April 2, 2012

Helloooooo family!

First off, CONGRATULATIONS on Carli! Woohoo! So glad you're all doing well. I can't wait to see pictures! 
Well, Easter Pageant is in full swing, General Conference was awesome, and the rollercoaster of a mission continues! Sister Cottrell and I were thinking about it last night, how on a mission, you just have like 20 life experiences packed into each day. Some of the things that happen, in "normal life", we'd be talking about for weeks, but here on the mission, things are constantly just go-go-go, and you learn to just roll with the punches. Haha, like last night, I was on phones in the VC, and Sister Cottrell and I are both talking to some people that aren't "fully there" (we get a looott of those on phones, esp. later at night), and then I start talking to the guy she was talking with (because he was literally throwing up while on the phone with her hahaha), and so I start talking with him and he proceeds to tell me that he has a loaded gun next to him, and he's thinking about killing himself! What the smoke! Haha, so Sister Cottrell runs to get someone who can help me out, and I have to keep him on the phone, and try to convince him to call a suicide hotline. Oh my goodness. That's not the first time that's happened to a sister, one sister actually had that happen to her and she heard a gunshot on the other line! Crazy! Anyways, I don't know why I chose to start my letter with that story. Moral of the story...crazy things happen on the mission. And I'm only in Mesa, Arizona, as tame as it can get. 

So how was this week. Again, a rollercoaster, but I feel like I'm learning to embrace it. I've come to see that with all the up's and down's, you're totally fine as long as you have the Spirit as your constant companion. So, this week, we had Visitor's center basically every night, some days during the day, then we have 3 1/2 to 4 hours of study a day, plus we had a Zone Development Meeting, plus General Conference, so we ended up with about 5ish hours working in our area total this week. So we had a grand total of ONE lesson! Woohoo! But it's all good. It's funny, I've spent the large majority of my mission doing that much study each day, so I'm kind of used to it. And I know that once Easter Pageant is over, the Lord will provide. 

Soooo what to report. Well, Easter Pageant is great! It's different from Christmas lights. People generally just come into the VC really briefly, and don't linger for too long...but this coming week, a lot more people will be at the pageant, so hopefully that will change. And then at 8 pm, the center closes and we all either get stuff done inside, or we go outside to watch the pageant. The pageant is really good, it has great music and some cool dances. I love that there really is just such a spirit whenever something is testifying of the Savior. There are a lot of snowbirds that come out to see it, and it's crazy because you can tell that they feel the Spirit, but they almost just don't recognize it. They leave the pageant, and they're in awe, but they don't realize the magnitude of what they're feeling. We had one lady tell us "You have a product, and you know how to sell it!" hahaha. We were just like, "Thank you?" I love the pageant though. It's just like the perfect spring evening, everyone is there, and we all just get to bask in the Spirit for an hour. It's just great. We're trying to not be as "pushy" this time around, so sometimes it feels like we just end up being like Walmart greeters or something, so that's a fine balance to find. Anyways, so it's good stuff! And this week will be really crazy, the attendance wasn't as high this first week, but I'm excited to see all that happens this coming week.

What else, what else. So, General Conference! So good, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. It was interesting to see how I learned just what I needed to learn. The Lord teaches us line upon line, so I learned the exact lessons that I need, to hold me through til the next time. But it was SO cool to see just how specifically the Lord can answer our prayers. I had several really specific questions that I wanted answers to, and it's funny how quickly the Lord can provide answers. For me,  I felt like I learned a lot about creating a foundation of faith, in both the hard times and the easy times. I also learned a lot about learning to "let go", and to move forward and to forgive yourself and to forgive others. That has been a big lesson for me to learn on the mission, I feel like. I also learned a lot about teaching with love, and teaching by example. I also felt like I learned a lot about sacrifice, and how sacrifice is a law that all of us need to come to understand to be happy in the Gospel. So...those were some of Sister Fors's learning moments...what were yours, family?! Also, I must say, I think it was Elder Rasband's talk? On Sunday morning, that just made me think a LOT about little Carli that was just born. Because of just how recent her birth was, that talk was one of the ones that touched me the most, and I hope that it was the same for all of you :) Anyways, so RIGHT after that talk, I look down and we have a missed call from a former investigator, Veronica. She speaks English, but her husband speaks Spanish. She calls us and goes "I'm here at the church, where is everyone?!" and we were like "nooo! conference!". And it was crazy, the day before, I was texting all of our investigators to invite them to conference, and I got the feeling that I should invite her. So I wrote up the text, but then I didn't hit send, and saved it as a draft, and forgot about it. Never postpone a prompting, eh? Because there she was, wanting to come to church! So in the middle of the morning session, we frantically hunted down someone that could give her a ride over there. There is this solid guy that is our stake exec secretary, who hunted down a ride for her. So she and her daughter came, and enjoyed the last 45 minutes of conference, and I think they really liked it. So good! Also, that same stake exec secretary, on Saturday, he told us that during the session, he kept getting prompted like a hundred times that he needed to invite his neighbor to meet with missionaries. So after the session, he pulled us over, and we made a game plan for how to teach his neighbors. They're in the elders' area, but he wanted us to kind of start them off at the Visitor's Center. So, last night, both the families came to the VC and we took them through God's Plan and the Christus! So good. The member is just like a solid member missionary. Two keys to being a good member missionary: LOVE and CONFIDENCE. The member can be super bold, because he does it with love, and because he has complete confidence that this gospel will bless the lives of his friends. So, there you go family...have love and confidence, and you can share the gospel with anyone. Anyways, so there you have it. Our investigators are still going well, I know that some of them are really prepared, and so we're trying to get them there! 

Okay, I love you all. I'll send pics next week when I've taken a few more of Easter Pageant. Thank you so much for your great examples and all you do for me. I was thinking about that during conference, that I feel like all the blessings in my life are just one proof that the emphasis we put on families is really for a reason. I am who I am because of my family! Okay, love you all, have a great week, HAPPY EASTER! Love, Hermana Fors