Hola Familia!
Happy Thanksgiving!! I can't believe Thanksgiving is already here! Where is the time going? We are really excited though! I got a card from the Relief Society this week, that was really nice. I appreciated it a lot. It sounds like everyone is keeping pretty busy. That's good. It's always nice to be busy. We've been busy too. Very busy. We're seeing miracles left and right, and lots of funny things too!
Last Monday as we were doing our grocery shopping, we noticed this guy that was kind of looking at us. We didn't really pay any attention to him though and kept going. While we were in the healthy food aisle, he came down the same aisle and kind of looked like he wanted to talk to us. After a couple of minutes of trying to decide which granola to buy he finally came up to us. And said, "I think you're cute." Um..... Thank you? He then proceeded to ask if I lived around here, to which I quickly pulled the missionary card. After that he went running in the opposite direction. Which was probably for the best. Of course this would happen to me as a missionary. Never in real life. Oh well.
Then, on Tuesday, we had the best thing ever happen. We were going back to the apartment for dinner and we were stopped at the intersection waiting to turn onto the street that we live on. There was this guy stopped in the middle of the intersection and we couldn't figure out what he was doing. Then we realized that he was trying to push his car out of the intersection because it had completely died. Hna Weenig and I looked at each other and said, should we go help him (no one else was). Then we decided that we probably should. At that moment the light turned green and we zipped around the corner and parked and then went running into the middle of the street to help this man push his car out of ongoing traffic. Out of all the people on the Route One, I couldn't believe that the only people to come and help were two girls in skirts. Oh well, somehow we did it. But the most amazing thing is that after we had started pushing, another lady (Spanish speaking of course) jumped out of her car and came to help. And then a kid from the ward just happened to be walking by, saw us, comes running up and says, "Oh hey, sisters," like it was the most normal thing in the world that we were pushing this car. So after we got the car pushed across the street this other man (also Spanish speaking) came up and tried to help. It was so great because we were able to teach them both the Restoration and we got the one man's information so that we can go back and teach him more. Funny how the Lord works. We also gave the African man a copy of the Book of Mormon and the best part was when we went our separate ways he went running off in the sunset, Book of Mormon in hand. He's going to get baptized.
That was such a fun experience though. We got to help, we got to teach, we got to meet some pretty fun people. And it was way funny. I'm glad I wore my stretchy skirt that day.
But the story doesn't end there. A couple of days later we were teaching Fabiola and Luis who are the cutest little Mexican family ever, and we were asking them if we could do anything to serve them. We said, "Really, we're here to represent Jesus Christ and part of what He did was help people." And Luis said, "I know, and I know you help people. I saw you the other day pushing that car. Not anyone would do that." His wife then scolded him for not helping us, which was funny, but that was so neat that he was there and that he saw that we really do practice what we teach.
We also went on exchanges this week. I got to go with Hna Spencer, and she's still in Manassas, so that was great fun. We got to see a lot of the people that I love. And Esperanza told me that Jose went to church with her last week!!! That's a miracle! He's getting closer. Exchanges are so great though. It's really hard to leave your area and your companion and all, but I love them. The Spirit is so strong and I always feel like I learn so much and we have so many little exchange miracles. Hna Spencer and I were just talking and she told me that she was so excited that I was back to be her companion for a day because it helped her feel a little more of the fire that she came out with and it helped her remind her of why she's here. That made me feel really good. And I learned so much from her too. It was really neat to see how much she's grown since we've been companions. She's doing a great job down there. Some of the strongest times that I've felt the Spirit working through me have been during exchanges, and I'm so thankful that Heavenly Father has given me this opportunity to work so closely with other missionaries. Really, I feel like I'm the one benefiting, because I am learning so much.
We also had a baptism on Friday. I feel like I just came here and all the work that Hna Weenig and Hna Wilcox (the one that is friends of the Rasmussens) did is now coming to fruition. Anyway, this baptism was really special. Her name is Jill and she's from Colombia. She's also homeless. That wasn't the case when they first found her. When they first found her, Jill was living the life, had all her needs taken care of, and didn't really want much to do with the gospel. Then everything changed. Her husband was abusive and left her and her daughter with absolutely nothing. So now they're living in a shelter and trying to figure things out. It's really a horrible situation. But this ward has done amazing things and have helped Jill so much. And she loves the gospel. She was so excited to be baptized and to just be washed clean of everything that she's ever done and everything that's ever happened to her. And you could feel it that night. You could feel the love of the Savior and you could feel the truthfulness of what was taking place. And now Jill's daughter, Adla, is so excited to be baptized. Before the baptism she wasn't that interested, but she told us that she felt something at the baptism that she's never felt before and she wants to get baptized as soon as possible. Heavenly Father is just putting prepared people in our path. It's amazing.
Also on Friday we had a mission conference with Elder Teh of the Seventy. It was amazing. The Assistants asked Hna Weenig and I to do a musical number. We did "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" and it's a beautiful arrangement. We had about two days to practice it, so that was fun. But it's okay because Hna Weenig sings like an angel. I've been so lucky to have such talented companions. It went really well. But I was so nervous. As in shaking in my boots. I'm pretty sure the entire piano was shaking. I don't think I've ever been that nervous before. But we got to perform a musical number for a general authority, that might be a once in a lifetime experience. I hope he liked it.
Elder Teh gave an analogy that I love that is so applicable to missionary work and to life in general. He talked about the part in Finding Nemo when they are find the turtles who are all in the current. And he talked about how in the current it's easier. We can still get things done, we can float on our backs, baptisms still happen. But we're just going along. We're not living up to our full potential and destiny. Marlin and Dory eventually had to exit the current, and so do we. We were called to something higher and something so much better. It's hard to exit the current, but it's better out of the current. We were called to be Preach My Gospel Missionaries, and we can be. But not if we're in the current. And I think that's how it is with life. We can be in the current, and it's fine, but there's something so much better outside of the current, if we're just willing to do the work to get there.
This week has also been a learning week for me. Hna Weenig does missionary work in a way that I have never done it before. And I'm trying to learn so much from that. There were times this week that I got a little bit frustrated because I didn't understand why she was doing things the way she was. But as we've talked throughout the week, I've come to understand why. She has had very specific and very hard challenges that have molded her into who she has become and I love and respect her so much. But I was reminded that each person has had specific and unique experiences that have turned them into who they are. It also gives them specific and unique capabilities in teaching the people they are called to teach. I don't know if I'm explaining this very well, I know I'm being kind of vague. On the outside, Hna Weenig is basically perfect. And everyone in the mission thinks so. And the truth is, she basically is. But she has also shared with me some very personal fears and weaknesses and it meant a lot to me. First, because she trusted me enough to share them with me. Second, because we have to allow others to have their weaknesses. We have to allow them to grow. We can't force them to be perfect just because we want them to be. Also, it helped me realize that if Hna Weenig (who really, I don't know why she hasn't been translated) can have weaknesses, it's okay that I do too. As long as we're working on them. She's teaching me so much. I have a wonderful companion. And I really hope we're together for Christmas.
I can't believe that I'm going to spend the holiday season in Old Town! It's really the best thing every. We've already been invited over to four different houses (we're going to try not to eat at all of them because we don't want to die) and it's so great to be back here. I love this area. I love my companion. I love my mission. Also, every week President Riggs sends out shout outs from the zone leaders for each zone. This was the shout out for our zone this week: "Mt. Vernon Zone: The zone had 96% invites! Hermanas Weenig and Simpson had a baptism, put 3 people on date, had 2 investigators at church, taught 30 lessons, had 100% invites, and had found 5 new investigators (and they performed a musical # at Friday's conference with Elder Teh)!!! Wow!" I don't even know how we did it all. But it's great. And we're ready to keep it up for the rest of the transfer.
I love you all so much family. You're just the best. Keep being wonderful and doing good things.
xoxo
Hermana Simpson
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