temple week🥳🤩

 hi hi hi! what is up??? this week was genuinely such a good week and I'm so excited to tell you all about it! 

HIGHLIGHTS:

TEMPLE! we got to go to the temple this week! everyone who knows me knows that I ADORE the temple! I was so beyond excited to go to the temple! while we were there we saw so many missionary friends! it felt like a mini mission reunion! I got to see a couple missionaries that I came out with and haven't seen since day 1 and it was the best reunion ever! and the spirit in the temple is seriously just unreal. I wish I could feel it that intense all the time! I never want to leave when I go to the temple! plus the Portland temple is just so beautiful! I will never get over it! 

ZONE CONFERENCE! we had zone conference this week! the last 2 zone conferences have been 3 days long but this time they only did it one day. it was the longest day ever but I learned so much and took so much away from it! President and Sister Mann are simply just the greatest and have some of the most powerful testimonies I've ever heard. 

4 MONTHS! I hit 4 MONTHS as a missionary this month! literally insane! I swear a week ago I was walking into the MTC thinking what the heck have I done but here I am 4 months later loving it! it's the best work in the world and there's nowhere else I'd rather be! I wish time would slow down! 

BAPTISM WITH A FRIEND! we had a crazy miracle this week that ended in us being able to attend a baptism with one of our friends! Saturday night we were meeting at the church for a lesson with one of our inactive members. we walk in and immediately he sees this guy and runs over to give him a hug. me and sister jacobson are both so confused at this point because we've never seen this guy before. after talking a bit, we discovered he was a missionary that used to serve here and he taught one of the friends we just started teaching again. we decided to have him call this friend and see if he could come to the baptism. this specific friend never answers his phone and I mean NEVER, but by some crazy miracle, he picked up this time and he was able to make it to the baptism! it was so awesome and the spirit was so strong! 

SUNSHINE! this week was so much more sunny than we expected it to be! and it was such a blessing! I'm so grateful for a little more sunshine before it all goes away! 

EXCHANGES! we got to go on exchanges this week! me and Sister Campbell spent 24 hours together here in Whipple Creek! we walked through some super dark scary boons and talked to some awesome people! she's so awesome and I was able to learn so much from her! I love exchanges and I love all the sisters in this mission! 

I'm gonna skip lowlights this week cuz I don't have any:)

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

this week we had zone conference and Sister Mann talked about how joyful daily repentance is. a lot of us think of repentance as being shameful or some kind of punishment but it shouldn't be that way! repentance is simply a chance for us to change and progress and it should be something we look forward to! this has allowed me to reflect and be able to strive to find the change I need to become a better missionary and not only is repentance a joyful thing, but it makes me feel so much joy as well! I know that God didn't give us repentance to make us feel bad, but He did out of love to allow us to become more like Him. and I'm SO thankful for that!!! 

please write me, it means the world! I love hearing from you all because I love you all so much! have the greatest week!

-Sister Stringham🩷🩷🩷