"I am a child of God", and so is the little lady from Syria, and so are you!

It only took 15 minutes of raining for this to happen....good ol' 'Bama! 

Are you tired of hearing from me yet haha each week I sit down and think "Hmm....I have no idea what to write".   So much happens every single day.  I  love it!

A cool experiences from this week:

We were tracting in an apartment complex, and one lady-probably in her 80s- whips open the door and says " Come! Sit down!" in a very accented English.  At first, sister Pickett was trying to talk to her in Spanish, but we realized she was speaking Arabic.  She happened to be skyping her granddaughter who spoke some broken English.  We found out that this little lady was from Syria.  Her other family is living in Sweden (including the granddaughter I was skyping with) because of the war.  We explained who we were, and that we were just here to help. We then asked the granddaughter if she we could sing them a song, and if she could explain that to her mother. 

Me and a little gal we are teaching

We sang "I am a Child of God".  Even though we could not understand a word of what the other was saying, just that understanding that we do have a Heavenly Father who loves us was very strong; we know she felt it too.  She gave us a big hug goodbye, almost not letting go.  My heart hurts for her, but I am so grateful that in that moment we could help her feel loved.  

There are a lot of Heavenly Father's children who walk all around us, and don't know that they have a Father in Heaven. 

 I love the quote:   "We are not spiritual orphans".  - Elder Stanley G. Ellis

 He is there for us, He knows us and everything He does is because He loves us.  Even the hard things! Even the things that we wonder why on earth could that happen, He can't control the choices of others but He gives us these hard experiences so that we can learn and grow.  For that, I am truly grateful.  

A beautiful family that will be baptized next week!

I've learned we really are all brothers and sisters.  Sounds cheesy right?  Maybe it is. But it's true.  I've learned a lot about that.  Sometimes it is so easy for me to be so focused on my needs, that I don't think about what it is like in their shoes. That that telemarketer is trying to work hard for that family and really couldn't get another job.  That the cashier is having some hard things going on a home and so work is not the first thing on her mind...or maybe it's just that little Washingtonian-missionary knocking on your door who is really excited about her message and just wants to share it with you. Who knows? We don't, so we just have to treat everyone with kindness :) 

I've been very inspired by the example of my parents, and how the treat everyone with love. They love me and help inspire me to be my best self.  Happy Father's Day Dad.

Love you all tons! 

Sister McClune