Familia querida!
Muchisisisisisisisimas gracias por sus emails. They were great. And funny. And I always appreciate them.
Apparently this is the hottest, longest summer Kansas has had in a while. And naturally I'm in 1 of the 2 areas that doesn't have full-time car ha. I have never sweated so much in my entire life. Swimming is against missionary rules.... but ya might as well! We come home WET enough! So I guess Kansas got Utah's heat. And humidity.
Two of our investigators who weren't really progressing very much are now progressing! We're excited for them. But we've had a lot of downsizing in our teaching pool as of late so we're trying to build it back up.
But what made our weekend?? . . . . . .
A. was baptized and confirmed!!!!!
Many came to her baptism to show her support. And she was given 2 blessings yesterday in which she was told that the scriptures were going to be her biggest ally basically. She and I are having a little competition right now. She's trying to catch up to me in the BoM but I can't let her catch up..... I'm in Jacob 5 and she's in like 2 Nephi 24 or something....
We love her so much. She was so excited for her baptism. She's so ready. And she just gets it. I've met many converts out here who joined the church at 17 and 18 and who served missions and are very faithful. Good age to get 'em at haha. She loves missionary work, though. I hope she'll serve some day! And the ward loves her.
So transfers are this week... Sister V and I agree we have no idea what's coming down the pike. We can see all options happening. We both kinda feel like we're being double-transferred out, but at the same time I might stay and be the next companion of Sister. B's trainee. She's a rock, I hear! I've met her a few times and I like her a lot. But who knows what'll happen.
Well, loves, my time's up. I wish you all a WONDERFUL week.
Keep a stiff uppah lip and a fleshy heart.
Read Isaiah 58.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Julio 25
Sister V and I are learning ever-more about becoming better teachers and more effective servants. We got some new people we're teaching we're excited about. And we've decided we love working with less active members. They're fun to get to know and teach and love. I stole someone's cigarettes the other day... And one of our investigators accidentally sent us a text she meant to send her boyfriend.... THAT must've been embarrassing lol. I won't say what it said haha. I get to play the piano for the ward choir here. :) We heart-attacked the G family's van.... I'm done with the Isaiah chapters.... hahaha jk. No actually Jesus the Christ helps explain the background of Isaiah so that helped me a lot. The Book of Mormon game will be played in my future home EVERY family home evening.... hahaha it's my favorite game. Ever. Prerequisite for my husband... he has to like it..... hahaha.
But know that I am enjoying the work. This work is unlike any other. This work is true. This work is the Lord's. And closeness to Him lies in the Primary answers. :)
But know that I am enjoying the work. This work is unlike any other. This work is true. This work is the Lord's. And closeness to Him lies in the Primary answers. :)
Julio diez y ocho
Howdy, howdy, howdy~
This week was............ CRAZY.
I think the best way to summarize is by bullet pointing it...
-C, a man getting his PhD in theology, interrogated us outside of the downtown library. He asked us if we believe in the "7 levels of the Holy Spirit" (something I believe he 'found' on his own), he thought we'd never heard of the Hebrew names and background for God and Jesus (things I only know because of reading Jesus the Christ) and when we bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and gave him one, he told us he was going to pick it apart and study and scrutinize it like no other and frankly I think he was almost bugged that we were completely confident that it'd hold up under his scrutiny. Wonder if we'll ever see him again...
-W is still progressing. He had an interview with President last week and it went very well. We took him to the VC and got him better acquainted with the modern-day prophets and apostles and he loved it. But then in our next appt he admitted that part of his income is.... illegal. And very dangerous. And when we brought it up in ward council yesterday there were members of the council who'd had experience with this stuff on their missions and helped us realize the situation..... and long story short we're gonna turn him over to the elders for a while to test a couple things.
-V should be able to come to church this next week. We called his work again and the branch manager told us he won't be on the schedule next Sunday. He told us in a past lesson he and "D" were interested in each other and getting married. She isn't religious at all, however, and the next time we met with him he informed us vehemently that he no longer felt that way because he wants a "woman in God" that he can share his faith with.
-A is still good to go. Her mom is sick so that's putting a damper on our teaching her, but she's scheduled to be baptized Aug 6! We're trying to get her more of a support system, however.
-I had multiple experiences in just one day where members were stand-off-ish and somewhat cold and the decision came of whether I would act the same way, or just avoid the situation, or..... go right on loving them and being warm no matter what they did. I was lucky enough to have it turn out well. All of them eventually responded positively and broke the shell. :)
-We had 2 investigators at church yesterday! W and D. Ooooooooh my goooooooooooosh. So during sacrament meeting I was just praying the whole time that D would feel something good, something special. The talks were thankfully good and the second hour was great too--everyone LOVES gospel principles we've found (it's cuz the missionaries teach it hehehehe jk) but the lesson was on Eternal Families and D is mother of 7! Sis. V taught it and it was good. Theeeeeeeeeeen came Relief Society. . . . . . After Spanish and English split, we moved to another room and there was an elderly woman sitting behind D. Now D is not a member... she's never been taught modesty, blah blah blah she's wearing a strapless dress and her bra straps are showing. But WHO CARES. SHE'S THERE and she didn't have anything else to wear. So she sits down and the lady behind her snaps her bra! Like pulls it back and snaps it! (I'm thinking WHO DOES THAT????) Now as if that wasn't enough to make her want to get away, the RS teacher also gives a lesson on Eternal Families (wrong lesson) and starts hitting her book and almost yelling about how hard she worked to make sure all her kids had the same dad and how hard marriage is (this whole time her expression is that she's gonna either pop a blood vessel or choke the nearest person). Then she goes on and talks about how in our homes we teach things like modesty and looks straight at D. Then afterward as we're trying to repair some of the damage with D and introduce her to Sister S (VERY nice, knowledgeable, bishop's wife), the RS teacher comes up again and is all smiles as she forcefully informs D that she "can't wait until [she, D] knows what it's like to be a mother in Zion." (Wha?? Please! Just go away! You've scared her enough!) But no, she detains D and says, "Let me share with you an experience." She tells a story (the long version) of when she found her son in the middle of the night at a gang member's house solely by revelation. At the end she grabs D's elbow and exclaims that "as a mother of seven children YOU NEED THAT!! And THAT is my testimony and I SHARE it with you!" By then Sister V and I would've been pleased if we could melt into the carpet. Sister V went one way with Sis. S. and I went the other with D and I just put my arm around her and gave the expression of what I was feeling to the wall.... (wide eyes basically--a "What just happened" expression) and she saw it and chuckled and all I could say was, "We're normal, I promise!" Then I got her to her member ride and she went home. I just hope and pray she'll consider coming back. By the end of the 2nd hour she was good and told the senior elder she'd come back... but after RS who knows...
-It was a no-car-week so it's always interesting the people you meet on the bus. . . . . .
Well, I hope that everyone is doing peachily.
Love you all!
This week was............ CRAZY.
I think the best way to summarize is by bullet pointing it...
-C, a man getting his PhD in theology, interrogated us outside of the downtown library. He asked us if we believe in the "7 levels of the Holy Spirit" (something I believe he 'found' on his own), he thought we'd never heard of the Hebrew names and background for God and Jesus (things I only know because of reading Jesus the Christ) and when we bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and gave him one, he told us he was going to pick it apart and study and scrutinize it like no other and frankly I think he was almost bugged that we were completely confident that it'd hold up under his scrutiny. Wonder if we'll ever see him again...
-W is still progressing. He had an interview with President last week and it went very well. We took him to the VC and got him better acquainted with the modern-day prophets and apostles and he loved it. But then in our next appt he admitted that part of his income is.... illegal. And very dangerous. And when we brought it up in ward council yesterday there were members of the council who'd had experience with this stuff on their missions and helped us realize the situation..... and long story short we're gonna turn him over to the elders for a while to test a couple things.
-V should be able to come to church this next week. We called his work again and the branch manager told us he won't be on the schedule next Sunday. He told us in a past lesson he and "D" were interested in each other and getting married. She isn't religious at all, however, and the next time we met with him he informed us vehemently that he no longer felt that way because he wants a "woman in God" that he can share his faith with.
-A is still good to go. Her mom is sick so that's putting a damper on our teaching her, but she's scheduled to be baptized Aug 6! We're trying to get her more of a support system, however.
-I had multiple experiences in just one day where members were stand-off-ish and somewhat cold and the decision came of whether I would act the same way, or just avoid the situation, or..... go right on loving them and being warm no matter what they did. I was lucky enough to have it turn out well. All of them eventually responded positively and broke the shell. :)
-We had 2 investigators at church yesterday! W and D. Ooooooooh my goooooooooooosh. So during sacrament meeting I was just praying the whole time that D would feel something good, something special. The talks were thankfully good and the second hour was great too--everyone LOVES gospel principles we've found (it's cuz the missionaries teach it hehehehe jk) but the lesson was on Eternal Families and D is mother of 7! Sis. V taught it and it was good. Theeeeeeeeeeen came Relief Society. . . . . . After Spanish and English split, we moved to another room and there was an elderly woman sitting behind D. Now D is not a member... she's never been taught modesty, blah blah blah she's wearing a strapless dress and her bra straps are showing. But WHO CARES. SHE'S THERE and she didn't have anything else to wear. So she sits down and the lady behind her snaps her bra! Like pulls it back and snaps it! (I'm thinking WHO DOES THAT????) Now as if that wasn't enough to make her want to get away, the RS teacher also gives a lesson on Eternal Families (wrong lesson) and starts hitting her book and almost yelling about how hard she worked to make sure all her kids had the same dad and how hard marriage is (this whole time her expression is that she's gonna either pop a blood vessel or choke the nearest person). Then she goes on and talks about how in our homes we teach things like modesty and looks straight at D. Then afterward as we're trying to repair some of the damage with D and introduce her to Sister S (VERY nice, knowledgeable, bishop's wife), the RS teacher comes up again and is all smiles as she forcefully informs D that she "can't wait until [she, D] knows what it's like to be a mother in Zion." (Wha?? Please! Just go away! You've scared her enough!) But no, she detains D and says, "Let me share with you an experience." She tells a story (the long version) of when she found her son in the middle of the night at a gang member's house solely by revelation. At the end she grabs D's elbow and exclaims that "as a mother of seven children YOU NEED THAT!! And THAT is my testimony and I SHARE it with you!" By then Sister V and I would've been pleased if we could melt into the carpet. Sister V went one way with Sis. S. and I went the other with D and I just put my arm around her and gave the expression of what I was feeling to the wall.... (wide eyes basically--a "What just happened" expression) and she saw it and chuckled and all I could say was, "We're normal, I promise!" Then I got her to her member ride and she went home. I just hope and pray she'll consider coming back. By the end of the 2nd hour she was good and told the senior elder she'd come back... but after RS who knows...
-It was a no-car-week so it's always interesting the people you meet on the bus. . . . . .
Well, I hope that everyone is doing peachily.
Love you all!
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