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Hey there everyone!!

I hope everyone had a fan-freakin-tastic week! Well first of all I have to wish Britt and Erik a happy one year anniversary!! I promise I didn't forget :) I remembered yesterday and was looking at the pictures from your wedding and I can't believe that was already a year ago! But I hope you guys had fun in Tennessee, it looks like you did. And I have to wish Aubrey a Happy Birthday today!! I love you cousin!! And I can't believe your little man is going to be here in just a few short months! Ah! I'm so excited for you! Well just know that I love you and I hope you have a wonderful day :) also someone has to wish my little Sadie girl a happy birthday for me too. The pictures mom sends me make me want to cry haha! She's SO big already! Just give her a big hug and a kiss for me! 

Well let's see this week was hard for sure. So many of our appointments fell through, and we were unable to find anyone new to teach even after doing finding almost everyday. But all is well :) there are people out there who are ready to hear the gospel and we won't stop looking for them. But I'll just start off with how we got to go to the temple on Saturday! We have a choice of going to the Manhattan, New York temple and or the Washington DC Temple. The Manhattan Temple is closer but it is just more expensive because it's in the city. So we chose to go to the DC temple. It's a 3 hour drive from Topton. But it was a fun trip! We rode with our Ward Mission Leader and his wife and then Sister McCuen and I were in the back seat with their 4 month old baby, who's is like the cutest little thing ever. But the reason for the trip was to take Angel to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. She has such a spiritual experience there it was incredible :) But Being here you always hear people talking about the mural in the DC Temple. And oh my gosh, it's so powerful. if you look it up I am sure you will find it. But I will talk more about that later... But because we took Angel to do baptisms we didn't get to do a session or anything like that but that is totally fine, I was just grateful to be at the temple. I didn't realize how temple homesick I was haha. I was just grateful to be there. We went down to the font though and I didn't get to do baptisms but I did get to wear my temple dress which I was just as happy about :) Sister McCuen did get to do baptisms though with Angel and it was so amazing! Watching little Angel do baptisms for her family was such a profound experience, realizing that that is what it is all about. Getting them to the temple. Even if it's just to do baptisms, when you are at the temple and you feel the spirit of the temple I believe you get a little foretaste of what the eternities will be like. And that's what I wanted Angel to focus on. She loved it. Every bit of it, and seeing her so happy gave Sister McCuen and I the greatest joy. It was nothing short of amazing. And I hope and pray that I will be able to go again sometime soon. Going to the temple was definitely the highlight of my week. 

Oh also I have a funny story from last week. So when all the snow had FINALLY melted and it was warm enough to walk outside Sister McCuen and I decided to do our favorite thing! Which is Finding! Haha. Anyway it was a gorgeous day and we decided to find a street, just park the car and start walking. So that's exactly what we did! It's was awesome! Seriously, I'm not kidding. We chose a road where there were houses on the left side and just corn fields for days on the other side. I felt like we were in the movie "Field of Dreams." So I looked at Sister McCuen and said "If we knock...they will come!" I thought it was pretty clever, but so incredibly cheesy at the same time haha. 

Anyway! It was a beautiful day! And walking down the road I just felt right at home. Heavenly Father knew it was the right thing to put a small town girl in a small little country town as her first area haha. I love it here! Anyway, as we walking down the road we were almost finished with the line of houses when we knocked on this one house and Sister McCuen looked at me and said "I got this one." I said okay and she knocked on the door like 3 times and no one answered. We were about to turn around and walk away when this very handsome young man opened the door and "hello, can I help you?" I then looked from Sister McCuen to the young man, and then back to Sister McCuen...and Sister McCuen just stared at him and went completely silent...I had to refrain from laughing so hard because she totally forgot what she was saying. I was about to pipe up and explain who we are as missionaries when Sister McCuen said in the most monotoned voice I've ever heard, that we were Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and asked him if he would be interested in hearing a message about Jesus Christ. He said "not right now, but maybe some other time." Sister McCuen said "okay!" And turned around and walked away. When the door was shut I just started busting up laughing!! Haha Sister McCuen kept saying it wasn't funny, but we both had a good laugh about it after the fact.  

Also on Friday there was like a freak snow storm that happened. Once I thought the snow was finally gone it came right back! And so Sister McCuen and I decided to braid our hair and be Sister Ana and Sister Elsa for the day and go around singing to people! It was awesome! But not many people took well to it. They had either never seen frozen or thought we were just weird but that's okay because we had fun doing that as a finding activity. Our WML and his kids appreciated it though haha. 

Anyways, on a more spiritual note. About the mural in the DC temple when you walk across the bridge of the temple the mural is the first thing you see. It's a depiction of the Savior's Second Coming and all of the righteous are on his right side and all of the wicked are on his left side. I sat there forever just staring at it, and feeling the spirit. And I knew that no matter what I wanted to be on the right side with all of the people who aren't ashamed to look at the Savior. It was a powerful experience for me. The more you sit and stare and just ponder about the picture you notice that there are people from all eras of time on both sides. And I tried to notice the emotions depicted by the people. On the side of the righteous I noticed that people were bowing, others were looking up at the Savior, others looked relieved, excited like they just couldn't wait to run to Him. They looked like they knew that they were ready for when He came. On the other side were the wicked, or the ones who weren't prepared for when the Savior comes. I looked at them and some people hung their heads in shame, knowing that they weren't ready to meet Him. Others couldn't even look at the Savior. Some were jut lying on the ground looking as if they were wrenched with regret. And some had their backs completely turned on Him...I started crying just thinking of those people. And if nothing else that mural only further engrained in me my missionary purpose. But the spirit taught me something very important as I looked from the side of the righteous to the side of the wicked. And that was that the people on the right side were not perfect people, they were not the people who lived perfect lives and never made mistakes. They were the people who repented. And sincerely, and sufficiently repented. So that they could be found worthy to stand and answer when the Savior called for them. I certainly don't want to be on the left side I want to be on the right side, standing there with my family and friends, and the people I have met and come to love and helped out here on my mission. I pray that when that day comes we will all be found on the right side and not the left. And it furthered my testimony of the Savior's Atonement. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ our Savior and Redeemer. And I love Him, with all of my heart and soul I love Him. 

I'm sorry this email is kinda shorter than most and kinda all over the place but I love you all!! Please look for ways to come unto Christ this week, and look for the miracles :) 

Until next week,

~Sister Amy Callaway~