Sorry, this one is going to be super long. Oh and sorry, we had temple day this week, so our pday switched to Today instead of Monday.
This week has been INSANE...... And not in a good way necessarily. DRAAAMMMAAA. I thought I graduated high school but apparently not haha, but it's all good. Good things definitely happened this week, so I'll just talk about the positives, I'm getting sick of talking about and re-living the negatives :)
Anyways, our numbers were super low this week, but honestly, in the work, so many great things have happened this week.
So one, we have been "heart-attacking" people's doors like crazy, which has been super fun. We've been doing the people we're teaching as well as amazing members who have taken good care of us. For those of you who are not familiar with "heart-attacking"...its when you sneak up to someone's front door super quietly and tape hearts and cute notes to their door and RUN back to the car before they catch you. It's way fun. So a super cool story about that, is we have this potential investigator, named Tammy. A couple weeks ago she said she was excited to meet with us, but we still have never been able to actually set a day to come over to her house and teach her. So this week she had told us she and her son had the flu, so we could do sometime next week, but when we tried to set a specific date and time, she didn't respond, and so we were kinda bummed. But, a couple days earlier, a family, the Merrill's (the best) gave us flowers because they knew we were having a rough week, and so we decided to heart attack Tammy plus leave the flowers on her porch and a get well card. About 10 minutes later she texted us and told us how much she appreciated it, and we set up a time to meet with her tomorrow :) I love the joy and love that service brings.
We have also done a few quilting service projects this week. There is a lady in our stake that has started making quilts for all of the new missionaries who come into the mission, so we helped her work on a few since transfers are next week haha. Since we didn't get one when we came into the mission, she let us pick which pattern we wanted, and told us we would get OUR quilts this week. I'm way excited, mine is super cute. We also helped Sister Williams (part of the most hilarious and wonderful family ever) to quilt for her sons wedding THIS weekend haha. She needed help because she is super behind. So as a result, I've gotten pretty good at quilting :) and we have a couple more quilting projects coming up this week, so that will be fun!!
Then also this weekend we did a really intense service project, we were basically carrying giant logs up a huge hill for a few hours. It was exhausting labor, but so much good came out of it. The person who we thought we were doing the service for has a friend who is not of our faith that lives upstairs, and she ended up being in charge of the service project. It's funny, because before I came to this area, Sister Aieti had knocked on this door with her previous companion, and this lady, Charolette (isn't that such a pretty way to spell Charolette???) was not very nice to them at all. But we really got to know her throughout this service project and we just LOVE her, and she likes us too :) she even made us a super yummy lunch at the end!!!! I don't know if she will ever be interested in our message, but we did have a chance to talk about God, and if anything, she will probably be nicer to future missionaries. It is truly amazing to be a part of this work and see people's hearts soften. They also had another non member friend and her son come to help, Maria and Francisco. They moved here from Panama last year, and she is absolutely amazing and seemed like she would be interested in our message. We found out she doesn't live in our area, as well as she would need Spanish missionaries, because her son doesn't speak much English, but I understood him just fine! He likes Disney so we had a good talk about that :) but we are planning to refer them to the Spanish missionaries out there, and we will be seeing her again this week as we set up another time for us to come back and do more service with Charolette.
In the Book of Mormon, it says in Mosiah 2:17 "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."
I know that this is true. When we serve others, we are serving God. Not only can WE feel the love of God as we do this, but we are helping others to feel the love of God as well as we serve them. What a wonderful opportunity I've had on my mission so far to serve and love everyone. I just love being here :) I can't believe I'm almost at my year mark.... That's kinda crazy. It's on April 9th.....I honestly don't know where the time has gone.
And congrats to CANDISE, my favorite little native, for reaching her year mark on March 5th! I'm proud of that little stinker :) <3 miss her lots, as well as missing my wonderful family and other amazing friends. Even if it takes me a while to respond, I really do love receiving your emails and letters of encouragement. I am so thankful that you take time out of your busy schedules to write to and encourage me. It always makes my week much better :)
Anyways, Long has officially decided on a date for his baptism, but still won't tell anyone what the date is haha. It's...wonderful..... But we are excited nonetheless. His baptism will bring so much joy to my heart, as well as everyone in the ward who knows and LOVES him. His ward is so great at taking people in with loving arms, most of our investigators are in that ward because they are so wonderful at it.
We will be picking up Lieu (Long's sister who REALLY wants to get baptized but is waiting for Long) and hopefully her boyfriend Chuy as new investigators this week, so we are excited for that.
Fiona is doing AMAZING....her concern was that her family thought she was crazy and jointing a cult, she was worried they would disown her, but in our last lesson, she said, "I don't care what they think anymore, I know this is right and so I am going to continue in this." In our lesson tonight we are going to commit her to be baptized on April 11th, because she still needs to go to church 3 more times before she can be baptized.
Then Linda, an investigator that I finally met for the first time (she has been out of town forever) is doing well. She says she loves the feeling when she meets with us, that it is always the most peaceful time of her week, but she is really worried about what people will think. She grew up in China, and was always taught there that you cannot be different. She is moving back to China in the next few months, and so she is worried that when she goes back, she won't be strong enough and will fall away. So our lesson this week is going to be focused on the Holy Ghost and how it can help us remain strong, even when we feel like we're alone.
Gabby's family has been canceling our appointments recently, because they are super busy planning for the wedding, we're bummed, but we know Gabby will get baptized, I just hope I am still here for it!
We haven't seen Maddie in a little over a week, but we have been in contact with her through texting! :) she is still excited about being baptized, but she has yet to come to church because of her job. She works at a ski resort, so she works every weekend and it's really hard, nearly impossible to get off work on Sundays, unless she finds a new job, which is what we're hoping for. But it's hard because her parents really want her to work there, because they work there as well and they pay really well. BUUUT, thankfully, her last day of work is April 18th, so we are excited for the snow in the mountains to be gone so that she can come to church, because she truly has the desire to!! We seriously just love her and are so excited for her :)
Then we also had an incredible experience yesterday with a man named John. He has been taught before, but stopped because his "wife" who he has been separated from for a LONG time, but not divorced, called our mission president, President Chambers, and threatened to sue the church if we baptized her husband, and that he would never see his kids again, and included that he would be removed from his fathers will, as well as she knows someone who is closely related to President Thomas S. Monson, and she would not let it go until he heard about it. So President Chambers told us that he couldn't get baptized unless they were divorced, and that the best way to continue teaching him is through dropping him off notes or treats and encouraging him to read his scriptures and pray so we have been doing that, but I had never actually met him face to face until yesterday. We were out working with this girl named Brook, who is seriously so wonderful. Sister Aieti had a strong impression to go by to see John Elkins, and to be honest, I was a little hesitant because of what had happened in the past, but we followed the prompting, and wow, he is incredible. He is so strong...He has gone through some AWFUL things in his life, and it breaks my heart to hear them. We talked about relying on Jesus Christ, and showed him a Mormon message video called "Mountains to Climb" (if you haven't seen it, please look it up, it is so powerful) and he just broke down. He told us about his extremely disabled son, and the huge trials they are going through with him right now. Sister Aieti's prompting was REAL and I'm so glad we followed it when we had Brook with us. Brook has a brother with almost exactly the same problems that John's son has. It was incredible to see how they connected, and she shared her testimony about how she would not have made it through these specific trials without the gospel in her life, and it was so powerful, we were all in tears at the end, and we set up another appointment for Friday afternoon. Even if he cannot be baptized, we are going to keep visiting him, and helping him find the comfort he needs. It's amazing how someone I met just yesterday can already hold such a special place in my heart.
Oh and Anthony (from my last area) is getting baptized n Saturday so I will be able to go!!!!!! SO EXCITED!!!! <3
Being a missionary is the greatest thing I could be doing at this,point in my life, and I'm grateful for the wonderful examples in my life who helped me make this decision, and the people who have supported me the whole way.
I know this church is true, if it wasn't, I would not still be here. I am still here, through all of the trials I've had, because this church is true and I have received my OWN confirmation of these things. The same priesthood that Jesus Christ held is again on the earth today, and that is the message that I am sharing with people every day.
I love you all. Never forget okay? :) <3
-Sister Love
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