The latest news from our missionary girl, Danielle!!!
For those who know her well, YOU WILL BE SHOCKED!
You guys! I'm turning into an American.
Seriously, this week has been culturing.
I almost got hit by a school bus,
AND I ate an ENTIRE cheeseburger!
And I didn't even gag on it!
Can you spell BIG DEAL?
Because that's a pretty big deal!
(Mighty shocking for me to read this...
this sweet girl of ours hasn't eaten meat since age 3...her choice!
And no matter what I did, she just couldn't bring herself to eat it...
Miracles truly do happen!!!)
This week has been so full of meetings.
We had a great week though!
Here's a few of my favorite clips from some of those meetings:
~"In the world to come, no one will ask,
"Why weren't you Moses?"
but rather,
"Why weren't you Danielle?(/whatever your name is)"
I LOVE that!
I see people all the time trying to be someone else so that they can be "better" but they don't need to do that!
Every single person has something unique about them that will bless this world, and if we spend all of our time trying to be someone else, we're robbing ourselves and those around us.
I want to be the best Danielle I can be, not the best of someone else.
~"Stress isn't stress until we label it so."
~"There is no such thing as failure. Just feedback, and how we view it."
~"Don't forget to look up; heaven isn't found on the ground, and if you're always looking down, you might miss it!"
~Hymn 330 has some sweet lyrics. I found these before a meeting,
"Oh before the days of sorrow, make the Lord of Hosts your friend."
And I really liked how simple it was.
If we can be friends with Christ before the hard times hit, then it will be so much easier to cope with the rough days when they do get to us because our BFF (Best Friend Forever)will be the BEST BFF (BEST Best Friend Forever) the world has ever known!
~QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Elders and Sisters, we need to be bold." (Elder Bills)
"Yeah, you show up, knock their door down, and punch them in the face with the gospel, cause you love them so much and know it will make them happy!" (Elder Tilley)
"No. You knock on their door like normal, and say, "Hey, you need the gospel, cause I love you" and don't punch them." (Bills)
~ANOTHER QUOTE OF THE WEEK!
"He was being genu-wine,
and ...dang it.
That was my goal.
My goal was to not say 'genu-wine'." (Elder Snow)
ALSO, mom, how does Elder Kade Snow's mom know who I am???
I feel like I'm totally famous. Elders and Sisters, all the time, asking me if I know this person or that person.... and I never know who they are!
(Silly daughter of mine...doesn't she REMEMBER that her Momma has the gift of gab and that I end up getting to know nearly everyone I run into??? I met Kade Snow's mom a couple weeks ago and we were talking away and the next thing we know, our kids are serving the exact same mission...small, beautiful world!!!)
Okay, and now it's story time.
Once upon a time,
my sweet Sister Stradling and I went out to Olive Garden with a lady in our ward who we've been helping to get temple ready.
She is SO CRAZY SWEET. Oh I love her! So anyway, we had an awesome lunch and she bought us scarves and shawls and bags! Do people get much kinder? No.
So that was great, and we got permission from President Richards to GO TO THE TEMPLE with her in October!! AHHHHH!
Then we went to her brother/sister in-law/Parents home, and were laying down some mulch. While we were there, we found a slug, and named him Winston.
That fact isn't too important, but I figured you should know.
THEN, while laying down mulch and talking to Winston, the sister or the sister we went out to lunch with drove past the house and saw us.
"Sisters! Sisters! Come here!!"
So we ran off to talk to her.
We were standing next to her minivan
(or "swagon-wagon" as the elders would refer to them/yes the elders drive a minivan! ha!)
talking to her about trying to get a recommend to go to the temple with her sister,
and all of a sudden,
up comes a school bus.
A school bus, chalk full of little kids!
We began to move out of the way,
but the bus decided, no matter,
I'll just drive past them.
Which was a bad idea!
There was NO ROOM to pass that minivan,
and before we knew it,
we were TRAPPED between the minivan and the bus...
not even kidding,
we were smashed up against the side of the lady's car and the bus was grazing along our backs, and the space kept getting smaller and smaller!
We were screaming and laughing
(but mostly screaming because I really thought we were about to die because that bus was NOT slowing down and the space kept getting smaller and smaller and smaller.)
Fortunately for us,
(unfortunately for the sake of the story)
we had been being exactly obedient to all the mission rules,
and God knows we're the best missionaries He's got,
so we were kept safe
and were neither hurt
nor killed by the school bus.
We also went to a craft show this week!
It was super fun, and we made some awesome contacts there.
Missionary work can be so great if you let it be.
So many missionaries seem to be in a rut, where everything is dull and stressful.
But Sister Stradling and I are seriously having so much fun, and we laugh all day long. I've never laughed so much in all my life. And the miracles keep on keeping on!
"If you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong" -President Richards and wife.
And believe me, we are having so much fun here.
Oh man, there was this Houdini bug haunting me this week!
The crickets in this area are GIGANTIC.
And one got in our house!
Ick!
And normally, it wouldn't be that bad, but it looks like a huge spider!
So the first time I saw it I screamed and called Sister Stradling to kill it
(she makes an awesome place-holder husband)
but it escaped under the fridge.
And all week long it kept appearing, but ONLY when I was there, and then it would get away from my comp when she'd try to kill it/release it into the wild.
We finally killed him last night, and held a funeral over the toilet in my bathroom. It was a lot easier to sleep last night knowing I was safe.
Welp, that's all for this week folks!
The gospel is true!
Christ lives, and He loves us!
Love you all!
Sister Lytle
OHHHHH BONUS FACT! They lifted the music ban in the mission! We're allowed to drive with music again!! Woooohooooooooooooooo!!
