Mar 17, 2015

(I've been telling Suzie about my own worry and stress regarding things going on at home.  This is her response)  This anxiety stuff is awful, but don't get too stressed about things. There's a scripture in D&C that tells Oliver Cowdery to not worry while he is doing the Lord's work. His family will be watched over. Things may seem stressful but it will all work out because we are doing His work and He is watching over us, and you. 

We had so many incidents this week!  Last week before transfers the other sisters got robbed and ended up living with us for awhile. Now we're the only sisters left in the zone. Then this week one of the elders went missing. At first I wasn't really sure if he got abducted or if he just left but then I heard this isn't the first time this has happened, so it sounds like he took off. But the scary thing is he's not from this country so he needed to be found in the next 2 days or he would be in the government's hands. We have word that he's safe but he's no longer the church's responsibility. If he is found he will be deported and who knows what will happen after that. It's really sad actually. We were in the same zone and he is a really great guy. There were also 2 other elders went home for medical reasons, all 3 elders in the same zone!

We met a guy named M. He's super great! He called our branch president out of the blue and said he was back in town and wanted to meet with the missionaries again.  He was investigating about a year ago, had a date, then just left. Now he's back again. He has a baptism date for 4/11. Hopefully this time it works out!

Spring here is lovely. It's been spring since like January. Transfers are mid April. That's when Sister Larson my trainer goes home :( I think I'm probably getting transfered but we'll see. Thinks have been kind of slow here. Besides M,  nothing is really going on.

I miss everyone!!! And love everyone so much!

 

Feb 17 & Mar 3, 2015

FEBRUARY 17, 2015
Hello! So this is my blog for the week. We had some good times. First we me D! He's super rad! He went to the Mormon Battalion and watched Meet the Mormons. He said he wanted that happiness that they all had in the movie! So he got in touch with us and we taught him about the restoration. When we told him about the Book of Mormon he was like "If there's something more to the Bible I want to know about it!" We also met P. She's Persian and our Zone leaders are teaching her dad. We stopped by last Friday and she was on her way out to Vegas with her boyfriend for valentines day but she said we could come in and talk with her for like 5 min. She was very straight forward and laid it all on the table about what she did and did not believe. haha she's also really rad. But as we were leaving she said she was interested and we could come back Monday. So we went back yesterday and her dad answered the door. We asked if she was there and she wasn't so we asked if she was still in Vegas....... This was the first her dad was hearing about Vegas. It was super awkward. We didn't want to cover for her partying in Vegas but we didn't want her to hate us....So we just left.... and prayed that everything would work out the way that it needed to....Awks. THEN! We also met N! He is also super rad! (So many rad people)! He's a Marine. Before he joined, he investigated the church but didn't get baptized because his family wasn't super thrilled. But he showed up to church and said he wants this in his life again!! and he doesn't care what his family says anymore. He's an adult and he will get baptized if he wants to! but he's getting deployed in 3 weeks. so we'll see. Anyway crazy week! oh and it was Valentines day! We had dinner with another one of our investigators parents. They really like us because they're from Texas and so is Hermana Horton. They also have a GIANT Tortoise and they let us ride it!!!  Hermana Horton was my valentine. We wanted to get each other flowers but we forgot. But! we dropped in to see our investigator F before going home for the night and he gave us each a rose so.... It was a successful valentines day! Hope you all had a lovely weekend as well!!



MARCH 3, 2015

Ok CRAZY week!!!!! So I don't think I've told y'all a lot about J. She's been an investigator for about a year in this area. She's dating J (the one who baptized her) He first introduced her to the church and my trainer (Sister Larson) was her first missionary. She's Vietnamese and Buddhist. Her story is amazing! At first when she started learning she was completely against getting baptized, she was just learning about it. Then she really liked it but she didn't want to give up her Buddhist background. Then she realized she could incorporate both. Then she was worried she was doing it for just J and not herself. After she got over all of her concerns and EVERYTHING,  she knew she needed to be baptized. This date has been set for a couple months now. The sad thing is her family is completely unsupportive. She has been through a lot to get to this point. Her sister did come to the baptism though! The funny thing is she takes Institute classes at the La Jolla Institute so I knew her before I even got to this area. She's a big deal. She's an inspiration example to everyone! We met a Vietnamese lady the other day who was Buddhist and told her about Jessica and she said she'd be interested in going to her baptism. How cool!  It was the most beautiful baptism!!! She and J are so in love and he's just so supportive to her. When she came out of the water she just buried her face in him and just cried and he just held her not even caring that 50 people were watching! And she bore the sweetest testimony about her faith. We didn't really do anything but it was amazing to be apart of all of it! 

 

The 2nd craziest thing this week is N!!! I can't remember if I've told you about him but he texted us about 2 Sundays ago out of no where and just asked where our church is and what time we meet. Then right after that, my friend from home, Elder Fraughton called us and told us about this guy that just showed up at their ward. He's a Marine from Alabama. about 2 years ago his recruiter introduced him to the church during boot camp. He got all the lessons and even introduced his other friends to the church who got baptized, but he never got baptized. He said that the Book of Mormon is what got him through boot camp. Then he just kind of stopped going and learning. He's been in San Diego for about 5 months and just decided he really wanted to go to church again. Then we met him and he just told us everything! He said he was getting deployed in 3 weeks (This was about 3 weeks ago so he's leaving THIS Sunday). We've met with him at a different restaurant on and off base every day the past 2 weeks. At first he said he did want to get baptized but he wasn't sure if he felt ready to do it before he left. He knew he had things he needed to fix. Then last Thursday he texted us saying that he really wanted to meet that night. He had been fasting about some things and needed to talk it out with us. We of course died because he had been fasting on his own! He even paid for his friend's lunch--haha. So we met with him at Jack in the Box (because he needed to break his fast). We had also been really praying for him that he would get baptized before he left. We really felt like he needed that on deployment! So we talked it out about the things he was working on fixing. After talking it all out he said he really wanted to get baptized before he leaves!!!!!! We died! He's getting baptized THIS Friday!!! After all of that we went back to our apartment and we got a call from our President. He said that the other Sister in our district had just gotten robbed and they caught the man in the act!!! They opened the door and saw him run from their bedroom through their sliding glass door.(Don't worry mom and dad, after getting locked out so many times, our apt. is NOT easily broken into). It was creepy because they didn't take anything of value. We think it was mostly harassment. So President and Sister Schmitt came over that night with the Sisters and a few of their things. We got to sleep in until like 8!! because we didn't go to bed until around midnight and President said we needed our sleep. Right when we got up the next day we went back to their apt with the Elders (for protection) and cleared out the apt. They've been staying with us since then. It has been crazy!! but super fun!!! our apt is just filled with suit cases and extra mattresses. It's crazy! We also had stake conference which was a party! So many things going on! It's going to be weird though after N leaves and the Sisters move out. But it was fun while it lasted. Sorry there was a lot going on. Have a great week everyone! 

 

                                                   Happy Valentine's Day-Hermana Horton

                                                                 Valentine rose from F

                                           Baptism of J, by J, and the other Battalion Sisters

 

 

                                          Suzie and her wonderful Battalion companions!

 

                                                        Black Mountain YSA Branch