This week was one big tender mercy for me!

Dear Family:

Oh man! This week was one big tender mercy for me! It was amazing! We have a loving and merciful Heavenly Father! I love Him so much!

Earlier in week we had the neatest experience! We were headed down to Blanchester, a little town south of Wilmington, to contact some referrals we had received. On our way down there we decided we would try and knock on Sister Cunningham’s door. We hadn’t seen her since April so we knew that it was a long shot, but we thought we would anyway. We knocked… and she opened! It was a miracle. She invited us in and we started talking.

She really is the sweetest thing in the world! While we were there she told us that we had been talking to one of her friends. We asked who that was and she told us it was Tracy, well Tracy was one of the media referrals we were headed to contact! We explained that it was probably missionaries at the call center who had been talking to her and we just got the message that she wanted to see us and we were headed over there right after we saw Sister Cunningham. Who would have thought! So Sister Cunningham called Tracy and told her that she was bringing the Sister Missionaries over with her. How cool is that!

That’s not the end of the story! Sister Cunningham came to Ohio because she was engaged to a man; however, he passed away before they were married. The connection is that Tracy is his sister. Sister Cunningham had explained that to us and one of the first questions Tracy asked us when we got there was what happens to us after we die. We started from the beginning, that we lived with God before we came here, and as soon as she understood what we were reading from the scriptures she gasped and told us she had “no idea, but it made perfect sense.”

I wish I could describe to you the powerful spirit that was there while we answered her question. It was one of the most powerful lessons I have ever had! When we explained to her where her brother is and that God’s whole plan is for us to live with Him and with our families forever she burst into tears. She was so happy! She had known her whole life there were more answers than her mother and pastors had given her and these were it!

I love this gospel! I think so often we take for granted the beautiful truths that we know. I love the Plan of Salvation. I know that it really is the perfect plan! And I am so grateful for the Savior! He is, after all, the one who made the whole plan possible.

During our zone meeting this week, the zone leaders asked if each of us would answer the questions: 1) why we came on a mission and 2) how we want to feel when we go home. What a powerful activity! I was really grateful for the opportunity to reflect on those questions. I came on a mission out of gratitude for what the Savior did for me. With my experience with Major Depression I learned in much more depth the meaning and purpose of the Atonement. I had to come share that message. And when I return home and take off my tag I just want to be able to feel that I was a proper representative of my Savior. That although I’m not perfect I did my best doing what He would have done if He were here. And I want to set that goal for the rest of my life!

We had the best exchanges this week! Sister Sunderland went to Greenfield and Sister Cash came to work with me in Wilmington. It was super fun because Sister Cash has only been out for three weeks! (And she is already an amazing missionary!) I told her though that I would trade her places in a heartbeat! I wish I still had 18 months left in my mission! I really do! I love this work! I am so grateful to be apart of it!

Thanks for sending all the pictures of Florida! I’ve heard all about the new Harry Potter theme at Islands of Adventure! It looks like fun! Just remember, I get to be apart of the real magic! Ha ha!

Love you lots!
Sister Painter

Pictures: Exchanges! Sisters: Cash, Ferrin, Painter, Sunderland
Leaf fight with Lonnie and Morgan Watson!