This week was wonderful!!!!
We did have an investigator kind of drop us for the time being (Brenda :( ) BUT besides that this week was truly just great! These last 2 weeks have been the busiest of my entire mission so far! We are teaching like crazy and I just love it! It's HARD to make appointments with people because our planners are already full of appointments! We've had to go on splits to be able to teach all of our appointments because we have to schedule some at the same time! Man, I wish missionary work was always booming like this in every stake all over the world :) It's an incredible feeling to be a part of this! President Chambers is truly inspired. I know that this is because we followed his advice, to start teaching the discussions to active members, and especially our stake presidency, bishops and ward mission leader's families. As soon as we did that, we started finding and teaching like crazy! Follow the counsel of your leaders always! They know what they're doing :) Hopefully all this teaching will lead to a baptism or re-activation!!!
SO last Pday was GREAT, because I got a letter from the lovely Erin Aubele, my best friend in high school, who was baptized a few weeks before I left on my mission, and she told me she has decided to serve a MISSION!!!!!!!!!! I am completely beyond excited, I basically screamed when I read it! I am so happy for her, she is going to be an absolutely wonderful missionary, her testimony is so strong and she was such a wonderful example to me in high school, and continues to be :)
Another random and great thing about this week, after Sister Fesili and I had finished our sushi lunch, we were waiting outside for our ride, and this man walked up to us and gave us a $100 dollar bill......I was in shock and thought he had meant to give us a $10 or something but pulled out the wrong bill....but he did it on purpose and wouldn't let us refuse. He said , "I had wanted to pay for your lunch in there but I was distracted while you were ordering, and then noticed you were gone, I'm glad I caught you outside. Here's this, it should cover a couple sushi lunches!" We thanked him a million times.
Some crazy things that happened this week....oh boy..
So as you saw in my pictures....the carbon monoxide alarm. So it all started Monday night, we heard something beeping about every 30 seconds, but we couldn't find where it was coming from. So since we all had massive headaches, we just decided to ignore it and went to bed. We woke up in the morning and it was still beeping, but less often. We couldn't focus during studies because it was driving us NUTS, and so we spent the first 10 minutes of studies searching for it, then we heard someone walk in upstairs so we ran up and saw one of Sister Kiser's daughters, and asked her to help us. We found it, and she told us it was the carbon monoxide alarm, so we all ran outside to breathe fresh air and were freaking out because we had had headaches the night before and were being super paranoid about everything that had happened the night before haha. Anyways, to keep this short, we spent the rest of studies outside while Sister Kisers daughter called people and figured things out, but eventually it was discovered that we just needed a new alarm because it was old and broken......frustrating hahaha. But at least we are alive and well!
THEN, Thursday morning we woke up and had no hot water...so we had to take icy cold showers and it was literally so painful.... I decided that if we didn't get hot water back I was just going to stink and people would have to deal with it because I could not shower in that again haha (I'm spoiled I guess) Anyways so then we came home that night, and we heard water running, and were so confused, it sounded like the shower was on.....well, not exactly. We found a valve had burst in our boiler room, and it was spraying a super hot stream of water everywhere and flooding the room (luckily they had a drain in there so it didn't get too bad) but it felt like a sauna, there was super hot steam, it was kinda scary. We ran upstairs and no one was home, so we called Sister Kiser (who was in CA at the time) and she got a hold of people and eventually it was all fixed. Crazy....
Okay, and now some updates on the people we are teaching!
We picked up a new investigator Tuesday, named Theresa. She is Roman Catholic and one of the sweetest people I have ever met. We tracted into her last week and she asked us to come back Tuesday! The reason she wanted to meet with us, was because they just recently moved to Utah, and she said when she told her friends she was moving here, they all told her "You are going to be bugged by a bunch of Mormons!" but we were the first ones to ever come by and they have been here a little over 2 months! So she was excited to see us! She said she wants to hear about our church from an actual active member, and wants to know the truth, and not believe all of the misconceptions people have told her. When we taught about the 1st vision, we invited her to pray and ask God if it really happened, and she paused and said, "I think I already know that it happened." It was incredible, the spirit was so strong. The bummer is that they are moving to Murray, Utah the 1st week of February, but we are going to teach her as long as we can, and then send her as a referral when they move!
Robert STILL hasn't come to church, we think it's because of his parents, they don't want him to come. They let him meet with us but that is about it, and they are STILL completely avoiding us -__- We can't invite him to be baptized until we have his parents permission first, and plus he has to go to church obviously, it is frustrating. But no matter what, we are going to continue teaching him so he can develop a testimony and deepen his faith and love for the gospel, so that someday, when the time comes, he can be baptized. Our relationship with him keeps getting better and I have really grown to just love that kid so much, and want so badly for him to progress and be happy.
Marcie is the most wonderful person ever, I adore her! Also, her daughter Sasha is hilarious! Marcie came to church this week, and that made us super happy! Sasha told us that her boyfriend (who we have met several times, he's a good kid) is not a member and has been coming to church with her and seems pretty interested. We can't teach him because he is living in Logan, and plus he is YSA age, BUT, we have been helping her to find ways to bring it up to him, and to help him want to meet with missionaries and read the Book of Mormon, so that has been fun!
We started teaching a less active woman named Christy and her son Aiden the discussions, they didn't come to church this week, but we're hoping next week they will be there. They know it is important, but have a hard time getting there because they have just really fallen out of the habit. We hope we can deepen their faith and desire as we continue teaching them.
Brother Wilcox taught Elder's Quorum for the first time Sunday in his new calling, we were super excited but bummed that we couldn't go. His wife still has only come to church once, but he has been there faithfully EVERY SINGLE Sunday since we started teaching them :)
I LOVE teaching the Nielsons because the spirit is always just SO incredibly powerful in those lessons. They have a true desire, but they work on Sundays, we are hoping as we teach them, they will want to change their work schedule so they can at least come to sacrament meeting.
Noelle is doing great, we are going to temple square with her next week for a lesson, so we are excited! :)
We started teaching the Scholes, the dad isn't really very interested but he joined us. His wife is from the Philippines, and has a desire to come back. Their 10 year old boy, Jordan, is a recent convert, and loves reading the Book of Mormon, he is a cute kid! Then they also have 4 year old Lee, he is the cutest boy ever. He is autistic, and LOVES everyone. The first time we met him, he just ran up to us and gave us hugs! It was adorable!
Now to finish off with talking about the BEST part of my week....<3 So Thursday I got a call from my old phone number in Riverton, and I was so confused why they would be calling me haha, but I answered, and it was Sister Ramos and Sister Bailey (yes the Sister Bailey who was my roommate in the MTC<3) and they were calling me to let me know that LAWRENCE GROCKETT, one of my favorite people in the entire world, was going to be going to the Jordan River temple to do baptisms for the dead Saturday evening, and that I was invited to go. I just started crying, 1, because that meant I would be able to see him, and 2, because I knew how excited he had been about the temple when I was teaching him, and when he was baptized. The next 2 days it was all I could think about and then the time finally came. Apparently they hadn't told him I was coming so I could surprise him, and so he freaked out (in a good way) and just kept saying, "Sister Love I just wanna give you a hug this stinks!" I wanted to hug him so bad :( haha
Sister Ramos and Sister Bailey told me he always talks about me and wishes I could still be there to teach him hahaha, I love that man. I know that one of the reasons I was sent to this mission was to meet and teach him, and I am so glad I had that wonderful opportunity. He kept saying how happy he was that his "original sisters" (Sister Dean and I) came and surprised him. I was just beaming the entire time, my mouth hurt so bad from continuous smiling. It was truly an incredible feeling, and I can't wait until September when I will be able to go and witness him receiving his endowments. That will be a truly wonderful day :)
Missionary work is hard, but things like what I was able to experience Saturday make it oh so worth it. This gospel is TRUE, I know it with every ounce of my being. I know it because I have asked God, and that is what we all must do. When we ask God, in faith, and with real intent, our prayers are answered. I don't think I really ever KNEW the church was true, until I decided to come on a mission. I believed it, but I didn't know until I finally read the Book of Mormon and asked God, and I am so thankful that I did that. I wish I had done it sooner, but things happen in God's timing, not my own. God's plan is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS better than ours. I know that, and I say these things, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
I love you all so so much, have a wonderful week! :)
-Sister Love
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