WHAT A WEEK!

WHAT A WEEK!
Sister Marlowe...Week #17
April 3, 2017

What a week!!! 

So normally I like to end off with the best parts, but I want to switch it up and start with my little miracle this week!

So earlier last week we were tracting and found this 12 year old Burmese girl named Cerku (there are heeeeeaps of refugees from Burma and Myanmar in our area), and anyways, Thursday we popped by the house to see her again and she is just the cutest thing ever! She's 12 years old, but so mature and very serious about her beliefs, I feel like I'm talking to someone my own age! We kind of tried to get to know her a little better and her religious background, (super religious Christian family) and for some reason we just started talking to her about prayer! She kept telling us she just loves praying and she always prays for her family and her friends and her church and it was so amazing! Her cute little sister Chin Chin came out a little while after we got there and was just listening intently to all the conversation about prayer! Cerku all of a sudden started asking about our families and why we're here together and so we told her we left our families in the states and in Taiwan and we miss them so much, but we came here because Jesus Christ brings us so much joy in our lives. So fast forward a few more minutes, and we invited her to pray. She kind of hesitated for a second, and then agreed. I was just thinking we'd stand for the prayer, but she just immediately started to kneel on the little cobblestone driveway, so we joined her and then she got super shy and I think she was really nervous to try and pray in English, so we told her to just pray in Burmese! They were still both a little nervous and unsure, so I said a short prayer and invited them to pray how I did, addressing Heavenly Father, telling him different things I was feeling, and ending in the name of Jesus Christ. Somehow, the little 8 year old, Chin Chin, decided to pray first! She said the cutest little prayer in Burmese, and then Cerku took a turn to pray as well... Wow!!! Once she finished, Sister Chang asked what they had prayed for.. Little Chin Chin looked right at us and said "I prayed for  you and your families!!" I just didn't even know what to say! I was so shocked hahaha. We just thanked her and told her she had done a wonderful job, and proceeded to ask the older sister what she had prayed for; she goes "I prayed for you and your families too! And I also prayed that the people you talk to will believe you and believe in Jesus."

WOW.

So I just want to let my family know that I'm not the only one praying for them here in Australia! there are two very cute girls here that probably have heaps of wants and things they could pray for, but they wanted to kneel down on their rocky driveway to pray for my own family, and for the work I'm doing here!

It's been a good week though! We've been doing lots of driving.. Our area is HUGE!!! So we drove out alllll the way in the bush the other day and preeeetty much just went offroading in the mountain forests of Australia in our little Corolla hahahaha. There was seriously one part where we were just driving up dirt switchbacks that were almost too narrow for the car to fit hahaha sooo dodgy as. But THE WORK OF THE LORD ROLLS FORTH REGARDLESS.

I feel like this is the least exciting email ever, Ah I'm sorry!!!! We had a lot of people say no to us this week. #lifeofamissionary But I got to share my testimony in church yesterday so that was sweet as! We had a man get up in sacrament who was visiting on a holiday from somewhere in the states, and he just kind of talked about how the gospel is true no matter where you are! It was such a great reminder for me! Here I am, a 19 year old girl from Idaho, in Australia, with a Taiwanese companion, working with missionaries from the States, Asia, the Phillipines, Samoa, to share the gospel with Aussie, Kiwi, Filipino, Chinese, Burmese, (etc.) people! No matter what background, age, language, walk of life, the GOSPEL IS TRUE AND IT CAN/WILL CHANGE OUR LIVES. If we allow it to do so. I spent a lot of time this week studying a talk by Elder Russell M Nelson from last conference! I wish I could remember the exact name, but I don't have my ensign with me... Read it!!! He talks a lot about how we can have joy in our lives, EVEN WHEN we have troubles! "We can be joyful, even when we're having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year!" That just really hit home for me this week I think. What a wonderful reminder though, that we can always have the joy of Christ in our lives, whether or not our lives are going as we're hoping they will! 

I hope you all have the best week, and enjoyed General Conference! We'll be watching that this weekend. We're in the future and we still have to live behind the times ay? ;) Love you all!!!!!