To my gorgeous, beautiful, loving family!! I hope that you are all super happy! I am more than happy on
this beautiful Monday!
Well let’s get these pictures explained.
Some of my favorite kiddos!
In white is Hermana Paty. She is a single adult in the ward but
she is too funny. We always have a good time and she’s just a special
person.
One of our less active members has Australian shepherds and they
had puppies! They are about a month old and how cute are they?!
This week we got to teach Hermano Jose about temple marriage and
the endowment. I LOVE TEACHING ABOUT THE TEMPLE. I love this family to pieces
and Jose is like the brother I never had. I worry about him and just hope and
pray that he stays faithful in the gospel. I’m not sure who he’ll marry, but
one day I’ll be in his temple sealing too! The ward is having a temple trip on
Febuary 7th, and he and his mom say that they’ll be going!
The rough news is, Hermana Elsa’s fistula opened up again and
she might need a 5th surgery. She was a little down this week and we showed up
one day unplanned because we felt like we should and we caught them in the act
of taking the Christmas tree down. We helped, branch by branch, and she just
lit up. I love serving where we can!!
We ate one day with the Fernandez family this week and we
practiced with them how they could share the gospel with friends, family, or
neighbors. They work so much in the ward and they are like the star family. Rocio received her mission call this week and
her brother is waiting for his. They will have two missionaries at the same
time! Their dad reminds me so much of you dad! It’s been hard for them to share with others,
so we starting practicing. I felt such a strong and special spirit as I watched
them practice how to share a family proclamation with a neighbor. First, I
thought about you guys, how we really should practice so that it doesn’t make
us nervous or feel weird. It would be so fun to practice with you guys and then
actually do it! Then, I thought about my future family, I want to teach my kids
from the time they’re little to share and testify and invite. We just have to
practice to get rid of the nerves and then we can all be missionaries!
On Sunday, we watched Rocio open her mission call (here your
call arrives with the bishop). We entered a classroom during the 3rd hour with
her family and she opened her call. We were all teared up and she’s going to
Merida! It reminded me so much of when I opened my call. What we do as
missionaries is so special - nothing compares with it. Ahh, I just got all
teared up and her parents too and her siblings and it was just really special.
I know we’re in the truth and another ward has come to feel like home!
This week as we visited lots of families - members and
nonmembers - I was really struck by how important humility is in this life,
especially in marriage. They are so many family problems and divorces and so
many times it’s just a lack of humility. We have to say sorry, we have to
listen, we have to be willing to work together and improve. We have to accept
what the Lord wants for us. We have to admit when we’re wrong. I know I’m not
married or anything, but this was just a strong impression for me this week. If
we are going to have successful families and marriages, we have to be humble. I
know I’m still a little prideful, but the mission has honestly humbled me so
much. I was really loving the hymns this week and we sang in the elders´
baptism, and lots of people told me “I have a gift.” At night afterward, I was thinking a lot about
music and I know it’s cheesy but I remembered Mrs. Esperson from 7th grade that
asked me if I was really sure about quitting choir. My pride has really
prohibited me from developing something that is a gift from Heavenly Father. I
never pursued it because other people were better. Looking back on it, I was,
and sometimes still am, so prideful! I really want to work with music after my
mission so that my home can be blessed by the Spirit music brings. I just want
my home to be filled with hymns and piano music, and yeah, just the Spirit
almost all the time!
The best part of the whole week was Hermana Judith! I told y’all
I think two weeks ago that I felt like we should visit her and well then we
lost her for about a week and a half. This week we found her again and we
taught the Restoration, and it was just incredible. She understood it all and
was asking lots of questions, and ahh, I wish I could have taken a picture of
her face. As we said the first vision, she said it gave her goose bumps and
just felt like it was true. She kept saying, “I’ve just never heard this before.
I just want to learn more.” Last time we
left Doctrine and Covenants 20:37 with her and asked her to really think about
how she could prepare for baptism. She told us that she had the scripture on
her desk at work and had been thinking about it a lot. She said it was a big
decision and that she needed to make lots of changes, but that it was so
important. She’s been telling everyone in her family that she listening to us. It just reminds me of teaching Hermano Oscar.
Saturday night we went looking for her and found her looking pretty rough
saying they were in the middle of family problems but that she would see us on
Sunday. We were a little discouraged Sunday morning thinking she wasn’t going
to make it to church. I was just praying and praying that if we were teaching
someone that was prepared and ready that they would make it to church, if he
wanted us to keep working with someone, I needed to see them at church. At
10:40 Hermana Judith shows up! We were so suprised that in spite of everything
she went to church! She loved it and had the same face when we taught her. She
said she felt really good and wanting to keep coming every week. The bishop
talked about the church of Jesus Christ in the principles class and invited her
to pray about if what we taught is the truth. She says, “Well, actually, I’ve
already started praying and asking!” Ahhh!!
She wants to bring her grandkids to church and she’s just a doll! We are so
blessed and excited to be working with her!
I
love you guys so much! I hope that you are happy and doing what’s right and
most importantly representing Jesus Christ. Until next week!
No comments:
Post a Comment