Hola Familia!
I just love you so much! I love hearing from you and it sounds like you're doing great! Keep on keeping on with work and don't let it overwhelm you. I know this has nothing to do with nursing, but something I've learned as a missionary is that you know more than you think you know. And for the things you don't know, Heavenly Father has a sneaky way of helping you out. So don't stress out too much!
I do have a Bible that goes along with that Book of Mormon and I would love to give her the whole set. They were together when I left, so ask Kelley what happened to it.
Can you believe that it's going to be August this week? August is the best month!
This week has been a little bit tough. As you already know, we had that accident and it's been a pain to deal with. Sorry about the scare that created. Going to the Emergency Room takes up so much time. I hated it because I just wanted to be doing missionary things. And I've been pretty sore. I've been staying away from the hydrocodone and have just been taking Tylenol and ibuprofen, but I have been taking the muscle relaxers off and on and they help. The only problem is that they make me dizzy and I can't stay awake for the life of me. I think I'm a little bit more emotional when I take them too. So I've tried to avoid taking them and I only take them at night or in the morning. It's just so annoying to deal with.
In dealing with all of that we weren't able to teach as many lessons as we usually do, and we also got stood up a lot this week, so it's been frustrating. We really need to find some new investigators. We're in a hard area for finding though and because we're teaching so much of Jhoana's family that lives in Manassas it's been hard to try and balance our time. We're working on it though.
And we're really trying to focus on working with members. Our branch is a struggling little branch. With the exception of a few families, no one has really experienced true conversion. And so it's hard to get them to help with missionary work when they're not even converted to the gospel themselves. They're wonderful people and we love them, but we really want to help them grow and experience all the joy that comes from having the gospel, not just parts of it. I know that as the branch becomes more and more converted, this little area will really start to flourish. That's something both Hna Spencer and I feel really strongly about and so this week we're really going to start focusing on the members. It reminds me a little bit of what we did in Old Town. And Old Town is doing so well now. I got transferred just as it was getting back on it's feet and that was really hard, but our district when I was there built the foundation for it. And because I've done it once, I know we can do it again. I think I can finally say that I love this area. It's taken a lot of time and a lot of prayers, but I really do love it. I always thought that to love it, I'd have to feel the same way I did about Old Town, but I've realized that's not the case. I love Sudley and Old Town very differently and for very different reasons but in both instances I've seen them grow and I've grown with them. I feel like they've become a part of me.
We had a couple of really wonderful things happen this week and a couple of really not so wonderful things happen as well.
We taught Moises again this week. It happened the same way as it did last time. Kind of. We had just finished teaching Jhoana and Adela and Heidy and we were getting ready to kneel down and pray and everyone joined us. Everyone. But before we prayed, Moises asked a question and that led to another one and another one until we ended up teaching him the entire Restoration! His questions are so good and I really appreciate that he asks questions to understand, not to criticize. And so the Spirit was there and we all felt it. I think the best part of the lesson was when we were inviting Moises to read and pray and find out for himself and he just said maybe. I asked him why just maybe and he said that he didn't know if God though that he was ready for this or if God had actually chosen him. At first I didn't know what to say to that, but then the Spirit took over and I just said, "Really?! Look at it this way: Out of all the people in Northern Virginia that we could be teaching right now and out of the very short 18 months that we're here, we're spending this valuable time in your house teaching you the message of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Think of all the people that we could be teaching that we're not because we're here teaching you! I can't think of a better sign that Heavenly Father knows that you're ready for this and that He wants you to hear it. I promise you it's not coincidence." I think that surprised him but I also know that it touched him. And I said the words, but it was really what Heavenly Father knew he needed to hear. He thought about that for a minute and then said that maybe I was right and that it made him happy to think that God was aware of him. Of course He is! This is the most important message in the world! Of course Heavenly Father wants all of His children to have it. And I know that He is preparing his children, even those with pony tails and tattoos, to receive it. Afterwards we knelt down again to pray, because we never actually did the first time, and it was so special. The entire family was there and they were saying family prayer. It was beautiful!
Saturday was Hna Spencer's birthday and we had a birthday miracle. It's actually kind of silly, but we loved it. Right after she got here, the buttons on her iPod stopped working and she was really sad because she had a lot of good music on there. I have mine, but I'm sick of most of it. So Friday she prayed and asked Heavenly Father if he could somehow make it so that she could listen to the music on her iPod. And Saturday afternoon we figured out that we could plug it into the car using the USB cable and that we could use the stereo on the car to control what songs we listen to! That might be the only thing that Subaru is good for. But really, it was such a tender mercy from the Lord.
To explain the next miracle, I have to share the other not so wonderful thing that happened to us. And I'm still bitter about it, so if the sassiness comes out, that's why. Saturday night we were driving home and we were stopped at the light right before the road that we live on and we finally get the green arrow and turn onto our street and guess what. No, we didn't get crashed again, but we did get pulled over. Of course I was driving (don't worry, I hadn't been taking any medicine). I hate that Subaru. So the policewoman (of course it was a woman), come over and shines the light right in my eyeballs and says, "Do you know why I pulled you over." Nope. You didn't even give me enough time to start speeding after I turned that corner. What I really said though, sweet as can be of course, was, "I really don't." She proceeds to tell me, "You waited a few seconds after the light turned green to turn. You obviously weren't paying attention. Have you been drinking?" ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Of course I just said, "No, I haven't, we're actually missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." She then asks me who owned the car and I told her that it was the Church. She then took my license to make sure there weren't any warrants out (because I look like such a hardened criminal) and when she came back and chastised me because I had a Washington license and had been living in Virginia for more than 60 days. She told me that if I didn't change my license they would ticket me and that they could tow the car. I just nodded and said okay but really I was thinking that she was the most terrible human being in the world. She was scary and didn't seem like she would listen to me if I tried to explain the whole missionary situation, and I didn't want her to get even more grumpy so I didn't really try to explain. But following my understanding, I'm not going to have to change my license. So anyway, she gives me a written warning (because she has to) and it says failure to pay full attention or something ridiculous like that. Whatever. That was basically the straw that broke the camel's back though, and I just wanted to curl up in a ball and die. I now have a list of the worst things in the world which include, the Subaru we drive, Virginia drivers, and Virginia police, especially the women and especially at the end of the month. So that's the back story to the miracle that I'm about to explain.
Sunday, we were driving to dinner at a member's house and we were lost because of some awesome road construction. We're on this road, by the police station of course, with no posted speed limit signs or anything, and all of a sudden a policeman starts tailing us. As in we're about 99% sure that he's going to pull us over for something. There was no one else on the road and he was about as close as he could be without actually touching us. Hna Spencer was driving, but after the ordeal of the night before we really just did not want to deal with anymore policemen. And so I said, maybe I should say a prayer. And I did and we prayed that we would get pulled over and that the policeman would stop following us. As soon as I said amen we stopped at a stoplight and the policeman was still right behind us. But as soon as the light turned green, instead of following us, he turned. No blinker, no turn lane, no nothing. It was a miracle! And the answer to the prayer of two very distraught missionaries.
And that's our week. Our goal this week is to have no car troubles. Hopefully we can make it. Our record isn't too good though. Anyway, I love you all so much, I think you're the best. Thanks for being the most wonderful family in the whole wide world.
xoxo
Hermana Simpson
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