winter is upon us🧊🧥🥶

Hello hello! Back for another weekly! Crazy that there's only 3 more after thisTime is flying way too fast right now! But things are going so good!!!

HIGHLIGHTS:

• ASTORIA: Last pday we spent the majority of the day in Astoria and I just loved it! We went to the column with the zone and walked up all 164 steps! It was a BEAUTIFUL day to be up there too! It was so clear which normally it's not haha. Then the sisters out there took us on a tour of Astoria! They took us to all the cute little shops and showed us where to find the sea lions too! They were so cute and I loved it so much! It was such a fun pday! 
• ROBERT: Our friend Robert is so awesome! We had 3 zoom call lessons with him this week and he is progressing really well! He has such a strong desire to be baptized! He is so worried that he can't do it but we have been able to assure him that he can and that the Lord will help him! Our lessons are so spiritual, it is incredible! Pray for him that he can make it to church this Sunday! 
• ZONE CONFERENCE: I had my last zone conference this week! That is actually so wild to say! It was an incredible conference though! The whole focus was intentionality and I LOVED it! I was able to take away so many good actions and have loved getting to apply them to my work! I also had so many of my best friends there and I just had a blast. I also got to film a Facebook ad afterward so watch for that coming soon! 
• ZONE BREAKFAST: We had a zone breakfast this week which was super fun! The stake presidency was there, the mission presidency, the assistants, and the whole zone! We had the yummiest food and then a really fun Q&A with the stake presidency!
• PUPPIES: We stopped by our old friends Felecia and Julio this week and their dog had had puppies the day before! So we got to hold 1 day old puppies and it made my heart so happy! They were so tiny and precious! 
• AUNT: I AM OFFICIALLY AN AUNT! My sister Megan had her baby this week! President Pulsipher gave me permission to call and meet the baby after she was born and she is just the sweetest thing to ever exist! It was the best day ever! 

LOWLIGHTS:

• SO MANY GOODBYES: At zone conference I had to say so many goodbyes to my best friends! I hate that I have to leave so soon! I have come to LOVE all the missionaries here and will miss them all so much! 
• WINTER TIME: It decided to get to cold this week. The humid, Washington 40⁰ weather is not so fun. Not a fan at all...

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

I had so many incredible takeaways from zone conference this week. Something I really loved was a clip they showed from Elder Bednar. He talked about the parable of the pickle and how for a cucumber to become a pickle, it has to be fully immersed in the brine for a long period of time. They related it to us and the gospel. To become who God needs us to be, we have to be fully immersed in the gospel. We can't just sprinkle a little here or there and hope it will work. We have to intentionally immerse ourselves all the time! God will work miracles with our little effort! 

I love my mission! God is so good! I miss you all! Have a great week! 

-Sister Stringham