Twin Powers: The Dissolving of the Ginger Snaps

Monday, April 2, 2018

Burke, Virginia

Transfers were posted. I'm staying in Burke. Sister Koch will be leaving. She is going to Centreville and will be a in a trio! I will miss her a whole bunch, but President has promised me that all will be well. I don't know my new companion all that well. I know her name is Sister Merritt, she has been out for 6 months, and has served in a young single adult (YSA) ward. I'm excited and terrified and nervous and anxious and happy and - TOO MANY EMOTIONS! We've been packing and cleaning the apartment all morning. I need to make a good first impression for my new companion. I hope it's a positive impression because I'm pretty sure all the ones after that will be along the lines of: "My companion is crazy." Sister Koch has stuck through it all and deserves a medal. *sigh* She's awesome.

Apparently, there is a major motion picture being filmed here in the library because there are blinding lights all over, and I have to squint to see the screen. Headache!

There was a lot of success this week! We met this man, A*, who is from Cameroon. He went on Mormon.org and requested a free Bible and Book of Mormon, and we were the lucky ones who got to bring it to him! We taught him a little bit there, but then made another appointment to see him. A* ended up coming to church, and we had another lesson with him the other day with M*! It was awesome. The spirit was so strong, and he loved the idea that, in The Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ visited the Americas after He was crucified and resurrected. Why would Jesus Christ only bless the people who killed him around Jerusalem when he claimed to love everyone? He really connected with that. We invited him to watch General Conference with us at the F* family's home this Sunday, and he came! He fell asleep once or twice, but he was a trooper and valiantly sat through the two hours like a champ.

Teaching A* & M*.

K* is awesome. We had another lesson with her in the S* family's home and taught her about the commandments and about the Law of Chastity. She committed to living everything, and we were able to briefly meet her mom! She is the nicest lady ever. I hope we will be able to sit down and get to know K*'s family better! We hope that they will be at FHE tonight.

We love K*!

Super cool miracle this week! We went to an appointment with our investigator, and we would not have been surprised if he wasn't there. And, no surprise! He wasn't there. But his wife and nine children were. We introduced ourselves, and they let us right in, and we taught them the Restoration, and the Spirit was so strong in the lesson! The kids were kind of crazy and bouncy, but his wife was super into what we were saying, and before we could even ask her, she said that she wanted to read The Book of Mormon and pray about it to find out if it was true. It was an awesome miracle. I hope to continue teaching their family!

We're teaching English to a woman from Ethiopia named R*. She is hilarious. She has been reading The Book of Mormon in Amharic and is in 2nd Nephi. When we go over, we always try to teach her a gospel principle , and so we have been having to get creative with the way we teach -- mostly with pictures and small words. If there is anyone who has any suggestions, let me know!

With R*! We love her!

General Conference was delightful! It was like Christmas! Except not. It was just awesome. We were able to go to a bunch of different places for the sessions to spread our love to the ward. Sister A* knew that I wanted cinnamon rolls, so she made three different kinds and one GIANT cake pan one. It's bigger than my face. It's also quite delicious. Which is bad because I will probably eat it. All of it. *sigh* Oh well. I loved all of the talks, and it was kind of a crazy conference to be watching! Lots of changes! It's so exciting, though. A temple in India and Russia? That will be interesting. The work of the Lord is being spread! We went to the Huntsmans' house for the last session of conference yesterday. They are the best. I love being in their ward and will probably see them off when they go. They have about three months left. Gah! Gross. A quote that I really liked from General Conference is when Elder Wakolo quoted a talk from President Packer and it was, "Good conduct without the ordinances of the gospel will neither redeem nor exalt mankind." Good stuff.