April 10, 2012

Helloooooo Family!

How are you all doing? LOVED seeing all the pictures of all these random new babies that I have yet to meet. Jake looks super cute, and I can tell that Al is putting my camera to good use :) And Carli looks so good! Is she staying healthy? What's the update with her?

So last pday was super crazy, as pdays always are. They're hardly ever relaxing haha, hopefully today we'll get more rest. But we had a zone activity, and we played family feud (elders vs sisters), and I told the other missionaries about how family feud runs in my blood. Needless to say, the sisters won. Surprise, surprise :) The elders are supposed to wash our cars/bikes, but it hasn't happened yet, and I doubt it will haha. It was really fun, I really like the zone that I'm in right now. Then we all went to Bahama Bucks, which is this shaved ice place that's the cool place to be at. Then some of us went mini golfing! So it was fun, and of course weird to be in jeans haha. But anyways, so, after all of that, we got back at like 3:30 and still had to clean, do laundry, all of that. We were super tired and wanted to just rest, but we technically needed to finish studies. (They have us do emails sometimes early in the morning at the family history center, and then they tell us to do studies later on in the day) Anyways, so I was like "alright, we gotta study" even though I could tell Sister Cottrell really didn't want to. Anywho, so we did it. And then, we went to the Visitor's Center, and we both had like total miracles! On phones, the very first lady I talked to accepted missionaries, and had talked with them before in Mexico and wanted that for her family. Then I had another awesome convo with a lady, who accepted missionaries, and I committed her to start praying. So, it was great. And then Sister Cottrell had a great night as well. Afterwards we were talking about it, and we just talked about how sacrifice really does bring forth blessings. When you do something you don't want to do, but you know you should do it, the Lord doesn't hold back the blessings. It's just after the trial of our faith, eh? So, there we go, lesson #35325309 learned on the mission.

Anyways, so...Pageant. Is over! Which is sad, and weird to think that the next time we'll have that many people in the VC is in November. But it was really good! Of course, exhausting. And when you're exhausted, the rollercoaster of a mission just gets even more up's and down's. But that's all part of the plan. Anyways, so, Easter Pageant was really good. For several nights, I was still kind of in this weird like "How do I be a walmart greeter?" phase, but then the very last night I think all of us as a Visitor's Center got it down. We reached our goals, which were the highest of any of the nights. And it felt like Christmas lights again, where we were exercising our faith! The last night was so  good. In my 2nd hour, I was in theatres with sister taylor. And every time a new group came in, we'd start the movie, and we would decide on how many referrals/potential referrals we wanted from that group, and we'd pray about it, and they would ALWAYS come. We always got our goal or better. We ended up with way more referrals/potential referrals than I had gotten any other night. When you exercise your faith, even if it's in the little details, the Lord doesn't hold back! At all. So cool. Then in my last hour, I was in the main room, and I just had several great convos. That's the room that has the Jerusalem display, so i get in a lot of good convos about it haha. So I got in a great convo with this girl who goes to ASU and is Muslim, and I'm going to start emailing her. The new way that we're getting referrals is great, because if they don't want missionaries, then I can just be like "Well could I just get your email, and I'd love to email with you back and forth about it?" That simple. Anyways, so I got her email. And then in the last like 10 minutes, this guy walks in, who I immediately recognize from my first Spanish class I took at BYU, my first semester. And he automatically recognized me as well, it was so weird. And so we're like "woah!" and he was there with his nonmember friend that he's in dental school with. So the friend is from Bulgaria, and doesn't know like anything about the church, but had a great experience, and we just had a solid conversation. So the friend didn't want to rush into things, but I got him all lined up to check outmormon.org, and all of that. It was just great. One of the things that I loved about Easter Pageant, is that I got to see a LOT of member missionary work in action. And it was a good inspiration! I'll tell you one. I was at the Christus, and had just ended the presentation, and I saw these two ladies sitting there, talking. They're both super cute, definitely upper class, kind of the people that you normally glaze over as being closed off to the church, ya know? Anyways, NOT the case! So, I hear one of them go "That was all SO powerful." And I was just like "I need to talk to them." And so after they get up, they go over to the desk and I ask them how they're doing, and then I tell the nonmember about mormon.org. And she's just liek "That is SO cool!" and then the member chimes in about her profile, and how she can search her key words, etc. etc. And then I chime in, and go "Yeah, if you'd like, you can chat with missionaries on there and get answers to your questions. And I'd love to email you and see what you think about it!" and she goes "I would LOVE that!" SO cool. Love it, love mormon.org, love members preparing their friends and going out on a limb. So those were some of the cool moments of Easter Pageant. It's so cool to see how it prepares people and softens their hearts, and they're all just feeling the Spirit and they realize that it's something they want in their lives!

What else...Sidenote! Guess who I mettttt at the Visitor's Center. Dad, you will be happy. I met JOE HOPKINS! Haha. As in, Mary Hopkins' dad, as in the infamous "best babysitter ever" Hopkins family that I always hear about but never knew who they were. So, he freaked out when we made the connection, and he's doing really well. The update on him: they sold their mobile home park to mary and her husband, and now are snowbirds, split between California and Idaho I think. They're doing super well, met his wife, all of that. He wanted all the updates on all of you, and he was like "i know your dad had really bad allergies, which of your brothers did as well?" hahaha he remembered the most random details. Anyways, they say hello :) Oh and he also asked if you still keep in touch with the other guy you carpooled with. Alrighty, the end.

Ok, back to what else is going on. So...after all the crazy exhaustion of Christmas lights, last night we had MIRACLES in our area! We are going to see so many prepared people get baptized, I just know it. I love seeing how the Spirit guides us! The Spirit can speak to us when we're planning, when we're in the car, when we're at the door, anything. For instance, with this one guy, Rafa, (more details below), we set a baptismal date with him last night, at a spur-of-the-moment lesson. We had met him super briefly before, because he lives with a referral, Jesus Pozos. When we met him a few weeks back, he was like "Ah you dont' want to deal with me, I'm a sinner!" and we laughed about it. Anywho, so we were planning for yesterday and I was just like "i feel like we need to visit Jesus Pozos." so we put him down. Then yesterday evening, we were in the car, and we decided to pray about where to go. Sister Cottrell thought we should  visit Jesus Pozos, and I thought either Jesus or this other guy. We looked up the other guy's address and couldn't find it on the map, and so we decided to visit Jesus. We're driving, and I can't remember where he lives. WE're making a u-turn and it just pops into my mind "405 spur" and I was like "he lives on 405 spur!". We go there, and we knock on the door several times. We can hear that people are home, but they're not answering. We knock three times, and I just got the impression that I just needed to stay there, stay put, not knock again, but stand there. And finally, after like 30 seconds, Rafa answers the door! He welcomes us right in, pulls out his Book of Mormon, says he wants to change, and we commit him to get baptized on May 5th right then and there. So cool. The Spirit will guide us!

The other new investigator we met last night was this hilarious 7th  grade girl named Rosalinda. Right before we stopped to visit a potential, we said a prayer, and I prayed specifically for new investigators, which I normally don't do. Then the potential had moved, but Rosalinda and her friends were standing right there. They go "Are you from church?" and want to talk to us. One of the friends was actually going to a different church service right then, and Rosalinda goes "i actually don't want to go anymore with you, I want to stay and talk with these missionaries" hahaha! Drama over church. So we go inside and teach Rosalinda and her little BFF. They were awesome and were asking some really good questions, then some hilarious questions like "Is it true that a peace sign is really just a broken down cross?" hahhaha. But they prayed right then and there, and said they'd be baptized. So cool!

Anyways, so there you go...the Spirit works. I don't have much time, I'll send pics next week. I love you all! The mission is crazy, but I love it, and I love all the things I'm learning. Love, Sister Fors