Hello friends!!! How is life treating you? How have you all been? My life has been pretty incredible, let me tell ya. This week just flew by! I feel like I was just here emailing y’all. Let me just begin by testifying to you that you do have a Father in heaven who loves you. He has always been by your side and He always will be, whether you like it or not. Personally, I rather like having God by my side. It is often hard to comprehend how this is possible. In fact- its impossible to comprehend without faith. But luckily faith is a choice and this week I’ve been choosing faith. As I’ve had faith that God is by my side, I have felt overwhelming LOVE. Overwhelming STRENGTH. PEACE. DIRECTION. HOPE. UNDERSTANDING. and so many other things. Since I’ve chosen to have faith that God is supporting me I feel absolutely invincible. Anything is possible through Him. However, He still allows us to struggle and feel pain and make mistakes. Trials are necessary for growth. I love trials. I really do. This morning I listened to elder Hollands talk: Lessons from Liberty Jail”( check it out: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2008-09-04-lessons-from-liberty-jail?lang=eng ) In this talk, he says “You can have sacred, revalatory, profoundly instructive experiences with God in the most hellish moments of life.” Now my week has been far from hellish, but during difficult moments throughout the day, as I turn to God, I find an endless river of peace and enlightenment. I find an endless river of truth and lessons being taught. And as I drink from this river, I am filled with the spirit of God which strengthens me! It is only through faith that I can have these experiences. It is only through faith that I can feel my Fathers presence. Developing faith is so hard. It is the quest of a lifetime. But it really all starts with Desire. The desire I had to feel close to my Heavenly Father transformed into a sure knowledge that He is by my side. How incredible is that?! Sorry for that tangent. Now for a overview of my week.

To start on a lighter note, I have a pretty hilarious story. One of my good friends (You know who you are) Sent me a letter. I was so pumped! I ripped it open and started reading. I soon realized that this letter was not for me, but for another one of his friends who was also serving a mission. He had accidentally incorrectly addressed the envelopes! and the best part… He totally wrote a sentence or two about me and confessed his secret love for me in his friends letter HAHAHAHA I did not see that one coming! It seriously made my week. I’m laughing so hard right now. Sorry that I’m writing this in my group email dude but its just too great… rookie mistake. This story we be told for generations to come. But I love you too bb ❤ But I want my letter…. So resend one.

Last Monday was wonderful. I wrote letters for about 5 hours straight then got right back to work! We had a church headquarters referral for a woman named Heather who wanted some bibles. She is so sweet! We shared with her a scripture from The Book of Mormon and she asked where we read it. We introduced her to The Book of Mormon and she was so amazed! She is so ready for the gospel! Shes just amazing. She has two young kids and is married and lives in an adorable house! We planned to meet with her like 50 times this week but she always ends up canceling cuz shes to busy…. Thats alright. We will meet with her this week! I can already tell shes going to be a golden investigator! SO after we met her we were both just smiling and laughing and twirling and so so happy because we had been praying and fasting for a family that was prepared for the gospel and we knew it was her! God answers prayers. I can’t wait to see her face when we share the restoration with her and when she comes to know for herself that we have a living prophet who guides us!!!!!

We’ve also been making a lot of progress with Ming! My companion told her that she could learn english in 90 days with Gods help. Right after she said that she got wide eyes and we both just looked at each other and started laughing because that was the spirit talking. We didn’t plan on saying that. But we rolled with it! It is possible! And she has improved dramatically as she’s been following our study schedule and making God a part of the process! She uses the Book of Mormon, flashcards and conversation to learn English. It’s really unreal how quickly she’s learning it. The other day when we were tracting, we stopped at the top of this road and started to turn around and go back. I felt an impression that we should keep going up the road. The road turned and Sister Saunders didn’t think that there were houses up there. We went anyway and the 3 doors we knocked on were so ready for the gospel! First door was Casey. 30, 7 year old son, single, lives at parents house, grew up in downtown Syracuse and has been in and out of jail several times for drug dealing. He is trying to overcome his cocaine and heroine addiction addiction and has been sober for 2 weeks now. He is very confused spiritually and has been feeling very hopeless and suicidal lately. He said “Maybe its not coincidence we met tonight. Maybe this is a sign from God” He wants to continue taking lessons. He really needs Christ’s atonement right now to help him heal. The other door we knocked on belonged to Matt. He is in his 50s and his wife just recently passed away. He seemed pretty depressed but very nice. He wants us to come back and share the Plan of Salvation with him. The last door we knocked on was Bills. Bill is so awesome! Super nice and really interested in family history work! We are going to help him with some! He also took a Book of Mormon and although he is Catholic, seemed very interested. We walked back down the street feeling so so happy. The sun was low and made everything look golden, it smelled like lilac flowers and there were birds singing and kids playing and trees all around us and life was just good.

We had many other amazing experiences and gave about 12 book of Mormons out with our testimonies and numbers written in them and met some incredible people. Seriously everyone teaches me so much. Especially the souls in the retirement home. I love doing crafts with old people every week. I can ask them any “deep life questions” and they all have such unique answers! They are so hilarious. I have also loved doing lots of service projects this week. One of them was an Eagle Scout project painting picnic tables. There were these huge bumblebees that would fly into the paint and this resulted in me being known as the “bee savior” among the young people of the ward. I saved many bees lives that day. haha! But I will stop my rambling. Life is good. I love waking up to that same annoying alarm every morning, falling to my knees and trying not to fall asleep while praying, putting in The Best Two Years soundtrack and totally working out and getting a sweet 6 pack (aka doing “yoga” and chilling) then taking a quick shower, getting ready in 10 minutes, making a nice breakfast burrito or something then having an hour for one on one time with my Savior. Then I work as hard as I can till 9:30 pm,  when plan for the next day, brush my teeth, and sleep like a baby till 6:30am when I do it all over again. Throughout this routine and this week, I have grown so much. I often think of D&C 6:36 Look unto me in every thought. Doubt not, Fear not.” I say that to myself about 50 times a day and think of my Savior, Jesus Christ.

My challenge for each of you this week is to find joy in the seemingly endless, tedious, tiring routines and realities of daily life. If you’re Christian, remember that scripture. Make Christ the center of your thoughts and your heart. If you’re not Christian, Find joy in the NOW. Let go of the past and the future and fully be wherever you are! I promise that as you do this, You will in fact find JOY. Life will become sweet and every moment will have so much purpose! Love you all! Thank you for your love and support!!!!! Thank you for your letters!!!

Love, Sister Folkman