Hola,
Buenos Dias! I hope all of your week went well. From
what I have heard it seems like you have all been very busy! This last week we
went to the temple! It was lovely! I am so grateful we are able to perform the
saving ordinances for ourselves and for others! I hope all of us remain grateful
for the joy of the temple!
.
Anyway to start this week was great.
Hermana Underwood and I have made a focus on the less-actives of our branch.
Because of the contact we have made we got a special project to get updates on
some of the sisters. This week we continued on the quest for those in our own
area and those on the list! So Monday we went to see a less-active family we
didn't know and the woman that opened the door said she had lived there for a 1
year and half. I was a little shocked that no one knew for that long. It wasn't
information we loved, but it was good to be updated!
.
Tuesday we had district meeting. I taught on how to get investigators to read
the Book of Mormon. I just took it back to the basics of how are we using the
Book of Mormon to make sure we are getting them interested and giving them tools
to read it themselves. My time was cut short, but it was still good! In the
afternoon we taught Graciela. She is a part-member family and so we go over
regularly to just give love and support! She really wants her family to be part
of it, but I think she is scared to do it also. We are trying to work more with
her daughter. We hope to little by little teach her whole family! I also had
to drop one of my investigators on facebook. He was basically atheist and just
didn't think that it matters in this life if we are on the right path or not.
That he had his way of thinking and it didn't matter what others said. I was
grateful to at least plant a seed!
.
A random skill that this week I feel
I have truly acquired is the ability to to de-meat a piece of chicken gracefully
with a utensil. It may seem odd but it is true. In Hispanic culture it is very
common to put whole pieces of chicken, bone and all in their soup (sopa) or any
other meal they make. As a missionary you have to learn how to eat it with
usually only a spoon, maybe a tortilla too! So now I am able to take the meat off
a bone with just a utensil and not my fingers. The moment I truly realized it
was when we were at a members home from the English ward and as she was serving
us she said "oh I forgot to shred the chicken" and Sister Underwood and I just
thought it is ok. As I watched the Elders try and eat I realized that I now
had a skill! Not that I am very proud of it but it is a interesting skill to
have! So now you know!
.
In the evening on Tuesday we had a Relief Society
activity doing family history. It was fun to help all of the sisters create an
account and see their tree start to come to life. The Spirit of Elijah is so
real when we think about our ancestors. They are the angels around us and when
we get to know them I believe that are closer to us!
On Wednesday
we went to the temple. I remember the first time I went to the temple as a
missionary and they said that we didn't have to wear our tags. I couldn't
believe it. That badge meant a lot to me and now I just didn't wear it. This last
trip I think I truly understood why. As a missionary we have a big role upon us.
We are held to a higher law of obedience and work ethic and just many pressures
that can tend to weigh us down. As a leader of other missionaries the weight
sometimes doubles! When I entered the temple this last time I was able to just
be myself and I truly felt freed from the world, even the world of missionaries.
The temple helps us to focus on what is eternally important. The world outside
doesn't matter. I felt so refreshed from all of the work as a missionary. I was
still tired and all but I had that eternal perspective renewed! It was just
wonderful! There aren't many words that can describe the feelings of the
temple!.
.
Friday we had our lovely planning of course! With a long
dinner and a meeting that kind of messed up our night but it went
well.
.
On Saturday, because of conflicting schedules, we couldn't do
an exchange like I had wanted, so we did a Companionship study with the Sisters
from Vacaville. It was exactly what we all needed and just a good thing for all
of the Sisters to decompress and make new goals. The next thing we did was super
cool. Here is the background story! A woman in the English ward that we
eat dinner with fund raises for certain needs in Nepal. One of the women that
she works with is Maggie Doyne. She has an amazing story of being a regular 17
year old girl from New Jersey and now 10 years later owns an orphanage, school,
and women's center and is the mother of 44 children. Because of what she has
done in her life she received an award this weekend from the Dali lama. Here is
where we come in. Because she knows the Sister in the ward, the Sister threw a
fundraiser type thing for her and had her speak a little. It was a nice little
luncheon where they sold scarfs and bracelets and things for these children in
Nepal. It was lovely to hear her speak. Hermana Underwood was just waiting for
her to say "and I'm a Mormon" just like the videos on mormon.org but sadly she didn't. She knows a bit
about the Church and has a Book of Mormon, so we are hoping to have contact on
facebook. I was so grateful to see what she has done with her life and it made
me think a lot about my own! Anyway I was so grateful for the emphasis I have
had in my life, through the church, on humanitarian work! The rest of our day
was pretty average after an exciting start. We were able to have some kind of
contact with all of the Sisters on the list they had given to us. It felt so
good to get it done!
Sunday morning we reported and they were
impressed and happy to hear the reports! Our miracle yesterday was that we
finally were able to teach one of our less-actives during power hour. Right now
they are far from the church but with the little steps of meeting with us we
know they can progress. They obviously don't hate us because they let us in
sometimes, but there is a lot of work to do. We just talked about how God loves
us and how the gospel blesses families. We committed her to pray as a family to
help them all grow together so it was great!
.
All in all it was a
pretty good week. It could have been a lot better but I am sure this week we
will improve! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve a mission. I
never thought I would be here. I still don't believe it some days. I know that
it is worth every moment even if they are hard. I hope all of you are being
little missionaries also. I promise you that it is all worth it even when it is
hard or uncomfortable or out of our comfort zone because it is the work of
salvation at stake!!!! Don't forget how important it is to share! Les quiero
muchisimo! Ojala que puedan ser parte de la obra de salvacion! buenas
suerte!
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| Cornwall & Underwood - Companions |
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| The Sisters of the Fairfield Zone |
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