febrero 23

Hola familia~

This email has about 476 things to contain..... we'll see how many we can fit in in the time alotted.....

First of all, yes, I got transferred.
:( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(
I did NOT want to leave JC. AT ALL. Teaching THREE families, plus individuals, and on my last teaching night in that area, we committed the Ks for baptism on Mar 5. And I cried. And they cried. But I was transferred to Riverview, which means I'm in the Spanish-speaking companionship at the Independence VC and our area is the Riverview ward in Kansas City, MO. So we (Sis. N. and I) set up the Ks and the Ws (WML family) coming to the VC on Saturday morning, which they did. We were SO happy to see each other. It was so neat to take them through the VC, which I had tried hard to familiarize myself with on Friday to be ready for them. They are so sweet. They remembered that I LOVE NUTS and so they made me cookies with tons of nuts in them and brought them to me. :) They were able to watch the Joseph Smith movie, listen to Special Witnesses of Christ testimonies, go through God's Plan for His Family (Y'all need to go to Temple Square this week and check everything out so you know what I'm talking about... even though Temple Square has a lot more stuff than we do). And Pres. Van Komen came into the VC on Friday with an elder (And his family) who was going home and I talked to him and he said to do whatever I could to get back to JC for the Ks' baptism. I was already planning on it, but that really helped to have permission straight from president, which I would have had to get via the zone leaders via the assistants, which I still have to do.. but at least I know I already have it. :) So The Ws are picking me up and the Ks are driving me back from the baptism. I couldn't believe they would be so willing to do that, much less OFFER before I asked. I look forward to it SO MUCH and I will write them a letter today. (Wednesday is now my P-day btw)

It was so hard to leave. I was only there 2 transfers, but I finally felt like I knew exactly what needed to be done in the area, we finally had the work up and going strong, knew exactly how to work with the ward and stake and branch........... BUT the Lord had other things in mind. And after all, it's HIS work. Not mine.
So the new area is...... SO DIFFERENT. I am struggling with having to be at the VC every day for 6 hours and only having like 5 hours in my area each day... on a GOOD day. And we're extremely limited in miles. And all the surrounding areas give us their Spanish referrals so all of the current investigators (none of which are progressing a ton) are not even in our area! I wish we could just be out there the whole day with unlimited miles hahaha. But we can't. So we do the best we can. And honestly, being at the VC is a neat experience. There's a very unique spirit there. We look across the street to the Community of Christ's "temple" (I call it the seashell) and I hear it's neat inside.... but extremely hollow. Interesting how when you lose the ordinances that Christ instituted..... you lose almost everything. You lose the gravity and the fulfillment and the purpose.
Working in the VC you also have some veeeeeeeeeeerry interesting experiences. ugh. Some very neat. Some very..... I-am-so-uncomfortable-I-can't-see-straight.
To give you a taste of what Kansas City, MO is like...... here are some happenings of the past week:
-I was escorted to the bathroom by a cop.
-A drunk came up and talked a lot about.... pretty much nonsense.... told me to pray for him.... I said I would.... I think it's a good thing I can't remember what he said to me....
-I get a LOT more Spanish practice here! A guy told us his life story last night. In Spanish. My head was spinning when we got to our dinner appointment. Which was with the elders. Oh yeah, there are a set of elder in the Riv too. They're awesome. One's from Sandy. Elder N.
-I had a very strong prompting last night to knock on a certain door. They lived in a scary part of town so I don't blame them for not answering their door, but I left a Plan of Salvation pamphlet there with a note and our number and names and pray that they'll call or we'll make contact somehow.
-Yesterday we were trying to contact people on the ward list (inactives, PMFs, etc.) and there's a little part of downtown KC that's a little ritzier than most. We weren't able to contact either of the people, but it's funny how the Lord provides for His missionaries. They were apartment buildings where you needed a card or code or call thing to get in or all of the above and we had none of the above.... but somehow through a series of events we got into both of the buildings. I have a feeling that a lot of things happen for us that don't happen for the general population simply because we don't LOOK like the general population. We get MANY kinds of looks and stares here, but among them are definitely curious looks and stares. It's amazing what the Gospel does, how it changes people. We act very differently. We were walking down Prospect the other day and we couldn't avoid walking through a group of men and when they try and stare you down, you just look em straight in the eye and say, "Hi! How're you doing?"
-We walked into a house where a referral lives and her mother was sitting on the couch braiding her other daughter's hair with hardly ANYTHING on and we were just thinking, "It's a GOOD THING that WE contacted this referral instead of the elders!"

Well, it's interesting here. And Sis D. is GREAT. And we both keep wondering why in the world we were so lucky to be born in the circumstances we were. Thankfull for the Gospel.
Well, my time is totally gone!
Hope you had a good week.