Adventures of Hermana Jennifer Duvall: 10-17-2016 Cinnamon rolls + Snake in the study

CONGRATULATIONS TO DANNY AND SARAH!! I love you both so much! I wish I could be there to celebrate with you two this weekend, but I will be celebrating here in Minnesota! I wish you the best!! Have so much fun celebrating with everyone 🎉

Hola mi familia y mis amigos!

It was another interesting week here in the land of lots of lakes, lots of rainstorms, and lots of humidity. To start of my letter, you are all probably wondering why I have the subject line of my email "snake in the study." And, so I don't kill you all of anticipation as to what that means, I will tell you. This morning, right as we were saying our personal prayers to start off personal study, Hermana Rowland yells: "SNAKE!" There was a snake in our study room!! It had gotten itself stuck in a glob of tape that was on our floor. So we ran an grabbed a box that we could catch it in. Then, Hermana Rowland carefully took time to get the tape off of the snake. It took a while to do this, and the snake was obviously not happy. After we got the snake unstuck from all of the tape, we set it free outside, far far away from our house. It is still a mystery as to why a snake showed up inside, but we are hoping that this was only a one time occurrence. I am not a big fan of snakes, so I am really hoping this doesn't happen again haha.

Video Hermana Howland being a life saver to a snake! She is BRAVE!

A SNAKE in our study!!! STUCK IN TAPE!

This week, we did a lot of work with some of the Less-Active members in our branch. We have a lot of members who aren't able to come to church because of their work schedule. However, more members have been showing up to church recently. It's so awesome! Yesterday, Vivian, her husband Maurian, and their two kids, Aiden and Jade finally came to church!!!!! We have been visiting them for the past couple of months trying to get them to come to church, and they came yesterday!!!! It was so fun to see them happily sitting next to each other in the Chapel. It is really cool to see the difference that the gospel can have in a families life. They seemed so much happier and unified. They want to be sealed in the temple within the next year! So exciting!! I am so grateful for temples and that families can be together forever. This knowledge has brought be peace time and time again. I am so happy for Vivian and Maurian and for their desire to go to the temple!
We had a lesson with this lady named Inez this last Wednesday. She has been taught by the missionaries for a long time (we call her an "eternagator"). But this lesson was so awesome! We all felt the spirit really strongly; and, she seemed a lot more receptive and open to the message then before. We taught her about how God is our loving Heavenly Father and we are all His children. She told us that she loves saying prayers, because she is able to directly talk with God. She expressed to us that she really wants to figure out her purpose in this life. We invited her to pray to Heavenly Father and ask specifically what she can do to further fulfill her purpose that He has prepared for her. She was really anxious to pray and ask God. I know that each and every one of us have a specific purpose in this life. I know that as we pray and ask God, we will receive an answer. It may not always be the answer that we want, but it will be he BEST thing for us!
The older lady in our branch, Hermana Leonor, ended up in the hospital this week. We went over to visit her on Tuesday with the Elders because she wanted a priesthood blessing. She was very grateful that we came by, and kept saying that it was a "miracle" that the Elders came with us. She ended up in the hospital the next day with pneumonia. We didn't find out until we showed up at her place on Friday. We visited her on Saturday and brought her un peluche ( a stuffed animal) and starbursts. She loved them, and wanted the peluche next to her haha. She loves when we sing to her. So we sang a couple hymns to her. We also visited her yesterday and she turned to me and said that when she was younger she had crazy curly hair like me too! We joked how we are long lost twins haha.
There was a surprise baby shower for a lady in our branch on Saturday. Hermana Rowland and I ended up making about a 4 four dozen cinnamon rolls! It was Hermana Rowland's mom's recipe, and they had chocolate chips in them! They turned out to be a big hit at the Baby Shower, but we still ended up having a lot left over. So, yesterday after church we went and handed some more out to some of our investigators and other members. I was surprised that so many hispanics liked them, because most hispanics are not huge fans of chocolate!

Throughout my studies this week, I noticed a reoccurring theme: God's love. There is a quote by the Prophet, Thomas S. Monsoon that I feel explains God's love for us very clearly. In the October 2013 General Conference Women session, he said:

"...Your Heavenly Father loves you--each of you. That love never changes. It is not influenced by your appearance, by your possessions, or by the amount of money you have in your bank account. It is not changed by your talents and abilities. It is simply there. It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there.

As we seek our Heavenly Father through fervent, sincere prayer and earnest, dedicated scripture study, our testimonies will become strong and deeply rooted. We will know of God’s love for us. We will understand that we do not ever walk alone. I promise you that you will one day stand aside and look at your difficult times, and you will realize that He was always there beside you."

As a missionary, I study in the scriptures every morning and say several prayer every single day. I know that as I have done this, I have felt God's love for me, and for His other children, so much stronger than ever before. This knowledge, God loves us, is such a simple truth that sometimes can be easy to forget. Yeah, we all go through times of difficulty where we may feel like He has abandoned us--that will never be the case. He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to this earth to not only atone for our sins, but so Christ would know how to succor His people according to their infirmities, afflictions, and pains of every kind. This is one HUGE example of God's love for us, and there are so many other ways that we can see His love. I see it every single day, as He guides me to the people that I need to talk to or as I am able to enter into an apartment building at the exact perfect timing to catch an investigator who is leaving. He loves us SO much, that He works out all of the little details to help His will come to pass!! I know that as we trust Him, and the council of the Prophet and His Apostles, that we will always be guided to go in the right direction!

I love being a missionary!! I am so grateful for my savior, Jesus Christ; and, that I can testify of Him and His redeeming love every single day! I love this gospel so much, and I know that it is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the fulness of the gospel that Jesus Christ established when he was on the earth!

I hope you all have a wonderful week, and don't forget that I love you all! But ore importantly, Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, love you all SOOOO much more!!

love,

Hermana Duvall

Speaking of cinnamon rolls!!! We handed out so many cinnamon rolls, and we gave two to Leo! Leo is super awesome. I have been sick recently and he has given me some Emergen-C drink stuff to help me get better.

It was Dhayanna's birthday yesterday! We stopped by the party for a little bit and got to talk to some of her relatives. They thought I was 12 and were surprised that I spoke Spanish. It was funny.