Well hey! This past week was pretty good. Not our best week here in Manhattan but that's alright. There is a new week ahead and miracles to be seen. Last P day we went to Wamego to the Wizard of Oz Museum. Sister Call and I dressed up like Dorothy and played on the yellow brick road and took pictures. We are basically the same person and have so much fun laughing our heads off.

So the new elders arrived and that has been interesting! They were literally thrown into the area- no car, no phone, no bikes. They pretty much just have an outdated map and are wandering around town for now.... Makes me wonder what missionaries even did without all these new advancements.. haha. They didn't even have copies of the Book of Mormon to start out with so we gave them some of ours and sent them on their way. And we have been helping them all week trying to set them dinner appointments and give them referrals to keep them busy. It has been a headache and a half trying to keep track of all of our appointments as well as theirs! But we are going to get work DONE in Manhattan First and we are all so excited to work together. The day of transfers we realized last minute that the elders wouldn't have a way to get to our dinner appointment we set up so we decided that our ride could pick them up and we would bike there.. a lobster sunburn and an hour bike ride later... We didn't realize how far of a ride it was!!! Hahahah so that was an adventure.. The house was wayyy across town and there were five thousand hills in between us. But we had great fun.

Let's talk about Felix!!! He is the one person keeping us going around here. We saw so many miracles with him last week. We saw him Wednesday and Saturday and heard from him almost every day! One night he texted us saying "Good night sisters!! Wanted both of you to know that I read and reread 1 Nephi chapter 11 and thought of both of you. My special verse is 22.. "And I answered him, saying: Yea it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.'" He is reading the Book of Mormon every morning AND every night. Ahhh he is so awesome! He told us that he would start reading in the mornings because he has been so tired at nights after working all day. After he started reading in the mornings he has noticed it helps him sooo much to start out his day with peace and helps him to have a better day. But then he said he has weird dreams unless he reads before going to bed too! So basically he is amazing and has such great faith. He also studies on the church websites often and found some courtesy for investigators page? No clue where he came across that but he decided that he needs to start feeding us and he like studies all of the rules to follow to help us missionaries out. Haha he is unreal. He made us sopapias? I know I am butchering the spelling but they were delicious. Also, his birthday was this past week! We sneakily decorated his door with the University Sisters before he headed off to work. He knew it was us and texted us saying how that MADE his day. Then Saturday we had him and Serenity come over to the Brady's house for a lesson and surprised him with a birthday cake!! He was so happy. The Spirit is always so strong whenever teaching Felix and he has a very powerful spirit about him. He wants to be baptized but is just praying about the date still. We feel that he is sooo ready and that's why we felt that July 27th would be the golden day. But as I was praying specifically for him it didn't feel right for some reason and August 3rd kept coming to my mind. I shared that with Sister Stewart and she felt the same way. We are going to ask Felix to fast and pray with us about August 3rd and help him to be ready!! Oh and also, he shared a dream that he had after praying about baptism and he was in the water and it was all peaceful and white around him... so cool! We will see him tonight and he said that he had a dream Saturday night that he NEEDS to tell us so we are so excited to hear it :) I love them soooo much it hurts. This past week we cried almost every night for them. Our sweet little Serenity has had so many trials in her life recently and so many changes and it is just hard for her. It is hurting Felix to watch her and it breaks my heart! But he is an amazing dad and loves his kids so much.

We have some new investigators that we are teaching as well. Most are progressing slowly. Chenea is one that has met with elders in the past and she said she felt before that the elders were there to just hang out and she was fine learning but she wasn't "planning on becoming Mormon". But cool story! She was praying for the first time in a long time and asked God for a sign to help her know what to do next and the next day we showed up! She is starting to read the Book of Mormon again which is so awesome. We are still teaching Roggar from Ecuador and he has been reading but is super busy with studies and isn't super committed. Carlos (our big black teddy bear) is leaving in a couple weeks which is sad... but we got his information to send missionaries to him in Ecuador! Also, we taught Pedro a couple times and are going to have the elders start teaching him. He is from Africa and knows like 10 languages. I mentioned that my dad speaks Portuguese and he wants you to call him dad hahahah.

We have also still been teaching Sister Rodger who is less active. She is a super awesome lady and it is so cool to be a part of her journey back into activity. Their goal is to start preparing for the temple! But she wanted all the lessons over again to help her remember the basics :) Also, we have been teaching this guy named Andrew and his roommates. They all wanted copies of the Book of Mormon and seem pretty interested... even though they go to MCC (Manhattan Christian College). Sister Stewart was nervous that it was for like a school assignment...hahah but they have been reading so we shall see. And another problem, they tried asking us on a date. Awkwaard. The University Sisters are going to start teaching them though.

We weren't able to see Shawn this past week :( But that was because she fell at work and hurt her hip... so sad! And we weren't able to get in touch with her. Then she called us and left messages saying how much she missed us and so we set up two appointments for this week! Keep Shawn in your prayers.

This week our goal is to FIND new investigators through the members. We are going to pray extra hard for referrals. We both feel that there are people waiting and we need to find them. The ward is super helpful but just need a little push so keep them in your prayers! Being a missionary is hard but the best thing in the world and I love it. I can't imagine not being a missionary anymore. I love this work! I love you all and hope you have a splendid week.

Love,

Sparkles in the Little Apple

PS I had nightmares about spiders this past week. Such a problem.