I love you all soooo much! Do you want to forward me that picture of Brady and Perry? I'd love to see it! Hope Kelley is having fun in Utah! And yay for Cams! I'm really excited for him. And I'm so jealous you got to talk to Dani! I love that girl. I haven't gotten Kelley's letter yet, but we had transfers last week so the mail is behind a little bit.
Speaking of transfers, Hermana Stewart got transferred. That was so hard for me. We really thought we would be together for another transfer so it came as a complete shock. We had started finally making progress in our area and with the members. And them boom. She was gone. I don't think I can go through this every six weeks for the rest of my mission. And I've taken over the area. The whole transfers thing was definitely the hardest part of this week. We were really truly devastated and more than a few tears were shed. And I have no idea what I'm doing. I just barely finished training and I am not prepared to take over this area. These last few days I've felt so inadequate and I'm so worried that I'm going to forget something important that's going to hinder someone's progress. It's been really stressful and I'm trying so hard to rely on the Lord and let Him teach me, but I think I'm a really slow learner. I just pray that my best is good enough and that His grace will make up the difference for all my weaknesses.
Enough being Moaning Myrtle. Things will get better. My companion is trying really hard to get to know the area and soon we'll be able to support each other better. Speaking of my companion, are you ready to meet her? Her name is Hermana Wallis, she's from Vernal, Utah and she's been out for six months. She's super Utah! But that's okay. She's really sweet and she's a very diligent and dedicated missionary. We're very excited for this transfer and we're looking forward to seeing miracles. Something that I've come to learn is that miracles happen every day. We just have to recognize them. Heavenly Father is so involved in this work and I'm so grateful to be able to recognize His hand in even the little things. We had a pretty big miracle this week though that I'm really excited to tell you about.
We have an investigator named Priscilla and she is amazing. We met her the first Sunday in December when she came to church with a friend. He asked us to give her a Book of Mormon and we also got her phone number and address so that we could stop by. When we stopped by, she told us that she had been to a bunch of different churches and she had always felt an emptiness. That was filled when she came to ours and heard the conviction of people bearing their testimonies. Then she told us that she wanted to learn how to be a member of our church! We were so excited. So we started teaching her as well as her eight year old daughter Suyana. Suyana is the most precious child I have ever met. And she learned about baptism in Primary and has become obsessed with the idea--asking everyone what it is and why they were baptized and everything. She's amazing. Words cannot explain how much I love these two. When I think about it I feel like my heart is going to explode from loving them so much. But about two weeks ago things started going downhill. And it was heartbreaking. Priscilla lives with Suyana's dad and they aren't married. And they've been having problems and he's really trying to stop Priscilla from investigating and coming to church, telling her things like that she change and what makes her think that a church is going to help her change. So she told us that she thought that it would be best if we stopped meeting for a couple weeks so that things could calm down. Hermana Stewart and I were devastated. We couldn't lose her now, not when she was doing so good and really growing a testimony and we just couldn't let her go. Not in a time when she was going through such a hard trial, because it's really the gospel of Jesus Christ that helps us through and she needs that strength and support right now. She wants so badly to be a woman of God, to be a good example for her daughter and to have an eternal family. So not yesterday, but the Sunday before we decided to have a special fast for her, and that we would be able to see her and that her heart would open to seeing us. Two days later we found out we would be transferred. But it gave us the perfect opportunity to stop in unannounced so that Hermana Stewart could say goodbye. So Wednesday night she was our last stop. We knocked on her door. No answer. So we knocked again. No answer. During this whole time we were both praying so hard that she would answer. We knocked one more time. No answer. And we were on the verge of tears. So we sat down to write her a note, we stickied it to her door and started walking down the stairs. And when we did that, Suyana opened the door and recognized the tops of our heads! She invited us in and we had a really good talk with Priscilla. She told us that they had both fallen asleep, but that something woke her up and she felt like she needed to check the door. It was a miracle! Heavenly Father heard our prayers. We then got to invite her to the baptism and she also told us that she would come to church on Sunday.
Saturday we went back with a member and she asked us, so what do I need to do to be baptized. We then taught her the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. I was a little worried, because she drinks tea and she's not married, but the Spirit was so strong. She accepted is a a commandment of God and she loved the promises in the D&C 89. She told us that she had just bought tea at the store, but that she was going to return it! She came to the baptism Sunday night and she was able to meet the bishop and so many members of the ward. They welcomed her with open arms. And she even asked the bishop a question using the phrasing, "so when I get baptized..." It was amazing. I love these two so much and I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has allowed us to meet and to learn and grow together. I'm so excited to see her progress.
So that was our week. A lot of sadness, but a lot of joy as well. I keep reminding myself of the scripture in Isaiah where the Lord says, "For my ways are higher than your ways and my thought higher than your thoughts." It's so true. We do a lot of things as missionaries and sometimes we don't understand why we do them. But when we are receptive to the promptings of the Holy Ghost and when we obey with exactness, we are allowed to see miracles.
Family, I love you so much. I hope you know that. I'm so proud of all of you and I miss you oodles. Keep being good. And a quick shout out to all those that have sent me letters, I love you. Thank you so much. I'm trying to write back, but I'm slow.
xoxo
Hermana Simpson
p.s. Mom I think that would be okay for you to give Dani my email. I just can't email her back. So I'll write her. Also, could you send me some ibuprofen and tylenol. Especially the night time stuff. I don't need three big costco bottles, but if you could maybe just fill one bottle with a concoction of them all I would be so grateful. If not, that's okay and I'll try and buy some, it's just expensive. I love you so much Mom. Sometimes all I want to do is call you and then I remember I can't. But I think about you and pray for you all the time. And I realize just how much you've taught me that has helped me prepare to be here. So thank you. Huggies and kissies.
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