We Found Sophie!

Miracles!

Wow. Talk about some serious finding!

So you all probably know by now that I love dogs.

And if you didn't know that, now you do.

So by now you should all know that I love dogs!

Sister warren and I were walking back towards our flat one night when out of the corner of my eye I see this dog run into the road and then was hit by a car.

I wanted to just burst into tears right then but I think the shock of witnessing it kept me a bit more composed. I saw what looked like a German Shepard jump up and then take off running back the way we had just come from!

There was a giant, white, fluffly, polar bear looking dog that was whining and panicking a bit but had stayed behind. So we ran up adn grabbed his collar to look for an address or number!

His name was Mishka and the address was no where near here.. so we were a bit concerned. We held on to him and began walking up the street when we heard a man yelling and whistling for this dog mishka! So we ran him back and the man asked us if we had seen another dog. We told him that the other one had been hit and so she was probably up the road in someone front garden and that we would head up that way and check.

Well, there was absolutely no sign of her anywhere. Her name was sophie and so we were calling and whistling for her (I was just kind of saying her name because I can't whistle in moments of crisis apparently) and there was just not a sign of her. We kept crossing paths with the man and we would give updates of roads that we had walked down and whatnot and he told us that his step son and others were driving around looking for her.

He spent an hour walking around talking to everyone and asking if they had seen this german shepard collie mix.

No sign still.

She had been hit pretty hard so we didn't think that she could have gone far! But really, she was no where to be seen!

Eventually, after about an hour of this, we start heading back down that main road we had walked on earlier and the man pulled up in a car next to us and said "don't you have homes to go to??" well, we did but not yet haha he told us that there were people searching everywhere and then he thanked us for our help. I was so sad. I just wanted to know if the dog was ok! We asked where they were living in case we found anything out in the future and he pointed out his home.

So we started to head back to our flat. We crossed over this long, narrow bridge that goes to the footpath along the canal and as we were walking down the ramp we see this dog trotting along towards us.

It was the german shepard collie. NO WAY! We started to call her name and she cam eover to us. We grabbed ahole of her collar and then walked her all the way back to the home!

There weren't any cars in the drive and all of the lights were off so we just knocked and then sat down on the steps expecting to wait until they came back.

A woman opened the door and then just began to sob.

She bent down to thank us and then grabbed my tag saying, "are you Jehovah's Witnesses??" So I kind of just plainly said "Well, no actually, we're the mormons!" ha She just sobbed louder and said "Of course you're the Mormons! God is always looking out for me, even still!"

So then I asked to use their bathroom and we just talked for awhile waiting for everyone to come back :)

Talk about crazy, right? I'm just glad we found Sophie! And she was perfectly fine :) No limp, and not a scratch on her!

Spiritual Thought

There is a dear sister that wrote me a letter this week about her experience at the beginning of her mission. She wanted to understand the atonement better and then well, everything just became harder! She wanted it to pass quickly, to have the strength to bear it with ease, or to even just have the trial lifted from her completely! And it took some time before she realised that that was it. That was the Atonement. How could she understand something so uncomprehensible if she didn't experience some of that pain? This is how we can understand the Atonement. I want to understand it. I want to have the perspective that when my burdens don't feel lighter, I am getting to share just a fraction, a small percentage of what the Savior felt for me. To say I am honoured I don't feel quite describes it. But more and more I am beginning to recognise those moments where I am blessed enough to share in that burden with my Savior, to say to Him "I want to know you, and so I will carry this load for a little while, stay by my side and help me to understand".

When we are given something difficult to handle, in order to stretch and to grow it will often times be hard and painful! But we will grow. I want to grow, I want to learn.

And I know that by leaning on my Saviour I can do it. I can come out with a gentler heart, with more understanding and care for those around me.

This week, I encourage you all to pray more! Offer prayers of grattitude and to be able to understand those around you better. To offer that hand of love or that ear for them to pour out their hearts too. Love a little more like the Saviour this week and I can promise you your burdens will seem lighter.

"We thank our Father in Heaven that we are allowed to change, we thank Jesus we can change, and ultimately we do so with their divine assistance. Certainly not everything we struggle with is a result of our actions. Often it is the result of the actions of others or just the mortal event sof life. But anything we can change we should change, and we must forgive the rest" ~Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Funny Quotes!

"Do you know what it means to be chaste?"

"You mean like, when some one is running after you?"

"I want to have a girl, but it depends on what she looks like" ~Danielle (age 6)

"If Jesus doesn't sing it, then they can't listen to it. And Taylor Swift isn't Jesus" ~logic for a 4 year old

(but I did hear her new album is pretty good)

Raymond's Corner

Raymond was this great man we met while knocking on doors.. he looks like he's 50 but he told us he's fast approaching 73 and too old to change his ways haha but he's not too old to tell jokes that's for sure.

While we were chatting with him he began sort of telling us about his life. He told us that when he was younger his mum asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. He said, "A comedian!" to which is mum responded, "Don't do that! Everyone will laugh at you!"

Good one, right? ha

And then he went on to tell us what he really did as a career path. Or, well, I thought he was serious at least haha

"I was a bus driver for quite some time. But I had to pack it in because I didn't like people talking behind my back.."

"So then I was a doctor. But I had to pack that in too because I had no patience.."

Yeah, he was quite the funny man.

If you don't get them I apologise. I'm not as funny as Raymond. Or maybe it's because it's over a computer screen you're reading them and it's not in an English accent. Oh well, I tried.