My week has been
great! Hmm…I wonder how many of my e-mails start out saying that same thing! I
need to get more creative. :)
But it’s true! My week has been just wonderful. Last Monday we had an activity
with all of the sisters at the Nattress house and it was so fun! I just love
them. :) One
of the ladies who normally feeds us food shared a really amazing story that she
had from her mission. She had a good mission experience, but she had never
really felt like her service made that much of a difference. Now 20 years later
she received and e-mail that changed her perspective. She served in Hong Kong
and talked to loads of people every day and didn’t remember most of them after
she talked with them. But she got an e-mail from someone that she had talked to
on the street. He told her that he had been searching for her for years. He
remembered that day that he had talked to her and he told her that it was what
started his journey to being baptized. He was baptized in London and his wife
was baptized in Hong Kong on the same day and she also remembered this sister
and said that she was the reason that she was baptized. How awesome is that?!
And now they are married and sealed in the temple and I think he’s a bishop
right now. So cool. You just never know the influence and the impact that you have on those around you…never know the
seeds you plant.
Wednesday was our
first day with the mini-missionaries working with us. They were so great! I was
with Sister Burnham and she is such a trooper. The other sisters had the car so
we biked. And we biked far. If you’d like to calculate a portion of the miles,
this is the longest chunk we did. Pecos and Recker to Ocotillo and Hawes. And
poor Sister Burnham had a bike with no gears and poor both of us, there were
probably 1000 little, tiny, green bugs covering us and sticking to us as we
biked. But we survived and Sister Burnham applied a life-learning lesson too it
and shared that on Sunday at the closing devotional so some good came of it! We
had dinner at the stake center and when we got done we realized that in our
biking excursion, Sister Burnham’s tire had popped!!! Just our luck. It was
fine though because we just loaded them on Sisters Bukoskie and Lattin’s car
and headed to Coordination. Which lasted a long time and then those sisters had
a lesson so they left us at the church. So we tried calling Sisters Chavarri
and Whaley, but they didn’t answer so we called our zone leaders. Luckily they
were on splits and had a mini-missionary so there were 3 of them and they were
able to come pick up our bikes and us and take us home. But then we didn’t have
a key so we just say in the garage and started to plan. Talk about an eventful
day. :)
It was good for the other sisters too because they found a new investigator!
Thursday was fun.
We had a family home afternoon with our zone at a senior missionary couple’s
house and it was great. She made Texas Sheet Cake for dessert and it was
delicious! We played some fun games and had a good lesson and then headed out
back to work. :)
Dinner was with the Carrillo’s and it was Perla’s birthday so that was a lot of
fun too. Then Sister Burnham and I had a lesson with Natividad and we taught
the Plan of Salvation. She did so well! Her Spanish is seriously great.
Friday night we
had a miracle too! All four of us went to the house of a part-member couple. He’s
probably taken the lessons…at least 5 times and has never decided to be
baptized. We went over and asked if the mini-missionaries could practice
teaching a lesson with him. J It went well and the
Spirit was definitely there and he said that he knew he needed to read and pray
and that he was going to start doing that!!! Hopefully he does and that he
starts to progress towards wanting to be baptized. :)
His wife really wants to be sealed in the temple.
Sunday afternoon
we took the mini-missionaries back to the stake center. They had a closing
devotional and they all shared their testimonies and what they learned in the
past week. They are all so great! It motivated me to work harder and strengthen
my own testimony and faith in the Lord. Sister Burnham bore her testimony in Spanish
at the end of hers and it was the best that I had ever heard it! The missionary
force just keeps getting stronger and stronger! (speaking of, tell Gavin
congrats for me! That’s so exciting!) Transfer calls also came last night…very,
very late last night. But it’s good news! I’m staying! We are all staying. Yay!
So go ahead and send things to the Barn. :)
I love you so much
and am so grateful for you in my life. I just can’t say that enough. Send my
love to everyone. Also, don’t forget to mail me a wedding invitation in
addition to a birthday invitation. I want both. :)
Have a great week!
Con amor,
Hermana Baria
