Hola Familia!
I love you so much! You are just the most wonderful family in the world! And you look so great in all the pictures that Kelley sent. Sorry about Elder Adling leaving. Read the first couple of verses in Alma 22 for that one. It sounds like this week has been crazy! I'm sorry about work on Sundays though. That stinks. Have faith and be strong. And I'm so sad to hear about Bobbi. She and Bob and Phyllis have been in my prayers a lot lately and that news broke my heart. I'm glad you'll be able to go down to support them this weekend. Give them my love.
We had transfers this week! I was so nervous. And I definitely did not want to train again. I was hoping to be junior companion for the rest of my mission. Obviously that's not happening. Thank you, President Riggs. I was willing to accept the Lord's will, but after the last two transfers, I was really terrified to go through it all again. And this area is a tough area and I kind of didn't want to stay. But I didn't want to train and whitewash or open another area either. There were a lot of things that I didn't want to do, so I had really just been praying that Heavenly Father would help me to accept whatever is best for this mission and that He would help me to be willing and cheerful about doing it. I'm trying to be a Nephi and not a Laman or a Lemuel (You've taught me well, mother). And we had the best transfer meeting. In those couple of hours, my perspective about training changed completely. President Riggs talked about a lot of things that I really needed to hear and I had also read my patriarchal blessing which had also helped me see things in a new light. I'm amazed about how much that talks about serving a mission and I never even realized it! Heavenly Father is so sneaky!
My new companion is Hna Spencer, she's from Mesa and she is darling! She got super sick when she came here (as in throwing up during transfer meeting), but she's been recovering, and we have had so much fun this week! On Friday we did weekly planning, which I really have not liked lately. I felt like it was always just a struggle to understand each other and not the revelatory experience that it's supposed to be. But this Friday was completely different. As in one of the best planning experiences that I've ever had! We both just felt so inspired and I felt like we were able to kind of figure out what would be best to help our investigators. It was such a good experience. And Hna Spencer and I have been getting along wonderfully! Sometimes I just think to myself, this is too good to be true! I'm really excited for this transfer. We are going to see miracles!
Speaking of miracles, we've had our fair share this week. On Wednesday Hna Sorensen and I taught Jhoana's mom! Both her and Esperanza had been saying that they really though their mom would like to learn so we finally went over there with Jhoana. I was really nervous to meet her after some of the stories that I've heard, but Jhoana told us that she was going to love us. So we went over and we get out of the car and there's a kid screaming and everyone is outside in the front yard and I just thought, "Oh no, why do we always have such terrible timing?" But it actually wasn't! It was amazing because we got to meet her gringo stepdad, Eugene. And he took one look at us and said, "LDS, right?" We said that we were and he said, "I used to do that." Um what?! I think the three of us might have gone into shock. Truly. He then said, "You talk about being touched, when I was in the temple, I felt it." Commence the jaw dropping for the second time. So then Jhoana, being the little missionary that she is asked him what happened. And he just said, "I don't know, a lot of things. I got old." And she basically tells him that that's the worst excuse she's ever heard. So that was a big surprise. No one had any idea. Not even her mom. That one definitely came out of left field. We then had an awesome lesson with her mom about the Restoration. And we went back and read with her on Saturday from the Book of Mormon, and she loved it.
We also put Esperanza back on date this week and we put Jose on date with her! We fasted for Jose last Sunday and we have been trying really hard to teach him and we finally had the opportunity to teach him this week. Fasting works. This family is so special. They have been and are being prepared for the gospel. It's a rollercoaster, but it's amazing to be a part of.
And remember Geraldo? Probably not. About three months ago we had a miracle lesson with him and he accepted a baptismal date and then he fell off the planet. Until last night. We went to his sister's house and we knocked on the door and he opens the upstairs window and asked who it was. Las Missioneras of course. He comes running down the stairs, opens the door, Book of Mormon in hand and says, "This Book is important. It's the word of God." Wow. So we had another miracle lesson with him. It was great. We read about the doctrine of Christ and he knows that he needs to be baptized but he wants to make sure he's really repented first. He was just so happy though. He told us that he thought he'd lost us and he was so excited to start reading again. And he made us promise to come back next Sunday. Hopefully then we can start teaching his sister too.
And I just need to tell you that the kid sitting at the computer across from me looks like Cedric Diggory and it's really distracting. I blame any spelling or grammar errors on him. I keep expecting him to pull out a wand.
Hna Spencer and I went to the office on Friday to pick up some of her stuff that had been mixed up with another new missionaries and we were looking at the transfer board and we noticed something interesting. I had orginally been put to train a different missionary, but then the two of us ended up together. Hmmm. It's great though. We've had an awesome four days together. And I'm happier and feeling more motivated than I have been for a while. It's a tender mercy because I told the Lord that I would do whatever He wanted me to do and train whoever he wanted me to train, but I also had been praying that if possible I could have someone that would help me to feel excited again. Not that I wasn't excited before, I think it was just getting lost in the stress. So us being together has really been a tender mercy. I already feel like we've been friends forever. I'm excited to see what this transfer has to bring.
And guess what! Wednesday is my halfway day. Isn't that crazy?! In the words of Grandma, "One pregnancy down, one to go." I don't know what to think. I can't believe that I'm halfway. It feels like I'm still in my second or third transfer. And I'm still in the mindset that I'm going to be a missionary forever, and I'm perfectly okay with that. But sometimes the realization hits me that oh wow, I actually don't have that much time left. I still have a lot to do, and if the next nine months go as quickly as the last, I have a lot of becoming to do still. So mostly I just choose not to think about it because it kind of freaks me out.
I think that's about it this week, family. I love you so much, I think you're wonderful!
xoxo
Hermana Simpson
Oh yeah, and one more thing that I wanted to tell you was that one of the missionaries that was leaving was bearing his testimony and he said something that really hit me. I don't remember exactly what he said, but it went something along the lines of, "The pain of disciple or the pain of regret. You choose." And I though wow. That's true. And applicable to everything in life. So yeah, just thought I'd share it.
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