Aaaaannnnddddddd......
She's leaving the Valley:(
We got the transfer call this morning and I cried haha. I guess when you're in an area for 7 months it kind of becomes your home. I wanted to leave so bad last transfer and now, when I want to stay so bad, I'm gone. I'm super excited though! I'm ready to be stretched in new ways and it's going to be a crazy new adventure. We leave for San Diego tomorrow morning where I'll meet my new comp and head out to wherever they'll send me! But today, I'm sad. One of our members took us out to breakfast and said "Whoa. I think I'm actually going to miss a sister missionary!" Cue the waterworks. I feel like I did what I needed to do here, and that above all is the most incredible feeling.
But this week was crazy! A member gave us a referral for her friend who is looking for a religion to join (her words...) so we went a few nights ago. We knocked on his door and some random lady opened it and there was a super intense bible study going on. People were wearing veils. And speaking in tongues.....haha so we were like "uhhhh, can we come back tomorrow?!". He invited us to come back the next day and it was such a cool lesson!! Easily one of my favorite lesson's we've ever taught. His name is Raoul and he definitely did his homework. He had a ton of really awesome questions and it was so cool to be able to answer every single one of them! The spirit was really strong. After a 45 minute question/answer sesh he just sits there for a minute and says "....ALRIGHT. I liked all these answers. You passed the test. Come see me next week!"....OK! It was awesome because this week we weren't able to see a lot of our investigators, for some reason no one was home and we got buffed a lot. So that lesson was a major tender mercy. Also, they fed us the best fish tacos I've ever had in my life. WHAT A BLESSING.
Wanna know what isn't a really good food? Goat. Goat isn't really delicious. Tongue is better than goat.
We were at the local community college the other day and we had a booth with a bunch of information about the church. One of the other sisters brought her ukulele so we just chilled and jammed on the uke to primary songs....it was bliss. We contacted a deaf guy! Thank you mom for teaching us the alphabet in sign language!! It was actually really cool. He poured over all of the pamphlets we gave him. There are only 2 ASL companionship's in the mission and they're all in San Diego but they have video chat so we set up a meeting with them!!
Our ward is doing alright...well. It's kind of falling apart. All of the auxiliary leaders have kinda given up and they're moving to the English wards in El Centro. We went to visit them this week and they said they're just tired, so it's been rough. They're having a meeting with the stake presidency this next week about putting missionaries in the auxiliary positions because there really are no members. It's been discouraging. These people have such intense testimonies, but there unfortunately isn't a lot of love in the ward. That's another reason why I'm sad to leave. I CAN LOVE YOU! We just got a new rule in the mission that we can't leave our area-which is interesting for us in the Valley. We live in El Centro but our ward is in Calexico. We have a ton of single ladies that the elders can't teach over there, so we don't know what to do. We went to a less active's house the other day, and when we told her we couldn't see her anymore she said that she refuses to have elders come to her home....So keep Damarys in your prayers.
Cool moment of the week: It was fast and testimony meeting last Sunday and our bishop stood up to bear his testimony. He had his 7 year old grandson with him who only speaks English, and when he bore his testimony he said "I want to bear my testimony in English so my grandson can understand". I cried the whole friggin time....I don't know where it came from, but since I've been on the mission I have never appreciated more the power and spirit that kids have. It was cool to see our very stern bishop soften up and look straight into his grandsons eyes and bear a simple yet powerful testimony.
Pictures: A member (Hector Martinez!) took us out for breakfast this morning. He calls me "Hermana Shout.". He's one of my favorite members! And the other is of the street where that cool investigator Raoul lives!
I've said it once and I'll say it again. It feels good to be doing the Lord's work. It feels really, really good. I've learned so much these past 7 months in the Valley, but I think the biggest thing I've learned is how much I still need to learn haha. But that feels good, too. At times it's frustrating when you see the road ahead of you and you think "OOOOH man, I've got a loooong way to go." But then Heavenly Father gives you a little taste of who He needs you to be, and then you go "OK. I can do this. It's worth it.". It really is worth it. His plan is so much greater than what we understand-and when we realize that, it really does't matter what we don't understand.
I love you all, with all my heart!! Have a great week!!!!
Hermana Hess
No comments:
Post a Comment