God is Good!

(Sister Slade)

Well this is it y'all! You've had to put up with almost 19 months of emails but at last your misery is coming to an end. I fly home on Friday and for those of you near by, I will be giving my homecoming talk this Sunday at 9:30. If you want the address to the church building, email me separately.

I don't really know what to say for my last email except what I've said every email: God is good! I've been so blessed to be a part of His work and to have a front row seat to seeing Him do His work. There's a scripture that I really love, "I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy." I've always loved the analogy to an instrument. Having a musical background, I think of a trombone, clarinet, or tuba. Heavenly Father "orchestrates" his work and we each can be an instrument in His hands. In the 18 months I spent serving the people of Arkansas trying to "bring some soul to repentance," I may have been the triangle that only contributed once or twice in the grand performance. But I showed up and the Lord used me. And that was my joy!

I know that I was sent to Arkansas to be able to serve and love specific people. I've come to see them and love them the way Heavenly Father does. And He loves you too. I know that God loves his children. He loves them so much that He sent his Son Jesus Christ to prepare a way for us to go back to Him. I've been so proud to represent Jesus Christ for the last 18 months. Even when I take my name tag off on Friday, His name is always written on my heart, "Written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God." So, one last time:

God is good!

Sister Anna Slade

pictures:

1-4. We got to go to the temple with Johana on Saturday! It was quite the adventure getting there though

5. The sunset on the way home from the temple

6-8. saying goodbye to everyone

9-10. we were bored and tried playing hide and seek (it didn't work so well in our small apartment) and sister Jelderks hid in the cabinet in my bathroom.

Biking uphill with your brakes on

(Sister Slade)

Today's title comes from an experience I had on Tuesday. My bike has been having some issues and we went to a member that fixes bikes. Unfortunately he tightened my front brakes too much. We also didn't have a car for 10 days because of being in a car share with the elders. (side note: after getting the car back we cleaned it out because it was gross and we found toenail clippings in the back seat.) Anyway, on our way back from service we have to bike uphill the whole way. With the brake perpetually on. It was great. I did find a spiritual principle in this though. We have challenges in life (the hills). Everyone has them and sometimes it takes everything we have to get to the top. Sometimes we make things harder for ourselves by "having the brake on." This can take the form of anything; complaining, blaming others, or trying to avoid going up the hill all together. The hills are hard to go up but ultimately help prepare us to go up the next hill. I learned a lesson from my bike this week, but I can guarantee you I wasn't thinking about it as I was biking up Happy Hollow hill. I was thinking, "I AM GOING TO DIE!"

In comparison to the last couple of weeks, this one was pretty boring. Two exciting things happened though. The first is that Johana was confirmed on Sunday. Then she got up and bore her testimony again. It was just as powerful as when she bore her testimony a couple of months ago. There is a power in saying that you believe in what you believe in.

The second exciting thing is that Elder Ochoa from the 70 came and visited our mission. My last zone conference was conducted by a general authority. At zone conference President Strong talked about how knowing something is true doesn't do much for us unless we allow it to change our lives. He used the example that we can know the Book of Mormon is true just as much as we can know that our lawn mower manual is true. The difference is the power that the Book of Mormon has to change us. When we allow it to change us that's when our testimony of knowing is powerful. I think that is why Johana's testimony (both times) were so powerful. Not only does she know the gospel is true, but she has changed because of it and has accepted the change.

God is good!

Sister Slade

Pictures

1-5. some really creepy half heads that we found at service at a thrift store

6. When we were in Bentonville for zone conference I got to see some of my favorite people from Central Park. I only got the picture with Jerry though :(

7. she was supposed to be backing me but found a cat to play with instead

Did you just eat the vertebrae?

(Sister Slade)

Today's title comes from today's lunch. Sister Jelderks had bought canned salmon and made salmon patties. Unfortunately they didn't take the vertebrae out of the salmon and sister Jelderks made the patties without realizing. So she ate her salmon patty with the vertebra in it. When she had one bite left she realized that there was a vertebra in it. She decided to eat the last bite any way.

This week was really good because Johana was baptized! It was really neat to be a part of it. I've been here for all of it except her first lesson. I've loved seeing how the gospel truly changes people and their lives. What's even better is when they are able to see it. Johana didn't pray when we met her, last Sunday she bore her testimony in Relief society on the power of prayer. She told us this week that she realized that she didn't have to be perfect to be baptized but that baptism was a step towards becoming perfect. A few months ago she didn't think she was worthy to even come to church. I'm so happy for her.

Other exciting things that happened this week: we walked 3 miles to the animal shelter for service and then 3 miles home. Johana's 2 year old daughter saw us when she walked into church and got really happy and yelled, "Hola Amigas!" It was really cute, especially since she doesn't speak coherently 90% of the time. We got to hold week old baby bunnies. That was almost as cute as Johanny.

God is good!

Sister Slade

pictures:

1-2. Johana's baptism!

3-6. Washing dogs at the animal shelter

7-8. Us at the church waiting for Johana's baptismal interview

9-11. the baby bunnies

Im a lobster in the sun!

(Sister Slade)

This week sister jelderks said something about how in sun light my hair looks like a halo and my skin looks really white. Then she started humming "brightly beams our father's mercy" and on the second line I interchanged the lyrics for what today's email title is. We had a good laugh.

The most exciting thing that happened this week is that Johana got married! (Remind me to never plan another wedding. It's really stressful). It was a really cool experience though. Johana wasn't expecting much for it but some members in our ward had a ton of wedding supplies and helped us plan and set up. She cried when she saw everything. We made the cake and we were her bridesmaids. I also played pachelbel's canon in c for her to walk down the aisle. (Side note: the family that had all the decorations was the same family that said I should date their son and quite a few jokes about it were made as we were preparing for the wedding). I'm so happy for Johana. Marriage is definitely ordained of God. There was a special spirit at the ceremony.

God is good!

Sister Slade

Pictures:

1. A really creepy deer we found at service

2. We tested lightbulbs at service and it looks like my hand is on fire

3-4. I made a quilt for sister Jelderks without her knowing and I finished and gave it to her this week.

5-11.The adventure of making the cake for the wedding

12-13. the finished cake

14-18. The wedding!❤

19-20. Car selfies

Here comes the cake

(Sister Slade)

Yesterday we started making the cake for Johana's wedding that is on Saturday. As we were putting it in the freezer so we can decorate it on Friday I said, "Here comes the cake." but was yawning and apparently I made a really funny face and Sister Jelderks couldn't actually tell what I was saying. Sorry this week's title isn't actually that funny, but nothing else funny happened this week.

We had exchanges on Thursday. I was with a missionary who had just barely gotten into the mission field, so she had been on a mission for a whole 7 days. It was really interesting to reflect on how much I've grown and changed in the last 17.5 months. I think some of you will be very surprised when I come home. If Sister Slade from 18 months ago walked in right now I wouldn't recognize her.

I had my last interview with President Strong on Friday. Weird. I really am going to miss President and Sister Strong. They've done so much for me and have helped me make it to the end of my mission.

I don't have much else to say, it was a pretty average week.

God is good

Sister Slade

pictures

1-6. We went to an arcade with some other sisters for Pday. it was a lot of fun and we won some DC character cards.

7. We cut up some old blankets for service at the animal shelter. The only problem was they gave us paper scissors to cut the fleece blankets.

8. A really hideous and uncomfortable chair at the restore