"Do you like BBQ?"

Hello friends!

We just had a very interesting experience about 20 minutes ago. Sister Hewitt were sitting in a little sandwich shop and this lady walked over to us and had this sweet little smile on her face. I thought, oh she must be a member of the church. Well she got close to us and said "Hi girls, I just wanted to tell you that you should read the bible a little more thoroughly because you're being deceived. You need to go back to the basics, you don't really know Christ." I was floored! She said it so nice I didn't even know how to respond! We just told her that we appreciate her opinion, that we know this church is true. We asked her if she has read the book of Mormon and she said yes and that everything contradicts what is said in the bible. We testified that we know everything in the book of Mormon completely supports the bible, it doesn't go against it in any way. We told her we would read the bible a little more if she would read the book of Mormon a little more. She eventually stopped and left. It was interesting to me that she felt such a need to warn us we were being deceived. It was actually a little bit amusing. Sister Hewitt and I just laughed after.

This week was so good! We went on a couple exchanges, it kept us pretty busy! We

 had SUCH a good lesson with our investigator Doug this week. We had the lesson and the mission home with President Robinson and the spirit was SO strong. We talked about baptism and what it means. Then we had raspberry shakes with President. (That's their trademark, apparently raspberry shakes where they're from is a big deal) Then we all went to a baptism together afterward. It was SO good to see Doug finally in a church building, he had been resisting it for so long. I think he was just nervous, but everyone there made him feel so welcome, I was just overwhelmed with joy.

Well something else incredible happened this week. We were out tracting and there was this young couple walking their dog. We went over to talk to them and ask them if they would like to learn more about Christ and they gave us their number. We gave them a call and they said "well, we're not sure if we're really interested in church." and we just said "Oh...okay" And I think I sounded a little sad because then she said "But you girls seem really nice, so do you want to come have dinner sometime?" And I was like "WHAT?! YES! WE DON'T HAVE DINNER TOMORROW!" And so we went over for dinner and we talked to her and her husband all about what we do as missionaries and everything. They seemed really interested. Her husband had to leave but we asked if we could show her a video. We showed her "Hope of God's light" It's this INCREDIBLE new Mormon message. She liked it. We asked her "What made you want to invite us over for dinner? Usually strangers don't do that." And she said "well, I don't know. I have depression and so I know I need to start branching out and talking to people. I  haven't invited anyone over for dinner before, but I felt like I should." And we were like OH MY GOSH THE SPIRIT IS SO AWESOME. We told her that we KNOW we met her on the street for a reason. We asked her if she would be willing to let us come by and teach her about the church. She agreed. Once again, another instance of Heavenly Father placing prepared souls in our paths. So cool! :)

Well tomorrow night we get to drive to Soldotna for exchanges and I'm excited. I LOVE the sisters in the mission, they have all become my best friends. I'm so blessed to serve with such incredible sisters. I have so many new best friends! :)

LINES OF THE WEEK:

(Sister Hewitt was writing with a pen on my foot)

Sister Hew: "I'm writing BH, for Brynn Hewitt, I'm marking my territory."

Me: "Do you realize those are my initials too? You just wrote my own initials on my foot..."

And then something else funny happened, our ward mission leader is a mortician and his family lives above the funeral home. We do laundry there every Monday morning.

This morning his 14 year old daughter Maddie said "We need to have you guys over for dinner! Do you guys like BBQ?!"

Sis Hew & I: "Um YES! We love it!"

Maddie "Good, he uses the crematory to BBQ"

Sister Hew & I: "WHAT?!"

Maddie "Just kidding...."

Hahahaha not funny!

I love you all! Keep on keepin on! The Lord loves you! The church is true!

Love, Sister Hallmark

We helped Sister Heckels make cute signs for her wall :)

We helped Sister Heckels make cute signs for her wall :)

ya know, just helping a family knit their tree...

Art work done by my lovely companion.

"I blinked and it's gone"

Seriously guys this week has gone by SO QUICKLY. It could be because I'm so incredibly overjoyed at the fact that I'm with my best friend again. :) Or because we are seeing incredible miracles in this area....I don't know. But I don't want it to end! We have found so many people this week! One specifically was a really cool experience...

So after dinner Saturday night sister Hewitt and I felt prompted that we needed to go to a specific street. We weren't sure if it was a real prompting or if it was just our minds playing tricks on us, but we went. The first door we knocked on was an old man with dreads on his head and on his beard. He didn't look completely coherent. Maybe we woke him from a nap? I have other suspicions. He told us he wasn't interested as he stroked his beard dreads. I figured as much. The next door we knocked was a cute girl around 10 and her mom was behind her and they invited us in. As we talked with her, she told us about how she is familiar with the missionaries and has a book of Mormon. She used to meet with the missionaries a long time ago and she stopped because they got transferred out. WE WERE DYING. We read in 3 Nephi with her about how Jesus comes to the Americas and visits the people and the spirit was completely there. We scheduled a time to meet with her next week and we are so excited. I have been PRAYING for this to happen. I am so grateful for the spirit. This work would be impossible without it.

I just finished reading in Ether, and every time I read about the bother of Jared I am in awe at how humble he is to do exactly what the Lord asks him. Never a doubt or question. He just trusts. I don't think I will ever comprehend the amount of faith necessary to actually see the finger of God. But I can say I have REALLY seen direct answers to prayers and promptings and my faith in God is stronger than I ever knew it could be. I KNOW he is there. He is a literal father talking to his literal daughter and he hears every thought of my heart. I am so grateful for that knowledge.

I am so grateful to be a missionary! Teaching people about the Savior is the most incredible thing any human could ever do. I am engaged in HIS work. This work is REAL!

I love the gospel! I love you all! Have an amazing week!

Love, Sister Hallmark

Best friends, back again :)

Transfer Tuesday!

 So tomorrow is transfer meeting...can you believe it's here again?!

We got our first transfer call from President Robinson, I was pretty nervous about how it would all happen. He called at 9:50 Friday night just as I got on my knees to pray.

I answered the phone anxiously, "Hi President!"

"Hey sister Hallmark, how are you both doing?"

"Great, President!"

"Are you?"

Yep, we're awesome."

*pause*

"Well that's fantastic, just thought I'd check up on you and make sure you're doing well!"

"PRESIDEEEENT!!!!!"

"Whaaaat?"

"Our transfer calls!"

"OH! You want to know your transfer calls?! Okay, okay!"

I bet you're all wanting to know what he said after that. Well it was pretty exciting news. I gasped and screamed and squealed. But I don't know if I am ready to tell everyone yet. So I'll wait.

So this week we saw a miracle. It wasn't a new investigator or even anything hugely missionary related. But it was definitely a miracle. There is a sweet indian lady that lives in the apartment right under us. There seems to be a lot of fighting and turmoil that goes on down there with all of the family. Occasionally we will see her sitting outside on the steps just looking out. She doesn't speak very much English, but she always smiles faintly at us as we walk by. She just looks tattered and worn. Well we decided we wanted to do something for her. So one day we made some brownies and put them on a plate and brought them downstairs. Her husband answered and took the brownies. He seemed happy, but I was a little disappointed she didn't answer. Well a few days later, one evening we get a knock on the door. I went to answer the door and outside I see the cute little lady from downstairs with our plate. She held it out and I could see it was PILED with chicken and rice curry she made for us. I DIED! She had the biggest smile on her face. I wanted to hug her and I didn't and I'm still mad at myself for that. But I was seriously so amazing to see her sweet smile. She didn't say anything but she just smiled. Oh! That was probably the highlight of my week. Other than my transfer call....

Okay I will tell you all. It's pretty awesome. So I'm staying as a Sister Training Leader again...and I will be with....SISTER HEWITT!!!!!!!!

Just so everyone is aware, this is our THIRD time serving together. It's kind of a really big deal. I adore sister Hewitt and I get to be with her for her last transfer! I am so blessed! Gosh I am just SO excited for this upcoming transfer. Probably the best transfer call I've ever received :)

Well that's about all for this week, it's been a lot of packing for Sister Guerra because she is heading to Palmer! I feel so blessed to be a missionary here in Alaska. I love my mission! I love the gospel so much! The church is true!!!

I love you all! Love, Sister Hallmark

At the famous Tommy's Burger Stop.  Fun night out at one of Anchorage's hot spots!