Tuesday, April 8, 2014

April 8, 2014 - "Heavenly Father, you didn't have to do that!"

That has been the most repeated phrase of the past week, because we have been so dang blessed and we are seeing so many miracles and we are so happy that we literally have nothing to say but "Heavenly Father! We're already so happy! You didn't have to bless us with ALL OF THESE MIRACLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
 
Lets start with my new comp!!! HERMANA BARNES IS MY BEST FRIEND! Haha we served in Chula Vista together in the same district and she is one of the missionaries I have always looked up to. She came out 2 transfers after me (with Hermana Oliver!) and she is the most consecrated, happy, personality-filled missionary I have ever met. When President Clayton called her name during transfers we both just started jumping up and down and I literally couldn't stop smiling. President just looked over the pulpit and gave us a little wink. Oh man.....I am so happy. This week has been absolutely insane with different meetings that we've had to go to, so we have not had ONE companionship study since we've been together, but our unity is so solid and it's like we've been teaching together for months. We've seen a ton of miracles this week and I know that it's because there are people here that need HER and what she brings. Which is good, because at transfer meeting they announced that they are white-washing a new companionship into our branch, so instead of having 3 sets of missionaries we have 4. Which is awesome, but as a result of them opening a new area they literally took half of our area that we cover, which included all of our progressing investigators (Amber, Hector, Lupita....) that have just literally begun to progress. So....we were a little stressed out haha. We also found out that we cover 2 more companionships of sisters so we'll be going on 2 exchanges a week for the rest of the transfer.
 
But with all of the absolute craziness of this past week, I have never been happier. I love the mantle you get when you take over an area. No matter how many things get piled up on top of each other, I have never once felt overwhelmed or discouraged or anything. I feel like this companionship has a good hold on things and I literally can feel Heaven's help at every moment of the day. It's a humbling feeling, the strength that comes with the responsibility the Lord gives you. It's definitely not a confidence that was born out of me personally, but with the knowledge and constant companionship of the Spirit and the angels that have been assigned to help us and guide us. So while we feel like we've been running for the past week, we both are just so shoot dang stoked about life that we just sit and laugh and say "life is good".
 
CAN I JUST TELL YOU HOW MUCH I LOVED GENERAL CONFERENCE? In my opinion, Holland, Bednar, Uchdorf, and Packer all brought it home! The Sunday morning session was my favorite (am I allowed to have favorites?). We all watched it as a zone at the stake center and it felt good just to sit and be surrounded by the power that comes from being in a room packed with missionaries, and that comes from when the Prophet and the Twelve speak. Conference is way better than the Superbowl for SURE.
 
Ok, this is the major miracle of the week. I don't know if I've ever told you about Mayra and her family but she is one of the people I knew I needed to meet when I got to Santee. Mayra is a waaaaaay less active (like, she was baptized at 8 and never went back since.) who lives with her boyfriend and their kids. SUPER cute family and we just fell in love with them when we met them. We found their name in an area book 3 months ago and when we met them, "cold" doesn't begin to describe them. They only let us teach them if we didn't use the Book of Mormon or invite them to church or anything. So we took our time and focused on establishing a relationship with them, and it has totally paid off. I think this family is one of the biggest miracles I have ever seen! They have warmed up to us so much and it's been amazing thing to see the cold look in their eyes completely dissolve. Last Saturday we went over to their house randomly while they were walking out the door, so we didn't have time to share a message. A few hours later we received a call from the other elders in our zone and they told us that a member that they work with is best friends with Mayra, and Mayra was telling her that she was praying for guidance Friday night, and we randomly show up Saturday! Her friend invited Mayra to conference and SHE ACCEPTED!!!!!!! The woman who REFUSED to let us teach her family accepted the invitation to go to conference!! So we were having a fit about that. We went over last night to follow up and see how she liked it, and she told us she couldn't go. Dang haha. But we were chatting and their cute kids had all these crazy questions about "did I choose my parents?" "How did God get to be God?".....and so we launched into the most powerful Plan of Salvation lesson we have ever taught. It was so cool to be in that family room, with the WHOLE family (even the dad who used to literally run away) feeling the Spirit. It was incredible. Their hearts have changed and even though it may take a little while, Mayra will come back to full activity and her boyfriend, Arturo, and their 4 kids will be getting baptized. Of that, I have no doubt. I'm flipping out. 

So I'm still reeling about that haha. Yesterday we had a great zone meeting about Visions-how we need to have one for our area, our zone, our companionships, and for ourselves. While we were doing accountability, our zone leader called our names and said "these sisters gave away half of their area and all of their progressing investigators. They should expect great miracles.". That hit me and I spent the whole zone meeting pondering on that. I was like "YEAH. We NEED to expect these miracles". I thought a lot about re-examining expectations and how if we work, and pray and are obedient, we have the power to call down miracles. I've known this my whole mission but I guess it just hit me a few days ago. I look at Mayra's family and the other people we are teaching and I can say with all the confidence that I have that they will get baptized. I don't know when, but they will. I have great expectations for these next few transfers and I am stoked to see all the incredible things that are going to happen. I am learning that I need more faith, that I need to wrestle more with the Lord in prayers, and I am so stoked to see what comes next. 

Life is good. This is in no way easy and I'm getting my trash kicked but it is in every way the best thing I have ever been a part of. I love you so much!!! Be happy! Have a great week and know that I pray for y'all every dang day!

Hermana Hess 

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