Well, I have been on my mission the equivalent of 2 transfer periods now. Although, since we switched to the Seattle mission we are now on a different transfer schedule, so this transfer will be a total of 8 weeks. So, I get at least 2 weeks more here in Edmonds! :) I am hoping for more, but we will see where the Lord needs/wants me.
We had a bit of excitement this week. On Saturday we went to dinner at Jan Lee and Dave Krilevich's house. Dave is a wonderful cook and he was in the process of making stir fry when we arrived. He put the oil in the wok to warm up and then came over to the table to listen to Sister Redford's story she was telling him. All I could see from where I was sitting is the side of the fridge. The oven is on the other side of the fridge, but Sis Redford was standing by the sliding door, and casually in her conversation, she says, "Your thing's on fire." It was so casual that Dave and I needed a second to process what she was saying, but then he cursed and ran over to the stove. I'm still sitting there with thoughts flying around my head, not fully processing what's going on (probably from Sister Redford's lack of emotion in her voice). But then I see an intense orange glow dancing on the walls and Dave's face. That's when my mind started processing things. ;) Then Dave tells Sis Redford to get out of the way and open the door. So he turns with the wok in his hand, and my mind finally clicks when I see the GIANT pillar of fire in this wok, "Oh my gosh, this is a real fire!" ;) The thought most prevalent in my head, He cannot take that outside! Then he puts it back on the stove cause it was burning his hands. And then I see the fire coming above the fridge and my mind is saying "Oh no! The ceiling is going to catch on fire!" Dave says, "I don't know what to do!" Sister Redford says, "Yes you do. You got this." ;) Then something clicks in his head and he opens the cupboard door and grabs out the fire extinguisher, and TA-DA! Disaster averted just in time! Meanwhile he's calling to Jan Lee, who is downstairs putting a stitch in Sister Redford's shirt, and totally oblivious that her house was about to catch on fire. Also, the smoke alarms are going off and there's thick smoke throughout the house. This all happened SO fast, but it was pretty intense ;) We then ran around turning all the fans on and opening all the windows, and then Dave told us all to go out on the deck cause yeah...the smoke got intense there for a bit. Then Dave got out his camp stove and cooked us a delicious stir fry ;) But turns out...this entire experience was a miracle from Heavenly Father (Dave is not a member) and afterwards he just kept saying that he was so thankful that God had not let the house catch on fire, and after dinner he picked the topic for us to share a message on (The Sabbath Day). He said he misses going to Church cause he has a new job where he has to work Sundays, but he said he will see if he can do anything to get that time to come to Church. Afterwards, I felt prompted to ask him to say the closing prayer and he did! He thanked God for making the house not catch on fire and he thanked Him for his wonderful wife. :) When we were leaving, he told us that he loves us both and thank you for everything ;) It was great! The fire turned into a wonderful bonding moment and caused Dave to be humbled (which, yes, we have been praying for that and so has Jan Lee, we just weren't expecting a fire, but Hey! We'll take it if there were no serious consequences!) ;)
Also, the day before we had set up a church tour with a potential investigator and Jan Lee and Dave came, and you should've heard Dave talking up the Church and telling our investigator how much he'd love it! Sister Redford and I kept looking at each other like, "What the?" It was wonderful. That potential didn't end up coming to Church yesterday, but maybe it was all for Dave. In any case, it was wonderful and I'm so thankful for our Father in Heaven and the mysterious ways in which He works! :)
An exciting bit of news...I finished the Book of Mormon on Saturday! It was great! Reading the Book of Mormon as a missionary is INCREDIBLE! There are so many things in there that I "just know" weren't in there before ;) It's amazing!
Also, tomorrow is our first weekly meeting of our "Book of Mormon Book Club" that Sis. Redford and I are starting. We're pretty excited about that. We've got our new converts coming and a bunch of less active members of our ward. Sis. Redford always says that she's never met a less active who has read the Book of Mormon all the way through and prayed to gain a testimony about it. And it's true. The Book of Mormon literally has the power to change lives and to work miracles. It's wonderful. This is also part of the prompting we received to have the Bishop initiate a ward Book of Mormon challenge to read before the end of the year. The response has been incredible! This ward has HUNDREDS of less active members and it's just so sad. But this is going to make a difference, I just know it! :) I'm excited to see it!
Also, we have a had a lady move into our ward this last month who is just incredible. Her passion is missionary work and she always talks about how we need to inspire the ward because it is the members' duty to find people for the missionaries to teach. I never got that before I came on my mission. She just gets it though and it's incredible! I'm so excited! We're on the verge of a missionary work explosion! ;)
Well, that's all for this week! I love you all! Thank you, thank you for all your love and support and prayers! They mean everything to me! :)
Love, Sister Stanley
Washington Seattle Mission
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