This week: my companions/their families. Our kind, hardworking and beautiful Hermana Johnson went home for personal mental health reasons. This surprised all of us but she knows it is what God has asked of her and she has the faith to follow it. We love her and are grateful for the time spent together. Second, Hermana Doyle. Fun fact: Hermana Doyle and I were friends on Instagram and messaged before our missions. She got here two months before me and we hoped and prayed we would be companions. We were SO EXCITED to be together and guess what, we are staying together here in Little River! Lastly, I am grateful for the Doyle familia. Her family sent Hermana Doyle a package this week that included letters from her family members for ME! (I'm a sucker for handwritten letters) Familia Doyle, if you read my blog I love you all so much and am SOOO grateful for your thoughtful gifts and amazing daughter/sister, Hermana Doyle, I love her very much!
This week was SO great! My investigator from Columbia decided she wants to be baptized ASAP and passed her baptismal interview Thursday night! I met her in Old Town and we have the same Catholic background and just clicked. I love her so much and am excited for her baptism! I also had my first baptism this week and... I got to meet and listen to Elder Neil L. Anderson from the quorum of the 12 apostles, the presiding bishop of the church, Elder Causse, and two members of the quorum of the 70, Elder Neilsen and Elder Calderwood. We weren't notified until 3 days before. It was AMAZING! They came and spoke to my whole mission and guess who was asked to say the closing prayer at this conference? Good ol' Hermana Tapia and in Spanish! After my prayer they all kindly thanked me. I also got to shake all of their hands! I really cannot miss an opportunity to testify to you all that this is the exact same church Christ established on the earth. Just like he had his 12 apostles then, He still has them now, to lead and guide His church and His people. Just being in the same room as these men that are called of God. The spirit testified to me that they truly have been called of God. We took a panoramic mission picture with all of them and I was told it would be emailed to us in the near future so stay tuned in the next few weeks for that. I was on the very front row (I am finally seeing the blessings of being short) right behind President, his wife, & Elder Anderson.
Also here is something crazy: This whole transfer I have been stressing to my companions the importance of working with the youth (when I was baptized the youth program made a huge impact in my conversion, I have a big testimony on this) and the importance of contacting referrals immediately and being organized with them. (I went a little overboard and made a notebook of every single referral we had received this transfer and all their information) These two things really stuck out to me this transfer and I wasn't sure why... it was not my own wisdom but things I felt strongly about every time I prayed for guidance. Elder Anderson decided to shared with us yesterday these two main things:
1. The importance and blessings of working with the youth.Hermana Doyle looked turned over to me in that moment in shock. "Woah...How did you know?!" She whispered. Hahaha! The truth is I had NO IDEA. I just followed that feeling and did what I knew I needed to do. Sometimes it is really that simple! Just praying for guidance, following it and doing what you already know you need to do. Those two simple things will make a difference in your life. I love that Heavenly Father allows us to all receive personal revelation, that is evidence of his love for us.
2. Taking referrals seriously and contacting them immediately.
Missionary fact: Once a week (usually Fridays) we have to spend hours planning and scheduling appointments for the following week. It is called weekly planning. It can be exhausting and sometimes is hard to enjoy but is very important and helps us stay organized and hardworking! I am very grateful for it so Hermana Doyle and I were thinking of ways to make it more enjoyable. Soooo, this week we made some pumpkin-spice-weekly-plan-cakes to spice things up ;) (The Lili puns don't stop, not even as a missionary) Hahaha! Point is, no matter what we have to do, if we have positive attitudes and try to enjoy them we will be happier people! Christ was so optimistic and so we should strive to be that way as well.
- Praying at J's baptism and feeling the spirit so strongly
- Eating my literal favorite hispanic pastry in the world, alfajores. (Only the original Peruvian recipe, like this one here.)
- Praying during the conference with Elder Anderson and hearing him talk about his wife (I cried, I'm not going to lie. He loves her so much it's literally beautiful.)
- Organizing my Colombian investigator's baptism.
- Having our investigator gasp after our lesson of the restoration and saying, "Oh my gosh... it makes so much sense now!" (He is pure gold)
- The many hugs and kisses of the amazing elderly women in my ward that I ADORE.
Hermana Tapia
No comments:
Post a Comment