AHHHH I loved reading
all of your emails this week. I love hearing about all of the wonderful things
that are happening. I LOVE JACOB WILLIAM! He looks so precious in the pictures.
I love hearing about all of your missionary experiences. I am just tearing up
right now because I'm so happy for all of the blessings in your lives right
now. The night we started Christmas lights, Elder White gave us/the visitors center all
a special blessing. He blessed us that this Christmas would be a special one
that we wouldn't forget, and he also said that our families would experience
special and unusual blessings because of our service. So...keep your eyes out
for those blessings, because you know where they're comin from, eh? :)
hahahaha. But really, I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for your
examples.
Okayo so this week!
Well, lotss to report. First off, our area is taking off all the sudden! Well,
maybe I'm speaking too soon. But we have FIVE baptismal dates! You can read the
details in my letter to the president, but these past few days we've been
blessed to meet some really prepared people. I've been thinking a lot about how
our job is merely to harvest those that are already prepared. I think we spend
too much time with people that we love, but just aren't at the right time of
their lives yet. We got a referral from some elders for an old lady Teresa, who
we're gonna teach because "le da verguenza" to talk to the elders. So
she's awesome, and her daughters are members. She doesn't know anything..we had
to start from scratch, but she's willing to learn and already wants to get
baptized. Sister holladay is improving in her spanish and taking more
initiative.
We also set baptismal
dates with these two guys who i LOVE! We got a referral from the sisters out on
the reservation for a spanish speaker out there. We went out there, and he's a
migrant worker that lives in this trailer with his 2 best buds, and they all work
80+ hours a week and just chill in this trailer in the middle of nowhere. It's
the worst living conditions I've seen yet on my mission, but they are so happy.
Hector, the moment he walked outside of his trailer, I could just see how open
his heart was. It was weird, I could just imagine him in a shirt and tie, just
as a strong leader of the church. So I want to see that vision come true!
They're all older guys...probably in their 50's. Anywho, so we set a baptismal
date for the 24th. As of now, Christmas eve is gonna be an incredible day!
Christmas lights are gonna be tough...I don't know how we're gonna manage this
all, with only 1-2 nights in the area a week.
All things are good to
go for ANA this Saturday! She is so solid. As we say, she isn't getting
baptized because of us, she's getting baptized in spite of us hahahhaa. Just
kidding, but really..she's so solid. She cooked us dinner this past week before
her baptismal interview, and it was really fun to just talk with her about
everything. She did caretaking for a long time, adn we talked all about how she
thinks its so sad that we don't care for our older generation here in the
US...made me proud of you, mom :) So yes, this saturday at 3 pm, she will be
baptized! ANNNDDD JORGE! Will be baptized this saturday at 11 am. I'm so
excited!! It's crazy that after like 4 months, when baptisms seemed so far away
and hard to achieve, now they're almost here. So this Saturday will be a great
day.
Oh, the title of this
email is because I ate MENUDO for the first time! Ack. I've been lucky to not
really have any disgusting food on my mission, until it came to that night. We
ate menudo at a member's home, and it was her birthday so like half the branch
was there also, all watching us eat cow intestines and ankle meat. It was
groooooossss....because my throats so small I was scared to swallow it whole,
so I just had to chew it bite by bite, and then I had to hold a napkin to my
mouth to prevent me from gagging it. Hahhahaa. I'm such a wimp. It's funny,
because it seems like 1/2 of our members don't even like menudo themselves, but
they love to feed it to missionaries...it's like the big national inside joke
of Mexico.
Oh...thanksgiving! It
was good. We ate thanksgiving dinner with a few of the VC sisters and teh Whites
and some senior missionaries in a clubhouse of the temple apartments. It was
yummy, and then that night was Christmas lights! There weren't tons of people
there thanksgiving night, but it was good. Since then, I had 2 day shifts, so
only one other night, which was last night. It's different, a lot more just
referrals and top boxes, and not as much time for long conversations. But there
is such a special spirit there. You can just feel the difference in the
Visitor's Center, and I think others can too. I was happy to hear that you went
to the LA vc! I thought about how a year ago exactly we all went there as
a family...and look where I am now. And I'm glad you got to see Dave Blasucci
play, because he wasn't able to make it out here :) Anywho, I'm excited for
Christmas lights...it keeps you on your toes and it really is very spiritual.
Training continues to be
super challenging, but there are small rewarding moments. Sister Holladay has
taught me a lot, and I love it because she has a lot of the same ideas that I
did when I was a greenie, and now because we're both newbies with no experience
under our belt, we just go ahead and try them out...and they work! Sometimes!
Haha. It's been hard though, for several reasons. In the meantime, we are seeing
lots of miracles...and really those are what make it all worth it, for reals.
Anyways, I must be off. I love you all so much! Woops, forgot to include my
christmas list...maybe i'll write a snailmail about it. Love you all so much!
Have a great week! Love, Sister Fors
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