7. Toby The Fat Cat And Christmas In August

Happy Monday email crew!

We're still alive in Oregon! This week has been hectic, chaotic, dramatic, and went by so fast. We had awesome lessons, cancelled lessons, creepy service projects, and fun service projects. It was a missionary week to the extremes. Good thing is, I love the 3 other girls I spend most of my time with and they feel like sisters to me at this point. 

We got to teach Louis, who has met with missionaries on and off for a few years. He has an awesome belief in God, but he struggles with the idea of baptism because he is very afraid of water. We would appreciate your prayers for him!

We got to... not... teach Chris. He has also met with missionaries for a while, but he's a little bit of a flakey guy and has stood us up twice this week. But everybody we've heard from says he is a super solid guy, we just need to actually get to know him! Prayers for him would be appreciated too!

We helped Judy (says everybody in her synagogue calls her Jewie) move wood and stack it in her backyard. We found some of the biggest spiders I have ever seen in my entire life. They were the size of my palm, at least! I'm not afraid of spiders usually, but those ones? They were mutant spider aliens sent to ruin my life. 

Later we helped Nico clean her house! She is a super sweet lady who has been through some super hard times in her life. This is where Toby the Fat Cat comes in. When I say Fat Cat, I don't mean chubby. I don't even mean fat. I mean bloated balloon obese cat. Dude could barely stand on his own legs. But he was the most loving thing ever. We love Toby the Fat Cat.

As for the other part of this week's title, we had the most interesting Church service ever on Sunday. We sang exclusively Christmas songs the whole time. It was so strange and we never got an explanation for why. But hey, Joy to the World always hits the spot, right?

And now, everybody's favorite part! Spiritual thought. I actually really enjoyed my scripture study this week. I was focused a lot on the story of the Jaredites in the Book of Mormon and their crossing of the ocean. The scriptures are telling the story of their ships being tossed on the waters and fierce storms billowing around them when it says, "And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters" We all have storms and winds in our lives, but they are always pushing us towards greater blessings! Trust in God's plan, and it will all work out.

Stay safe this week! Love you guys!

Hermana Thrasher

Pics!

1. Bus passes and nicknames!

2. Awesome comps

3. Toby the Fat Cat

4. Pretty sunset

5. I am an official Frito spokes-hermana. Y'all need these in yall's lives