Hi Familia!
Thanks for the emails, the letters, the packages, the whole shebang. You are all wonderfullll! Well things are going well and exciting here in Mesita. A rollercoaster, but what else is new? Christmas lights are really fun. Sorry last week's email was so short. But hey, good news...I get to skype with you on Christmas day! For 40 minutes. Woohoooo! I'm excited that you'll all be there together on Christmas (as far as I know), so I'm excited to see what the little kiddo's look like. So I will have breakfast that morning, then church for 1 hour at 11 am, and then after that I can skype. When's best for you? Let me know. Also, as far as Christmas list goes...a few more things would be TOPS...I'm always looking for more tops. Even if they're modest when they're layered with a shade shirt, that's totally fine. Maybe some tights could also be nice? Or leggings to wear under skirts? I don't know. My mind is drawing a blank otherwise. Oh...maybe like pens, pencils, sharpies, those are always nice. Stationery? Be creative!
Anyways, other than that. So...this week also had it's fair dose of "distractions" if you will...this transfer has proved interesting in that aspect. We moved back into our apartment on Wednesday, and Thursday morning I woke up and my neck was covered with a crazy rash/bites. We didn't know if it was bed bugs or what, so we had to go to the doctor. Then sister holladay had a fever, and so we had to stay home and rest. The whole Christmas lights schedule has made us exhausted, and all very prone to getting sick. Anyways, so she rested and Sister Ellsworth said I could rest too because I didn't sleep that well the night before. Then Friday Sister HOlladay woke up covered in a rash/bites, and we went to the VC and we were just exhausted. We ended up getting sent home from the VC to sleep for 2 hours, and we slept really well. I felt a lot better after that, but then this morning I woke up with a cold. Anyways, with the schedule it's really interesting...because we're supposed to sleep 11:30-7:30, but then sometimes we have to wake up earlier, or we can go to bed earlier, etc etc, and so it's made it really weird to know how to be "exactly obedient" with that. VC sisters have more flexibility, especially at Christmas lights. Anyways, so it's been a weird past few days...I've been like napping more and all that stuff, which throws me off haha. I had an interview with Elder White on Saturday, and he told me that I looked way exhausted and needed to not work myself so hard I get sick. So yes, it's been interesting...I'm not sure what the lesson is in all of this. I'm trying to be obedient, but then with Christmas lights and getting sick and all of that, there's a lot of exceptions/different rules/learning how to balance. It's funny to see how thrown off I get by having just the slightest dose of autonomy...hahaha makes me think that I'll probably be pretty awkward after the mission haha.
Anyways, so that's been funny. But it's all good, it keeps things exciting. It's funny how missions always throw curveballs! Anyways, so...what to report. Good things! We've had tons of prospects for baptisms, way more baptismal dates set than we did before in this area. But church continues to be an issue! So, we're teachign this one older lady, Teresa. Who's awesome! And she totally has desires to learn and all that. She's older, probably in her 70s. Anyways, but we always thought it was curious because she like would never remember the things we taught her in the previous lesson, and she wouldn't show up for lessons and she'd disappear on the weekends instead of going to church. We talked to her daughters about it, and basically it sounds like she probably has some mild form of Alzheimer's or something...not really but kind of. Basically, she just flat out forgets about all of our lessons/church/etc...hence why she doesn't show up! Anyways, so it's missionaries versus Alzheimers, and we are determined to win.
On Saturday, after a long day of sleeping and resting and feeling sick and scratchy, we had a great lesson with Javier...the dad of a less active guy. The Medina family came with us, and the lesson was great...probably the strongest spirit Sister Holladay and I have had in any of our lessons. We set a date for December 31st! Brother Medina is the 2nd counseler in the branch presidency, and he is awesome...he just teaches like half the lesson for us. We are SO grateful, because our Spanish is limited, and I think the members realize that and take pity on us haha. So, unfortunately Javier didn't show up for church the next day, but we still have high hopes. He already recognizes teh spirit...he told us how he feels it when he goes to church with his son. So, good stuff!
As for Christmas lights, they're great! Really fun...lots of people coming in, and there's just a good spirit here in the VC. It's way more referral-based now than during the slower times of the VC. We're suppsoed to try to keep our interactions under 5 minutes long. It's really fun...every night we're with a different companion, and set goals for that night..how many PMRs and Top Boxes we want to get. It's fun to work with different sisters and learn from them each night. And goal setting is so much fun in the VC.. it's just awesome to see how the Lord provides. Elder White told us on Friday at a prep meeting that he felt like if we all prayed for more top boxes, that the Lord would be willing to bring those people to the VC. So that night, our top boxes totally spiked up...they went from like 10-15 a night to like 30-40 a night, and they've stayed that way. That's been really cool. It's cool to see the people that are just prepared to learn more. Yesterday I took a group of like 15 teenagers through Gods Plan, and all were members except for 1. I gave them time to fill out cards after, and I walked out the room and they stayed in there for like 5 minutes. Then they all walked out 1 by 1, and each of the members had referred a different friend, and at the very end the nonmember walked out and topboxed...saying he wanted to learn more! It was awesome. Also met a lady who was super into family history, and said she didn't know what it was that compelled her to be interested in it, and she accepted to meet with missionaries. Just lots of people from all different walks of life. Met some people from like 12 miles away from St Josephs! That was fun. Anyways, so it's good stuff, and it'll get even more exciting once school gets out and tons of people start coming in.
Ahh so what spiritual thought do I have for you all. I've been thinking a lot about faith. I think for me it's been easier to have faith in the VC than in the area, and that's something I want to change. I completely see how faith works. When you set a goal with faith, the Lord provides the way. Faith is just the way that you can tune into part of the Lord's power and use it for his purposes, according to His will. Anyways, so we all need more faith...it really can move mountains. As missionaries, I feel like we use the word "miracle" a lot, but it's because we see them all the time, and when you expect miracles, they come. Faith is almost like addictive...once you exercise your faith, you just want to exercise it more and more. Anyways...so, if you ever wonder why we always make such a big deal of faith, it's because it WORKS! Okay, well I lvoe you all. Good luck with finals, work, christmas preparation, all that. I'm excited to skype with you in a few short weeks! Have a great week, love you lots! Love Sister Fors
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