Sister Kate LeBaron~ Bentonville Arkansas Mission: Parable of the Starfish

HOWDY YALLL!!! The past few weeks have been absolutely crazy and tbh I don't remember a ton that happened! but let's jump straight into it

THIS WEEK

- EXCHANGES!!! I got to party it up in the family ward, it was soooo fun!! We got to visit Irine the sweetest old lady that I got to see a few exchanges ago! She is literally the cutest ever, I love her so much! This guy who we met a lil bit ago tried to explain to us that polygamy is okay because he loves 2 of his pets equally. I was like sir you did not just compare people to dogs. So that was a Lil weird but absolutely hilarious. We also had a pass off lesson w/ Chance's (our friend who's on date) dad and the stls (sister training leaders) and it was sooo good!!

- we had car inspections and so we made the car absolutely stunning and then it snowed the next day. But it's ok because the inside is beautiful lol

- we had interviews with our mission president and his wife & they were soooo good! I love the Collins with my whole heart!

- huge miracle: we've been doing video calls with all the ysa to help them grow their testimonies as well as get hyped to share the gospel! At first we didn't really see any fruits honestly until this week (we've been doing them for like 2 transfers now) we had ysa night and sooo many people came and a few of the members who don't usually come- came! It's also been really cool to watch the people we call grow and start to think about themselves less and more about helping others! We had our friend come who's special needs and has some social issues, he didn't feel comfortable with a lot of people in the room at institute. We stepped into the hall with him to do a bom study and immediately 2 ysa came running out to meet w/ us! They stayed even through the activity part and bore powerful testimonies to our friend! I've been thinking a lot lately on selflessness, developing Christlike attributes. This has been a firm testimony builder for me that becoming like Christ isn't a sprint, it's a very very long marathon. Each step counts. It's with every single step that we get closer to the finish line. There are many times that I'm gonna trip along the way but thank Heavens that the Savior is right by my side to pick me up when I fall. It doesn't matter if I'm not the fastest runner in the race to be more like Christ but what does matter is that I NEVER STOP MOVING! Long story short our members are legendary and have taught me so much!

- we had what is to date both the strangest and most fun service I've ever done lol! Our member has a costume business and we help make molds him. This week he needed people to test out a project they have been building... so we pretty much stood there while they shot us with a fog cannon. it was so fun! And then we helped them build a mannequin for one of there costumes and we named it Fred

- had a super good lesson with one of our friends who we've been trying to get to read the bom. Last lesson we had we were just really straight up with him, it worked because this time when we met he read a chapter more than we asked him to!

- I'll be straight up with ya'll missions can be hard sometimes and a lot of the time I question if I'm even making a difference. But I've been thinking a lot this week about the starfish story. Idk if ya'll have heard it but it's bomb! any way... basically this guy sees this boy throwing starfish into the ocean off the shore. This old guy walks up to this boy and says something along the lines of " there's way too many starfish on this beach for you to make a difference " and the boy says" you're right but it made a difference to that ONE". I LOVE That story because even when I feel like I'm not making a big difference I'm making a big difference to the ONE. It's the ONE smile that brightened someone's day, the ONE hug to someone who needed it, listening to someONE who needs someone to just be there for them... Christ ministered to people one by one! And so should we!

Challenge: and that leads straight into my challenge for ya'll this week

*DRUMROLL*

Find a way to minister to the ONE this week! Keep a little note on your phone of your experiences! Pray for opportunities and promptings and act!! Put in the spiritual work. to have the Spirit with you so your prepared to best help the person in need!

I LOVE YALL TO KOLOB AND BACK