January 1, 2018
Alexandria, Virginia
I have no recollection as to what happened over the last couple of weeks.
I'm
pretty sure that I'm being transferred from here. President was kind
enough to give me a heads-up so that I wouldn't panic. Too much. (Ha!
Too late!)
It's been freezing and I've been
dying a little bit everyday, but I'm still here! Apparently, the air
freezes when it gets really cold. Were you all familiar with that
concept? Because I was not!
Last week, we had
dinner with the G* family, and they made a delicious pumpkin chili over
rice and I just about died. Because it was so good, not because I had
to politely cram it down my throat. They also made a cheesecake that
they sent home with us because they knew that it was one of my
favorites. I told them that I was most likely leaving, so they gave me a
Wonder Woman poster that says, "Little but Fierce" on it (they love
Wonder Woman) and told me to keep in touch. I LOVE THEM. I included
one last picture with them. *sniffle* But it's all good. I will love
the people no matter where I go.
 |
| The G* Family |
Also, we got
a new car, and it's horrible. It's a 2017 Chevy Malibu, and I don't like
it one bit. It's far too nice and clean and new. I miss the 2013
Subaru Legacy that had dents and scratches and smelled like a bunch of
missionaries in there! This new one has a push start and I don't trust
it. I didn't trust it as soon as I got behind the wheel. And let me
tell you, the lack of trust did not go unfounded! Because we pulled up
outside of N*'s apartment Saturday
night for a lesson, and as soon as I pressed the button to turn off the
car, it just broke down and didn't detect that there was a remote. So ,
the car wouldn't turn on because it couldn't tell that the stupid
fob/remote thing was in the car! Did that happen in the Subaru? No.
It did not. Anyway, we had to call the car coordinator over to where we
were to help rescue us. I know how to change a tire just fine, but I
have no idea how to... I don't even know! Charge the thing? Whatever.
After sitting in the car for a few minutes and freezing to death
(because I'm living in the frigid north, apparently), we knocked on
N*'s door, and she graciously let us seek refuge inside her
apartment. We had planned to go over and talk to her about baptism, but
we didn't that night, because of obvious reasons. Anyway, the car
coordinator ended up coming, and when he got there, the car was fine and
the key remote to the car worked, and everything was hunky dory. Which
was a blessing, but I just wanted to say, "I promise! There was
something actually wrong with the car! I'm not an idiot! Seriously!
All you have to do is push a button to get the car working!" I felt
really bad about it, but then I started to think about why it happened.
(I was actually kind of irked.) We came to the conclusion that we
weren't supposed to talk to N* about baptism that night, and that it
was simply divine intervention.
Anyway, then
we saw her again last night, and before we went in, we said a prayer.
And during the prayer, Sister Hansen got the impression to, when we left
that night, invite her to read Alma 32 and to sincerely pray about it.
So, we decided to do that. When we went in, we read 3 Nephi 11 with
her, the chapter where Jesus Christ comes to the Americas and meets the
Nephites one by one, invites them to touch his hands and his feet, and
teaches them about His gospel. And part of His gospel is baptism. We
invited her to be baptized, and she said that she just wasn't absolutely
sure about it yet and that she was waiting to know. She said that she
wanted to have faith and wanted to believe. I was feeling the Spirit so
strong in the lesson, and I felt like I should testify to her that she
would receive an answer to her prayers by the next time we met with her
if she read the chapter and prayed about it. I told her, "With
the authority given to me as a representative of Jesus Christ and as a
missionary, I promise you that you will know that these things are
true." You could tell that she was feeling the Spirit and promised that
she would do what we invited her to do. She also said that she would
bring us Cafe Rio next Saturday.
After the lesson, we prayed for her again to have the courage and the
faith to follow through with her promises, and I got the prompting that
we should fast for her. So, we will be fasting for her tomorrow. And
then this morning, I sat down and read through Alma 32 so I would be
more familiar with it. It answers so many of her questions. I have
always loved that chapter, but seeing it in a different way has really
strengthened my testimony. There are a couple verses that really stuck
out to me, and they are Alma 32:17-18 and verse 27.
Anyway, I love my mission!
Love,
Me
Here are a few photos of me saying goodbye to our Subaru Legacy. You can tell Sister Hansen and I felt very differently about it!
No comments:
Post a Comment