Hello Again!

Hello again. This is Sister Orr reporting from the hottest place on earth....

This week has been... humbling. I feel like I have dropped the ball a lot. But I'm learning from it! So i guess it's not all in vain.

We have a plethora of summer sales guys in our branch temporarily. A bunch are from home, going to BYU. It was cool to talk UTAH.

I was talking to the wife of one and accidentally introduced myself as Rachel instead of Sister Orr. It was actually.... really embarrassing. Not because it's a secret or anything, but because when I did all of the security guys started laughing and calling me Rachel really loud in the lobby at church. It ticks me off when they get so humorous that they forget that we are missionaries. BLAH! They ought to know better, most of them served missions.

The downside to working with younger branches is that they do get too friendly sometimes and forget our purpose. There's a fine line, I guess. Though the benefits do make up for that silly stuff. We have 9 members of our branch that are preparing to serve missions!! Its been really fun to rotate and take them all teaching with us. First of all, they are really good fellowship for investigators and also we can give them assignments. hahaha. And they DO THEM! One sister we use frequently is getting ready to send in her papers pretty soon here. She comes with us all the time and always has great insights. I feel bad sometimes that we take so much of her time, but remind myself that she will probably be blessed with the same when she serves.

There are no secrets or shame in Texas. Sister T and I will often find ourselves parked in front of homes trying to plan or figure out where we are. I guess it's normal for people here to walk out, seconds after we have parked, and knock on our windows wanting to know what we want. hahahahaha. It's..... odd. Last week it was almost daily that that happened. Like I said in other letters, people seem to be comfortable talking about religion here. Even to two strangers knocking on their door. It's been interesting. We'll ask about their background and regularly ask what role prayer has played in their lives. People pray here and I love hearing all about it.

When we ask what kind of stuff they include in their prayers, a common reply is that they "just thank God for letting me wake up to another day" or "thank the Lord for granting me another breath." Their replies direct my thoughts to the small things. We are told not to sweat the small things, but how often do we thank God for them? Gratitude is amazing. Sister T and I have gratitude journals that we write a few things in every morning. Mine is full of things like "moccasins to wear in the a.m., bug spray, a dishwasher, investigators who already love Jesus, avocados, hidden treats in our car, vegan cake mixes...." Elder Eyring once gave a speech about recognizing the hand of the Lord in your life daily and mentioned that HE had a gratitude journal. Try it out!!!! It's one of those small things that can, over time, change your thoughts and very nature.

We have been meeting with some realllllly cool people lately. One guy even has lists of questions for us before we get there!! Those visits are by far my favorite. I don't answer a whole lot of them, but Sister Tall is on top of it. She knows. so. much. its INSANITY!!!!! But it gives me more direction in what to study in the morning. Yesterday, we were talking about original sin with him. (the idea that because of Adam, we are all born into sin.) I have always believed the opposite, but have never been too eloquent in explaining it. Simple testimony of it. We were having a hard time teaching it, when a thought came to my mind that I had never heard nor considered before: If all man is born into sin, then the very Son of God, who was born of a mortal mother, would have been born into sin because Christ's mother was human. We know that Jesus was perfect from the get-go, so that must not be so. I threw in that thought, just not as verbose. I don't know if it meant anything, helped, or changed his perspective, but I KNOW that that thought was not mine. It was faith building. I cannot imagine sharing the gospel without the spirit to guide our words. We are excited to go teach him again. He's so.... curious. And not threatening. It's awesome.

Take 4th of July pictures!!!! Its my favorite holiday!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will miss you all on the day. We will be doing something for Canada day, though. Oh the life of a half-breed....

almost out of time!

I melted my curling iron cord the other day with... itself. Hahahah. Its alright, though. Takes too much time in the morning anyways.

We have geckos that crawl up our windows at night!

Dad!! I saw you the other day. But you painted your car and grew a mustache.

Quote of the week, "SISTER ORR!!! With your gold tooth collection and my barbie collection, we could sell out and GO TO MEXICO!!!!!"

peace out girl scouts

Sister Rachel