knocked on her door. Jamie, is a single mom of 2 young-teen boys, Asher & Bandon, and 3 chubby cats. After talking outside her door for a bit, she invited us in! We shared the message of the Restoration. Her boys were so intrigued and loved it! Jamie told us of how her mother had passed away recently and her belief in God was diminished. But recently she has been feeling her testimony of his love back in her life. She told the boys that their Grandma went to our church. The Boys' interest spiked and they all asked to come to our church service next week! SO COOL. 

God's timing is always perfect. As we push through our hard times and doubts, we can be more prone to follow the spirit. Which can lead us to those who are needing to feel the love of Jesus Christ and his restored gospel. 

One of my favorite things is talking to everyone! Other missionaries think I'm weird for loving to talk to people but I love meeting strangers and hearing their stories. My comp often says, "I hate how extroverted you are". But I seriously love it. It inspires me to focus on seeing them as children of God and the potential they have. 

I have really been focusing on having spirit filled, reverent, and proper prayers. I prayed one day to find two people to put on date! We visited a part member family, and I found the opportunity to ask their 14 year old daughter, Cassie to be baptized. She was so excited to work towards baptism, it was so amazing!! We also met a man named Ryan who used to be taught by missionaries who I asked to work towards baptism. He agreed to work towards it! 

We had a lesson that night with our friend, Erik Marsh who lives in Yakutat. Yakutat is an area in deep Juneau that is part of our ward. The only way to get to Yakutat is by plane, so we teach a lot of people virtually from it. We taught Eric the "doctrine of Christ", which is faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We invited him to pray to be baptized by the proper priesthood authority and he accepted happily. Eric's story of meeting the missionaries, started with a simple prayer to know if God was there. After his prayer, he received a random message on Facebook from an Elder asking if he would be interested in a message! He took the first discussion and prayed to God if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if the Book of Mormon was true. In the always-overcast-and-snowing-city of Yakutat, a single ray of sunshine appeared and shone on him. His prayer was answered similarly to Joseph Smith's and he is all on board to adding the truths of the restored gospel into his faith. 

My new favorite place to find people who may be interested in the gospel are the fishing docks. Some crazy Alaskans live on their fishing boats!! We found 5 potentially interested people who wanted us to come back. My goal is to teach the whole restoration on a boat that someone lives on. 

I love my Savior. He gives me so much strength and light. He has been my best friend through this whole adventure of a mission. He has helped me become more like him as I focus on my purpose as a representative of his true church. I am the opposite of trunky, as I only have 30 days left here in Alaska. He is my perfect brightness of hope in this crazy world. 

Choose JOY,

Sister Rex

Pics:

-Sister Harl&movin her out of her unstable coastal cabin

-Sis Younica &I &Sister Gailey&Sister Agren&the whale