Dear Mom
Answers to your questions....
Any packages yet?
YES!! I received my greenie package from you!! Thank you so much mom! I was so excited to see all those fun treats in that box and Hna. Earl just thought that I had the best family which I told her I did :) Mom you do so much for me and I am so thankful!
Should have 2 snail mails from me, right? (I forgot to number the last one)
I got #1 but I am not sure about #2. I received the one from Joel and Kendyl today though if that's the one you are talking about.
Do you eat at members homes each day?
Great question :) We can eat at members houses any day but ONLY if there is an investigator there with us. And on Saturdays and Sundays we can eat at member's homes without an investigator present. So we have been eating with members every Saturday and Sunday because they have a sign up sheet that gets passed around during church. However, when our mission boundaries change to the Kennewick mission on July 1, we will get to eat at members homes any day of the week. Oh and transfers are on the 18th of this month so I will let you know if I get transferred!
What has been your least favorite meal from someone?
Well they have all been super good meals but yesterday was the first time someone served fish. Yuck. I hate to say that but it was hard to eat. I just can't stand the taste. It was cod and had something on the top of it to hide the fish taste a bit but I could still taste it. It wasn't my favorite. I don't know if I will be able to eat fish too much more on my mission haha.
Anything you're in need of?
I don't think so but once again, my head isn't all the way here right now. That always happens when I am emailing. Thank you for asking mom :) Sure appreciate all you do for me. You are truly an angel. Are you sure my email are okay? I don't know if I need to include anything else in them that I haven't been or if I put things in them that don't matter. Please let me know. I don't know how Trevor has time to make his so stinkin' long. I wish I could do that. I really don't ever have time on p-days to write letters mom and it is discouraging me! I have been wanting to write Joel and Kam and Kendyl forever and I just can't. It is so crazy and frustrating. I need to figure something out. Just tell everyone I love them so much and I am grateful for everything you do for me. I really am. I know it might not seem like it but I promise I think about you all everyday and how much I love you and appreciate all you do. I just wish I could return the favor and not be so selfish. I am praying for that though- to be more selfless. Anyway, thanks again mom :) Love you so much!
Dear wonderful family and friends,
I first want to start by saying that I know that Heavenly Father knows me and and my limits and that He is not going to give me anything I can't handle. I know that coming to Warden Washington before going to Argentina has been a tender mercy from Him. Even though I am probably not learning spanish as fast here as I would be in Argentina, I am still thankful for the opportunity that I have had to come here first. It takes me a while to learn things and I get frustrated when I don't do something exactly right because I am my mother's daughter and I try to be a perfectionist. But I have learned here on my mission that Heavenly Father can't work with perfect missionaries. He can't work with perfect people period. I realized how true this was after one of my very good friends on a mission told me the same thing. If we were perfect and did everything perfect the first time then we would have no need for Jesus Christ and His Atonement. And we all know that His is Atonement is essential. So that was a little tangent ha but yes, coming to Warden has been a tender mercy. I think that if I was sent to Argentina right out of the mission field I would have been going even crazier than I am right now haha :) Coming here first has helped me settle into things at a nice pace and has helped me to understand the things a missionary needs to be doing and how and when and why. I am so thankful to Heavenly Father for being so merciful to me and for showing me that he is aware of me.
Our week was super busy which is what I love! We had 32 lessons and are very happy to say that we currently have 6 people on date to be baptized :) The Lord is the reason that this work is going forth! We are trying our best to help the church here grow but of course it is ultimately the redeeming and enabling powers of the Atonement that are helping people to have the desire to change and be baptized. We found Marcelino again and I don't know if I have already mentioned that but oh ya he disappeared but we found him! It was another miracle from Heavenly Father! We were going to camparosa because we had an appointment with an investigator there named David. He wasn't home so we said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help us find someone there that needed our help. A few seconds later we see Marcelino down the way! He was waiting for someone to show him a trailer that he wanted to maybe live in. We talked to him and asked how he was doing and WHAT he was doing. He said he was trying to find a place to live again. He barley had any food or water so Hna. Earl and I dumped our water from our bottles into his. There are so many little opportunities to serve like that and I am thankful for those little opportunities Heavenly Father gives us. He told us he was keeping the WOW and the law of chastity. We were so happy to hear that. Then we went to his "new" trailer which was such a mess. The windows were broken and so was the door. It was filthy and had garbage and spider webs and all that good stuff all throughout it. We set up another appointment with him and had to leave because we had another appointment. When we got in the car we both felt bad for leaving him with almost no food and a broken down trailer to live in. We both felt impressed to go back and help him. But first we went to the store and bought him some food and water. Then we went back and helped him clean that place up! It was a lot of fun and we were able to talk to him more about the BOM as we cleaned. He told us that he would come to church and that he wanted to ask his boss if he could get Sunday off! But sadly he wasn't able to after all :( He is sure trying though. He said the prayer before we left and whenever he prays, HE PRAYS. He cries every time and always asks Heavenly Father for forgiveness. His heart is pure and he is so wonderful. He is on date for the 22 of June and we are hoping and praying for it to happen. I was so thankful for that experience with Marcelino. Heavenly Father lead us to where we were supposed to be and he lead Marcelino there as well!
We have three people that we are teaching and they are all in the same family. Their names are Rosio, Guadalupe, and Krystal Escamilla. They are on date for the 20 of July!! Whenever we teach them they seem so interested and they all want to learn more. We are excited to teach them! We also have another on date for the 6 of July. His name is Manuel. He lives here alone and his family is in Mexico. He tells us that he prays to God all the time and asks for help in his life but he never seems to receive an answer. He says that he misses his family and that he is lonely and wants the hole in his heart to be filled. When we heard that, Hna. Earl and I just looked at each other and smiled. I think we were thinking the same thing, "Well do we have a message for you!" Haha :) but really. We taught him the first lesson and he was super interested. We taught him again the other day and that was when we asked him to be baptized. He said yes but he just needs to be taken by the hand and helped because even though he knows that God is there, he still doesn't feel it. He doesn't think he is being answered still. We keep trying to tell him the Gospel of Jesus Christ IS the answer to his heartfelt prayers. We are praying for him to realize this and we know he will come around because he is prepared! Very neat man and very neat and wonderful experience with him.
We had exchanges on Friday- Saturday and I spent those days in Royal City with Hnas. Larson and Hatfield! I had a wonderful experience with them in Royal and had so much fun meeting the sweet people there. They had a baptism on Saturday night with two of their investigators. I wasn't there for it though because we changed back Saturday afternoon. But on Friday night we went to visit the two investigators that were going to be baptized the next day- a mom and her daughter. It was so much fun to meet them and see how truly prepared they are for baptism. It is in their eyes- they were so ready and so excited. It was so neat to see how close Hna. Larson and Hatfield were to them. They were like best friends and it was so great to see. I want to have that with the people in Warden! I think it will come though, but with time. I loved having exchanges with them and it was a great experience. They have been out for 11 weeks and are both wonderful missionaries.
Before I end I want to bear my testimony about a principle I have been studying. It is the principle of not only hearing the word but DOING the word. I know that in order to build upon Christ DOING His word is essential. I wish I could explain more about what I have learned about this but my time is up. Read the scriptures 3 Nephi 14: 24-27. I think that is where I am thinking of but not sure :/ I will explain more next week I hope! :) Anyway, thank you all for EVERYTHING. I continue to marvel over the fact that I really do have the best family and friends that I could ever ask for. Diamond Valley is the place to live I tell you. The spirit there is amazing and that is because the people there are amazing. i miss it but I hope to help build up Warden as much as Father wants me to. I am thankful to be on my mission. I know it is helping me in so many ways. I love it so much. I hope everyone has a great week! I love you all very much!
Love,
Hermana Katelyn Syphus :)
No comments:
Post a Comment