"The Monsoon Season"

For the past few weeks a lot of people have been telling us to just make it to "The Monsoon Season". I was under the impression this just meant that it was going to rain a lot. Well "The Monsoon Season" has come....it does involve a little bit of rain but mostly DUST.

Sister Shaffer and I were knocking some doors, trying to find those sneaky Spanish people. We had just tracted into a members house who very helpfully told us her neighbors were Spanish and after sharing a quick spiritual message headed out the door. Then we got hit by a lot of dust. We thought it was just a random breeze until it kept hitting us again over and over. We literally couldn't see anything. So we turned back to try and find our car as we were getting pummeled by dust and hot air. Anyways the struggle was real! We didn't think we were going to make it back to our car because if we opened our eyes they got filled with dust. Anyway the member ended up running outside yelling "SISTERS SISTERS" and pushed us into her van and drove us to our car. I guess her son had run in and said  "MOM there is a MASSIVE dust storm" and she dropped everything, yelled "Watch the babies" and saved us. Let me tell you - it was a tender mercy. We had to hunker down in our car for a solid 15 mins until it had passed. Who knew Gilbert could be so dangerous?

So to summarize: monsoons = dust storms = danger

But this week has also been AWESOME. First of all - AMERICA! I am so pumped to be a part of this wonderful country and be able to celebrate the freedoms that we have. Because of fireworks and other "hazards" we couldn't work on the fourth after 6 PM. It was kind of like a reverse Pday which was weird. Our whole zone got together to play scatterball (think dodgeball but more intense) and chair soccer (involves more running than you would think). We also had a little devotional and IT. WAS. HILARIOUS. One of our zone leaders is from France and got up with these huge American Flag glasses and talked about how proud he was to be from this country. Elder Romero was wearing a giant American Flag (he's from Mexico) and as we sang the National Anthem our Zone leaders pulled out these huge flags and waved them around. Everyone was in tears. To cap it off Elder Feusner (other ZL) found a scripture that TALKED ABOUT JULY 4th and just like mic dropped it and then we had a closing prayer by Donald Trump (Elder Ray who actually really looks like him). It is a night I will never forget. I'm proud to be an American.

Also Sister Baggaley and I had exchanges this week! It was so fun and we started the day off by going to the temple! Our alarm didn't go off when it was set so I woke up to a frantic "SISTER SHOWALTER ITS 6 O'CLOCK".  We had to be at the temple at 6:30 and its about a 20 min drive. I literally got ready in 6 minutes and we still beat half the zone there... @MormonStandardTime. But it was amazing to be able to go and sit in the temple. It was just what I needed to recharge my batteries.

After our zone breakfast SIster Baggaley and I got to work. Although 2 of our 3 lessons that day cancelled we still had a great day. Sister Baggaley doesn't speak spanish but it was amazing to see her work. We ended up having an unplanned lesson with Jimmy and it was super powerful. She talked in English and I talked in Spanish and we were able to promise him some pretty amazing things. I love being a missionary!

Then JImmy came to church as well as Federico and his family (less active we are working with)! We also got in with this miracle OYM from last transfer and taught her the Restoration. After teaching her we asked her if she would be baptized if she knew it was true the 29th...she said yes! It was a rough week at some points but Hermana Shaffer and I truly saw miracles. I am so grateful to be a part of this amazing work and to be here in Gilbert (Greatest Mission in the World)!

To the Moon and Back!

Hermana Showalter