Happy Halloween!!

My family!!!

(It's getting kinda cold...please, no comments from Russia :)haha)

Hey guess what, we had a tornado here this week. Apparently, homes were destroyed and I'm not sure if anyone was hurt( hopefully not)...anyhow it was in our area in a place called Irvington. Luckily we weren't over there that day:) Wanna here a cool thing that happened?....Well we were having our lunch break, and I decided I wanted to look up a word in the dictionary. Anyhow, it was an old dictionary of Sis. Jernigan's that I use every once in a while. Well, this time, it flipped back to the very back cover and I found an old blue envelope. I opened the envelope, and to my great surprise..their was money in it: not just a few dollars, I'm talking about a wad of cash! The first bill was a hundred dollar bill. I was thinking, " Holy Moses! Is this real?" I've never seen so many Benjamins in my life:) So we took it to Sis. Jernigan and she was pretty surprised...she had no idea that was in there. Well, she counted it, and the total came to two thousand eight hundred fifty dollars!! She said her late husband was always hiding money and would forget where he put it :) Anyways that was so cool. She deserved it for all the good that she does. She is a Saint...she helps everyone with anything. Haha just a few days before, she bought Sis. Mickelson new shoes because her old ones were breaking. ANyways, she said she would have given the money to me if she was allowed to... and I know she would have too ( for those who don't know we cannot accept money from people...against missionary rules.) Anyways, it was pretty cool.I love being a missionary. The Lord loves all of us so much. It has been really neat to see my prayers answered that I have been offering for quite some time. The Sanders family let us back in their home this week!!!! I love that family so much. The first lesson I ever taught as a missionary was to that sweet family. For a long time, I thought that they stopped investigating because they weren't ready. Well, that's only partly true. I have found that it was also because I wasn't yet that missionary they needed. I feel that I have been trained in the last few months to be the missionary that more of His children need. Isn't that wonderful? How merciful is our God? During Sacrament this week, I read the words of a hymn. Reverently and Meekly Now..i think that's the one-- the words are spoken as if coming from the Savior. When I read them, it felt as though He were truly speaking to me. I am one of the ransomed ones. Is that not most humbling? During our last zone conference, I had a sweet experience. All were gathered in the circle allowing for each to see one another. I noticed our name tags with the name of Christ written upon them. I was shown a different perspective. In that moment, I did not view everyone as missionaries but as those ransomed ones. Jesus Christ has ransomed all, and He has written his name over the hearts of each. As I sat reflecting upon it, I pictured in my mind, His others who know not of Him that we see walking by us on the streets or at their doors with His name also written upon their hearts signifying His payment for them by that great sacrifice. "Oh, ( I thought) if I could only see them this way always." What a great dependency we all have upon Him! This is where we are all united, we, each, have been ransomed by the Lamb of God, the One prophesied of from the beginning. Does not that, alone, make each one special and each one beloved?

Love Y'all,Bonnie ( sister Colvin)