Love you long time! 😬😚

 Hey hey hey! Another week down here in Washington! Still loving it up here! Everyone needs to come to Washington at some point in their life, it is BEAUTIFUL! I love it! 

HIGHLIGHTS: 

• TEMPLE TRIP! We got it approved for our whole zone to go to the temple and do a session! This was AMAZING! I loved having time to spend at the temple and I especially loved doing it with so many missionaries! The Spirit was SO STRONG! Especially in the celestial room! None of us wanted to leave so we all stayed for about an hour! The celestial room in the Portland temple is BEAUTIFUL! If you haven't been, you need to! I am obsessed with it! This was the best part of my week! I'm so grateful for my zone and for President Mann in letting us go together! 
• ZONE DINNER! After we went to the temple we had a zone dinner! We all drove over to chick-fil-a and had dinner together and it was a blast! It was so chaotic because it was already about 8:40 when we got there and we have to be in our apartments at 9:30 but we somehow made it on time! We had so much fun just getting to hang out and talk together! 
• SUNSHINE! This week was SO sunny and warm!! It was almost too warm! Mid 90s all week! We loved having the sunshine out though! October starts rainy season so I get just one more month of sunshine before it's all gone! I'm trying to soak it all up before I don't see the sun for about 5 months! 
• JELLO! Okay so this night is definitely a core memory. 6 of the elders in our zone were sick with the stomach flu. We called to ask if they wanted dinner and they said they couldn't eat anything but if something sounded good they would call us! 30 minutes later they called us and asked if we could make jello for them for the next day! Of course we said yes and ran to the store to get jello! We made it but we didn't want to wait for it to set so we called up the other sisters and had them come over to help us. We took 4 pans of watery jello to 2 different apart complexes and it was absolutely chaos! Anytime we made a turn in the car we all screamed because the jello was almost spilling! Funniest night of my mission so far! We had so much fun and loved getting to serve the elders! 
• EXCHANGES! I had my first 24 hour exchange this week! Sister Bowen, Sister Potter and I all got to be together in Walnut Grove! Fun fact, all 3 of us are from Layton! We had so much fun together! We talked all about Taylor Swift and swig as we walked and knocked doors almost the whole night! We also got told by a drunk guy "love you long time!" And we laughed so hard about it! Sister Potter is one of the funniest people I know! She's a new missionary like me and is just so awesome! We laughed so much all day and had a ton of fun together! 

LOWLIGHTS: 

• SLOW WORK! Unfortunately the work here in Walnut Grove is super slow! We have 2 awesome friends right now, but one just moved to a different ward and one works and goes to school full time so it's hard to find time to see him! We also have spent a lot of time in the apartment so we haven't had a chance to go out and find as much as we would like to! 

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

This week I was reading in Jacob and I wanted to share Jacob 2:8. It says "and it supposeth me that they have come up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul." I LOVE this! The gospel really does heal our souls! I love teaching people and seeing the joy and healing that comes from the gospel! I know that as we turn to Christ, he can heal all of our wounds! He knows us and our needs perfectly and can help us no matter what! I'm so grateful for this knowledge! 

I love you all and I'm so grateful for everyone's support! You're all just the best! I hope you all have the best week ever! Sending so much love! 

Sister Stringham