{ the church is true, the book is blue }

"The importance of having a firm and sure testimony of the Book of Mormon cannot be overstated." - President Thomas S. Monson

I cannot even begin to tell you how true this is.

And the promised blessings of this from our Prophet as we read it: "We will be in a position to hear the voice of the Spirit, to resist temptation, to overcome doubt and fear, and to receive heaven’s help in our lives"

Those promises were definitely fulfilled this week.

But first, a little opposition:

No, I'm not talking about that car full of sorority girls who cut us off in the institute parking lot and stole our spot.

We ended up turning our annoyance into positivity and a chance to share the gospel.

I'm talking about Samuel.

Remember Miracle Sam? Phone call right after his Grandma died, Samuel?

We met with him again.

It didn't go well.

At all.

We had started teaching the Plan of Salvation since we figured it probs fit since his Grandma has recently passed away, right?

Wrong.

He had a huuuuuuge issue with it the second time we met with him.

So much so, he said as he left, "That was very interesting, I'll have to ask my Pastor about it."

Okay bye! See you never!

e. walton sums up our feelings perfectly in that moment: why. sam, why?

Can honestly say, it was my worst lesson on my mission.

At one point during the lesson...

Member we brought with us: "So like... outer darkness..."

.......

Me: *gets up from chair* *walks out door* *walks out of Indiana* *walks out of life*

After Samuel, we had to book it from the institute building to the stake center for another lesson. We literally had 2 minutes to call out to the elders on the way out, "THAT WAS TRASH!" before we had to go to...

Kevin.

We met Kevin at this creepy, ghetto, auto-repair shop when we were there getting our Tiwi system installed in our car.

Kevin's the sweetest. We LOVE him.

He owns the shop and I guess has been working with the church for years, going around and installing all the Tiwis in the mission cars.

Well we got to talkin.

Taught him about the restoration of the beautiful gospel of Jesus Christ.

Gave him a Book of Mormon.

Set up a teaching appointment.

Him: "Elder Summers has been trying to get me to go to church for years. I'll have to call him and tell him. He'll be so excited."

Well, WE were!

Honestly, you guys. THE best lesson I've ever had on my mission.

THE BEST.

Funny how that works, huh?

We taught only about The Book of Mormon and tried this new way of teaching it that Brother Donaldson from the Worldwide Mission Board had shown us when he visited our mission a couple of months ago.

I know that nothing and nobody's perfect (you just gotta work it lol)

but.

That lesson was perfect.

Best part?

Closing prayer by the member: "Please bless that the sisters won't get any more aggressive drivings or check your speeds."

Aaaaameennnn.

Did our Tiwi break and we've been free ever since?

Why yes, the Lord DOES answer prayers.

Fast forward to Samuel later this week.

We figured, you know, we haven't even taught about the restoration yet, but we gonna try this whole Book of Mormon thing as our dying attempt with Samuel.

So we (miraculously) set up another appointment with him and taught all about The Book of Mormon.

Best. Lesson. Ever. (well, close second)

At the end, Samuel goes: "I was really contemplating not meeting with you guys again. But I'm excited about this!"

*angels sing*

Us at the end of this blessed week:

It really has been an amazing week. The flowers are still out and Purdue campus is still

G O R G E O U S:

And to top off the week, we went to an activity with the ward this weekend at a member's house.

They have a swing.

Not an ordinary swing.

But a massive swing that's incredibly high and shoots you through the forest behind their house.

Ohmygosh I had to.

Skirt and all.

melon face, happy face.

Thanks for reading! Tune in next time to see more of

Sis A and Sis S

Sincerely, Sister Soloa'i

P.S. happy 14 months!

{ ready for a novel? }

Let's be real.

I'm not gonna be one of those missionaries that wants to go back and live where they served.

Sorry, I love the mountains too much.

And dry air.

And smooth roads.

But if anything were to change my mind about living in Indiana it would definitely be the

b e a u t i f u l

Spring season:

The sunshine, the blossoms EVERYWHERE, and just the very air smelling like flowers has got me like...

waiting for our investigators to show up has never felt so good

Honestly though, God (has) bless(ed) Indiana.

Once again, SO MUCH HAPPENED this week.

So let's hit the highlights:

 [ z o n e  s i s t a s ]

We got to go on exchanges with the Logansport sisters and since we live next to the other two sets, we all got to be together for a hot minute.

 [ # p r i n c e o f p e a c e ]

How amazing was the Easter #princeofpeace??

We did a booth on campus aaaaaall about it: we gathered Ipads from members (when President says we're getting Ipads... over a year ago. uh huh.) stuffed plastic eggs with candy and wrote the scripture that went with each of the 8 Easter videos and put that in the eggs too.

People would come up (by "come up" I mean "get dragged over"), pick an egg and we would share the video their egg had and talk about how they personally find peace in their lives.

The experience of the booth sure didn't start out peaceful though.

Like at all.

Imagine this:

Sister Alexander and I are already frazzled from the prep of the booth, the other missionaries are no where to be seen, people straight don't care about us or Jesus, and the Logansport sisters are probs like, "This is the worst exchange ever."

You know how in the movies when things go wrong and the main character looks at the camera and goes, "Things can't get any worse." and then it starts raining?

Well.

It started raining.

POURING RAIN.

Sister A and I just had this moment where we looked at each other and were like, "Oh.My.Gosh. This is a disaster."

So we huddled under our sad little umbrella, in the middle of all the chaos, and prayed.

Would you believe, after that prayer, during that POURING rain, is when we found the most success? Our table was literally crowded (did they pity us? I'll take what I can get, thank you) and we found dozens of potential new investigators and set up several appointments with wonderful, God-seeking people for this upcoming week.

One of those amazing people, was our man, Darren. He was only at Purdue for the day (coincidence? lol.), doesn't believe in God, but was so touched by how kind and happy we were, even in the rain, that he said he couldn't say no to us.

Guys, smiling WORKS.

He lives in Chicago so for the first time on my mission, we had a lesson over FaceTime.

It was SO weird.

Serious props to all those Ipad missionaries out there. Keep rockin it, for real.

[ j i n g  y e ]

Story time:

I had the great luxury of not being driven to the MTC by my family.

Wassup family. Promise, I'm not gonna put you guys on blast for too long.

I use to be kinda bitter about that because all the other missionaries I serve around had that "moment" at the MTC, ya know?

The one where you walk bags in hand, into the fading sunset that is the MTC brick buildings, and your Mom is weeping in the background and you try to look all brave with your chin up as your younger siblings cling onto your legs for dear life and then it just so happens that someone "spontaneously" takes a picture of that "candid" moment.

Whatever.

I didn't have that.

Buuuuuut

I'm so grateful I didn't.

Cause while my fellow February 24th 2016 missionaries were enjoying that moment with their fam, I was sitting in the backseat of the Shuttle, headed to the MTC where I would show up 3 hours late.

Well, my fellow travelers on that shuttle ride were 2 (very) old, classy ladies who were all RMs and who told me my outfit was not only "super cute" (thx) but also that I would be an amazing missionary and gave me all this pep and advice that I dearly needed.

One of which was: "Remember to keep it simple."

I didn't know back then how profound that would be to me now.

One way I'm learning that is with a recent convert, Jing Ye.

She's from China and is still learning English, but has the strongest desire to truly understand the gospel. Our Book of Mormon study sessions with her have been some of the most enlightening times I've ever had while reading it. We go through each chapter very slowly, carefully, and simply.

Along with those old lady homies, Jing Ye has definitely taught me that there is beauty in simplicity.

finished 1 Nephi hooooraayyy

[ m l c ]

"Elders and Sisters, I'm not saying you have to baptize thousands!!!

...Well. I mean. You could. That would be fine by me." - President.

This week, at MLC, I developed such a love for the leaders of my mission. Not just because President says some really funny things during meetings, but because I truly saw his and Sister Carlson's love and devotion as well as the devotion of the missionaries I serve with.

also. I <3 mlc because we get to see our bffs in other areas.

[ e l d e r  s u m m e r s ]

Elder and Sister Summers are the two office missionaries that are over the cars in the mission.

Elder Summers is my best friend.

For two reasons:

1) *every pday while I served near the mission office*

*walk up into the office* 

me: "ELDER SUMMERS WAAAAASSUUUUUP MANNNNN!!?! What's the sitch??" 

him: *jolly old man laugh*

Every. Single. Pday.

By the end I finally broke him because my last pday in that area went like this:

*walks into the mission office*

him: "Sister Sollyeye! WAAASSUUPP!"

me: *annoying little girl laugh*

Reason numba 2) He hooked us up with a new Malibu this week.

no longer Coroll(in')a

[ s a m u e l ]

We were going through our potential investigators list from yeeeearrss ago and decided to call a guy named, Samuel.

Well, apparently we called only a few days after his Grandmother passed away and he was just blown away by the "coincidence" of it.

Heh. Nothing's a coincidence with da Looooooordd!

He was so touched by that sign from Heavenly father that we were able to meet with him and have an amazing lesson about the plan of salvation.

But.

Alas.

Samuel is from Korea. But don't let that fool you because he is a Hoosier through and through. Meaning Samuel can TALK, ohmygosh.

You'll often hear missionaries from Indiana talk about getting "hoosiered" (meaning people never stop talking in circles about the wackiest stuff that never pertains), but good, ole Sam taught us this week about being Koreaned.

But hey, still loving Purdue.

If you made it to the end of this post, bless you.

Bless you and all of yours' ten fold.

[ l o r d  w o r k s  i n  m y s t e r i o u s  w a y s ]

Also, bless you to all those complimenters out there who kept coming our way this week (not complaining). Seriously, you guys, my confidence has never been higher.

One instance this week:

*asks dude if we can share a pamphlet with him*

"You two are so uber attractive, I would love one."

Uhhh. I mean, whatever works I guess.

Also... who says "uber"?

Honestly, I mean.

Why wouldn't the compliments be raining in?

amirite?

Sincerely, Sister Soloa'i

{ just call me Dorothy }

My life is literally a whirlwind.

This is what I imagine Dorothy felt when her house got straight sucked up in that twistaaa.

I feel like so much happens in a week that by the time Monday rolls around I'm still dealing with the whiplash of it all and I don't know what to write about.

Speaking of whirlwinds...

Can we talk about this Indiana weather? It's 73 degrees one day and snowing the next and then some days walking around campus is like walking in a tornado.

But hey.

No matter the weather, Purdue never disappoints.

I mean, am I right?

I FEEL LIKE I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY

but.

You know that feeling where you have so much to say that you have nothing to say?

That's basically where I'm at.

So just know that:

1) Spring sprung which means the trees are all fluffy and cute and I'm happy.

2) All of our investigators dropped us... again. And we found several new ones... again. 

Don't worry, reese's eggs are here to cope through those up and down days.

and finally,

3) Having your best friend double as yo companion remains the best.

Also, Sis A and I had the opportunity to go to downtown Indy this past weekend and we drove through our old area to get there (sooo bizarre).

Being in the heart of Indianapolis just brought back sooooo many memories and emotions.

So weird to be back where I started.

With my trainer.

In the place where I probably learned the most and loved the hardest.

My little heart was just fiiiiilled with gratitude, as we drove over those pothole-covered roads, that my Heavenly Father asked me to serve Him over a year ago (wut).

Rich blessings aaaaall around.

Sincerely, Sister Soloa'i