Large Plates
A busy week. Facebook finding. Empanadas, arepas, and reggatón. Teaching the law of chastity in adventure pants and chacos. Exchanges. Powerful lessons and a mountain of miracles at church.
Tuesday was honestly just such a good day. We're really starting to figure out Facebook finding. When we follow the spirit and use the most effective ways of finding, we seriously see so much success. Technology & social media work is such a blessing. It's so easy to find the people who need our message. It takes all day to knock enough doors to find 1 person who is interested in the gospel. It takes 1 hour to find 20 people who are ready to hear the message of the restored gospel. I don't know how to explain how thrilling that is. The gathering of Israel is real and it's happening so fast. I'm so thankful to be such an active part of it.
We also had a member meal for dinner and this sweet little old lady made us empanadas which were super yummy of course.
Right after that, we went over to our best friend Carmen's house! It was one of the best experiences of my mission. (See small plates haha) she also made us arepas and they were very very tasty. We even made tuna ones and I liked them very much. You should all be proud of me for eating and enjoying tuna haha. Also when we left her apartment we heard someone blasting reggatón music. So basically that was the most stereotypical "Spanish missionary in Florida" night I've experienced haha. Empanadas, arepas an hour later, and loud reggatón in the distance.
A different day, our friend Fernando came to the volleyball activity at the church one night and he had a ton of questions for us. Hermana Morris was talking with someone else, cause that's normally how these activities go, so he was just drilling me with all the questions. He wanted to learn more about the church so he Googled it and came across a bunch of AntiMormon stuff. So basically I answered a bunch of questions about polygamy, and then singlehandedly taught Him the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity lessons there in the church gym. Hermana Morris came over a bit later and he still had questions, so we talked a lot about the Book of Mormon & also answered his questions about missions cause he was a bit confused about why we do this whole thing haha. It went well though. It's kinda funny cause we taught everything while wearing our volleyball clothes. (Aka a t shirt, my adventure pants (if you know you know) and my chacos )
We also had exchanges this week! There's not much to say about them other than me and Sister Oto got to sleep until our normal wake up time while our companions had to wake up early to drive to a service activity. Also we played pickle ball for our exercise which was fun. We ended exchanges early so they could be together for a service project and we could be together for our lessons.
We taught one of our best friends Wendy that night and it went so so good! We brought a member along with us, and we love this member. She was converted to the church a long time ago and now she teaches Sunday school. She's incredibly smart and super sweet and she knew how to answer our friends questions perfectly. That's one of the best lessons we've ever had.
We also stopped by Elizabeth's house out of the blue and wow wow wow I just love her. We chatted for a bit and she said she's been reading from the Book of Mormon! She said its been hard to read much cause she has a 2 year old and he's a handful. So we read part of 1 Nephi 1 with her and it went super well. Her daughter also came over to us to say hi! She's 9 and she was really shy, but she warmed up really quick! She speaks both Spanish and English which is so awesome. Before we left, she ran over and gave us big hugs :)
And Sunday was amazing!! We held a free English class at the church right before sacrament meeting. It was fun to teach, and then most of them came to church after! Wendy also came with her mom, son, and friend!! She's such a miracle.
In this ward, it's very rare to have investigators come to church. Everyone works on Sunday for the most part. And those who don't, still flake out most of the time. So having these 4 people there was incredible. But that's not all. We ward share with some Elders, and combined, we brought 22 new people to church!!! I don't know how to explain how mind blowing that is. For the past month, we've had somewhere from 0 to 3 people in church every week, most of the time it's 0. So to have 22?! This ward caught on fire. All the members are so excited to help out and so kind and inviting to those we brought.
Also it was the primary program and it was super awesome because the kids all speak English and Spanish, so they sang in both languages, and had sign language to go along with it. I don't care if my future husband speaks Spanish. I'm teaching my kids Spanish haha.
The relief society lesson was perfect for Wendy, it answered a lot of the questions she had asked the day before. Her mom also seemed apprehensive at first, but made a point of coming up to be after class and thanking us for giving her the chance to come to church. She said everything was just so beautiful.
This week has been a week full of miracles and its making me feel like I never want to go home. I love the people we're teaching and I love the members we work with and I love my companion and my district. Missions are the best thing ever.
P.s. I have been informed that my last email seemed kind of down-in-the-dumps. That was not my intention nor was that how I was feeling. We did a good job at laughing at all of our misfortune. Next time I have a week like that I'll be sure to include more "hahas" throughout the email ;)
Small Plates
Carmen's miracle.
Carmen!! I seriously love her so much. She's been progressing really well this last month and we've been praying for her to be able to come to church. It's pretty much impossible for her to have Sundays free (or any day, as a matter of fact) because she is a recent immigrant and doesn't have as many workers rights, which means her boss can schedule her for every waking hour of her life and not have any consequences. It's super sad. She works in housekeeping at a hotel. We've asked if she can change her schedule, or have an hour break to come to church or anything. And she has had no luck.
We've been praying all the time that she can come to church. Every time I prayed about this I thought to myself "I honestly have no idea what He's even going to do. She's stuck in this situation and if she wants to keep her job, which she needs if she wants to eat and pay rent, she has to do what they tell her to. There's no way around it." But the important thing is we kept praying. And she kept praying.
And our loving Heavenly Father heard us. She got her workers license. She's looking for a new job right now, and we know she'll find one. She's an incredible person and such a hard worker. It has broken my heart to see her so tired, and to see how easily they take advantage of her because of her status. This is going to be a huge weight lifted off of her shoulders. I don't know how to describe how much joy I felt when she told us.
If I had to work as hard as I have for the last month, just to receive this miracle, I would do it 1000 times again. Just to help this one person find friendship, and find God and learn how to ask Him for help, and see His hand so obviously in her life. There's no doubt in my mind that I would do it again.
And the best part is, we've seen so much more come from our labors. Mini miracles happen all day every day and it's such a pleasure to be a part of this work. We've helped so many people take time steps closer to the covenant path. We've planted more seeds than we even know.
God's hand really is in His work. We see it everywhere we go. Nothing is coincidence, and He's guiding each individual to the people they need to know and the places they need to be. He knows you and loves you infinitely and personally.
- my district on the roof of the bishops storehouse
- also yes we got Coldstone and yes we're excited about it
- I found a green sprinkle in my ice cream. This isn't relevant for most of you but those of you who work at Coldstone will know: if there's a stray sprinkle in an ice cream, its ALWAYS green for some reason
- service at Icon Park!
- another picture from service! They did "giving machines" and raised a ton of money for local charities :)
- the huge tree at icon park. Also we got to hand out those light up snowflake wands to the kids and we felt like Disney princesses the whole time.
P.S. bonus points go to whoever can guess what I got at Coldstone haha. If you know me well you'll get it right first try;)
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