Back to the grind. 

Well some fluke stories from this last week, all of which required extreme planning and then nothing seemed to work out. We worked hard, we tried to bring people with us to every set lesson and appointment that we had, which means more people to call and confirm times and move appointments. Three lessons. One mission wide meeting. And two service projects. 

We had organized with three new investigators times to go by and have a lesson, and for each of these three investigators we set appointments for the beginning of the week. We called members - and that requires patience as the first number of people that we called couldn't make it. After we had found someone to come with us and confirmed the time on both sides, we went and all three fell through - then we rescheduled for later in the week and they all fell through again. 

We had been told on Monday that we had a 'Mission-Wide Sister's Meeting' on Wednesday, at 11am, and we would have to ask a member to drive us down to McAllen (three hours away). Well we called basically the whole roster, and then sweet S. Buckner told us that she could drive us down (apparently we even woke her from a nap when we called). Well Wednesday morning I woke up in a slight panic with the thought, that the meeting started earlier. I texted some people to confirm the start time and we were again told, 11am. Well then we're driving down to McAllen and we get a call from the assistants at about 10am - "where are you sister's?" ....yes, we arrived an hour late. Humiliating as we were sitting with S. Buckner, and she felt awful but it wasn't her fault or ours either, just faulty communication and therefore bad planning. 

Then we set up a time to go and teach a craft at a rest home with S. Deal. Well the craft finished quickly so we went out and tried visiting some of the less active members who lived around her that she knew - not a living soul was home. Straight up, we took this cute grandma out and knocked nine doors, and not one of them answered. After about the fifth door she turns to me and says, "Is this normal? I vote we never do this on a Thursday again." Our efforts were being made, but it just wasn't what was suppose to happen. 

~side note: when S. Deal dropped us off at the apartment, somehow my thumb got smashed in between the front and back door - we thought it was broken, it looked broken. Moments after entering into the complex, I passed out....S Pirir tried to catch me but apparently I was too heavy so I woke up with a headache on the floor.

The second service project was deep-cleaning a woman's house but on our way there, our investigator Meryk called and said that he was waiting for us at a member's house and S. Pirir nearly killed us as she about tried to do a U-turn on the highway. 

Miracle is we're all still living. And even though our plans didn't work out in the way that we had hoped and arranged and worked for. Heavenly Father has got his own plans and His plans are better than ours. 

A quote comes to mind of one of my favorite talks, Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence by Elder Klebingat that says, "When these trials come, the adversary’s minions begin broadcasting that you did something wrong, that this is a punishment, a sign that Heavenly Father does not love you. Ignore that! Instead, try to force a smile, gaze heavenward, and say, “I understand, Lord. I know what this is. A time to prove myself, isn’t it?” Then partner with Him to endure well to the end." 

Life is never perfect, but it sure is good. 

S. mckenna Crawford