Dear Family! (9/7)

  Good good things are happening. We had a great week and Sister Perry are enjoying getting to know each other. We are SO similar. I think we are more alike than any of my other companions. It's funny though because she is the same as I was when I started my mission and she has the same goals and outlook on life. She says that she wants to find in her mission the things that I have found in mine. It's really cool because I have a goal now of helping her realize how amazing she is. We just have had very similar life experiences and I want her to realize what I have realized. I am really enjoying being her companion. She is a great missionary and I couldn't ask for a better sister!

  This week Sister Perry and I contacted a referral from the elders and we met this lady who invited us into her home. To put it in the simplest way possible she was in a really dark place both mentally and physically. She shared with us some of her life struggles and it was really sad. I was looking at her and looking around her house and I asked myself "How can we possibly help her?" then I was reminded by a quote that I had read about a week ago during my person study which says "The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature." and that was by President Kimball. At his moment I just wanted to help her so much. I wanted her to accept the gospel so that she can change her life and come into the light. I could see the potential within her and I think for a small moment I was able to view her the way that Heavenly Father views her and I just wanted her to reach this potential. After talking for a while we invited her to church and she said she would come. I then felt inspired to ask her if we could help her clean up her house a little bit. She said that we could and so Sister Perry cleaned the kitchen while I vacuumed and clean the living room. She sat there and kept saying "Thank you so much. No one has ever done anything like this for me. It was a special experience. She didn't come to church but Sister Perry and I are still hopeful that she will let us into her life.

  I learned again this week that Heavenly Father knows me and is aware of me. Too bad I learned it because I am an idiot. We got a text one night from an old lady in our ward asking us to come help her with a picture frame. The next say we stopped by to help her and she wanted to take the original painting out of the frame that she had bought at a second hand shop and then she wanted to replace it with one of the Savior. She started off by telling us that she was so excited to have found this nice frame that was exactly the right size for the print of the Savior. We agreed that it was really special. She then explained what she wanted us to do and we started working. She said that she started working on it and then she stopped her self because she was afraid of breaking the glass so she decided to ask us to do it instead. The frames here are a bit different than the ones I am used to from back home. There are a bunch of little metal brackets folded down to keep everything in place and so we were supposed to fold these brackets up to slip the old painting out a slip the new one in. Well obviously I have never done anything like this before. We were using butter knives to pull up the brackets and I had a particularly tough one and so I used a bit more force and I lost hold of the knife and guess what happen... I broke the glass. I felt sick to my stomach and I almost cried. This lady is the sweetest old thing and she just loves us and Jesus Christ so much and I felt like I had crushed her dreams. I promised her that I would replace the glass and take care of it for her but I could tell that she was really sad and disappointed too. I hate disappointing people and causing them sadness so it was a hard situation for me to be in. I didn't care how much it would cost I was going to replace the glass. I explained that we couldn't go shopping until Monday but that I would buy the glass then. Well a few days later Sister Perry and I were in town eating lunch when I remembered the glass and had that sick feeling inside come back and I had the thought that since there was a second hand shop down the street we should go there and see if there was another frame of a similar size that we could take the glass from. We quickly walked to the shop and I walked in and the first thing I saw leaned up against the wall was a black frame that seemed to be the same size as the other one. The frame itself was in really bad condition but the glass was fine. I bought it and prayed that it would work. It cost me a whole 50 cents. After church yesterday we went over to this sweet lady's home and sure enough the glass was a perfect fit! It sounds like a dumb story but it was so perfect that I know Heavenly father was watching out for me and this sweet sister. What are the odds that I even thought to go to the shop and then the first thing I see is this frame? I mean it wasn't even by any other frames. It was just sitting there against the wall away from everything else and it happened to be exactly the perfect size. This was not a coincidence I know that it all worked out through some divine help. This is just another small example of the love that Heavenly Father has us as His children.

  Well that is all from me this week. We get to go to the temple on Wednesday and I am so excited!!!!!!! I love and miss all of you!!!!!

Love,

Sister Simkins