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| Nerf War/Zone Conference April 2016 |
I heard some chickens this week! I didn't see any.. But it's become my new mission goal to baptize a family with chickens. Totally going to do it.
Well this week was crazy! So many things happened! But check it out: have you guys looked at the iwasastranger.org thing yet? And are you being member missionaries? Did you read Doctrine and Covenants 107 and throw Seth a party? Did you feed the missionaries mashed potatoes? Do all of it! Also, we drove down Clover street the other day, so shout out to her :)
So this week!
Monday:
It was a fun Pday! We spent most of it here at the church, emailing and whatnot, and we also had a Nerf War with our zone! Hahaha that was so funny. Our zone leaders are crazy. But we love them! We had the gym all set up with chalkboards and chairs and tables flipped-over and it was super rad! I think we ended up winning.. But it was so fun :)
Tuesday:
On Tuesday we had zone meeting up in Eatontown! That was awesome! We drove up with our stellar STL's whom we love. We talked a lot about working with members and the law of sacrifice and decided as a zone we'd wake up at 6 and spend our extra half-hour doing something awesome, like reading the Book of Mormon or role-playing or something great. We went contacting on Lucy Street after and had one guy poke his head out his window and tell us he wasn't interested.. That was a little strange. But ya know! His loss! We visited a less -active, Judith, who lives way South, and that was AWESOME. After she was baptized she only came to church like three weeks and then had a super long trip to Florida and came back and just kind of fell away.. But she loves reading the Bible and is a fashion designer and we built a great relationship with her from the start! We're going back to visit on Tuesday to eat Venezuelan food and talk about Mosiah 4! We'll get her back to church for sure. What a great lady.
Wednesday:
This day we were gone pretty much all day! We had a new missionary training up in Morristown (a two hour drive). It was way fun to see my MTC friends again, and this time I got to see the Elders too! They're all doing great! They're all up North, though, I'm all alone down here. Boo. But this place is great :) We learned lots about lots! It was awesome! And also, I LEARNED HOW TO SOLVE A RUBIX CUBE. so that was super rad. That's what four hours in the car will do for ya. We volunteered at the family history center that night and I learned that we actually have a lot of work to do! The lady that runs this place was getting on my case about how our work is never done.. But it's actually true! So I did some work with some Millington ancestors, attaching files and pictures of headstones and all that good stuff. It was awesome!
Thursday:
This day we had a lesson with Argentina! Woo!! That was a miracle. She's working on becoming a citizen right now, so that's a huge process and takes a ton of time. But once she's done (hopefully at the end of this month) she said she'll have the mental capacity to come unto Christ and stuff. So we have hope! We had our studies and lunch and a TON of weekly planning, and then it was 7 pm! Wow! So we went up to Clifton and got some Mexican corn for dinner and talked to a few people. It was alright! It was time out with people and it was good. But that corn was the bomb.
Friday:
We had some good lessons with Gloria and Gerardo in the morning-ish, and then Sergio cancelled our appointment at 2 because he had a doctor's appointment. And we haven't heard from him since.. So we're not sure what happened to that guy, but we're praying for him and trying to keep calling him! But we were sitting in a parking lot by Sergio's apartment and a new investigator, Angelica, texted us and said she had an emergency and needed us! So we asked her where she was, and we took off. She told us the emergency was that she needed help translating something.. So us two little white girls with our 2 and 5 months of Spanish were going to save the day. But then she said she wasn't home and we should meet her at her house in an hour.. So we went contacting a little bit and found a nice lady from our English class! We gave her a Book of Mormon and we have an appointment later this week! On our way back to our car, we passed a woman and said "buenos tardes" (good afternoon) and she was so surprised we knew Spanish! So we stopped and talked to her on a street corner for a few minutes about how we're missionaries and what we're doing, and we got her number! We were going to visit her on Saturday, but she canceled on us.. So fingers crossed we get to see her sometime this week! She was a very nice little lady :) Anyway, then we went back to Angelica's apartment and waited in the parking lot for like 20 minutes, but she texted and said she was still 15 minutes away! And we had an appointment! So we said we'd come back tomorrow, and then we had a lovely little visit with the Aparicios, a fuerte little family. It was great! I also got a family calendar from Nana in the mail this day, it was so sweet! I'm happy to have it :)
Saturday:
So late Friday night Sister Jenkins and Keys drove down from Perth Amboy and slept at our apartment. Early Saturday morning we dropped them off at Alex's house to go to the temple with him and the branch president and another sweet lady from the ward. So Sister Keys and I had Tom's River for the day! So we went to our appointment with Angelica, and it was LOCO. She needed help translating some complaint she was filing at work, but it was so hard to understand the story she was trying to tell us! She'd talk and talk and then say "me entiendes?" and I'd say "I think so, you said...." and she'd get all frustrated and say "no. ustedes no pueden entender." (you can't understand). So I'd try again and again (Sister Keys' Spanish is alright, but she was more lost than I was) and eventually she pretty much gave up on us. And after like an hour I was understanding the story and everything (she'd told it like three times by then), but she'd decided she was just going to ask her daughter to help translate. Which is probably for the best. I understood, but I don't want to write something that isn't exactly right, and we don't need to get involved in work problems and filing complaints and things.. Anyway, then we did some How to Begin Teaching points (this message can help bring you peace, we want to help you find answers, etc.) and dove right in with the Restoration! The lesson went great, Sister Keys and I worked really well together, and she accepted our invitation to be baptized! It was a soft invite (without a date, just "when you know these things are true,..."), but there's hope! And two and a half hours later we left. And my head. It hurt so bad. Then Sister Keys and I got a cute picture by the water where Angelica lives (I'll send it in a little bit!) and headed back to pick up Sister Pace and Jenkins. After the other sisters left, Sister Pace and I knocked some doors and met a sweet lady we're going to see tomorrow! We also tried singing in the street, but there weren't a lot of people out.. So we knocked two doors before going home... and one of them belonged to a Jew. Oh my word, his face was priceless. So much fear. Poor guy. And the other was this nice guy that goes to a baptist church! Hahaha, good contacting time.
Sunday:
Sunday was lovely! Our little branch is adorable. I love them mucho. We knocked some doors after church, one of which belonged to this lady that answered the door without any pants on... HAHAHA it was too funny. So she closed the door and returned shortly thereafter with some sweats on. Good stuff. The other door belonged to Enrique, a really nice man from Mexico! He let us in and we showed a video about Christ and it was awesome! He's trying to raise his kids right and teaching them about Jesus and everything, but he doesn't have a lot of time for church and thinks all religions are good. So we talked about how lots of churches have good things, but when Christ was on the earth He established His church with His authority, and we have that on the earth again today! We're going back to see him on Sunday, that's the only day he has work off.
Sister Pace and I were talking the other day about the unique challenges of serving state-side Spanish. I think it's different from lots of other missions because of the humble situations we find people in. Lots of them work every day of the week and that makes it tough to come to church. They have little, sweet homes, and are very loving. It's different, and it's great! Our Spanish is coming along nicely (except with work complaints, apparently), and all is well over here :)
I hope everything is good at home, you're in my thoughts and prayers!
Go read the Book of Mormon!!
Remember how I said I was reading through looking for Characteristics of Christ? Well I've almost finished Helaman today and it's amazing. The Book of Mormon is incredible. I thought I had a testimony of it before my mission, but I didn't know anything. It's such a beautiful book, with so much we can learn. I love the Book of Mormon so much. It's just the best!!
Todo de mi amorrrrr,
Hermana Millington
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