Thanks for all the
emails! Sounds like you're doing good. CRAZY that Dave Blasucci will be doing
one of the concerts...I'm pretty sure I'll be there that night. I saw the
schedule of concerts, and didn't even realize he was one of them. That'll be
fun!
Anyways...so this week.
Alright, well I think it was last Tuesday, it was a really memorable day. So
I'm in the VC and within 3 minutes of us opening the doors that morning, this
lady walks in and I take her to the exhibit. She had said someone had told her
a picture in there looked like her daughter. I felt like I should start the
music in there while she was walking around, so I went and started it. Then she
came to me with tears in her eyes and said taht it was her daughter playing the
cello in the song on the CD...she had been contracted out for the CD we were
using. Anyways, and then she starts talking about some of the issues her
daughter is going through right now, and then she tells me that her own husband
died 2 months ago. I don't know what it was, but she started crying and I just flat
out started crying with her! And then she had to go...and we had this awesome
moment in the exhibit, and 2 minutes later she was gone. So, then...about 40
minutes later i'm at the front greet, and this lady walks in and I just
immediately walk up to her, and I go "how's your day going?" and she
just flat out breaks down in tears! And so I sit with her, and we end up
talking for a while too, and she tells me how she's going through an ugly ugly
divorce, and she had just come from the courtroom, where they told her she
wouldn't have custody over her 3 year old daughter. Anyways, so I talk with her
for a long time. Then about an hour later, I go up to this guy and he begins to
tell me about how he's going thruogh the process of a divorce and also getting
rebaptized, after 20 years of inactivity. So I talk with him for a long
time and he cries to me also. And then later that day I went up to a girl about
my age in the exhibit, and I could tell she was having a hard time. (She was
just staring at this one picture of Christ with a kid in jeans on the beach.
Chances are, I've found, if someone is looking at that picture for a long time,
they're going through a really hard time...haha) Anyways, started talking with
her and she starts crying to me about how she's lost her temple recommend for
some things and all of that. Anyways, so basically, it was like my 6 hour shift
was completely filled with people going thruogh incredibly hard things. And I
feel like I just realized that day that I felt like that was a big part of my
individual purpose as a missionary...helping those that are mourning. I've
found that it's with those visitors that I feel the Spirit guiding my words the
most. I've also found that often the people with whom I have the most memorable
visits with are those I'm immediately drawn to...like the lady that walked in
the front greet, sister tejada later told me that it just looked like me and
that lady were drawn to eachother like magnets. Craziness. Don't know if any of
taht makes sense to any of you, but it was definitely a day in which I realized
that each of us has a very specific purpose, and our happiness will come from
when we magnify that individual purpose.
Alright, so...other
miracle of the week. So Sister Tejada and I on Saturday stopped by to visit
Jorge. He's the 17 yr old guy who we tracted out then saw at Walmart. So we get
there, and he was just driving up! He's in the ROTC and just came back from
like 8 hours of intense training. BUt he told us he had been waiting for us, so
we sat down on the front porch and started talking. We started talking about
the BOok of Mormon. And he told us how he really wants to learn more about the
church just because he sees how all of the LDS people he knows live better
lives overall, he feels like. And he says he has a lot more respect for his LDS
friends. Anyways, so he's liek "I want to learn but I just get so
confused...there's so much information and I don't understandit all." So
we read the intro to the BOM with him and start talking to him about how he can
find out if it's true. Then he asks Sister Tejada how she made the change in
her life, because she was his same age. Then she bore this awesome testimony
about how she fuond out that the Book of Mormon was true. And so we told him he
could only find out through study and prayer. And he was liek "well how do
I pray?" so we showed him how, the little instructions in a pamphlet. And
then we invited him to pray, and he just started right then and there...99% of
investigators are really hesitant to do so. So he starts giving this INCREDIBLE
prayer! seriuosly, it was so beautiful...asking God for guidance and
everything. Afterwards, we were just silent. And he goes "Woah, I just got
the chills." And then he starts crying, and he was still in his ROTC
uniform and he was like "i don't know why I'm doing this, I'm not supposed
to be crying in uniform." And we just sat there for a while, letting him
feel that Spirit. And he was just like "I'm taking this as a hint taht I
definitely need to go to church next Sunday." hahahhaa. And then he was
liek "That was so weird, it was like I wasn't even the one saying those words...something
was guiding me right off the bat to say those things." CRAZINESS! It was
incredible how quickly the Spirit hit him, and I know it's because he has such
an open, open heart. Anyways, it was definitely one of the best lessons I've
had. But...heartbreaker: we have to give him to the English elders :( For some
reason, all of our awesome investigators are outside of our area or like
English! Ahhh! Anyways, so yes, he prefers English, so they get to have him.
Anyways, so yes...Jorge is awesome, so great. And I will be praying for him,
even if I won't be the one teaching him.
Ok sooooo after that
incredible lesson with Jorge, we headed over to the Moran's home for a bday
party/dinner for their daughter. We were there talking to their nonmember family
members when I looked down and saw we had a missed call from the mission
office. I showed SIster Tejada and she goes "You're training."
Soooo...there you have it folks. I called back and President Ellsworth answered
and proceeded to tell me that I will be training a new sister this transfer.
!!! Bah! So, since then, I have been all over the place thinking about how in
the world these next 2 transfers will go. I'll probably meet her tonight. She's
from Utah, and doesn't know much Spanish I don't think. So Sis Tejada's getting
transferred out and is gonna be Sister Lamb's comp now! Anyways, so yeah. I
think President Ellsworth wants to try out to see if a missionary can train
after 12 weeks liek the program intends...hence why I am here, training after so
so so little time. I still feel really really new, and what's funny is sister
tejada and I hardly even used the training program...because of time, we
probably only did like a third of it. So now I have to teach it to this girl,
and also teach her spanish, and also try to do all these things myself! Hahaha.
Basically, I don't know what to expect. I'm excited, because I know that
sometimes I work best under pressure, but I know this is gonna be really hard
to know how to do all these things at once. So...this is a plea for you to pray
for me haha. I really am excited, but I also am so nervous. We will
see...starts tomorrow!
What else....mmm
halloween! So yesterday was halloween. Sis Tejada and I got pizza for lunch,
then the VC was totally dead when we were there in the afternoon. There I said
goodbye to some of the awesome sisters that are leaving. Then at 5:30 we had a
halloween social! because street contacting is highly discouraged on halloween,
for obvious reasons haha. So all the VC sisters got together at the white's
house and had dinner, carved pumpkins, and watched the Emma Smith movie. It was
really fun! And I did dress up for Halloween :) Sister Tejada and I dressed up
as twins haha...we had similar skirt, shirt, sweater going on. I'll send pics of
all the festivities later. So that was fun! I felt like a normal person, which
always throws me off.
So yes...there are the
highlights. I had some really really great experiences this past week, which
I'm so grateful for. Sister Tejada and I ended really strong I felt like, which
I'm also grateful for. I'm excited for the challenges ahead. The thing that
comforts me the most is knowing that this assignment comes from the
Lord...perhaps President Ellsworth doesn't know me and all my weaknesses
perfectly, but the Lord does...and He's the one that extended the call, so
that's comforting to me. I love you all so much! I love being a missionary so
much...I love that I get to be in this area for 3 more months and that christmas
lights and all that are coming up soon in the VC. Lots of fun things to look
forward to! Love, Sister Fors
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