Natasha Weekly Letter: Week #13

Hello family! You probably thought you weren't getting letter this week. Haha. You were wrong. I had an all mission conference yesterday so our P-day got moved to today. I've known about it for awhile and could've told you, but did I remember? No.

This week has been a week... I don't think I've felt so physically and mentally tired in my whole life. 

This last Tuesday we had another awesome lesson with Sister Perkins! We read in the Book of Mormon with her and she told us that she has been meeting with the bishop almost weekly! We invited her to meet with him at our first lesson with her and she has! We didn't have to remind her or persuade her, she just did it!

Other than that this week has mostly been tracting, tracting and more tracting... Towards the end of the week I was getting pretty frustrated because no one we talked to was interested and I was starting to doubt that there were people out there who really were being prepared and who needed the gospel in their lives. I've heard a lot of people say that they received blessings just when they were about to hit their breaking point. So I thought, "Ok my blessing must be just around the corner because this is not fun." Haha. I didn't have an amazing miracle, but after going to the all mission conference yesterday I've been given a new motivation to find. At the conference Elder Haynie from the seventy came. In the meeting he pretty much told us that based of our statistics as a mission that we're not finding the right way. Before yesterday I thought of finding as tracting, but there's so much more to it. He gave us so many more ideas of how to find and how to get the best results. So we'll see how this week goes as Sister Smart and I try different ways to find.

Yesterday after the all mission conference we had the coolest miracle of all the miracles! Sister Smart and I were out finding in an area with an inactive member. Her daughter was being taught the missionary lessons a couple of years ago, but it didn't go anywhere. When we drove to the side of their house a car pulled up next to us and a lady asked us if we needed any help. We said we were ok and she drove away. We tried knocking on the members house and no one was home. As we were knocking some doors in the same neighborhood, Sister Smart realized that the car that stopped to help us had been at the members home a different time we had tried them so we figured it was the member who had asked if we needed help. We had seen the same car driving around the neighborhood so we knew they were close by. We really felt like we should talk to them so we stalled for a while and talked to some people around her house who were walking by. We were getting to a point where we needed to do something more effective, but we both still felt like we needed to talk to this member so we said a prayer. In the prayer we asked God to help us know where to go in order to find the member. At the very end of the prayer the member drove up in her driveway!!! It was crazy! I've never had an answer to prayer happen that quickly. Before my mission I heard people talk about crazy miracles like that and I'd be like, "Uh what? Miracles like that don't happen in real life." But miracles do happen my friends.  

Well that was my week and a day. I know that God answers prayers. I feel like since I've been on my mission I've had more answers to my prayers, not just because I'm a missionary, but because I've been praying more sincerely. God hears all our prayers, but we have to put effort into our prayers. We get out what we put in. Why should God put efforts into answering our prayers if we aren't putting any effort into saying them? Love you all!

Love,
Sister Schouten

P.S. 
I don't know if any of you have heard, but there is supposedly supposed to be a catastrophic hurricane near by me so I may or may not be evacuated from my apartment at the end of the week. But never fear, as of right now I'm fine and I'm sure I'll be fine through it all. I'm not really worried about it. Maybe I should be more worried, but I'm not. I feel like Virginians are very good at exaggerating things. I've been told that if I am relocated I'll be able to contact you so you know if I'm safe or not. Well on that note, have a good week!

Picture Caption:

Sorry some of these are real blurry. 

Made me some nobakes 🤗
Got this on Facebook the other day. 😂 Tell grandpa I say hi back
One somewhat decent picture of me and Sister Smart tracting. The other is how I really feel inside. 

I saw this hilarious card at target and thought some of you would think it as funny as I did.