Preface: Mark emails Sister Saal every Sunday night so that she will have a letter from us on her Monday p-day. Just as he sat down to write her, we received a phone call from Sister Tilleman, the wife of Caitlin's mission president. We talked to her for about 15 minutes and she had nothing but good to say about our daughter. We were so grateful to hear those words from Sister Tilleman and have a peak into Sister Saal's missionary life.
Hello family (and friends),
I am staying in Courtenay.
Thank you for your letter. I am glad you were able to talk to Sister Tilleman. They are amazing people and I am thankful for all their love and support.
An interesting thing happened on Sunday. In Relief Society the teacher asked us to take a moment to think about something. She asked us to think about our Father in Heaven. She asked us to think about what He would say to us if we were with Him right now. She asked us to think about the things He would do. At first it made me a little nervous. What would He say to me? I thought about the mistakes that I have made. I thought about all of my sins. I thought about my faults and weaknesses. At first, I thought about all the things I would have pointed out. And then I remembered His character. I remembered His nature. I remember His love. He wouldn't point out the flaws I have. He wouldn't make me feel small. He would love me with a perfect love. He would love me with a love I can't even begin to comprehend. At that moment, I saw all my weaknesses. But even more than that, I saw how God really feels about me. It was an overwhelming feeling that passes through me.
I have such a short time left and it is just speeding up. I am over half way done. It feels like just yesterday I was eating at Cafe Rio right before heading into the MTC. This feeling is crazy. By the end of this transfer, I will have spent 6 months in Courtenay. Seems like yesterday I got here.
One really big highlight comes from an act of service. There is a less active brother here that we have been trying to work with. His wife is not a member and so amazing! I have really grown to love this family. Sister Nuttall asked her if we could come visit them and get to know them. She said she would feed us dinner! We set up a time and asked if there was anything we could do. They have a few giant maple trees in their backyard with HUGE maple leaves. She said she would call us to help her rake. The next day we decided just to do it. It took about an hour to rake all the leaves into a pile. I will have to send pictures, it was a huge pile. The next day we came back to start putting the leaves in bags. After an hour, and 26 giant black plastic bags later someone told us the city wouldn't take them. We were going to have to use giant paper bags. They are really ecologically friendly up here. Well, we had an appointment to get to and had to leave. The next morning during companionship study we received a phone call from the wife. She was amazed at what we had done. We told her about the bags and said we wanted to come finish. She invited us over for lunch and we were able to work with this family to rake leaves. It took a long time, but it was so fun to get to know them. I know that we were not just raking leaves and doing service, but we are building a relationship.
I am thankful for your prayers. Keep them coming. I love you all so much. Thank you!
Love, Sister Saal
