Dearest Familia y Amistades,
So this email goes out to little Calvin who is having a birthday
today. Love you little man :) and to celebrate your birthday I went to
the zoo :) pictures to follow :)
So hmm this week we didn't do a whole lot because we spent one day in
Naperville, 2.5hrs away.
The highlights, our one and only member is in the hospital. The good
news is her husband and her went to court on Tuesday and he is not
getting deported, and least not yet. We are glad to hear that. Our
only progressing investigators are doing great, Carla and Carlos,
except Carla is in jail this whole week....she didn't do community
service. Funny story first time I met her she was talking about how
she has to go to jail and I just stopped her and was like "hey um
what're you going to jail for"...hahah really kind of important
information. But it's nothing big. We won't see them this week though
because of that :( but we had a cool experience with this. So she has
been really scared and nervous about going to jail....with good
reason....so we offered to find someone who could give her a
priesthood blessing of comfort. She said yes and so we made a plan. So
on Sunday night we go over there with one of our members who speaks
Spanish, first thing we see when we pull up is a few guys our age in
the yard, it looks like they were having a little party. Hna Figueroa
and I are just like great, this isn't going to be a good environment
to have someone get a blessing. Plus I am going to be honest, it is
somewhat uncomfortable sometimes to teach nonmembers of the opposite
sex who are your age....sometimes they get weird and talk about taking
you on dates, and thinking you're cute....maybe that happened to me a
few times......awkward....anyway we go in and find out they had
invited a couple of their friends over who wanted to see the blessing.
They were very respectful and quiet. So she got her blessing which was
so sweet, and tender, and which you could tell really touched everyone
there's heart. It was so cool too because our member speaks pretty
good Spanish, but during the blessing he spoke perfect Spanish. It was
so cool. Anyway, afterwards, we had the perfect opportunity to teach
about the restoration of the gospel to these friends that were there
and to talk about the importance of the priesthood. How our church is
the only church that has this authority from Jesus Christ to
performing these ordinances because they were given to they prophet
Joseph Smith when God called him to be a prophet, and how our prophet
today has this authority and can trace his authority back to Jesus
Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith. It was very simple and short.
But so powerful and these two men were really interested, and opened
their hearts to the truth. They said the blessing was beautiful. It
was cool. We aren't sure what will happen with them but it was
awesome.
Well that might be the only big cool story for the week. This has been
a harder transfer if I am being honest. Things on all fronts just
aren't running as smoothly. But it's okay. I am not in the pit of
despair. It did rain all week though, that was kind of a bummer.
But today we went to the zoo! It was awesome. I love the zoo. Also
there is all sorts of beautiful flowers and birds here. It makes it
really beautiful to be outside and walk around. We had some miracles
of finding people. Little impressions that only barely graze your
thoughts and if you don't grab onto them they're gone. That is a lot
of what happened this week.
One other cool story I thought of that happened this week. We had an
appointment on Saturday with a women named Miriam at 11:00. Well first
let me back up. We have been trying to get ahold of this lady for
quite awhile. She lives on our way to the church so we usually go when
were going to the church which always seems to be in the morning and
she is never there. So on Tuesday we are driving home from a meeting
and we have maybe 10 extra minutes, so I just have this slight
impression to stop by Miriam's on the way home. So we do, and she is
there! We set up the appointment for Saturday. Anyway, flash forward
to Saturday. We don't have the car so we have to take the bus. We
either have to leave at 10 and reschedule an hour of studies plus get
there 30mins early or leave at 11 and get there 30mins late. So we
decide to go early. It seems like everything is working against us
getting there early though seriously. But finally we go out and catch
the bus(it stops right outside our apartment basically). We are
getting on and the bus drivers all know us because we ride the bus so
often (and we stand out with name tags and skirts), so they don't look
to closely to see if we actually have bus passes, so I go to pull mine
out, not there. I search my bag, my jacket, my pockets, not there. So
we go a little ways down the rode, and are contemplating just trying
to survive the day without my bus pass, especially since the drivers
know us, or going back for it. We decide to go back, and get off the
bus a ways down the street. We have to walk back home and search for
my pass, which we find in the bathroom.....? Okay. Haha so we wait
30ish minutes and catch the next bus. Two miracles came from this
little situation, first, EVERY SINGLE bus driver in Saturday was a
part time bus driver, and we did not know any of them. We would not
have been able to get on any bus without my pass, and would have been
stranded. Second, when we got to Miriam's 30mins late, her friend had
just gotten there as well. Her friend is also someone we met awhile
ago and have been trying to get ahold of. We had no idea they were
friends. They let us in and we taught them both. The friend was super
interested and Miriam not so much. If we had been early or on time,
the friend would not have been there and we could not have taught her.
It was really cool. That whole day we were just think about how The
Lord's hand really is in every moment if this work. This is HIS work.
These are His children. We are just here trying to help them
understand His gospel. How they can be saved through His Atonement,
and by living according to the ways He has set. It really is awesome
to be a part of it. I love being a missionary. Even when you're out of
money and no one feeds you so you and your companion eat pastries for
5 consecutive meals....(not that I did that Saturday and
Sunday.......okay I did). But really this church is true. This church
is the church of Jesus Christ on the earth. I know it because I live
it, I see it change lives everyday. I see it change my life everyday,
and I have felt it burning in my heart.
I love you all. Fight the good fight. Finish your course with faith.
Hermana Simmons
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