March 27, 2012

Hello family!

It sounds like everywhere you guys are is warmer than Mesa. It's warm here, but 80 degrees in Michigan...what is this? You Michiganers lucked out big time. Also, Eric looks so SKIIINNYYYY! Holy smokes. That's crazy. Way to go! Sounds like everyone is doing well. I love imagining Al and Rod hanging out with a bunch of Aussies. And I love hearing about the missionary work in Tujunga. Sounds like all is well!

So this past week was a good one. I feel very grateful for the area that I'm in, and for the companion that I have. I can't stress to you enough how much I love the ward I'm in. Hermano Laguna (our WML) is so solid. We talk to him at least once a day. Sometimes I think he calls just to say hi, haha. Every time we leave, he'll always chase after us with one more thing to say ("Esperen! Hermanas esperen!"). He has so much zeal for the work, and it's something that the whole ward has noticed. I feel very grateful. And really I just want BAPTISMS because the ward deserves it so much! I just feel like we need to labor more in their behalf, because they're already sacrificing so much. I've been praying for just more faith to have more baptisms, and I know it can happen.

So this past week we did a lot of community service! So our # of lessons, etc., was really low, but I was grateful that we got so many opportunities to serve. We called up the Bishop's wife and asked her if we could come over and do some service for them. She said we were going to work in their plants. We got there on Friday and she told us "My husband mowed the lawn, so it chopped off all the weeds. So, instead of pulling weeds, you're going to dye my hair!" So we got on our plastic gloves and died Hermana Orduno's hair. I wish I had a picture. Sometimes we struggle to know what service we can do, because we don't have big muscles or know how to operate tools, but finally, we found something we can contribute! I had never died hair before, but Sister Cottrell showed me how it was done. After, we had some good tacos for lunch, then we washed their dog (Who happens to be a quarter wolf...no lie. Scariest thing of my life.) So, we did that service. Then on Saturday morning, we helped them clean the chapel. And then we were doing weekly planning that day, and Hno Laguna called us up (there he goes again...) telling us that his neighbors were moving and needed help. So we pulled on the jeans again and helped them move. So it was a fun week! We also did a lot of visits with members, which I was grateful for. It's an interesting dilemma for missionaries, because they tell us to serve and to get to know the members and all of that, and when we do that, we get less teaching done. So then you kind of have this guilt complex like "Maybe we shouldn't be doing this!" but really what it is is a long-term investment. The relationships we're building with the members will pay off in the end in the lives of our investigators, or so we hope.

What else...well below you can read what I wrote to the President. Ramiro continues to be the investigator that I am just hoping and praying for! He's just the nicest guy, with a heart of gold. But that's the problem...he's too happy! He doesn't see a need to get baptized, because he's already happy! What do we do?! No lie, he even said that in his prayer at the end of the lesson...he said "Gracias por las hermanas. Ya estoy feliz, pero...quiero ser mas feliz?" Hahaha. We had some good lessons when we found out a lot of his doubts. He's hesitant because he doesn't know what his brothers will think of him getting baptized. And he said he knows he's going to be baptized, it's just a matter of when. We're trying to get him to shoot for April 7th. But he's leaving for Mexico in May to travel around with his band (he plays the trombone), and he said that they perform for a lot of people that are in the narcotrafficking business, so he's nervous about being in that environment. He's never done drugs, never had a problem with chastity, he's the most pure 25 year old guy I've ever met. So we'll see. But he's progressed a lot, so I'm pretty confident he'll get baptized this month...I hope!

What else...the VC continues to go well. Oh yeah! Okay, so I think I've mentioned this to you before. How some days I'll wake up, and we'll be heading to the VC, and I just am not feeling it, and I just feel discouraged, who knows what. And those are always the days that huge VC miracles occur! Well, such was the case. I was on the phones, and I had this referral for this girl named Angela. It was a referral from October, that the number was bad, and so I threw it out. Then the member came back in, and gave me the right number...a milagrito in and of itself. Anyways, so I call her up, and I'm like "Hey, I'm calling on behalf of Steve." and she goes "Oh my gosh HI!". Steve is teh member that referred her, and they had only briefly met in the gym, and got in a convo, and he invited her to meet with missionaries (see, mom, your random convos can pay off!) Anyways, so I start talking with her, and she tells me how she just moved, and she's been getting over an addiction to opiates I think. Anyways, and she just tells me about how her conversation with Steve was just like an inspired convo, adn she's been looking for a way to turn to God, she just doesn't know where. And she would tell me, she was liek "I just feel like, HUNGRY, you know? Like, I need something more!" I was like, freaking out in the phone room at this point. And then she goes "And even right now, talking to you, I feel like I'm on the way to finding what I need. Like, I don't even know why, but I feel like I want to cry right now!" Anyways, so I just lined up missionaries to come over, and I told her that I would follow up with her on the phone and over email, and she was liek "Yes, yes, yes!" and then I committed her to baptism! And she goes, "Yes! That is exactly what I want!" I could've set a date for her right then and there, I just didn't know when the elders in her area would be free :) Haha, I probably shouldve. Anyways, so, people are PREPARED! You just gotta find them. So I emailed her that day, and then she emailed me back with some questions. So I'm so excited! It'll be hard with easter pageant, we'll be so busy we won't be able to follow up as much, but hopefully it'll turn out okay.

There was another cool experience I had in the VC yesterday. I started the Joseph Smith movie for a family, and I asked them why they came in, and they said, "Well, we've been inactive for 5 years, and last night, we were talking about it, and we decided we're going to consider coming back to church. So this was the first step for us to try it out." No pressure, right? But after Joseph Smith, the mom was just crying and crying, then I took them through God's Plan. After, we were all talking, and they decided they were all going to watch General Conference this weekend together. And the mom was going to write down her doubts, etc., beforehand. Pretty cool, no? 

Okay so here's the lowdown about Easter Pageant. The dress rehearsals are tonight, so we're going to start our special shift rotation thing tonight, and it'll go on for 2 weeks. There won't be performances Sunday or Monday, but every other day, yes. It's the same as Christmas lights, where we spend an hour at each different part of the VC, and it'll be one spanish comp with one english comp. There are 2 or 3 nights when we're not on shift, so we'll actually be outside with other non-VC sisters those nights, inviting people in and getting referrals. During the actual pageant, which is an hour long, the center shuts down and we can go outside and watch it. This Easter Pageant, we're trying to not make it about numbers. They don't want us pressuring, none of that, which I think is very good. So with the study schedule that Sis Cottrell has (2 hrs of comp study a day, lang study, etc) plus the pageant, plus getting to sleep an hour later, we'll have only about 3 hours in the area a day, and no nights. So, our area will be in hibernation for a bit. But we're hoping to do a lot of little treats, notes, etc for our investigators, and get members to do the same. So we'll see. It'll be crazy, but I'm not too worried about it, because it's basically Christmas lights, but only 1/3 as long, and sans bed bugs. So it'll be good. I'm excited to see all the miracles that come from it, and to see how it makes me come closer to the Savior. I'm also really excited for General Conference! I'm such a missionary.

What else...I was thinknig this morning, that maybe I should give you a rundown of my daily schedule. So, we wake up at 6:30, but a lot of days, we wake up a little before 6, and go play sports with our zone. We'll play soccer, volleyball, or basketball. It's really fun, and I'm glad that it's getting me back into soccer. Then we'll do personal study, we're supposed to study for 1/2 an hour in the BOM, and then we're doing a study plan that gets us to read all of PMG in like 14 weeks or something. Then we have 2 hours of comp study because Sis Cottrell is new. So we share what we learned, all of that, and then we'll watch some of the PMG DVD's, and do some practice. Then we'll do language study, which is normally me helping Sister Cottrell practice things for the VC, or asking questions, or with grammar, stuff like that. Then we'll eat lunch. I eat a lot of Lean Cuisines on the mish haha. Then we'll either be in the area, or go to the VC. In the VC, we'll get a lot of study, a lot of phonecalling, and a lot of snowbirds. And a lot of cool miracles! Then we'll eat with a member. Sometimes it's just us 2, or sometimes they'll feed us along with the elders. Then we got lessons. Which is a lot of coordinating with members, a lot of running from one place to the next, and a lot of trying to control chatty Latinos. It feels like we're constantly late to lessons, and we don't really know how to control it. It seems like it's normally about 40 minutes of small chat (esp if a member is with us), and then like 10 minutes of gospel discussion. I'm still teaching the majority of the lesson, but Sister Cottrell is getting more and more comfortable. Then, we get home between 9-9:30, and we plan, and we'll update the area book, and then we'll write in our journals or tidy up or whatever. Then we get to bed! Sister Cottrell gets pretty tired so sometimes we're in bed before 10:30, sometimes right at 10:30. Then we do it all over again! So that is my day, a little day in the life of Hermana Fors.
Anyways, there you go, a long letter for you. Hope you all have a great week! Thanks for your examples! Love, Sister Fors