Sister Selk: Sealing is what brings us together!

Minha Familia!!!!

This was such a good week! Such a good week! So I am super stoked to tell you about all of the details!

We had some miracle experiences contacting this week which was a really nice change! On Tuesday night we had one of our usual families cancel on us, so we both decided we should go out to Jensen to contact. We had a name of a family that we were optimistic would be really interested in our message, but when we got there the Dad was really quite rude to us and definitely wasn't excited to see us. It was the strangest thing and we both just felt really strange and awful about the whole situation, but we decided the best way to dismiss the awful feeling was to work even harder. And after that everything seemed to fall into place. Last week we tried to stop by a referral we got, but they weren't home, so after talking to the dad we felt we needed to try that referral again. It was obviously a trailer park that this referral lived in (because come on we are talking about Jensen...) hahah just kidding....but not entirely. Anyways, so we knocked on the trailer door, and again no one came to the door and all we heard were dogs barking. But someone in the trailer next to theirs peaked out their curtained windows (which was actually just a blanket held up to the windows...I love it here so much! Sorry, I am getting so distracted with all the hickness, but we saw them peak out of their window and so we decided "What the heck, lets go visit them!" We went next door and met Jack Ray. He is a middle aged man who got excommunicated from the church, but is trying his hardest to do what he can to get back into the church. We couldn't go inside his trailer because he was the only one living there, but we shared a message with him from outside of the door. He was super sweet, and even though Easter is over we decided to share Because He Lives with him. It was the most incredible experience. The spirit there was..... it was pretty much indescribable. It was potent, and I felt as if I was in this little heavenly sphere even though I was surrounded with very poor living conditions. As I watched him watch the video I just started to cry. It was like I had a little glimpse into what charity really means. I felt God's love for this man. I felt his spirit so strong. It was incredible.

After talking with him for a bit he referred us to his neighbors- Also less active members. They hadn't had the best feelings towards missionaries and ward members, but they seemed to really enjoy us. The wife was really receptive to us, and at first she was the only one who came out to talk to us because she said her husband refused to talk to anyone from the church, but by the time we left he had come out of the trailer and was talking with us. I truly believe that a lot of these people just need to feel as though they are loved, and like I mentioned last week, I am really trying to work on that, so that was a really neat experience.

This weekend was also one of the neatest experiences I have had thus far on the mission!!! THE REYNOLDS GOT SEALED!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!! I cannot even express how much I love them! They are the most incredible couple! We got to go to a session at the Vernal temple on Friday when they received their endowments, and then also got to attend their sealing on Saturday. Oh my goodness! It was the coolest experience! Earlier this week when we went over to teach them, we talked with them a lot about the temple, and Fred said that when him and Cat told his mother that they were going to get sealed that his Mother told him that that is the only thing that she had been praying for for years. She is in her 80's and they don't think that she will even make it through the end of this year, so when I saw her in the temple with them I just started weeping!!!!! She came down and sat next to me in the Celestial room and just expressed how special of an experience it was for her and how grateful she was. THIS IS WHAT LIFE IS ABOUT!

The sealing on Saturday was awesome as well. They both looked like they were glowing. How lucky am I to have met this couple for the few weeks that I have had to serve in Vernal!? They are definitely the people that I have grown the closest to in Vernal, but the amazing thing is that there have been so many amazing people that I have met!

Sunday was crazy! We got asked to speak in 2 different sacrament meetings, and of course on 2 different topics. Unfortunately I am not quite up to Dad's level and I can't just get up with a sticky note and talk for 15 min, so you better believe I was stressed out of my mind when I found out I would have to prepare 2 talks! I stayed up late on Saturday trying to get my thoughts written down, and I really didn't feel too good about either talk- the perfectionist inside of me was dying! But I just said a prayer that my message would be delivered despite the fact that I didn't think it was up to par. I especially felt not so good about my second talk, but after that meeting Sister Cook from the ward came up to me and asked for a copy because she said she really enjoyed it! WHATTT?!?! I had to ask if she was serious...hahah so apparently the Lord does answer prayers....strange how that works!

Sunday was also craziness, because they redid all of the boundaries in our stake and created a completely new ward, so we are going to have a fun time trying to figure all of that out in the next few weeks! But that just means that our area is growing and the work is progressing, so we are really excited about that!

Only 2 more weeks in Vernal! Crazy! I definitely have mixed feelings! I love it here, but I am also getting extremely stoked to be in Portugal!!!! We are going to get some serious work done while I am here, because I have to leave Vernal with a bang!

I love you guys! Hope you enjoy your week! The Lord Loves you! Amo Voces!

-Sister Selk