 |
| With Maria at Philadelphia Temple open house 7-24-2016 |
 |
| Norma 7-21-2016 |
So here's the news, folks:
I'M LEAVING TOM'S RIVER. AAAAAAH I am so sad :( but I am so excited
for the adventure before me! I'm going up to Dover, which is the
largest area in the mission! It's where my MTC companion, Sister
Davis, served for two transfers. And it's actually been closed to
hermanas for the last transfer, so there's no food or anything in the
apartment. So...that'll be fun! But I've heard there are lots of
Hispanics, and lots of Hondurians! I am so excited! And my companion
will be Sister Troconis! She's a native Spanish speaker (I don't
remember where she's from), but she was actually called to serve in
English! So I never thought she would be my companion! But I've met
her a few times, and she is SO cute. I think we're going to get along
really well:) and my Spanish is totally going to improve! Yay! Spanish
all the time!
So anyway. Crazy. I never thought i would actually leave! I never
wanted to! And I only got one transfer with Sister Smith! But this
transfer was just so good. It'll go down in history as the dream
transfer for sure. We had so much fun and I learned so much.
So today I'll be packing and saying goodbye! Plus we have a zone
activity this afternoon, so we're in a little bit of a time crunch.
But it's okay! Well get it all done and all figured out! But yeah, so
I don't have a ton of time to write. But I got a feeling at the
beginning of this week that was like "treat this week like it's your
last," so I've been trying to work extra hard :) I'm so glad I did! So
a lot happened this week, but I just wanted to write about one
experience we had Saturday night.
So Saturday was my last day of real work here in T-Riv. We worked
really hard and saw lots of people! We were taken out to lunch and
dinner, actually, which was super sweet and really kind of our little
members. I love this branch so much. Anyway, after a really sketchy
Philippino dinner with a less-active, we went to see Manuel and
Yolanda Hernandez. They are the humble little family we've been
seeing Saturday nights. So this time we taught about faith and
repentance, and that went really well! And as we left, they gave us
two bananas each. Oh man. I wish they would stop giving us stuff. They
don't have anything to give! Anyway, they are just too good to us. And
then, as we were walking out, Hermana Laura was in the kitchen. We
stopped to hug her, and without saying anything she handed us a loaf
of challah (some kind of Jew sabbath bread). Please stop giving us
things! Anyway, sister Smith and I walked out, and we're feeling
pretty humbled and so loved by these people. Then we drove to another
appointment that ended up falling through, but the sky was so pretty
we didn't even care. We just drove and reveled in the beauty of
everything. We were listening to pretty music and thinking about how
crazy it was how much love these people have. It was actually super
overwhelming. As I was driving, we were passing a bunch of houses, and
the thought that came to me was that Heavenly Father loves every
single person in every single house we were passing. Jesus Christ died
for them. And they might not even know it! So that's why I'm here.
They don't know about the joy, peace, and fulfillment that comes from
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I was so filled with love for these people
that I've never even met! I just want to go tell all of them about
Christ and His love!! Long-story-short, we ended up sitting in the car
at our apartment complex and just crying for about half an hour. We
were just totally overwhelmed with the love of these people and of our
Heavenly Father.mAnyway, we sat in the car and talked about how I
always say I'm from Idaho but my heart is from Mexico, but how that's
totally not true. Hispanics have the purest, kindest hearts. It's my
life goal to have the heart of a Hispanic. They are the most
hard-working and the most giving people I've ever known. On Friday we
were walking the streets inviting people to our English class, and we
stopped and talked to a lady with a couple little girls. One was about
four years old, and she was eating sunflower seeds. Without any
prompting or anything, she reached her little hand out to us with two
tiny sunflower seeds in it. She smiled up at us and we each took one
seed and ate it. She looked so pleased to be giving what she had. I'm
getting fed so much which is totally bad, but it's so wonderful. These
people are just so full of love and they want to give all they can.
Most of them don't have a lot, but they give anyway.
So i decided that the members here don't need us at all. But I learned
that I needed them way more than I ever realized. I'm so thankful to
be here on this mission, meeting these people and having these
experiences. Heavenly Father is so good to me. And He knows how great
it's going to be in my next area! I just have to trust Him :)
No comments:
Post a Comment