October 26, 2015

Yup. Our 16 month mark was yesterday. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

This has been a really good week! Crazy, but good. As usual. We found some really amazing people. One of them was a less-active member we just tracted into. None of her family are members and her husband is very against the church. But she LOVES sister missionaries. She started crying telling us about how there are things in the church that she knows to be true. She is amazing, we reeeeally want to teach her family. We also met a guy who used to live in Greensboro and go to Elon University, so that was pretty cool! He knows a lot about the church, his family even does family home evening.

We're probably going to pass the W off to the Spanish sisters. We were hesitant because the sisters live really far away, but hopefully it will be better for everyone. Even though it feels like giving your child up for adoption :)

P told us this week that she's going to be baptized but she's not sure when yet. Gahh, we're getting so close with her. But then she didn't come to church on Sunday! She always comes, and she always calls us back but she hasn't... so we're a little worried about that.

Story time: Last night we were tracting and realized some members we had never met lived close so we decided to stop by. There were a bunch of little kids in front of there house and we said "I don't know if this is the right place..." (We should've known, those Mormons) But then we heard "Look! It's the missionaries!" And then next thing we knew we were being attacked by hugs from little children. It turned out it was the member, T's, birthday party and there were a ton of people over. It was a real blessing, they had REALLY good Polynesian food and we got to share a message with all of them. It changed the attitude of the whole party; afterward T bore his testimony and with tears told everyone how much they meant to him. It was really sweet. I wish I could say he was the only grown man that we just met and saw cry this week.

And lastly, my ponderize scripture for the week is Luke 9:61-62: "And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

Wow. This scripture made me really think about the importance of sacrificing everything, even good things, for the work of the Lord. It also reminded me of Lot's wife. Obviously, God is not too fond of us looking back :) Some things are really hard to give up. Like, really hard. But we are so blessed, and so much happier, when we give everything and don't look back.

Have a Happy Halloween everybody! It's a great time to share the gospel because everyone is already scary/scared and knocking on doors anyway! What can go wrong? :)

October 19, 2015

"Happy Fall, ya'll!"

This week has been amazing!! My favorite part was probably P!! So we found her right after I got to this area, so we've been teaching her for about 6 weeks. And a few days ago she finally got her answer that this is where she's supposed to be! She kept telling us that she wanted to try other churches. But this week apparently she was listening to a Guy Penrod song (refer to my previous email if you're curious how much P loves that Guy) called Singing with the Saints. And she thought well, this is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SAINTS. And she just felt that this is where God wanted her to be. Yep, pretty strange way to get an answer. But hey, we're not complaining :) God really does know us all perfectly and He knows what kind of answers all of us need. Even if it is from Guy Penrod :)

On a sadder note, we had to stop teaching the W :( There just wasn't anything else we could do to help them at this point until they know for themselves that the church is true. We both felt that that's what we needed to do. But they still keep coming to church, they love the church so much. The dad, H, hardly ever talks but in the last lesson we had he really opened up to us and told us how he was feeling and how much this all means to him and how he much he loves us, it was so sweet. The Spirit was really strong. His wife and the member we had with us to translate were in tears. I truly think that they will get baptized, just not right now.

The other day we knocked on someone's door and a teenage girl answered and came outside to talk to us. Her little brother came outside, looked at us and said "Am I in trouble?" It's actually quite fun to strike fear in the hearts of many :)

Last Monday we felt that we should go to the store to get some supplies we needed for a display we were making. And just as we were leaving, we saw a member's friend who we have been trying to meet with the whole time I've been here. She was so excited to see us, she took us out to lunch at Outback on Saturday and we were able to answer a lot of her questions about the church. I'm being taught over and over again that the Lord's timing is absolutely perfect, even if things aren't going exactly the way we want.

My ponderize scripture for the week is D&C 3:1-3: The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught. For God doth not walk in crooked paths, neither doth he turn to the right hand nor to the left, neither doth he vary from that which he hath said, therefore his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal round. Remember, remember that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men

These verses are a great reminder to me of whose work this is that we are engaged in. It's very inspiring that when we are on His team, when we do His work, we cannot fail. His works truly cannot be frustrated :)

October 12, 2015

"This is us being super excited because
it was actually kind of cool outside!"

Well, another transfer is over. That makes for, I think, 11 down and 2 to go! Yikes! But Sister Foderaro and I are both staying so we're really excited about that! That means we'll most likely both die here (Sorry, that means go home (: ). But we're not sure how that will work because missionaries aren't supposed to drive the last month of their mission, soo we'll see what happens! Haha maybe full bike.

Speaking of bikes, this week I fell, head over heels.... off my bike. There was a really steep hill with a sharp turn at the bottom and I didn't slow down enough (oops). One second I was just biking along having a grand old time and the next thing I knew I was just standing there with my bike laying on the ground going "What just happened?" Sister Foderaro biked up behind me and said "Woah!!! That was the best fall I've ever seen!!" Apparently there was a summersault involved and I didn't even flash anybody. Yay! I'm quite pleased with my talent at falling. I've got some nice bruises to show for it but other than that I am a-okay :)

The weather has been getting cooler little by little, so that's been happy :) It's still in the 80s and 90s most days, but it gone down to 72 last week! It was the best! I am so ready for it to cool down :)

"Our lovely district of all elders."

We had a really neat lesson with P where we talked about the Spirit and she recognized that she felt it at General Conference. We keep thinking we've made progress with her but then she says that she still wants to try other churches. It's frustrating. But she keeps saying that and hasn't tried any other churches yet, so we'll see. Also, P is hilarious. In one lesson she was talking about committing adultery and she said "Well, there is this one guy... I don't exactly lust after him. But if I saw him, I would hug him REAL good. And that guy is Guy Penrod." And in case you don't know about Guy Penrod, he is old and bearded :) It was so funny, she cracks us up.

We had 9 investigators come to sacrament meeting this week, so that was pretty exciting. And slightly stressful.

A couple of weeks ago we got to go into a youth Sunday school class and pretend to be their friends. They had to teach us about For the Strength of the Youth. It was great to be an investigator for once :) And it made me very grateful that I am not 13 (no offense anybody).

I also thought I would share my ponderize scripture with y'all :) My one for this week is Alma 12:10- And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full. 

This scripture really made me want to work harder on softening my heart so God can mold me into what He wants me to be. And I mean, who doesn't want to know the mysteries of God in full? :)

Have a spectacular week everybody!

October 5, 2015

Is Conference not the best thing ever? I loved it so much. I'm so grateful for living prophets and apostles. There's no way I could choose a favorite talk, they were all incredible. I'm grateful for the personal revelation and answers to our questions we can all receive. 

L, a lady who got baptized when I was in Lake Wales, told me that she went to the temple to do baptisms this week! So I'm pretty excited about that. She also said that as she was doing family history she discovered that her aunt and his husband were members of the church in Logan, Utah! Small world. She said that one of the people she did baptisms for was named Coleman :) 

And once again, I've ran out of time. Basically, this week has been amazing and full of miracles. I love Sister Foderaro and this area so much. I love this gospel and the prophet and just everything :) And I love you all!