The craziest week of our little lives.......
Monday night we had the weekly 'Noche de Hogar' with the
Pe-Al family. It's always a good time. We talked about the
temple, Hermano Mo brought pizza, we played Marco Polo. Haha, one
thing that was particularly beautiful- we were doing kind of a
question and answer session about the temple when someone asked about
how it is kept clean. I shared my experiences of having the
opportunity to clean the temple and Hermano Al asked, "Is there
any way to get involved with cleaning the church? I mean, it's our
church building and I just want to help. Tell me a day and I'll be
there." I don't know if it sounds as sweet on email as it was, but
these people! They are just so humble, so full of incredible desires
to do good. I want to be like them.
Tuesday. Im sort of starting this day by day thing because it's just
easier and that way I can actually remember specific things instead of
trying to cram 4,000 miracles into an email on Monday. Pero, Bueno. We
saw lots of beautiful things today. Highlights would be.. N AND
E. Okay, so I don't know if I've talked much about these two but
N's a member and E isn't and so ever since my first day here
in Chesterfield we've taught them off and on, nothing too substantial-
BUT then this past week they just waltz into church in the freezing
cold and snowiness and it was the biggest surprise of EVER and now
they are just like- different. With this new desire to progress and
everything. They fed us fried chicken and spaghetti with crema y queso
#rockandroll and I feel that we're here to stay! We also had a word of
wisdom lesson with Jo and Jo and Es and it was so cute.
Jo el Papa was just like, okay. I'm done drinking coffee- just like
that. And it was incredible to see his monster faith and this new
light I'm His eyes. His countenance now matches that of his son and it
was just so clear to me in that moment that finding the truth, making
it an active part of our life, changes us! He continues to push
forward and he's just so prepared. He's planning on being baptized
this Friday the 29 of January, so pray for him!
Wednesday was the day of all miracles!! In three short words..
EL'S GETTING BAPTIZEDDD! The day at long long last has
arrived. It's crazy, because she's wanted to baptized basically ever
since I arrived here three months ago, but it just like didn't happen
for one reason or another. But, the Lord's timing is perfect. On
Sunday after church we filled out the papers online for her marriage
certificate, tried on the miracle wedding dress, her novio L even
came and it was beautiful! They were talking about maybe going to the
court to get the license on the 27th, three days before the wedding
and we were like eek that's really cutting it close to her January
29th date, but if that's the only day you can get off then, bueno. We
know it'll work out! So that's where we were when we went to have a
short lesson with her on Tuesday. She was like- "I totally forgot but
L got tomorrow off work for a doctors appointment, so we can just
go get the license after!" Uh, okay! When God wants you married and
baptized, He gets you married and baptized. The only problem was that
tomorrow, Wednesday, was the all mission conference broadcasted via
satellite to every single mission in the world.. Right at the time
they were to be able to go to court. We were trying to find a member
to translate for them, to help them be able to go themselves when
President Wilson came over. We chatted about it for a minute and he
said, "Just between us three, I think going to court's a lot more
important than watching live.." And that was exactly what our hearts
had been waiting to hear. So they called us when they were ready and
we up and left the broadcast and I felt so blessed to be able to truly
represent the Savior in that moment. After a few failed attempts at
finding the courthouse, we finally made it, they received their
license and I guess the rest will be history! We even had a lesson
with L a few nights later and it ruled! It's been incredible to
see how the spirit has softened his heart in preparation for their
spiritual journey together. We have no doubt that this really is just
the beginning. God is so so so good.
Also, a little bit of a twist to the story.. We got a call last night
from E and she's really concerned because she wants her mom to
be at her wedding, but she just thought about the possibility of her
coming like two days ago.. Not enough in advance to get work off to
come up. So now she wants to push back her wedding and baptism date..
The next available date is the end of February, which is in a really
long time. And she's already waited so long. We're seeing what can be
done, but just pray that everything can work out! Heavenly Father has
pulled so many beautiful strings to help her be able to make this
important covenant and it's been so beautiful to see his hand. We
still have lots of faith.
We also had a neat neat lesson with this beautiful member named
Hermana G. We just got her part of the area, so it was our first
time visiting her cute home. We were greeted by her little daughter
who, when we asked what she learned at school, gave us the most
hilarious Spanish rendition of the story of Martin Luther King's "I
had a dream" speech and we knew from that moment it was going to be a
good time. But only when the little girl started bearing us her
testimony did we realize just how spiritual it was going to be.
Hermana G was baptized just a few years ago, but is married to an
inactive life long member that doesn't really support her in going to
church. She told us just how hard it is to get the little kids ready
for church, that they're trouble makers, but that she wants so badly
to be active. She reminded me so much of my mom. We just testified of
the blessings of the temple and of Heavenly Father's understanding of
her and her needs. There was the sweetest moment where the spirit
prompted me to tell a little bit of my story, and it just hit me
really hard as I shared it- that the reason I could go to the temple,
the reason I am here on a mission is because of my sweet mother who
didn't give up. That even though it was hard, she took me to church
each week and taught me the gospel through the way that she lived. And
that is exactly what she can do for her girls. Tears abounded and
there was just such a tender spiritual connection. Lots of the things
that happen on the mission are basically indescribable, but yes. I am
grateful.
If y'all haven't been following the news as we most definitely
haven't, I'm sure you haven't heard of the monster snow storm that
took the state of Virginia by.. storm.. This weekend but, if you have,
the rumors are true. This Friday our life very quickly turned into a
SNOWY DREAM LAND and let me just tell you- so many adventures. Most
from the comfort of our own kitchen table, but, yes! Haha. It all
started out with a trip to the mission home! Y'all know the mission
home, aka the colonial house card in the game of LIFE but a real life
thing, aka Heaven on Earth. President and Sister Wilson invited us and
another companionship of sisters over to discuss some of the upcoming
meetings to be held and it was such a treat. We all grabbed our forks
and ate from a community bowl of fruit and then were visited at the
window bird feeder by cardinals. CARDINALS against the backdrop of
snow just beginning to fall and also chickadees and it was just one of
those moments when you just sit back and you're like wow life is so
beautiful and happy and Gods creations! Then as we drove home it got
CRAZY. And it didn't stop til yesterday. We had lots of adventures,
snow well above our knees, it was hard though because we live 15
minutes out of our proselyting area (driving on the freeway) so it was
impossible to get to our area to work. We put our thinking caps on and
came up with a beautiful idea.. Telephone lessons! And then, I thought
back to my group call days in elementary school and we figured out how
to do conference calls on our little dinosaur of a phone! That being
said, we invited members and we all got to learn and feel of the
spirit from the comfort of our own homes! Hahah. It was a really big
miracle to have been able to meet with all of our investigators even
with the snow and to help prepare them for their baptisms! Life is
really good here in Chesterfield. We evaded a transfer call, Hermana
Draper and I are serving another transfer together and I will die
here! Blessings for days. I'm so grateful to be a missionary. We have
a Heavenly Father who cares about us individually and knows us so
perfectly. We have a Savior who has paid the price for each of our
sins. My testimony of the atonement has definitely grown. I am so
grateful to be able to learn of Him and to testify of His love every
day.
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