Week 5: be an organ donor, give your heart to Jesus

if ur wondering where i got the title of this email... its because there are 564454 different types of churches in missouri and this was on one of the churches signs. if u ever want to test the waters for religion, this is the place. (but of course just test the waters for fun then come back to the true restored gospel on the earth aka the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). anyway i hope you all had a splendid fourth of july. i know i did. i ate 4 hamburgers, 1 broughtworst (idk how to spell it and i put worst at the end of it because it literally was the worst and i did not enjoy it but i was kind and ate it with a smile) and 1 hotdog. definitely serving my mission in america amiright. also btw dont worry i didnt eat all that in one day. also i held a chinchilla so that was the most exciting thing about my fourth. ppl in missouri are CRAZY about their fireworks. everyone decides to do their own show and so its been a week full of fireworks every night. BUT anyways this week was fabuloussssssss!!!!!! i went on exchanges with the STLs and it was a freakin blast. i had the best time with sister wilcock and im hoping at some point i will get to be her companion because we would sure have a lot of fun together. and then wow this week has flown by folks. im didnt forsee this happening. so many miracles have happened this week !!!!! we have gotten so many media referrals and we met so many people on the fourth who of course didnt want to talk to us because it was a holiday but said we could come back !!! we have like 4 bazillion potential investigators and we are staying busy. sadly 2 of our most progressing investigators are moving to a different ward ;( but they still want to be taught by us bc #sistersrule so we are going to try to skype into their lessons and hopefully we will get to go to their baptism next month!! and then mary ann our investigator is so close to quitting smoking!!!! she has been investigating for over 20 years and finally has the desire to quit! and she has a new baptism date for September 1!!! she is 77 and literally the funniest lady ever. she was a truck driver so she has some sketch stories. the next update is a sad one :( a man in our ward passed away from battling cancer for 3 years leaving behind his wife and 8 kids ages 3-22.... but can i just say that i am so grateful for the PLAN OF SALVATION. this family is SO strong and it is because of this gospel. so we helped with that all day and it was really beautiful service. he had a daughter on a mission that came home right before he passed and for the funeral and she spoke with so much power and it was so awesome to see how brave and strong she was. and then she went right back on her mission like wow #goalz. it was an emotionally draining day but i am so blessed to be in the best ward ever because seriously all the members are so great to us and to each other. and they are getting excited about doing missionary work.!!!! also i got to be in charge of putting croutons on everyones salads at the lunch after and it was so fun to go back to my #saladgirldays #pastafactorywhereuat. ok and my favorite part of the WEEKKKK. we got another new investigator also named jim !!!! we were trying a lady in our area book and this guy was watering his flowers across the street.. the lady said she was not interested and so i was like should we go talk to him and my comp was like "go for it" and i said "ahhh ok here i go". so i skip over to him and i introduce us as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and asked him about his faith in Jesus Christ and then we shared a quick 4 minute restoration with him and invited him to read the Book of Mormon. he first said "is this like something you are selling?' and i said "no sir you are lucky enough that i am giving you your salvation for free" jk not really but then he said he would read and we could come back next week and teach him more.. BUT WAIT it is cooler because he was so prepared.. while we were talking about the Book of Mormon and if he had heard it before he said "i just watched this on 60 minutes about the Book of Mormon and Gladys Knight and the first black bishop" (jim is black btw) and i just sat there like OK HEAVENLY THX FOR THE MIRACLE. because literally 60 minutes had just been on 1 hour before we had got there. so u could say im pretty pumped about this. and then we have this awesome member in our ward who literally has set us up with 3 appointments this week with potential investigators.. u guys can try and deny that the work is hastening but i am telling u from personal experience that the work is GETTING CRAZY OUT here in warrenton AHHHHH IM so EXCITED to be apart of this !!!!! also i got the SIM card in my phone and i am highley stressed because now i have to be the one to talk on the phone and such. so that is something i am going to have to get used to i suppose. so anyway it was a bomb week and i really enjoy doing this work. also here in missouri and idk where else there are these creepy bug/alien destroyer things that make this weird alien noise at night. they are called cicadas... go youtube what they sound like. its freaking creepy and it feels like they are going to take over the world soon. love u all. keep up the good work with the letters. im impressed. love, sister folkwoman

Pics: 1. firework boxes bc everyone is crazy bananas about their fireworks 2. me and sister Wilcock 3. anna fotowoman at it again 4. us after we keep seeing miracles 5. my fourth of july apparel #patriotic 6. us after meeting the new jim 7. holding a chinchilla. also ps sorry all our pics are selfies in the car the work is hastening and there is no time for pics #saddnesbuthappiness