August 11

Hello y'all!

This week was kind of a crazy one. I feel like I have been saying that a lot lately. So I guess it isn't really crazy, just normal. We had an interesting twist of events in the life of our (not) Atheist investigator, Richard. So we haven't been able to see him, hopefully we can start teaching him again this coming week. 

The most interesting thing that happened to us was on Friday. We were driving another set of sisters to one of their appointments. We dropped them off at an apartment complex and then started to drive off. Then, all of a sudden we had an unfortunate encounter with a curb. We heard some not so good noises so we got out to survey the damage. We've hit curbs before but this time we happened to blow not just one tire but TWO tires. Hah! One of them had a huge hole in it and the other one was steadily losing air. So we moved the car to a parking spot and called the mission office. We got ahold of Elder Rhoads who is in charge of mission vehicles and our ward mission leader. We ended up waiting at least 2 hours for the tow truck to come take our car to the tire place. Meanwhile, our phone died. So at this point we were carless and phoneless. Then the tow truck finally came and we were taken back to our apartment. (Our very kind ward mission leader took us to taco bell for some dinner.) We were walking up the stairs to our apartment and realized that we had left ALL our keys at the tire place. Sister Earl started running after our ward mission leader's car but he didn't see us so he drove off. So now, we were carless, phoneless, and homeless. Well, we decided to eat our dinner on a picnic bench and then walked to our investigator, Matthew's house who lives just a couple blocks away from our apartment. We got a ride from his fiancé, Ms. Debbie, to an appointment which ended up falling through. BUT, on the car ride with Ms. Debbie she told us that she has been meaning to talk to us and wants to know more about the church. Hurah! It was beautiful. And the next day we taught her the Restoration and is going to be baptized with Matthew once they can get married! Anyway, that was the miracle that came from such a crazy day. (Oh, and we ended up sleeping on the floor of the other sisters that live in our apartment complex and had to wear the same clothes that we had worn the previous day.) It was an adventure!

Another wonderful thing that happened this week was that Elder D. Todd Christofferson came to stake conference! Elder Kacher from the second quorum of the seventy also came. The Kingsland Georgia Stake presidency was getting reorganized so we got to hear from them Saturday night and Sunday morning. It was such a wonderful Conference. Both of them were amazing. The theme of the conference seemed to be about love and sharing the gospel. I had the blessed opportunity to shake Elder Christofferson's and Elder Kacher's hand. Elder Christofferson asked where I am from and I told him Sandy, Utah. He said that he also lives in Sandy. But he had a hard time remembering what stake he was in and told us that he was less active! Hah! He is a lot funnier than I imagined he would be! I think that most of the apostles are. Maybe righteous humor is a divine attribute that we should all strive to develop. :)

I wish I could tell you about all of the little tender mercies that happen everyday. I can testify to you that Heavenly Father is in the details of our lives. If you pay attention, you can see the things that he does to tell you that he loves you and he is aware of everything that you are going through. Elder Christofferson said to us yesterday that "Heavenly Father loves you like you are an only child." He loves you and knows you perfectly. Don't even forget that. 

Have a blessed day!

Sister Kasteler