so its official! I am 21 and older then about half of the mission. which is so weird!!!

We had a pretty awesome week! lots of miracles and lots of fun!

Tuesday we had Zone meeting! I love zone meetings because we get to see all of the other missionaries in our stake and we get to have trainings and just have a good "break" kind of. plus we had choir practice!! it was so much fun! afterwards we went with all the sisters to get pizza from a place called Mellow Mushroom which is a super good place to eat. we had dinner with Grandma Sally which is always a blast and we helped her start packing for her move this next week! we are so sad she is leaving but excited because she's moving to UTAH!! she is moving to bountiful so I will get to see her after the mission.

A cool miracle happened on Wednesday! we tried stopping in on a Former Investigator. Right as we were pulling up a car of young adults pulled into the driveway and ran in the house. we thought it was weird but figured we would try anyways. so we went and knocked on the door and instantly the smell of Pot overcame us. we could hear them laughing and having a good time but they didn't answer the door which was fine by us. so we decided to stop by a less-active that lives just a street over. His daughter answered the door and told us that she had never been to our church, her dad didn't attend anymore and they go to a different church where she has only been once! we asked her if she was interested and she said she was so we are meeting with her this week sometime!! we were super excited!

We ate with Grandma sally again on Friday! she feel so bad that people have stopped feeding us so she is feeding us multiple times a week now, which makes us feel bad! we love her dearly! we showed up in Civilian clothes (haha that's what we call jeans and a tshirt) and we planned it so we were both wearing BYU gear and she just about died. she was so happy! she posted it on Facebook for all to see.

Saturday we got to meet with a  Referral from Sister Fudge. She is an awesome lady, who's Lutheran and has been going through a lot lately. she has a lot of fellowship in the ward and is GOLDEN!!! she said we could come back and we left a pamphlet with her to read. I invited her to come to church, she didn't but hey! it was worth a try! she will eventually!

Then come Sunday!

MY BIRTHDAY!!! I woke up to the house (well more like the wall) decorated by the lovely Sister Grayson. she is the best.  then we headed off to church. we sat down and were greeted by many people and rosemary came in and gave me a birthday present. Then we were sitting down and waiting for sacrament meeting to begin when in walks our investigator JIMI!!!! ah!! we were so excited! we sat down behind us and said hey sisters! by the way happy birthday! it was awesome! He stayed for most of the meeting but had to leave early but it was still awesome!! we want to put him on date not for this Saturday but for next Saturday. we are so excited! after church we went home and took a nap and had some lunch then headed out. we tried to stop in on a potential but had no luck so we went to Grandma sally's to make copies and found all the Priest there and lizards. it was fun to catch lizards and I actually HELD ONE!! it was crazy! it was 77 degrees yesterday! it was so nice!! We then went to the Alveraz house to talk to the kids and Araceli sat down and talked with us!! it was another miracle!!  just as she was about to sit down we all happened to look out the window and watch this lady back into our car! ah! we started freaking out! we watched the car rock back and forth then we thought the lady was going to drive away so sis grayson and I ran outside and nothing happened to either car!!! such a miracle!! we contacted the lady and she invited us back to talk to her more. she also told us that shes a Rapper and she use to write her own songs but then she got writers block, so she turned her life over to Christ and now she raps about Christ. :) we meet some of the funnest people in the south. we are excited to start teaching her. We ended the night with an awesome dinner of Salmon from the Sherman's who overslept on their nap and apologized for not making a birthday cake. plus we saw sister Schluesner. :) shes a great southern lady.  We headed back and after calling in numbers the sisters came over and we celebrated my birthday and talked about our days and usual things sisters talk about. They left and we had some quiet time. I was writing in my journal when Elder Kelley called and we were discussing the miracles of the day when there was a pounding on the door. it scared us so bad. so I went to the door and looked out the peep hole to see the parkers standing there. I opened the door and started screaming. I then had to apologize to Elder Kelley and hung up on him
(I know im so nice but hey. he done it to me plenty of times) I got to see Jimmy, Heather and Marleigh! it was awesome! they brought me a cake, a frozen balloon a picture of Tristan (he had work and couldn't come) and a walmart gift card! it was an amazing way to end the night! we talked for a while before they decided to go. I adore them so much and I seriously don't know what I would do with out them.

This week I decided I was going to work on my Humility. Holy cow did I need that! the Lord sure humbled me quick and then picked me back up by ending my week with loads of miracles! you really can't do anything with out him its so amazing and he will help you out with anything! I had so many prayers answered this week and I can't even tell you how grateful I am for it. I love my Heavenly Father and I am so grateful for the blessings that I have received and the growth I have felt these last 6 month and I can't believe I only have 1 year left. its crazy!! time flies way too fast!! 

My words of wisdom for this week come from a talk give by Brother Jenkins of our ward. He talked about Charity, he said "Poor does not equal humble, Charity does not equal Wealth" which is so true. now a days people think that having charity means donating lots of money to a charity. which is not the case at all!! and just because you are poor doesn't mean you are humble. some of the most prideful people I have met are some of the poorest but it can also be the other way around. remember that Charity is the Pure love of Christ and you don't have to spend money to prove that you love someone.

Love Yall!! Have a Fab week!!

Love Sister Hanks