"Laughter is the best medicine...and exercise" -Bryant

April 15, 2019

"Laughter is the best medicine...and exercise" -Bryant

Hello Hello Hello!

It's been another crazy week here in beautiful Harrisonburg! Honestly this week felt really long but we still saw so many miracles! :)

BRYANT

This transfer we have been working with a ton of less actives! One of those less actives is Sister Howdyshell and her son Bryant. This week we visited with Bryant and I haven't laughed so hard in a long time! He's hilarious! He had us laughing so hard we were crying! Before we left he told us that laughter is the best medicine and exercise! I have to agree with him on that! It's important to learn to enjoy life and have fun! As President Hinckley said: "In all of living have much of fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured". Don't forget to laugh, have fun, look at the positive and relax a little bit this week! :)

EXCHANGES

I love exchanges! This week I went on exchanges with Sister Heumann! I love her so much, we had a blast together! She is an amazing missionary and I learned a lot from her! We handed out 4 copies of the Book of Mormon, got 3 return appointments, met the sweetest little lady ever and had a lot of fun! And I learned that she worked at Aspire Dance Pro before she came out on her mission! That is a dance competition I would go to every year! She was the one that videos all the dances so i'm sure at some point she has videoed me or my siblings haha! Small world!

SERVICE

We had two different opportunities to do some really cool service this week! We went to a relief society activity and made blankets to give to the hospital. We also volunteered at hope distributed. This is a place where people can go get food when they don't have enough to buy it on their own. We spent a few hours organizing food and getting everything ready for families to come in and get food! It was so much fun! I may have got smashed avocado all over myself...but we had a good time! ;)

PRIESTHOOD POWER

Throughout my mission I have gained such a strong testimony of Priesthood blessings! That testimony continued to grow this week! We had a really strange experience that left Sister Daines and I both feeling really off and not ourselves. We asked the Elders for a blessing the next day and wow that was exactly what I needed. I don't think I realized how much I needed a blessing. The things that were said in that blessing were EXACTLY what I needed to hear. He told me things in that blessing that he would have never known I was struggling with. It was a big testimony builder for me. I'm so grateful for the Priesthood. :)

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT

This week in my Scripture study I read Jacob 5. I absolutely love Jacob 5, there is so much to learn from that chapter. As I was reading it this time I had lots of different things stick out to me that I haven't realized before. As I went through I marked every time it said "I" and every time it said "we". It says "I" over 100 times and it only says "we" about 15 times. This just really shows that this is the Lords work. He is in His vineyard and he knows what he is doing. He loves us enough to let us join him in this amazing work. That gave me a lot of peace knowing that it is HIS work! As long as we do the very best we can, He will take care of the rest!

I also noticed that in this chapter the Lord asks three times "What could I have done more for my Vineyard?" Elder Jeffrey R. Holland commented on how this question helps us understand the true nature of God and His unceasing efforts on behalf of His children:

“After digging and dunging, watering and weeding, trimming, pruning, transplanting, and grafting, the great Lord of the vineyard throws down his spade and his pruning shears and weeps, crying out to any who would listen, ‘What could I have done more for my vineyard?’“What an indelible image of God’s engagement in our lives!" The Lord loves you. He wants to help you and He wants you to be happy!

I'm so grateful for each of you! I hope ya'll have a fantastic week! I love you lots!!!

❤Sister Stringham❤