"Spooky scary skeletons"

How do the weeks keep coming?

Seriously this week was so fast. With being out of quarantine and the transfer coming to an end and having lots of different events and lessons, this week just flew by.

Honestly, this might have been my most fav Halloween ever. As some of you know, Halloween hasn't ever been that big of a deal to me. Of course I dressed up, went trick-or-treating and ate candy, but once I became allergic to corn, it lost its charm since almost ALL candy seems to have corn syrup in it lol. But I was so happy this Halloween so shout out to Halloween for this week's song lyric title. Sundays are some of the best days because we always have so much going on. I was already so happy on Sunday morning and then we got a message from our mission leadership that we were all gonna watch The Chosen later that night (we had to be in our apartment by dark and I was seriously stressing about what we would do all night). I WAS SO PUMPED! I also got to speak again in one of our wards, and I'm a weirdo and love writing and giving talks, so that was epic. And to top it off, we ate dinner with one of my fav families, the Queens. They are so funny with missionaries because they legit don't try to act any different. They are unapologetically themselves.

We also went to a trunk or treat for both our wards this week, and it's always fun seeing all the kids in their costumes. But something super exciting was that a family we are hoping to teach came to trunk or treat!! One of our wards has been way slow ever since I got here, and it has been super frustrating and discouraging trying to build it up and get missionary work happening. So to see a whole potential family come was a miracle. Stay tuned, and hopefully more miracles will keep coming with them!

We had a lesson with this guy, John, this week who I have been telling my comps for a month was fake. Haha, here's the thing, we met him when Sister Olsen first got here and he seemed too unreal and too good, but also a tad robotic. Then we lost contact because he was so random about when he'd answer our calls or texts. It was either immediately, or never. Whenever we ran into him around the complex (like twice) it felt random and mysterious. So I just kept joking around "guys I'm telling you, John is not real." Well, I'm here to admit I was wrong and John is 100% real. We had a lesson on the restoration (how Christ's church was brought back to the earth), and he was so receptive to the spirit. It was fun.

Oh, and we were also almost murdered (don't freak out, mom). We had just knocked on this person's door who used to be taught by missionaries and she was so cool and she even agreed to have us come back. So that left me on a high and when we got back to the car, I was super excited to report it on our app we use to track people's missionary progress. Then, all of a sudden, Sister Olsen goes "uhhh Sister Hardman. There's someone right outside your window." I looked up for a split second to see a creepy short dude in a blue polo staring us down. I guess I have good reflexes in potential emergencies because I quickly double locked our doors, put the car on drive, and calmly left. Moral of the story: Albuquerque is sketchy and being out in the dark isn't the best idea.

This week, because of the topic of my talk, I've been thinking a lot about our true identity as children of God. I've been thinking that if we know who we truly are, it changes the way we act. It changes how we treat ourselves and how we treat those around us. I realized how many people don't know who they are. How many people don't know they're children of God. We were talking with this guy who doesn't believe in a personal God. He puts humans as worth as much as leaves. It made me so sad to think he doesn't feel the love his Heavenly Father has for him.

I also realized how the only way we truly come to know God, is through Christ. Without him, we would be left hopeless. We wouldn't know who we could turn to for peace and light. I'm so grateful for a Savior who teaches us to reach out to a Heavenly Father who can talk with us always. I realized while I was praying Saturday night that even though I can't counsel with my earthly father every day, I'm so grateful I can counsel with my Heavenly Father whenever I need.

We can pray each day to know who we really are and who we have the potential to become. Some days are harder than others, and I don't always feel that I'm a daughter of God. But as I keep praying and keep learning, I become more convinced each day that I matter to God. And if I matter, so do you!

Don't forget that Jesus loves you,

Sister Wallace

Pics:

1. This is one of my fav people, Marilu, but she's moving to Florida 😭

2. We found out we had mold growing on our air vents... so that got taken care of real fast

3. Fall leaves and cute comps!

4. Most sisters I've been with since I came out on my mission! Our STLs are over 2 zones, so the sisters in the other zone came to hang out with us on pday too.