Miracle of the Week!

It was so nice to talk to you guys on Christmas! I feel like it was just a teaser- there is so much more we could have talked about and the time went so fast! Oh well. Next time we talk it will be mothers day, then after that we'll be talking in person after I finish my mission!

I've been sick the last few days so that has been absolutely horrible. We've still been able to go out and work, but we haven't slept well and both Sister Glancy and I feel totally wiped out. Hopefully we can get some good sleep later today if we have time. Dave and Marg sent me some money and a Christmas card, and I think we're going to use it to go get pedicures later today!

A less active named Alexandra came to church on Sunday! We've decided to have our less actives begin fellowshipping our less actives, so we took her to our lesson with Juan and had sort of a joint teaching appointment, and what do you know, she was at church! So that was exciting.

Unfortunately we weren't able to meet with James, but hopefully this coming Tuesday. Our return appointment with Keith fell through as well, so hopefully we will be able to contact him again. Member missionary work really is the way to go. We found out about transfer calls today and both Elder Combe and Elder Caruso are staying, so we are really excited about some training we are going to be doing with the ward in the next few weeks! The format that Elder Caruso came up with is a "Mini MTC" with break-out sessions and a ward pizza party at the end. I will be teaching the break-out session on "setting goals and making plans" and we are using the rest of our ward activities budget to buy copies of "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" to give to each person in the ward. (If you have not read that book then you need to get a copy!!!!) The stake president and President Bonham will be attending, so we're hoping to make this a successful event!

Miracle of the week! We were in the apartment complex that Alvaro lives in (One of the less actives/ recent converts we've been working with) and we decided to stop by even though we were pretty sure he would be working, in hopes that one of his older brothers would answer the door (Missionaries are sneaky that way :)) Well Alvaro's brother Chudokan answered! We had sort of a mini restoration lesson there on the doorstep, but Chudokan was hesitant to set up a time to meet and talk some more, even to join one of our lessons with Alvaro, so we weren't sure how interested he was. The next day we met Alvaro for a lesson at McD's and apparently Chudokan told Alvaro we had stopped by and was asking him questions, including if he could read "that book that you have." We role played with Alvaro and he is going to invite his brother to meet with us!!!

Fun fact for ya- we learned from a high councilman that we ran into this week that apparently 90% of the people baptized in many of the Seattle Mission YSA wards are from China. There are a few in our ward that were recently baptized, so the Elders have organized a mandarin sunday school class with one of the RM's that served his mission in Taiwan, while Sister Glancy and I attend the Gospel Principles class.

Love y'all! Don't forget to keep me updated on all of your amazing missionary experiences are going!

Sister Slade