Failure is a stepping stone

"Weeds are not a waste. They are just flowers that no one ever loved." Sister Kimberly Wall

This week has been somewhat of a blur haha. It's been a good week, though. There are mornings where I wake up and go to the mirror and realize that I'm aging. Those eyes have been with me for as long as I knew they were mine but every once in a while things happen that make us all grow older together. They're still pretty little eyes to me, just weathered.

Before I go on, I have an announcement! The mission office that gives me my mail and whatnot is moving locations, so starting this week please send all mail to this address:

Natalie Raines
New York Rochester Mission
460 Kreag Road
Pittsford, NY 14534

If you've already sent something to the Perinton address it's ok it'll probably get to me fine, but from now on just send it to this new one. Thank ye :)

We had zone conference on Tuesday which was really good for me. Elder Hole and I sung an a capella mix of "Lead Kindly Light" and "I Need Thee Every Hour." We sung it once and it was fine but at the end President Christianson surprised us and had us sing it again as the closing hymn. It was then that I was led to my demise! What happened is we sung the first verse of each and then for the final verse I sung "Lead Kindly Light" while Elder Hole sung "I Need Thee Every Hour." By the final verse I was toast- crying in front of the entire Rochester zone. I was able to sing my parts occasionally, but overall I was no good. Read through the lyrics of these two hymns and maybe it'll make a little more sense.

Lead Kindly Light:
Lead,kindly light amid the encircling gloom; lead thou me on
The night is dark and I am far from home; Lead thou me on
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene- one step enough for me

I Need Thee Every Hour:
I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord
No tender voice like thine can peace afford
I need thee, oh, I need thee
Every hour I need thee
Oh bless me now, my Savior- I come to thee

I talked to President Christianson afterwords and he promised it didn't ruin the song so I'm glad to hear that. I am grateful for the people I serve with. They are kind and concerned always without needing to ask too many questions.

It's been entertaining to compare Austin's mission experience with mine. I think one of the hardest things for me here has been that generally people in New York don't want help. With...anything. I'm grateful for the chance to learn what that feels like though because I am one who often does not like accepting help with anything. I've found that when people help us they learn to love us and we love them in return. Essentially when we don't help people or don't accept help, we're just saying, "I don't really want to love you. But thanks." I would love to be able to do more things for people.

In the end, friends, I'm doing well. I am learning more and more about myself every day. I am forever sewing tiny seeds of glad tidings. It's not a terrible thing to be doing.
Till next week!
Sister Raines