Got a spare?

Oh family. You know those miracles that you always hear about other missionaries somewhere in the world having that seem so funny and coincidental but are actually true but you would never think would happen to you? Yeah, I had one of those this week.

So we had tried contacting a woman named Mary on Wednesday. When we got there, a man answered the door saying she was not at home then, but on a bike ride with her kids. He suggested we try again another time. Friday came around and we decided to try Mary again. We pulled up and looked at the house. No cars. No indication anyone was home. Darn. Ok. Let's just try anyways. So we get up to the house and knock and ring the doorbell and knock again, but no one answered. Ok, figures. As we walk back to the car, I inspect our car. Then my eyes noticed something was amiss. The left back tire was completely flat.

"Uh, Sister Munson? Does that tire look completely flat to you too?"

"Uhhh, yes, it looks like it is..."

"Sister Munson, did the car feel funny when you drove it here? Like it was already flat?"

"No, it didn't... It felt pretty normal."

Awesome. God must be setting us up for a real miracle. We decide to call the mission office car person and ask him what to do. Since the nearest Pep Boys was over two miles away, he told us we needed to change the tire there. Good thing I know how! This is where I insert a shout out to the best dad in the entire world who taught me how to change a tire properly, star-pattern and all! Thanks Daddy! So we get the stuff out to change the tire and a man pulls up to Mary's house to wait there. At one point he asked if we needed help, but since I was already handling the situation, we politely declined. The entire time I was telling Sister Munson, "Mary is going to have to pull up while we are here. It's kinda the laws of miracles."

Just as we were putting away everything, Mary pulls up from picking the kids up from school. I turn to Sister Munson, smile, and say, "My hands are super black. I need to wash them." She smiles back and says, "Why yes, you do!" So we went over to the car with the man, asking if he lived there. He said, "No, this is my ex-wife's house, but I'm sure she would be happy to let you wash your hands here!" So a daughter that was sitting in the car with them ran inside to ask if we could wash our hands. After getting the approval, the daughter led us to a bathroom. We both knew we couldn't waste the opportunity to talk to Mary. As we go back outside, Mary was right there sending her daughter and ex off to a baseball game. We ended up having a half hour chat with her, talking about this and that. At the end she beat us to the punch and suggested we come back sometime to chat with her again! As casually as we could (while inside we were screaming YES YES WE WILL COME BACK THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ASKING HALLELUJAH) we accepted her invitation.

That was our fun story of the week. Besides that, we have been cleaning up our area book by contacting and fixing up our appointments. Now that I have arrived in the area, it is apparent that many, if not most, of our investigators are only letting the missionaries come over out of fear of being rude. Also, we are seeing the lack of willingness to progress in many of the eternal investigators. So we are dropping many people. It is not fun at all, but this seems to be a sign that we need to focus on the members and less actives in our area. We also have been in major planning mode with the plans and lessons for individual people and FHEs. This area is going to skyrocket, you'll see. :)

Have a great week!

Sister Smyly Crawford