July 16, 2012

Hello Familia Fors...

 

Thanks for your emails and pictures! Looks like everyone is living the summer dream, to be expected. So, I feel like this week wasn't as exciting as last week. But I guess the big news is that we had our BAPTISM! Marta got baptized and it was great! I will give you details. Other than that, I guess the big news is transfers, eh? So, I'm still in Liahona 1st, but I have a new companion, Sister Noble. And we're full field again! So, Sister Noble is from Indiana, and she was at Utah State before her mission studying journalism, and she is 2 transfers out, so she just finished training. Her and Sister Cottrell just switched places in terms of areas and companions. So yeah! I won't lie, I feel like transitioning has been hard for me. I was with Sister Cottrell for 3 transfers, and we knew each other realllyy well, and she understood me really well. Sister Noble is awesome. What's interesting is that she actually realllyyy reminds me of Sister Holladay in a way, which has kind of left me wondering, "What am I supposed to learn from her? Or what lesson am I supposed to re-learn?" I dunno, you all know me and you know that I analyze way too much (still working on it!), and I let my companionships affect me a lot. Other than that, I have been so TIRED! I was sooo full of energy for the first part of my mission, and this past week I've just been exhausted. I think I hit my year mark (Thank you mom and dad for the package! It was so great!) and then I just sub-consciously decided that I was going to let my body shut down or something haha. So, I am trying to just not worry too much about being exhausted and tired and everything, and realize that it's probably just a phase, and that doesn't mean I'll be that way for the rest of my mission. The end! 

 

Ok, so, the baptism. Was great! It went really smoothly. We had a ward activity that morning, where they had a breakfast and a big water slide. So Marta actually came to that activity (and brought a big thing of rice and salsa haha), and then went home and returned for the baptism at 11:30 am. There was a good amount of members there, which was good. She was really nervous though, esp because the elder's investigator that was going to get baptized with her actually decided to get baptized 2 weeks later. So she was all nervous to be the only one. Then after she got baptized, she said that all that nervousness went away in an instant, and that she had a headache before, and that went away instantly, and she was all good! The ward has been fellowshipping her really well, and have shown her a lot of support, which makes me really happy. Funny fact...she shows up Sunday to get confirmed, and tells us that apparently her daughter who she had a falling-out with, is one of the less-active members of our ward! And they were both at church on Sunday...haha, a little bit awkward. So, we'll see what happens there. But I just love Marta. She is so full of love, and is so willing to put herself out there, and so willing to serve others. She is a great example. 

 

Oh, also about Marta...so last Monday she started having crazy doubts about her baptism, because she had to pay all of her bills this past week, and was way stressed. I was really nervous. So, on Tuesday, we decided to do a fast with her. Then, we had a lesson with her on Wednesday, and I was a little nervous. But she showed up, and she was totally fine! She acted like she was still 100% good to go on her baptism, no doubts at all. A blessing! And then, on Friday, this one member Pedro Vasquez (the one who took us to Payson with her), found out she was struggling to pay her rent, and decided to visit her and offer to pay her rent for her! What a member missionary! So, I don't know if he actually ended up helping her out, but it was so cool to see how that blessing came from our fast. Also, to end our fast, Sister Cottrell and I went and got THAI FOOD! I know, I am so spoiled on my mission. But we went to a Thai restaurant on Main Street here in mesa, and it was a great little last hurrah of our companionship. I learned a lot from Sister Cottrell, and I hope she'll be a lifelong friend of mine. 

 

What else...the Spirit continues to guide us in our work. We randomly felt like we should go visit a former, and we showed up there, and she was going through a really bad migraine! So, we were able to comfort her and get our Ward Mission Leader to come give her a blessing, and she wants to come to church this Sunday! We also ran into another former investigator, who was 2 days away from getting baptized last November. She's been going thru a really hard time, and says she feels like it's been God almost punishing her for forgetting about him, and she wants to come back to church. I'll take it! Then, last night we decided we were going to find 2 new investigators, and the Lord provided. We went to this random complex, and met this lady (who was actually the friend of a less-active). She was cleaning and I offered to help, and when she said no, I offered to pray with her family instead. She let us in, and we met her husband and started talking and they were awesome. We got on the subject of prophets, and they were asking how they can know if a prophet is called of God. We talked about it, and the guy was so awesome...before even explaining dispensations, he goes "So, a prophet is like, when the sun comes out and shines light on the whole earth, after a long period of rainstorms. Right?" and I was just like "I need to write that one down, I'm going to use that..." hahaha. Anywho, so they were great! And had really good, sincere questions. I'm excited to start teaching them more!

What else...well, so last Saturday, was Marta's baptism day. And later that afternoon, a huuuuge rainstorm came thru! We were outside for like 30 seconds, on our way to an appointment, and we were SOAKED. I'll send pictures of it next week. And we're getting out of the car, and the electricity pole across the street EXPLODES! Hahaha, like probably 50 yards away from us, it was like a blue vortex...I don't know if lightning hit it or what. And then, one of the poles like 20 feet away from us does the same! And everyone comes out going crazy because their power went out. So we ended up teaching the lesson totally drenched, in the middle of a storm. It was great.

Sorry I don't have time to send pictures this week. I love you all! Thank you for your support, and for your prayers. I promise I'll send pics next week, I know I keep saying that :) I have some good ones for you to look forward to! Love, Sister Fors