I Love Food. A Lot.

Isn't it pretty. Also, they make kombucha so we drank kombucha (:

 I get the question a lot: what has been the worst thing you have eaten on your mission so far? Answer: nothing really that bad, yet. If anything, people serve us a lot of enchiladas, but because they aren't close to the Mexican border, let's just say they aren't really enchiladas at all. But they aren't bad. Just not an enchilada. Also, for those who know of my fear of tomatoes, that fear is gone. Everyone grows tomatoes here, and yesterday, I ate one all by itself and it was delicious! It was a giant, hometown, Cherokee tomato.

This week has been the week for delicious homemade food! We eat with members every  night. On Wednesday, recent converts made butter chicken curry which is like chicken tiki masala with naan bread. Yummmm. Then, last night the members we live with made us a meal. It was roasted lamb, homemade bread, homemade tiziki (however you spell that) sauce, with a Mediterranean salad where the only thing not grown from their garden were the olives and feta cheese. Delicious!

Rain er'ry day

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." - John 14:27

On Saturday we spent 5 hours at a local farm, harvesting carrots with the stakes in Vancouver and other cities. In total we harvested, washed, bagged, and moved 11 tons of carrots. That is right, over 22,000 pounds of carrots! All to be donated to the food bank for the homeless and impoverished. We then had 5 lessons on Saturday. So by Sunday, both sister Tauala and I were exhausted from the week and Saturday.

We have 4 investigators with a date set to be baptized, one being baptized this Saturday. We also have transfers on Wednesday and I get to stay with sister Tauala because I am still training :)

Random thoughts:

Give the Lord our will to consecrate our actions, which will help unify us with people we meet.

"Hope of God's Light". It is a Mormon message that tells the slow conversion of a man about to commit suicide to one who believed in a God. My favorite part is when he states: "I realized that it is part of our condition as mortals to sometimes feel as though we are surrounded by darkness. But even though we may feel lost, God promises to illuminate the way before us. No matter how long it takes."  This week we have been busy in missionary work, but it has also been hard and it seems that we have hit a road block in finding people.

I felt pretty homesick one night this week, and just sat until I had to go to bed. I felt empty and exhausted. That day had been productive, but at the same time I just felt so lost, like what am I doing. One of the people we visited was an inactive (someone who doesn't go to church any more) who claimed to be an atheist. But as she described her love for her children I could tell it was an act. And it made me sad. It made her sad, denying the existence of a God. I felt as she must feel, lost and out of contact with God. Just as the quote says we feel surrounded by a "burrito of sadness" as I like to call it. We distance ourselves from God. But that is just it. We distance ourselves from God. HE. IS. ALWAYS. THERE. He is always here. And he will lead us on, "illuminating the way before us." As I went to bed that night I said a long prayer. Probably the longest one I've said in my life. And when I woke, I was rejuvenated to go out and do the Lord's work. I really am only just the instrument in His work.

 Know God lives and loves. I know that through the proper steps we can return to live with our Father in Heaven as we see the beauty between the perfect balance of justice from the Father and mercy from the Son. How grateful I am for the Atonement, especially the enabling power which allows me to feel of God's love and heals my soul. I know Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son and was called as a prophet to restore Christ's church. I have seen this truth transform from a belief to knowledge on my mission and it has made this gospel that much sweeter to me. I am forever indebted to my Savior who holds the infinite weight of human hope. I am grateful for our modern-day prophet, Thomas S. Monson who guides and directs us, leading us to truth in a world full of grey.  I love my Savior and my God. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Sister Savanah Frisch