So many animals

Hello everyone! 

Another week has come and gone and more adventures have happened in good ole Lake City! 

To begin, on the 19th, it had been 1 year since I got my mission call! Isn't that crazy?! It's so amazing what can happen in a year haha. A year ago I would have never thought I'd be all the way across the country in a quirkey town called Lake City...but here I am and it's the best! My life has truly been changed since coming on a mission and I wouldn't change anything. 

On Tuesday we saw SO many animals and it was a blast! So, we were out doing some contacts and we pass by a members farm. They have cows, sheep, and pigs right next to the road so we had to stop and say hello to all of them. We continued our journey to the next place and we pull up and there are chickens EVERYWHERE! We talked to the lady (who is a less active member) and she told us that they have over 100 chickens just free range. They also have a ton of horses and goats and donkeys! Then they lady says, "Do you want to meet Secretariat's grandson?" .....um YES! (For those of you who don't know, Secretariat was a super famous race horse, go watch the movie for more info :) ) So, I got to meet the kin of Secretariat so that was pretty awesome and 6 year old me would have flipped out haha! To finish off our day with one more animal encounter, we went to have a lesson at a members house and we found out that they have a miniture horse named Nemo. We simply had to meet Nemo so when we were leaving one of the girls went and got him. The next thing we know, there's a knock at the front door...we open it AND THERES NEMO!  He will just knock on the door! It's for realzies too because I saw it! Hopefully I can add a video. I now want a mini horse when I get home :) 

We had some awesome lessons this week too! We finally were able to meet with Greg and Sally again. It's been a few weeks because they were sick and busy. That study was super good though and we introduced the Book of Mormon to them. They were excited to read from it with us and asked how they can correctly read it with the Bible. So, we showed them the footnotes and all that. Such a blessing for sure because we were a little scared they wouldn't be very accepting of the Book of Mormon. We were wrong! 

On Saturday we had a great lesson with Tyler! Although, we had it outside and Saturday happened to be the coldest day of the week. I was freezing! We huddled up on a members porch (but couldn't go inside because they have covid) and there was a small heater. We all pushed through though and the Spirit warmed our souls haha! Tyler is super curious and really just wants to learn more about other religions. He started reading the Book of Mormon too and said that he knew it was from God. 

Going along with that thought on the Book of Mormon, we began our 65 day reading challenge of the Book of Mormon this last week. The goal is to read the entire book in 65 days (which is the amount of time it took Joseph Smith to translate the book) The day we finish the Book of Mormon will be the day that it is believed that Joseph Smith had the first VIsion! After each chapter, our mission president has challenged us to ask, "could an unschooled farmboy have written all of this?" After being a few chapters in, the answer is no, no way! And to do it in 65 days?! And yet...we have it. We can hold and read and study the Book of Mormon. What a great testimony builder to know that this book is from God. There had to be divine help in the translation of it. And it is all true! Man, I love the Book of Mormon and I'm so excited to continue reading it for this challenge! 

Here's a really good scripture that I've liked recently in Alma 33:11

"And thou didst hear me because of mine afflictions and my sincerity; and it is because of thy Son that thou hast been thus merciful unto me, therefore I will cry unto thee in all mine afflictions, for in thee is my joy; for thou hast turned thy judgments away from me, because of thy Son."

A common thing I've found in reading the scriptures is that joy is often accompanined with description of afflictions. That just is a good reminder that no matter what afflictions we are facing, there is always joy to be found in them because of Jesus Christ!

I hope yall have a fanstastic week! Don't forget to pray! 

Love yall!

Sister Huff :)