Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Monday, January 25, 2016
The biggest storm in the East since 1983....
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| So yeah.....the snow came. So much snow. |
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| We started our studies at 8:00 and out my window there was a guy trying to dig out his car so we decided to go help him. One car turned into two..to three..To four....Until we ended up digging out every single car in our apartment complex. |
The Snow Came.......
Hi!
So yeah....... the snow came. Haha. So much
snow. It's my fault though, I prayed for it. And we got the second biggest storm
in the East since 1983 or something. Before the storm hit I was making fun of
everyone freaking out about it- walmart was literally wiped clean. When we went
there a few days before the storm they were completely out of milk, eggs, bread,
all the essentials. So crazy. So it started Friday night, and ended Sunday
morning.
Sunday morning church was cancelled, and we were
still stuck in the apartment. The entire fleet of cars in the mission was
grounded for the blizzard. Anyway we started our studies at 8 and out my window
there was a guy trying to dig out his car so we decided to go help him. We were
like "we'll eat breakfast when we come back in after we help this guy."
One car turned into two... To three... To four..
Until ended up digging out every single car in our apartment complex. Each one
of then was entirely encased in snow- no part of it was visible. Then we tracked
down all the owners door to door and got them all unstuck and moved them into
the cemetery so that plows could remove all the snow from the lot- as we dug out
the cars we had nowhere to put the snow but the middle which created huge
mountains of snow, each eight to ten feet high from each car. We didn't walk
back in the door until 7 pm where we finally ate "breakfast" hahah. Needless to
say.... 30 some cars later today has been a down pday. My back is DONE for
hahah. I couldn't tell you how many thousands of pounds of snow we shoveled. But
I am now an expert at shoveling and getting cars unstuck. Luckily Hermana smith
gives a great back rub.👌🏻
It was really cool to get to meet each one of our
neighbors finally. Hopefully they'll be more likely to open their door the next
time we knock.(;
Anyway, it was a blizzard I'll never forget!
A funny experience of the week- Hermana Smith
and I were working on our list of Spanish potential investigators, less actives,
etc, and knocking doors. We knocked on the door of what turned out to be the
minister of an entire Spanish congregation. At first he played nice, invited us
right in. Then when we told him who we were he let loose. Hahaha.
He started firing off questions then throwing
back anti. Gosh I'm the worst in these situations. To be honest these people
make me so mad, the longer I stand there. But I've always been good at just
taking it. My companion on the other hand.... Haha love Hermana smith. But she
tries to bash hard core with these people. I always just wait and wait.... And
wait until someone takes a breath, and bear my testimony. At that point the man
tried to start with me again and I just smiled and shook his hand and cut him
off with "we're not the enemy here."
He asked if he could "pray with us" before he left.
So we agreed. This crazy guy grabs me by my arms and my face and says "I hope
you two have an experience you'll never forget- tonight you'll wake up at 3am
and you'll think of me."
Hahaha I was so shaken up when I left. Thank goodness
I am able to let anti material roll off my back at this point.
We can laugh now.
Anyway Hermana smith and I have a bad habit of
scheduling appointments on pdays, and we've got one today with Mariana. She
lives three miles away and we're still grounded so we're just going to gear up
and walk haha. She and her son are great. Her son is only ten and asks questions
sometimes we can't even answer. This week we taught the plan of salvation and he
was able to sit and teach the entire thing back to us after. Her husband isn't
ready to sit down with us yet, but have been really focusing on eternal families
with them. It's something Mariana wants but won't come overnight.
Laura and Juan are great as always- I will be so
sad to miss their baptism February 5. There's a 90% chance I get transferred
this transfer.
We continue to meet more and more of the Spanish
community, the Gettysburg ward bishop has even turned over their Spanish members
to us. I can't help but continue to hope for a branch here- if not now then one
day. It is much needed.
"..I can live with some human imperfections, even
among prophets of God--that is to be expected in mortal beings. I can live with
some alleged scientific findings contrary to the Book of Mormon; time will
correct those. And I can live with some seeming historical anomalies; they are
minor in the total landscape of truth. But I cannot live without the doctrinal
truths and ordinances restored by Joseph Smith, I cannot live without the
priesthood of God to bless my family, and I cannot live without knowing my
family is sealed to me for eternity. That is the choice we face--a few
unanswered questions on one hand versus a host of doctrinal certainties and the
power of God on the other. And for me, and I hope for you, the choice is an easy
one and a rational one."
- "What is the blueprint of Christ's church?"
-Elder Tad R Callister
That's why true faith is always grounded in pure and
simple truths- those are the real pillars of foundation for true
testimonies.
(Oh and I have good news- I didn't wake up at 3am,
this church is true,)
Hasta luego
Hermana Sears
I'll send pics later, I've got lots.
Thank you to my loyal friends and family for the
continued love and support via letters, emails, and prayers. I couldn't ask for
anything more. Never underestimate what even a short note to a missionary means
to us. Haha.
Monday, January 18, 2016
Growth cannot come by taking the easy way.....
Well..... This has probably been my least
favorite week yet. How about
I start with the good.
We had an amazing
church tour with Laura and Juan on Wednesday.
Gino was there to teach with
us, and President and Sister Johnson were
also there. We taught lesson three-
the gospel of Jesus Christ as we
took them around the church. The purpose was
to show why/ how we can
accomplish God's purpose found in Moses 1:39 through
His church.
Faith- we started at a picture of Christ, and talked about how we
can
increase our faith
Repentance- we were by the bishops office and
talked them through the
steps of repentance.
Baptism- we showed them the
baptismal font
Endure to the end- we ended in the chapel where we spoke
about
renewing our covenants through the sacrament and ended by singing
"Te
necesito si."
It could not have been a better night. The spirit
was definitely
on our side, the words seemed to come effortlessly as we bore
our
testimonies of each step towards returning to our Father in Heaven
in
Spanish.
Such a special night I will surely remember with some of
the
sweetest memories of my mission. Laura and their two girls came
to
church on Sunday. Juan will be able to come next week.
So....... Thursday night through Saturday night I had
food
poisoning. Thursday I was feeling horrible all day but we were
in
charge of our zone training so we stuck it out, but by the time we
got
to our dinner appt at seven it was getting bad. We were at the home
of
Dillon Matson, the fresh RM. We knew he was all excited to
have
missionaries over- he and his brothers had all cooked a huge
dinner
for us. So I felt horrible saying anything. Sooo I just put a
few
bites on my plate and tried to do my best with them. Anyways, finally
I
couldn't make it any longer so I admitted I was feeling sick all day
so
they didn't think I just hated the food. Dillon gave me a
priesthood
blessing. Honestly this experience built my testimony of
priesthood
blessings.
Sure enough, we couldn't have left minutes later than we did.
I
didn't make it home. No more than five minutes later, right smack in
the
middle of Main Street. And all the way home. And it didn't stop
until late
Saturday night. It was horrible. The first time I was able
to eat anything
was Sunday morning- a slice of bread. I still felt
horrible Sunday morning
but I knew we needed to be at church for
Laura, so we went.
It was a
good thing we did. Gino didn't show up for church so
sister smith and I had
to translate for her all day. I remembered my
blessing promised I would be
well enough to return to what I needed
to- and I knew we needed to be there
for them.
Anyways, I'm feeling better today. I'm sticking to a Gatorade
and
Powerade diet for now. Thank goodness for pday. We've got a super
busy
night tonight and a crazy week ahead so I need to get my rest
now.
Maybe one day I'll look back and laugh at this, but not yet.
Hahaha.
Church is true.
Hermana Sears
"Sometimes we want to have growth without challenges and to
develop
strength without any struggle. But growth cannot come by taking
the
easy way. We clearly understand that an athlete who resists
rigorous
training will never become a world-class athlete. We must be
careful
that we don't resent the very things that help us put on the
divine
nature."
-Paul V. Johnson, quorum of the seventy, (President
Johnson's brother)
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Some pictures from our MLC trip....
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See those things behind the barn? Yeah, they call those hills "mountains" around here. |
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