Wednesday, March 16, 2016

The Week we had a lot of fun! - June 9th, 2014

Hello everybody!!
So this week was awesome. We just had a lot of fun. But this was also
the week we found out about transfers. So I will get right to that.
Hermana Figueroa is getting transferred. She is going the farthest
north you can go in the mission to Beloit, Wisconsin. Yeah Wisconsin
is part of my mission. So that is exciting. But also really sad. Once
we found out she was leaving, we were both like hey wait, we are just
starting to figure this out. I love Hermana Figueroa a lot. She has
taught me a lot this transfer, and I really will miss her. So since
this was the last week of the transfer and we knew someone in our
group of four missionaries would be getting transferred. We pretty
much hung out with the sister every single night. We had lots of
adventures. Pictures will show you our adventures. To give you the
highlights, we found a fooseball(turns out I have no idea how to spell
that word) table, and we had a marshmallow war, and we learned how to
fly. It was pretty awesome week :)
But we also worked hard. This week we had an amazing lesson with Karla
and Carlos, our investigators who we love so much, who also need to
get married. So they have been coming to church and they love it! And
they want to be baptized and we talk very openly about baptism and how
they want to be baptized but they have to get married in order to be
baptized. Which they want to do as well. They got engaged before we
found them. They just have some funny ideas, this is what they've
decided....they want to get married next April.....unacceptable.....or
if she gets pregnant then they will get married sooner because they
want a baby....what? How does that make any sense, we aren't sure. But
it's okay. We will work with this. Also I am not sure if I mentioned
that they are both younger then Hermana Figueroa and I.....yeah
awkward. Anyway so we had this super great lesson with them and we
were talking to them about why they want to be baptized and among
other better reasons, one thing Karla said is, "I also think this will
just be so good for Arianna (her 3yr old daughter), I just have this
dream that if she grows up in this church and is baptized when she is
8, then someday she will be like you guys and will serve people and be
an angel in other peoples lives. I want her to be like you guys" It
was such a tender moment, and one of the highest compliments I have
ever received, that someone wants their child to grow up and be like
me is so sweet. Anyway, they are getting there. Little by little.
They're the greatest. Pray for them! :)
This is the Greatest ward. I love them so much. They are so supportive
and frankly just so nice to us. We have recently also been going to
the Bloomington ward since we work the whole area and that is another
story. Literally so much drama. Not from us but just in general. We
went to their missionary coordination meeting, and I am not kidding
you could have cut the contention with a knife. There is one elder who
is just super, how do you out it nicely, he refuses to be unified with
the other missionaries, as in he is disobedient, and therefore sets a
bad example for the ward, and has just made it incredibly difficult to
work with them, because they are also a ward that likes to do exactly
what they want even if it goes against our mission rules and he
encourages them in that. So it has been rough. But he is also getting
transferred. So it will hopefully start to smooth out. It was just
like a drastic comparison to the MCM we had in the normal ward, which
was lead by the spirit and was really productive. It really made me
realize how when or if you have a calling that puts you in ward
council, you have to strive even more to be driven by the spirit. I
think a lot of times in the ward councils I have worked in, it starts
to become like a business, and people forget that this is The Lord's
church and everything we do must be lead by the spirit, and we cannot
neglect our own conversion.
The other thing I learned a lot this week is the importance of
humility. My companion was reading a talk that said that 'pride is the
first step to every sin', think about that. The first step to EVERY
sin, no matter how big or how small. So if that is true, then humility
is the first step to every righteous action. And it just makes sense.
The spirit drives every good choice we make, and in order to feel the
spirit we must be humble, we must be submissive. This is when he comes
and this is when he teaches. So I have been focusing a lot on being
humble. Really seeking the spirit in all things. Maybe that
discovering isn't as eye opening to all of you, but it was very
profound to me when I clicked those things together.
Well I forgot my journal, so I am sure I am missing other things but
there isn't much I can do now. We were fed dinner every single night
this week, so that was great. I am not sure what else to say I know I
am forgetting stuff, but maybe I will just add it in with the
pictures.
I love you. Fight the good fight.
Love,
Hermana Simmons

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