Folks. This week was loco.
Tuesday was pretty chill actually, we had district Meeting and then
went on exchanges with Sister Allen and Mora from Jersey City. It was
fun! We also took Elder Spencer and Samson home to West New York and e
Spencer told us all kinds of transfer gossip. Haha! But we'll see what
happens Sunday night! Our exchange was good, Sister Mora and I had a
good time. She's ancient in the mission (haha) and she's had some
crazy experiences. But something she said really stood out to me: we're
all here for a different purpose. Our purpose as missionaries is the
same, yes, but as individuals we have people, experiences, or places
we've come here for specifically. Anyway, I'm figuring that out :)
it's a process! We had fun teaching and finding together and we went
to the RS activity that night and learned how to make bailadas!
They're a typical food from Honduras. So yummy. ðŸ‡ðŸ‡³
Wednesday we did service in the morning at the nature park and it was
so refreshing and nice :) that afternoon we spent a long time walking
around accidentally.. we went to try to find some less-active members
and it took us a long time to walk there and then we walked all over
the place. Haha! But we found these nice girls that were in high
school and got their numbers so we could come back and see them
sometime. They seemed cool! We saw a couple other people that day as
well, and my feet hurt pretty bad. It was sweet :)
Friday was actually pretty interesting! We went to MLC in the morning
and it was awesome. It was the best MLC I've been to! And sister
Gaytan and I gave a small training about following the spirit in
lessons and teaching the gospel by the spirit. It went well, I think!
We got some nice comments back :) we talked a lot about consecration--
May is consecration month for NJMM. It's all about giving more of
ourselves to receive the blessings and the miracles the Lord has in
store for us! So the spirit was really strong and we were stoked about
sacrificing for the Lord, and then we got hit with a doozie- we aren't
allowed to leave our area on PDay. That's how it is throughout the
world, but I guess we weren't aware of that 100%? I don't know. Either
way, it's not too bad for us here in Englewood because our area is
huge and we have a car, but about half of our zone is walking and they
LOVE zone sports on P-Days. MLC took it well, but we were worried
about how others would take it..
but as you can see in our Facebook group we're all stoked about being
"all in" for the consecration challenge :) it's an NJMM movement! It's
awesome!!
After the meeting we were waiting for the elders we drove with and
doing some phone time. I got a call from the dad of one of the girls
saying he was going to call the police and to "take my cult somewhere
else." Man! Poor guy, he doesn't know who we are. Either way, we won't
be seeing those girls again.
The day ended well, though, we found an old potential in Teaneck that
was super nice! He's way involved in his church but agreed to read the
Book of Mormon and give us a call.
Saturday was INSANE you guys. So crazy. Here's what went down.
We woke up at 4 am so sister Gaytan could go to the temple with a
recent convert from Elizabeth. So I spent the morning with Sister
Murphy and Virgin, studying and talking about our missions and all
that good stuff. It was nice :) but they came back a little late, so
we couldn't make it to District Leader Council, where they were
telling the district leaders about the pday thing (we saw the zone
leaders later and they said it was probably better that we didn't go,
the other elders were NOT happy about it..). Also that morning
Patricia had called us and said she was doing bad and wanted us to
come over asap. So we were driving back from Elizabeth to go see
Patricia in distress and I had to go to the bathroom really bad and I
accidentally barely ran a red light on a turn and I got PULLED OVER.
Man! So i apologized to the officer and said "I'm so sorry, were on
our way to go see someone right now and I really have to go to the
bathroom so I'm in a hurry I'm so sorry!!" And he just asked for the
papers.. so we sat there and waited and prayed and I was like shaking
I had to go to the bathroom so so bad. Then he came back and said
"okay I'm going to let you off with a warning. Just know that if you
hadn't run that red light I wouldn't have stopped you and you could
have gone to the bathroom right now." MIRACLES!! Hahaha it was so
awesome. So we went to KFC and went to the bathroom and then prayed
and thanked the Lord for that miracle.
Then we saw Patricia and she's doing okay:) she's kind of sick and
feeling pretty down and stressed about life, but she's hanging in
there. I love her so much.
Okay now I have to give you the back story. So Monday night I had this
dream we found a family-- a mom, dad, and two little kids-- and they
wanted to be baptized ASAP! I don't remember what they all looked
like, but I would probably recognize the dad's face. Then the next
night I had a dream we were driving to see them, and we had to drive
to Teaneck (a little town thats mostly African and Jewish). Then the
NEXT night both sister Gaytan and I dreamt that we were teaching a
family of four. Anyway, we KNEW we had to go to Teaneck and find them.
So we were driving into Teaneck and we saw this mom and her two little
boys walking. I commented that I liked the little boy's shirt because
it had sharks in it :) but we kept driving. Then we went to Franklin
Rd and found a former we had there, and she actually spoke English.
But! We got a return appointment and she seems solid. We also met some
other really nice people in that street! None Hispanic, but they told
us where all their Hispanic neighbors lived! We knocked, but they
weren't home.
Then we decided to go try another potential we had in the area Book,
Emilia. As we were driving there we saw the mom and her two sons with
the shark shirt again!! Sister Gaytan said "sister! That could be our
family! We have to talk to them. They've been put in our path TWICE."
Plus they were conveniently right next to the apartments of Emilia. So
we frantically searched for parking before they went in the building
and ended up parking on a totally different street and walking over!
As we walked over the mom was talking to someone and then this guy on
the other side of the street started talking to us! So we talked to
him and showed him a video and the whole time we're checking over our
shoulders to make sure she didn't go inside the building! When we
finished talking with him we ran over and she was on the phone and
walking into the building. She hung up right as we walked in and we
asked her if she knew Emilia. She said she did and then we said
"actually, we've been looking for a family to show a video to. Can we
show it to you and your kids?" She agreed and called her two ADORABLE
little boys over. We started the video, but about 30 seconds in she
asked us to re-start so she could read it to her kids. As she read it
was really powerful. She told us that she'd been trying to teach her
kids about Christ, but had distanced herself from him personally. We
testified that he's there with open arms and that we're here to help
her get back. She said some people had come once and left a book for
her dad. We showed her the Book of Mormon and she said "yeah! That's
it!!" Wow. But she said she'd never read it because she doesn't really
like to read and her dad had taken it when he moved. We gave her one
and she said she was honestly curious and wanted to know what it said
and how she could come closer to Christ. Man! So we got a return
appointment and we're really excited :) I really feel it could be our
dream family. But if not, it's an adorable family with two little kids
and she feels really prepared. We both saw it in her eyes. It was a
really powerful experience.
That night we went to see Brenda and Jorge and they told us again and
again how the Book of Mormon had changed their lives. And honestly. If
it can change that family it can change anyone. We decided when they
get baptized we need to call whoever is in charge of the "I'm a
Mormon" videos and have them make a video of their family. It's the
craziest thing I've ever seen.
Anyway, Saturday was FULL of miracles :) it was an amazing day for
sure. I really know it all happened because we've made the conscious
effort to re-commit ourselves to this work and consecrate all we are
and all we do for the Lord. We also followed the promptings we
received, prayed our guts out, and did all we could to find Susana and
her family and to help Brenda and Jorge see the power in the book. And
also to not get a ticket :) hehe
I might have some transfer news when i see you Sunday.. well see :) but have an awesome week! Don't forget to see the
miracles, big and small 🌸
Hermana Millington
New Jersey Morristown Mission
