A good broken

There are a lot of broken people here. A song that I've always liked hit me in my soul as I realized how much I FELT the lyrics: 

       "You look away to avoid the hurt." 

The last time I was around these parts I looked away. I put up walls around my heart and without realizing it, my joy became a barrier to sympathy. It took painful, pleading months of prayer to break those walls down:

       "If you want a heart of sympathy, pray to God to help you see the world that Jesus sees."

The walls weren't the only thing that broke; so did my heart:

       "Once you see... your heart will break and you'll lay awake. You'll understand God loves them too."

Driving through these homeless filled streets, sitting in homes where parents plead and pour out their hearts to their children who blanky stare in another direction, teaching people who want to be baptized but can't because of limitations. These are moments of "a good broken" because they've filled me with God's love for all His children. 

I finally see. It has always been the broken ones that Christ heals (Matthew 4:24). But He can only heal those who come to Him (3 Nephi 9:13-14).

What broken part of you will you let Christ heal this week?

Love big! Love hard!

Sister Rex

See you never Santa Clarita 

How I felt leaving Sister Palmer:(( 

BUT AYO LET'S GO SISTER THACKER 

When God sends you BACK to Amargosa YSA

Not completely pictured: the wind that has caused half my hair to fall out. Really holding onto Alma 40:23 "even a hair of the head shall not be lost."

Lancaster does have SOME green!! 

And this. Is an iconic group of elders. 

Not in the mood to be converted, but let me show you my jarred kitties

We were just chatting out on this porch when a black nail polished hand shot out of the front door holding a little jar of lemon drops

"Wanna lemon drop?" 

After his mom clarified that we knew he wasn't interested in the church, the rest of this mystery hand came out- long blue hair, tattoo sleeves on both arms, giant earrings, and he plopped right down with us 

"Oh sweet I can talk to you then! I wasn't in the mood to be converted today." 

People see the tag and they RUN from us, but we've learned to stop chasing the ones who don't want it because THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO WANT THE GOSPEL NOW

On Saturday the ZLs called us absolutely frantic; this week as a zone we hadn't found a single person. "What can we do right now??"

When things aren't going our way sometimes we stress what more can we do?! All our missionaries are working HARD and they're frustrated too. I realized that all we can do right now is turn to the Lord, this is His work. We can unite in prayer and fasting, we can align our will with His so we can be lead to the people that He is preparing.

We had an "emergency zone prayer" and by the end of our night, we had found 7 families!!! In the past I've tried to give more, to try harder, to work longer, but I've learned what I really need to do is pray more. 

#soeasyyoucantdoit TURN TO PRAYER THIS WEEK, IT WORKS!!!

Love big! Love hard!

Sister Rex

OUR FAVORITE NEIGHBOR BOB

The porch where Rebecca came to the knowledge of her Redeemer and where my heart GREW

Soaking in all my palms before heading back to the desert 

Last run with Sister Palmer:((

If you want to be entertained, watch videos of Rebecca on laughing gas hahaha

The lemon drop guy's jarred kitties

Were you a cheerleader?

EVER GET TO SEE YOUR BEST FRIEND GET BAPTIZED??! 

Almost every transfer I get asked "were you a cheerleader?" and it just cracks me up - in another life I'd be one #WHATTEAM #TEAMCHRIST

Luckily for me missionary = cheerleader

We get to cheer people on as they come unto Christ!! That has been the BEST part of my mission, screaming and squealing and celebrating the little victories. 

The gospel of Jesus Christ in action changes lives! Standing next to a soaking wet Rebecca after she came out of the font was a moment I'll never forget because it was so real for her. She just sobbed as the day she never thought was going to happen became a reality. 

It wasn't all screams and squeals with Rebecca, there were a lot of tears and heartache, but those challenges were the moments that brought her closer to Christ.

I 

I believe 

I believe that we 

I BELIEVE THAT WE HAVE WON

Because Jesus Christ is on our side!

Love big! Love hard! 

Sister Rex

A belated 4th pic #crustypics4life

A zone of miracles, I LOVE these people

Come a long way with this one;))

Pretty evenings @ the park 

THE BEST DISTRICT 

Sister Palmer in her natural habitat

My favorite picture on the planet 

Soooo extra

To have an elder's mind

Succor has a whole new meaning to me.

Rebecca is THE MOST GOLDEN person you will ever meet!!! And she loves Jesus Christ more than anything- she just gets it. But this week she called us in tears, feeling lost and not knowing where to go. Our hearts ached and more than anything I wanted to run to her and be there with her. And that we did! There was nothing we could do to understand what she's but as we all sat crying together, my testimony was so fortified that the Savior understands. He runs to us the moment we turn to Him. 

More than ever she wants to move forward in her faith and she is a fighter!! The ones that have to fight are the ones who really come to know the reality of Jesus Christ. This is the woman I'm telling my grandkids about!!

Oh man oh man do we love serving with elders. They just don't overthink ONE THING. Our goal this week: to have an elder's mind. Any time we started over thinking we just reminded ourselves THINK LIKE AN ELDER

To any of you elders- what's the secret? How do you not over think?

Love big! Love hard!

Sister Rex

PICTURES:

Hey. Ever read this book? I love it!

Oh boy did we look like 2 sister missionaries today

Pulled over just to walk under these cute arches 

Are you kidding me she got us #1 sister key chains from Disney World

#feeltheunity LOVE these missionaries 

Huh. Why don't we always pray for that?

We were just out doing our thing knocking on doors trying to find where people are at and it was NOT working. YSA are tough to find!!!

So what did we do? We prayed that we would know where to go so that YSA could be placed in our path 

And just like that boom boom boom every person that we walked by in Central Park was a YSA. 11 people, 5 Book of Mormons and 3 lil discussions in less than an hour!!

Huh. Why don't we always pray for that?? When we pray for what God wants it ALWAYS happens. I've learned that the wrestle of prayer isn't wrestling with God, begging Him to maybe let us find someone, but it's wrestling to align my will with His will. You get what you pray for when you're on the same team as God!

Love big! Love hard!

Sister Rex

Saving our walking sisters

Had a sweet little lesson up on this hill looking over the SCV

Every. Single. Night. the sky!!!

Cute Sister Palmer walking the streets on the hunt for YSA

We are SWEATY boys every morning

Now there's 2 of them

I believe. 

I have never felt those words like I do now. Time and time again I've relearned the reality of Jesus Christ in my life and I believe. 

WE HAD THE BEST WEEK BECAUSE WE BELIEVE AND WE DO (Mosiah 4:10). Every single day we came home in awe "is every day going to be like this?" Ask me about the week of June 8th when I get home, I will bust out some stories that get me crying laughing and tearing up because of the powerful experiences we had

Long week short: when we're on God's team, all things are possible. 

If you know me, you now know Sister Palmer. Man oh man are we one in the same and it is a GOOD TIME. From crying just thinking about things to deeply to brushing our teeth while sitting on the toilet to finding joy in the work, we have got some mad #compunity The ward was excited to get a new missionary to keep me in line but their palms went right to their foreheads once they saw our similar we are:') "Now there's 2 of them." 

Love big! Love hard! 

Sister Rex

Making fun of "the sister pday pose"

SISTER PALMERRRRR straight from heaven

POWERHOUSE MISSIONARIES. These elders know why they are here

Lost pt. 87 this week

"WE ARE HERE... well that's not much help"

Don't let the smile fool you, moments before my body went through what Alma describes when recounting his experience 

Drinks a gallon of skim milk every week. Who is she??

Immediately

You know in the Prince of Egypt when Moses comes back after his experience with the burning bush and is just so so excited to tell his wife all about it that his arms are flying and his can't express his awe??

That was ME this week, oh man, there's now words to describe the happiness that I felt!!! 

We met a man who just gets it. He gets that life is better with God and he wants Him back in his life. He talked about how hard it is to start doing the little things again, seeing where he once was and trying to get back there. It's discouraging when he doesn't see immediate results. 

While we don't always see the immediate results or change right away, the love of God is immediate. As soon as we turn to Him, we can feel His love. 

"If ye will repent and harden not your hearts, IMMEDIATELY shall the great plan of redemption be brought about you." Alma 34:31

Immediately. Just gotta turn to Him!!!

Love big! Love hard!

Sister Rex

How Sister Sherwood actually feels vs how she appears to the outside eye hahaha

Oh man. This crew. The FUNNIEST dc #nocap

Cute place

The last Sunday. Bye!!! #justwavy

Happy pink clouds and Sister Sherwood always running away from me ;)