Oct. 16, 2024 -- It's A Small (Town) After All

Salem, MO 

Oct. 10 - 16, 2024

You can't stay under the radar in a town of less than 5,000 people. At Walmart, McDonalds, or walking down the street we keep on running into the same people. It's so hard to remember faces, so if someone seems too happy to see us on the doorstep we've learned to ask how we know them.😂 I seriously love the small town feel of it! We have run into so many people we volunteer with at the pantry and they are always so excited to see us. And if they know anyone from our church, it is always, without fail - our very own Thad Wilson (pictured below) Small world. 

Highlights!
•     Crazy miracle!! We have been teaching Jason since we got here and he told us God has been guiding him, and he wants to be baptized!! He makes us laugh and fills us with so much joy. 
•     Dallas did, in fact, bring his glitter notebook to our next lesson. He also brought a thick packet of all of his studies about the Plan of Salvation😅 He just wants to know everything. We had a good conversation about the basics - this gospel isn't meant to be complicated, it is meant for even a child to understand. So while we are so excited he studies so much we are trying to help him get back to the simple testimony at the core of it!
•     Sister Brinkerhoff and I have very different temperature preferences, so when she woke up shivering one day she blurted out "Sister Harris. Have you been praying that I will be cold?" Made me laugh and sounds like a brilliant idea😂
•     Lisa is going to start the stop smoking workshop tomorrow!! Please pray for her!!

I love our little Salem branch, but it is really struggling. There are so many people with hurt feelings and so many rumors going around. It's easy to listen to them, and then we are left with people who feel like outcasts. And who's to say the rumors aren't true? But you know what it just doesn't matter. We are learning to just love them. Unconditionally as the Savior would. That is our role and all he needs of us! And I've learned it's so much brighter and so much better than holding on to bitterness. I love these people - and I love this quote a good friend sent me:)

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Love and Mizpah! 
Sister Harris 🙏

Pictures! 
1-2. Before and after - painting with John!
3. St Rob District 🙌
4. Crazy accurate sounding bird whistles from the Wilsons:)
5. Sonic run
6. My favorite statue
7. Early Christmas pt1!!












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