Lil' Spud Gone East: April 26, 2016

“It looks like more mountain and less people for Sister Cutler” -from Will after we told him where she was going Bahahhahaha

Hello Family and friends! I won’t waste any time in telling you the exciting news of transfers!

Sister Cutler is no longer my companion after tomorrow. Crazy thing is…..she is moving JUST DOWN THE ROAD to Buchannon, or something like that. She is still in the same stake which means she will have been in the Clarksburg stake for more than half of her mission. Haha, kind of unheard of, but she sure does beat the odds. Her fortune cookie that she got this week at lunch with a member told her she was going South. Little did we know she would only be going a little tiny bit South. She is opening up a new Sister Training Leader area and missed being my training leader by like one area.

Annnd drummroollll please: my new companion is: Sister Lee! Fun fact. No one knows who she is or anything about her HA! So anti-climactic.

I am excited though! She will be great. I am ready and willing to work hard and love her with all my heart. I know that Sister Cutler is sad to leave, but she will do incredible as a sister training leader. And I am a little bit anxious to take over, but I know that the Lord will help me. I never knew a companion would turn into one of my closest friends, but she has. I feel so blessed to have been trained by her. I remember praying so hard in the MTC that I would have a trainer that would help me reach my potential as a missionary and she has done that. This area, Sister Lee, and I will be standing on her shoulders.

Our area is EXPLODING.

We have found some great families that we are teaching and are planning to teach. One of these soon to be families came after one of the longest hours of my whole life. Last week right after dinner we headed out into a neighborhood that we haven't been in hardly at all. We knew someone was prepared in this area. We had planned to go see "the teal house" first because we had both had our eye on it for forever. We went and knocked. We could see people inside, but no one answered. We walked up and around the hill to go and try some other houses. We could see the backyard from where we were and there were so many people home, and people that saw us. We talked to everyone we saw and bore testimony frequently, but nothing was coming. I remember walking up the hill and Sister Cutler looking at her watch and saying, "It has only been FIVE minutes!" I thought she was kidding because it seemed like 30. We kept trying people and worked hard to be diligent and find the prepared person in the area. Our time was up and we still hadn't found anyone. We walked back to the car and just before we got in, I stared at the house with the teal and the people outside. I got the feeling to go back! We had already knocked, seen them in their backyard, and then said hi on our way back to the car. How awkward that would be. I looked up and Sister Cutler wasn't getting in the car either. She asked something to the effect of, "You think we should go back too?" Long story short - This man’s names is Scott. I have never met someone who has a more sincere desire to know there is a God. He lived in Las Vegas and "tried the whole Mormon thing" but never actually read the Book of Mormon or prayed.

I wish I could tell you everything I learned from this experience, but it would take so long. What I learned the most though: That we NEVER stop working hard and if we have faith the Lord will lead us to the prepared….HE WILL. Sometimes the biggest blessings come after the hardest times. I know that hour was long and that Satan did all he could to discourage us from finding that family, but we had faith and it overcame the power of the devil.

We were also thanked by Scott, in prayer, for being persistent. It has been a long time coming, but we finally got thanked for it(: Haha, It only took 3 months.

This week I have focused on my testimony. Sister Cutler’s strength is that she can bear testimony and whip gospel knowledge out anywhere, anytime. I haven’t had to work on this much because I have crutched myself and relied on her a lot of the time. I realized that I can talk to someone no problem, but that I, yes ME, actually get nervous when sharing my testimony at times. I have prayed hard to have help in solidifying what I know and being able to share it. As I have asked the Lord to help me do this, he has poured out his truth to me!

I challenge each of you this week to Become Solid! Solid in what you know to be true to the point that you can share it simply and with conviction (: I can promise that it makes all of the difference.
--

Sister Justina Campbell

West Virginia Charleston Mission