THINGS I NEVER THOUGHT WOULD HAPPEN AS A MISSIONARY:
#38: "What is that prophet guy's name? Starts with a T?"
Sister Giles: "Thomas S. Monson?"
"Yeah, him. What is his number? I need to give him a call."
"You should probably text him first."
Just wanted to share a little miracle that happened this week. Everyone of our investigators was on the struggle bus for coming to church. One investigator texted us and said he had a late night and ended up going to visit his mother in the hospital and was drained, and having trouble finding motivation to come to church. Offhand we texted and said we would give him brownies.
Not one for bribes, buuuuut...I had this fleeting prompting that if he didn't make it this week he never would again, so I was desperate. We looked in our pantry, and were not sure we had all the ingredients. Uh oh. But we started making them anyway. As we did, we found that we had JUST enough sugar, down to the GRAIN. And JUST enough cocoa, and barely enough of anything else. I really felt like the widow with her meal and oil cruse from the story of Elijah!
As it turned out, he came, {imagine that} as well as others we had been trying to help to church. Shoutout to my mom who gave me the recipe that got em to church. You da real MVP.
To me, that story speaks to me so much by way of commitment to the Lord:
"When he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. And Elijah said unto her...make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. 
And she went and did...and the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.
First of all, she was likely starving to death already. But in compassion she still strove to put the needs of another first. I once heard someone say that the best measure of character is the ability to detect and have compassion on another who is suffering when you yourself are suffering. David A. Bednar has a five-
grade-
talk called the Character of Christ on this subject. And, under risk of starvation for her and her son, she heeded the promise of Elijah, committing everything she had to heeding the Prophet. She may have felt like she had nothing to lose, but in the end, don't we all?
Every single blessing I have has come from the Lord and the Gospel in my life. Without him, nothing. And that's why we invite people to do things to increase their faith, even things they don't feel spiritually strong enough to do it. And sometimes it seems to them like the blessings I can promise them for obedience are out of proportion, but it's true, because I know the only reason I have been blessed so much is from what the Lord has given me.
Love ya, but Jesus loves you da best.
Sister Pugmire
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