"You are good, so be nice to you."

So you know, typical Sister Stott down under... Working hard, praying hard, being hard on yourself. The usual. The title of my email is something that President Back said to me when I was having a little stress session last week. It really helped me so I figured it might help you too.

So this week.... was.... beautiful. Monday when we were emailing we received an email from church headquarters that someone wanted to meet us, so after p-day we went straight over to their house to introduce ourselves. Well, he was NOT interested. But we kept persisting that he requested the visit and then his friend rocked up! So we started talking to the friend and taught a little bit about the Book of Mormon and he invited us to come over next week. No effort is wasted!

Tuesday was great. We went and saw our Nana Julie and then a member named Emily. I'm 95% sure we were good mates in the pre-mortal existence because she is such a crack up. We had a family home evening with the D family and it was so much fun and then we went and saw our investigator Amanda! She is so great. She invited herself to church and just kept asking, "What makes you people so nice?" The Gospel in our lives, you know? 

Wednesday was.... interesting. Sometimes you do anything and everything to show people that you care. We met this lady and we were talking to her about the Plan of Salvation and how our church is focused on families, right? Well, her 5 year old daughter had a purple streak in her hair so we complimented it. And she took that compliment as an invitation to spray paint our hair to match.... So we went punk for a little bit, but it got us a return appointment. :) We went to a family in our ward's home that evening and boy did I have some flashbacks. We put an object lesson in front of them and it was honestly a fight to the death for superior knowledge and skills, just like Austin and Jordan. It made me smile to know that other families have their overly competitive kid genius's too just like my brothers. 

Thursday was fun! We honestly have the cutest senior missionary couple serving in our area. They had us over for brunch and they are just so sweet. They are in charge of YSA reactivation in the stake so we're trying to help them find the YSA. Then we went to go see a member that we haven't seen for a few weeks. After that, we went and saw Bruce! Oh my heavens... People are killing me with their one liners in this country. Bruce committed to be baptized last week when we met with him then we were talking about the commandments this week and asked him if he wanted to become more like Jesus Christ. So he sat there and thought about it for a few minutes and said (dead seriously), "Well ya know, I'm not too keen on being crucified..."  Real people with real concerns... He was very relieved when we explained that's not in our religious practices... Then we took a ward council member to visit a less active member and that was an absolute riot. People just like to make you laugh here.

Friday was great. We were doing some service for family history with Nana Julie and we had been praying how we could meet her neighbor without forcing anyone's hand or making them feel pressured... And she just walked

up to Nana's! it was pretty cool. Then we had a family night with the Primary President, an active family in our ward, and a less active family. It was a lot of fun and it helped build some fellowship ties and helped us know what some concerns were.

Saturday was great... First off, do you remember me talking about the little Tafengatoto girl I taught up in Sydney? Well, she got baptized! Yayy! :) I was so happy when I heard the news. We went and saw a family in the morning and got to know them a little better. Then we went and saw a less active recent convert family and had an absolute BLAST! The kids are so funny and the little girl, Isla, asked us if we could find her a ride for church since no one else wants to go. She's so sweet! Then we went and had a lesson with a less active sister and her mum. It was a really nice time.

Sunday was great! We went over after studies and did Isla's hair for church and waited for her ride to get there. Then when we got to church Amanda and her daughters were waiting for us! Aah, we literally RAN to them! It is so good to see people you love in the chapel. Nothing better than that except for seeing them in white. After church we went to a family's house and they invited some not as active members as well. It was a good night. Then we went and saw Nana Julie because she was sick and we needed to let her know we loved her. Everybody needs to feel loved.

The work is going well. We're working hard, praying hard and playing hard... And trying not to be too hard on ourselves. 

Just remember, "You are good, so be nice to you." 

Sister Danielle Laree Stott

Pic: Our new punk look.