Don't know what to title it so, yeah.

Soo... I turn 25 tomorrow... What. That's weird. Anyway.

Hello, everyone! First off, it was just amazing amazing amazing to skype home yesterday!!! I love you all so much! It was such a treat to see everyone! I love my family! And I am so happy I got to talk to my dad!!! It was crazy, literally a second after I hung up on skype, we had to run to an appointment and my mind was EVERYWHERE and ahhh haha it was so hard to focus! But, it was alright, it was with a family in the ward. :) We were following up with them with an assignment we gave them. We are trying something called "spiritual tracting", where we ask a family to pray over the map of the area and wherever they feel inspired we should go, we will go there and tract! The family that did it this week, the Garvins, took the challenge above and beyond! They took it as an opportunity to teach their kids how to receive revelation and how to pray specifically. It was really cool. And we got their answer: 3 different areas that we will go and try out. :) And if we find someone, that family that did the spiritual tracting will be their fellowship! This is the first time we have done this, so we'll see how it plays out. 

This week was an interesting and different one. Sister Stewart was mega sick for 2 days. She had some sort of intense cold and it just made her sleep for days. Apparently it's going around. So she literally just had to sleep. I spent that time thoroughly going through the area book and really seeing what and who is in there (essentially getting well versed with the area, too) and studying preach my gospel. I also deep cleaned the apartment. Like, we're talking white glove status here. All those white gloves I had to do over the years really paid off! The apartment is so clean! And you can actually feel the spirit stronger, too. That's not to say our apartment was all that messy, but after really cleaning it, the spirit was noticeably stronger. It made me really appreciate the apartment we are given to live in, too, because it's a huge blessing! We live in a pretty nice place. I also cooked delicious homemade soup for my sick comp. And it was bomb, not gonna lie. Basically I spent two days being a house wife... :) Good practice, right? Sister Stewart is feeling better now! We were able to go out and work Sunday. 

Bro Work is doing awesome and is totally enveloped into the ward now. He sits with members and just does his thing. We still have to remind him what time church starts every week cause of his memory, but he faithfully comes and loves it! Every time we stop by, he is reading the Book of Mormon. He is visibly happier. In his new member lesson last week of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he basically taught us everything. The spirit really is helping his memory more than he recognizes. It's so incredible. This is the result of the gospel changing a life! He is so happy! He is working on getting the priesthood soon, but it kind of makes him nervous because he's afraid he won't remember everything, but we are working with him. He is so happy, though! 

Russell didn't end up going to treatment after all, so we'll hopefully be starting to teach him again. He was going to come to church on Sunday, but at the last minute he had a family issue. But the important thing is, he wanted to go. He was like, "Yeah, I want to go to that quorum thing... what's it called? I really liked that." He was talking about Elder quorum! Haha, so great! His struggles in life are difficult ones, but we know it is the gospel and the Atonement of Jesus Christ that will help him above all else that he could be doing. We hope he will choose to continue to meet with us. I think that's the hardest part about this all... Trying so hard to help someone, only for them to choose different. But, we can only invite and help. It has to be their choice. Because, agency is an important gift from our Heavenly Father. He wants us to choose good, not evil. Because there really is only one or the other. There are no fence sitters. You're either in the boat, or you're not. I invite all of you to stay in the boat. No matter the waves and the storms, stay in the boat. It will keep you safe, even when the world around us is in turmoil (and it is in turmoil). The gospel, the church, the Savior, is our safe foundation that we need to build. If we do not have this foundation, we will fall. Feast upon the words of Christ! 

Something I have been pondering lately is obedience. Perhaps surprising to some of you, obedience is actually something I struggle with. Not in the sense that I break all the mission rules and am a complete apostate. Nah. But, I struggle with exact obedience. I have a bad habit of trying to find the little ways to get around the rules and look for grey areas. I justify myself with lame excuses that weaken my character. Because any excuse, no matter how good, weakens character. I struggle with complete honesty with myself. Have I really done all I could today? Have I really made all the right choices I could have? Have I been exactly obedient? Sometimes, the answer is no, sometimes the answer is yes. I figure that the little variances in my obedience don't really make an eternal difference and since no one knows about it but me, it's not a big deal, because no one will find out! Except, Heavenly Father knows. Even if (for example) no one will ever know if I get up 1 minute late in the morning, my Heavenly Father knows. And He knows the intention of my heart. If I get up a minute too late on accident with a resolve to do better tomorrow, that is a wonderful attitude to have. But, if I get up 1 minute late with the attitude of, "Pfft, whatever, it doesn't make that big of a difference anyway, and no one even knows, I deserve the sleep...", I don't think Heavenly Father would be pleased. The point is, my attitude is what needs to change. I need to be obedient out of love. And Heavenly Father will bless us according to our obedience to His laws. If I try to be disobedient, Heavenly Father won't try and bless me. I want to strive for all of the blessing available to me. Heavenly Father wants to give them to me and all of us. But, we have to choose to be obedient. It's against the natural man, but we must pray for help. May we all ponder something that we could be doing a little better at (in essence, "What lack I yet?"). Satan makes obedience seem super lame and unnecessary (especially if there are rules we don't think are necessary to follow). But, he is only trying to rob the rich blessings in store for us. I want to fight against that influence and see what more abundant blessings flow into my life this week as I strive more for exact obedience. I'll follow up with you all next week! (Oh man, now I'm being held accountable! Scary!) 

So, yeah, Maple Valley hasn't seen much action lately because of sick companions, but we're gonna hit it hard this week and go out and find people to teach! Cause we literally only have one investigator... :) 

On Saturday morning, we helped Sister Roxstrom, one of our FAAAAVORITE people of all time, plant some beautiful flowers! It was a fun little service project! Sister Roxstrom is totally our momma. :) When we called her the other day and she found out Sister Stewart was sick, she told Sister Stewart to get rest and such and she goes, "MOMMA HAS SPOKEN!" Hahaha! We laughed so hard. She's the best. (She's in the background in the picture I sent.)

Love you all! Have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Eldridge

PS: Uhhhh... I'm 25 tomorrow.... Since when was I so old? 

PPS: Thanks for the birthday wishes in advance! :)

 

Sister Juliann Marie Eldridge
Washington Federal Way Mission
23175 224th PI SE Ste E
Maple Valley, WA 98038
United States