WEEK 20: The Week Where I Turned 20!

Hello hello!

First off, I want to apologize for my email last week! Preparation days are always chaotic and they just fly by. We were with our district right up until 6pm, and so I just threw together that email. We were having a joint birthday celebration, as Elder Holden and I both had birthdays this week! So that's why last week's email was not my best... Speaking of, thank you to everyone who sent me messages this week! I appreciated recieving every single one, and the time you took to send it. It was a good day, full of preaching repentance and baptizing converts...as it should be!

This weekend was incredible. We had our Sunrise Stake Conference this weekend, and Elder Patrick Kearon and Elder Shumway from the Seventy visited. They spoke to our stake, and it was incredible! Elder Kearon gave a talk titled "He is Risen with Healing in His Wings" in the April 2022 General Conference, and it was one of my favorites. When I found out that he was attending, I was so excited! It was a POWERFUL stake conference. Sunday afternoon we had a special broadcast from the prophet, President Nelson, to the state of Nevada! It was really unique event and President Nelson, Sister Nelson, and President Ballard were addressing this state (and a little section of California and Arizona) about the new temples being built in this state! As of this past General Conference, the amount of temples announced for Nevada has doubled! From 2 to 4! It's absolutely incredible. Part of the braodcast was a video about the history and settling of Nevada, and it was amazing to see how quickly the population has exploded, especially here in Las Vegas! I was filled with so much love and yes, pride, for this dusty ol' state. Hate on the desert all you want, but just know that it does actually possess beauty and just absolutely THRIVES with life. I'm learning that. I am a witness of that. And I absolutely love it here.

Fun fact: I hit Sister Salazar with my bike this week. She turned the corner to cross the street, and suddenly out of nowhere she was biting the dust. Kissing the pavement. Making snow angels on the cement. And because I was trying to navigate the 4 way stop, I didn't brake fast enough and my front tire hit her. Now, did I run over her? No way. Not even close. But I did tap her with my wheel. After she got up and dusted off her bruised ego, we carried on up the hill. But immediately I noticed a crazy amount of resistance as I was pedaling. Now, I'm not the strongest biker in the world, but this was HARD. I switched my gears a few times, made sure my skirts weren'r caught in the wheels, and then finally stopped and hopped off my bike. As I scoured my bike, I made my way to the front wheel. I fiddled with the brake to make sure it was secure, and then it suddenly popped out of place. And then my bike was immobilzed. And we were too, as my knowledge of biking is absolutely zero. However, by an actual literal MIRACLE, a couple of elders in our zone biked past us! Their area bumps up against ours, but we have never seen them here before. They came to our rescue. Elder Black popped my brake back into place, we gave them a bag of gluten free desserts as an offering of gratitutde, and we all carried on our way.

We had a super fun service project this week! We helped a member in our stake who needed help with her food storage. This woman is prepared for a 12 year-long apocalypse. For reals. The amount of buckets and barrels just STUFFED with every genre of rice, beans, and grains, was mind-blowing. We had 7 missionaries there, and it took all of us 3.5 hours to get all of the 50-75lbs buckets moved from the casita into the basement of her home. So, basically, we're all extremely buff now. But it was so much fun, and now she wants us all to come back so that she can make us soup! We love her so much.

Today for our district activity we hiked Frenchman Mountain! It's something I've wanted to do since I got to this area, and we finally talked our district into it. It's about 2 hours to the top, but it's absolutely the steepest trail ever, and just straight loose gravel. It's about as steep as Y Mountain in Provo, except theres no switchbacks. It's just a straight path all the way up the mountain. But it provides the most glorious view of the Las Vegas! From the summit you have a full 360⁰ view of the valley. Lake Mead and Lake Las Vegas to the East, Henderson to the South, and then the entire Vegas Valley to the West and North. It was amazing! Super rigorous, especially navigating the loose rocks while descending, but it was so much fun.

I wanted to share a couple things that I learned form Stake Confeerence this weekend as a spiritual thought! It's about comparison. This is something I've been wrestling with on my mission. It's tricky to navigate, and it's hard to work through. Elder Shumway spent some time talking about how God is a God of measurement, not comparison. God measures our performance with our potential. The sacrifices we make every day to be better can't always be 25 or 50 cent sacrifices. Sometimes they're little penny sacrifices. But, as in the widow's mite parable found in Luke 21, Christ sees and values every single sacrifice we offer. Even if it's not much compared to others' sacrifices. He doesn't compare us to what others have done or can do, He only measures what we can do.

I just love that thought. It gave me a lot of peace, and I hope it brings you peace. You are enough! God is proud of you. And I am proud of you too!!

Sending so much love from Las Vegas!!

Love, Sister Malmstrom

Pictures:

- Pictures of our hike!!

- Elder Hammond and Elder Black after saving our lives.

- Found a torn $50 bill in The Browns this week. We find a lot of treasures in that neighborhood, haha.

- Interesting thing about Vegas: There's always mops outside. If anyone wants to read Elder Holden's poem titled "Of Mops and Men", let me know and I will send it your way. Spoiler alert: It is literature that will change your life.

- After our service project. The elders were eating pizza and didn't want to join the picture.

- Birthday! Accidentally cut the most comically small piece of cake.

- Watching President Rodarte's Sunday night Zoom devotional with Hermana Wright. She returns home this transfer and I'm devastated. I love her so much!!!