I love you so much! Thanks for all your love and support and prayers. They are making a difference. I've felt an extra measure of something this week and I know it's because Heavenly Father answers prayers. I can't believe graduation is so soon. Don't mess it up, Cam. I'm not worried about you though, Mom. You're going to be fine in your boards. And then you're going to be everyone's favorite nurse. I bet people will be lining up to have you take care of them. Just do your best and then rely on the Lord. He'll help you remember everything you need to know. I can't believe Tyler is going to be playing high school football. I am so old! And Woohoo for Kelley and getting a job! If you ever come to the pool, STAY WITH YOUR BUDDY! It will make the lifeguards way less stressed out. Speaking of lifeguards, all the pools opened this weekend. This summer is going to be hard. I already miss the pool. Good thing I'll only be here for one summer. And good thing I have super important things to be doing that will keep me from missing the pool too much. Good thing Elder Thomas challenged the family to find a harder working Elder and not a harder working Hermana, because that would be easy. Me. I'm really glad though that it sounds like they're having a lot of success.
Speaking of working hard, you would not believe the time we had at church yesterday. Jhoana and Esperanza came. And brought seven children with them. Too bad they're all under the age of five or we could have had nine investigators at church! It was great though! And super hard to keep them all quiet. I was playing the piano in sacrament meeting and then between songs I would run down from the stand to try and keep all the kids entertained (thank goodness for coloring books and crayons) and then run back up for the next song. Jhoana was so excited when she realized that she could drop them off at Primary and not worry about them for two hours. Then I got asked to play the piano in Primary too because the regular pianist had to take care of some other things and we were trying to get kids to nursery and Jhoana and Esperanza to Sunday School and play the piano and I felt like we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off. It was great though. I'd much rather it be like that than have no investigators at all. And we did have a miracle because Jhoana was really worried that her son, Jordan, who is two, and her niece Amy, who is one, wouldn't let her leave them alone in nursery. But we were able to sneak out and the teachers told her if they started crying then they would come and get her. They never came to get her and we found out after that they didn't even cry at all! I was praying so hard that that would happen and Jhoana and Esperanza were able to enjoy Sunday School and Relief Society. I love those girls so much! I cannot believe how they've progressed since we first met them. When they Elders gave them to us, they were just a stop by if you have time sort of thing (they didn't think they'd ever come to church), and now look where they are. Every day when we ask them when we can come back, they say tomorrow. They are golden! And we were talking about the Book of Mormon the other day and they were telling us about how their brother-in-law was giving them a hard time about it and they just said, we know it's true. Nothing he can say is going to change that. And the other day the dad of Jhoana's son was there and we invited him to sit in on the lesson with us and he was a little apprehensive at first, but he did. And Jhoana basically bore her testimony to him. She told him that all he had to do was read the Book of Mormon, that she believes in it and that she feels good when she reads it. I am so proud of her. Honestly, I don't know what I would do without her and Esperanza. I feel like they've been such a blessing for me this transfer because I see that there's hope. And I see that we can do this work, even when it's hard. And I feel like they're just an extension of family. They are wonderful.
I also want to tell you about another miracle that happened this week. So on Thursday we had Return and Report. Basically all the trainers and all the babies get together with President Riggs and the Assistants and we have a nice meeting. It was so nice to be with other trainers and to realize that this is hard for everyone. It was a little bit hard though because I felt like everyone else really had a pretty good relationship with their companion. And that's been one of the hardest things for me this transfer. But on Friday during companionship inventory I think Heavenly Father turned my charity button on for just a minute. I'm talking like real, see people as they can become, Christ-like love. It was almost surreal. Because I just felt how much Heavenly Father wants my companion to succeed. That he put her and I together, just the way she is and just the way I am for a reason. And as I thought about that I felt so strongly that the reason I am here right now is for her. That it's not easy for me to be her companion, but that Heavenly Father needed me to be here to help her become the missionary she needs to be. That maybe that's a job that no one else could do right now. That maybe she needed me to be able to help her believe in herself (she has a really hard time with that) and to help her come out of her shell, and to help her realize what missionary work is all about. That might sound a little prideful, because I know that I'm not the greatest missionary and that I have a lot of weaknesses that I still need to fix, but Heavenly Father needs us to be together. And it's the hardest thing I've ever done. No doubt about it. I've had to work so hard to be patient, to not say things when I shouldn't and to say other things when I should. I've had to do my best to be the missionary that I need to be so that she can become the missionary that she needs to be. I realized on Friday that that might be the last companionship inventory we have (probably not, but maybe) because the transfer ends this Thursday. I can't believe it's already been six weeks. It's been the longest of my life. I've never cried so much or felt so alone, and I've never had to work so hard to develop love for another person. But I am grateful to Heavenly Father for these past few weeks because I've never had to work so hard or rely on Him so much. He's taught me so much that I couldn't learn any other way. He knows us so perfectly and He is orchestrating every last detail. The question is if we are going to accept His will and be happy about following it. I'm not saying that I'm perfect at loving my companion (I wish I was), because I'm not. But now when I want to pull my hair out or say something sassy or when I get impatient, I have a new perspective and I can see her in a new light. So if it makes sense, even though I wish she wasn't so difficult, I'm grateful that she is. Nope, that didn't make any sense at all.
We've seen so many other miracle this week as well, I wish I had time to tell them all. But one quick one: The other night all of our plans fell through and we were trying our last resort. So we knocked on his door and of course, no answer. But, out of the corner of my eye I saw his neighbor sitting on the porch drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. And I just knew we had to go talk to him. So we did, and I couldn't tell if he was Filipino or Hispanic at first so I didn't know what language to speak to him in, so I stuck with English. But then he said his name was Jose. So we switched to Spanish. He was super excited when he found out we were missionaries and he said, "My wife is so religious! (I just thought, don't you want to be religious too?) Go talk to her, she'll love you!" He threw open the front door and yelled at her to come and listen to us. It was pretty funny because he was more than a little drunk. But we got to teach this family the first lesson and it was wonderful. We're going back to see them on Tuesday. I love it when those last minute miracles happen.
So that's about it this week. Except for that we got to go to the temple this morning and it was wonderful. As always. Thank you for everything family. You're the best and I love you more than anything.
xoxo
Hermana Simpson
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