SAYING GOODBYE TO
SISTER ORANTES
Jami!! And Sister Orantes' last night in Berkeley!
Sister Orantes packing ....?
AND SAYING HELLO TO MY
NEW COMPANION ... SISTER SMITH!
My new companion, Sister Smith and me at Victoria's house! Food soooo Good!
Hello Mother and all!
Funny- I didn't even know it
was the Superbowl this weekend until someone at church mentioned it.
Haha. It's crazy the things the world knows about that you have no idea
about as a missionary! But, we get to see tons of miracles happen and
lives change that no one else gets to see....and I'd rather have that
any day! So nanny nanny boo boo! Just kidding :-)
Well, my new companion is Sister Smith, and she is amazing!!!! I've known her
my whole mission because we have both been in the Visitor's Center our
whole missions so far, but it's cool to actually be her companion. She
is from Wichita, Kansas. And she reminds me a lot of Brittany! She has a
very calm yet strong presence but is also really sweet and goofy. Hehe.
She's also super competitive and athletic which also reminds me a lot
of Brittany! She is like the dodge ball master when we play in the
mornings for our exercise as a zone. So we are having tons of fun
together!!! And she is going to be an amazing sister trainer!
Well
we had some cool experiences this past week! First, we had the most
delicious dinner of my life yesterday!!! A member from our ward had her
birthday celebration and invited us and her family made the most
delicious traditional Mexican food on the planet! It was basically just
beans, rice, tacos with chicken, carne asada, chorizo and homemade salsa
and such, but it was SO GOOD. And, they made hot dogs wrapped in BACON.
It was amazing. Probably because I haven't had a family dinner in a
while, but either way it was just so good. Her family is so sweet! They
go to the Spanish ward that Sister Smith last served in and the mom is
the chef at the mission home. Amazing people and so loving!!!
We
were also able to talk to a lot of neat people and there was one lady
we talked to that I'll never forget. We were on Berkeley campus and she
and her friend were sitting outside talking and we walked up to them
(they were older, like middle-aged). They were super friendly and
started asking us a lot of questions about us and our beliefs and what
we do as missionaries. So as we were talking we got on the subject of
faith, and talked about exercising our faith. And she asked, "Well how
in the world do you exercise your faith?" And Sister Smith told her ways
we do that - such as praying, reading scriptures, doing to church, and
simply trying to follow and be like Christ. And then I added that it all
starts with a desire. And for some reason, she thought that that was
the most amazing thing she's ever heard. And she said wow....I didn't
know that faith was all about having a desire first. And then she was a
little sad that she had never learned that before (because she's
religious). Then, we read her Alma 32:28, which talks all about this and
after talking more about it, it just continued to hit her and she was
very emotional! It was such a sweet experience. Near the end of the
conversation she told us how grateful she was that we talked to her and
that we made her whole day. She accepted a Book of Mormon, and although
she didn't accept missionaries to visit, I'm so grateful Heavenly Father
lead us to her. It funny because I didn't say much - but I guess that's
what she needed to hear at that time.
Last
week we also had a sweet experience in the Visitor's Center with an
elderly man who came in who's wife recently passed. He was so torn and
emotional and just needed someone to talk to. So Sister Smith and I
spend a good amount of time talking with him and listening to his
stories and memories of her. Then we showed him Meet the Mormons and it
made him feel a lot better. I love the visitor's center! There are too
many sweet experiences there that happen that I don't have time to
write.
OH YEAH, Elder Andersen visited our
mission on Saturday!!! We had a big missionary conference and it was so
great to spend time with him and also Elder Maynes. I tell you, we have
been so spoiled with all the visits from general authorities recently.
And we are getting Elder Oaks in a few weeks for stake conference! Elder
Andersen talked to us about how to learn about the Savior through the
Book of Mormon, and that it's important that we know the Book of Mormon
really well - but especially the parts that talk about His atonement. It
was a huge motivator for all of us. I just seriously love when the
general authorities come. Every time they do, and we get to see who they
are and how they act, I feel like I get to know the Savior more each
time. They are all just so loving, funny and down to earth! And they all
love their wives and families so much. Elder Andersen's grand kids were
up there with him when we was talking with us and it was so fun to see
him interact with them.
Some other updates -
T**** (recently got baptized) is doing wonderful and is going to the
temple to do baptisms this week!!! And our investigator J*** is also
doing wonderful!! We are just seeing so many miracles. We really need to
find more people to teach but at the very least we have one awesome
investigator and like 10 recent converts who are also wonderful (most of
the moved in the ward last year).
Anyways,
that's it for this week - sorry that I'm not the best storyteller so
forgive me. I just really wish I could convey the awesomeness of all the
experiences I've had recently. It's amazing the miracles that happen. I
just continue to learn about the reality of Heavenly Father and our
Savior. I guess that's the best way to put everything.
Love you all. Have a beautiful week!!!
Love,
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