May 28, 2013
TO MY DEAR SWEET FAMILIA......
I love love
loved all the millions of pictures I got this week! It was so fun to see all
the cousins and baby Riley. Oh my goodness, she is the cutest! I'm not gunna
lie, I was totally reminiscing on all the fun
lake trips on Memorial Day weekend. Being with family and friends, getting in
all the tubing and wakeboarding that we wanted, and sitting on the beach and
just soaking in the sun. Let me just paint you the picture (as dad or John
would say!) of what my day looked like yesterday.... We woke up and it was as
dark as it is at about 9pm at noon. It was crazy and it was raining so hard!
Luckily, it calmed down and became nice and humid/muggy around 3 just in time
for our picnic with all the missionaries in our ward and John (our neighbor who
was just baptized). He wanted to cook for us and thank us for all we have
helped him with and let me just say that he is one good cook! It's what he does
for a living (like the restaurant he's at right now, they charge over 100 bucks
a plate CRAZY CRAZY!). But, this week has definitely had its ups and downs.
It's been a little hard and discouraging because we've had to let go of a lot
of our investigators that just aren't progressing.
For example,
a lady named Rosa. I don't know if I've told you much about her, but she's from
Mexico and we've been meeting with her for a couple of weeks. We met with her
twice this last week just to see if maybe we could continue to visit her, but
it all ended on Wednesday after we watched the Joseph Smith movie. We invited
her to come over to our Relief Society President's house (Hermana Balza) to
watch it, because we had tried to share it before but the problem is that she
talks too much. She won't ever let me talk unless I interrupt her which I have
had to do from time to time just to get some words in. As we watched the 20-minute
movie, 10 minutes into it she's just completely out on the couch (and of course it's
right when Joseph Smith is having his vision). After the movie we started to
talk to her about him. A little background, some of the problems we have been
having with her is that she's told us she thinks Joseph Smith was a prophet and
that the Book of Mormon is true, but that she also thinks anyone can be a
prophet. So anyway, I was hoping that this visual with the
movie and the spirit that it can bring would help her to better understand his
divine calling as the prophet of the Restoration, but NO! As we started to
discuss things, she said, "Soy una profeta" (meaning, I'm a
prophet!). She talked about how she can heal people and see visions and so on
and so forth. She talked about how she believes our church is wrong in that we
believe there is only one prophet. It was then that we just had to tell her
that we would come back to see her here and there but that we wouldn't be
seeing her like we use to anymore. It was all so sad and frustrating! But,
honestly the spirit during the Joseph Smith movie, even though it was in Spanish,
was so strong and powerful. Looking on the bright side, I know it strengthened
Sister Wuebkes, Hermana Balza and my testimony about the prophet that day.
Sweet Lucy
is still doing pretty well. She came to church with us this past Sunday for the
first time and I think she liked it. She became friends with a lady at church
who is going to be getting baptized this week so we were excited about that! We
watched the hour-long Restoration movie with her (pretty sure it's the one
Ashy's talking about that she saw in the MTC). She really liked it and kept
saying how good of a man Joseph Smith was. At the end of the movie though, she
did express some concerns about having to choose between her other church and
ours. It kind of scared me for a second but at the same time I think it's good
because she is beginning to realize it is going to be a lifetime commitment.
This past Thursdays
and Friday, I got to go to Independence to Visitors Center training. A guy from
Salt Lake came out who is a part of the missionary department and trained us.
It was so cool and insightful! It really helped me to better see why I have
been called to serve there. I know in the beginning when I got my call I was
wanting more than anything in the world to not have to be in a Visitors Center,
but now being here and the few experiences I have had there, I'm so excited to
get to serve there. Not even faking it! ha-ha Transfers are this Thursday. I
don't think I'll be leaving yet, but you never know. I'm pretty sure though
that I'll at least stay here another transfer to finish training Sister Wuebkes
and then maybe I'll head to the VC in the middle of the crazy busy season. Only
the Lord knows though! :)
LAST
STORY...... So Saturday was just a super hard day for us. We literally were
trying to talk to everyone and nobody, NOBODY wanted to listen, or even worse,
they would argue with us. I tried so hard to stay positive but it's just so
hard to want to keep talking to people after the other 20 people before them
rejected you. But, as we were standing at a bus stop, I had a BOM in my hand
ready to give out to the next person we saw, and this lady came up to me and
asked if she could have it. She said she's been needing a BOM and that she hasn't been to church in years because of her job. We got her number and we are
hopefully going to go visit her this upcoming week! It was such a tender mercy
from the Lord!
Well, I sure
hope the scripture I've chosen this week isn't too long. Preston said he's
doing completely good with memorizing but that mom's having a little trouble if
they're too long! haha I think you guys will be able to handle this one though
(partly because I think it might be hanging somewhere in our house! ha-ha) It
is Joshua 24:15, " And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose
you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served
that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose
land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
President Keyes talked about this being one of his favorite scriptures this
week and it just reminded me so much about you guys and home. I know that
everyday we must consciously choose who we are going to serve. That if we make
that decision right when we wake up, that all other decisions will fall into
place and be easier. We need to be the kind of people who Satan says,
"Dangit she woke up!" every single morning. The kind of people that
work hard and serve the Lord by building up His kingdom here on earth. I love
you guys to the moon and back and I'm so very grateful for each of you! You are
all my sunshines
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| Dinner with Bishop and Sister Smith! They are so Great! |
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