Family!!
Hello!! How are you guys doing??! It was so great to be able to talk to you at the airport for a little while!! I hope you have hired a slave to take my place since I have left... and that Lizzy hasnt burned down the house quite yet....haha Anyways, it's P day in Baltimore and I am so excited!! Baltimore is BEAUTIFUL!!! Everything is soooo green! When you drive on the freeways there are green trees that come right up to the side of the road. Right now I am in Ellicott City about 20 minutes West of Baltimore City and it is sooo stinkin hot!!! We walk outside and sweat our guts out...it's wonderful!!
So the night we arrived in Baltimore there were 39 other missionaries coming in as well! Needless to say President Richards did not have room in his house for all of us, so we stayed in a hotel...that's right, we stayed in a hotel!! This means that I got a big, fluffy, amazing, queen size bed to myself!! AND I only had to share a bathroom with one other sister. I had never been so grateful to sleep in a hotel bed!! The next morning at transfer meeting I met my trainer Sister Mortensen. She is 22 and from Washington State, I love her already!! The first thing she told me was that we would not have a car... I thought...awesome, I have crocs and sandals for walking and I dont know how to ride a bike!! After telling her this she took things into her own hands and BEGGED Elder Jones (The car man) for a car. We ended up getting one the next day and have been grateful every single day. Apparently there has been a heat wave this past week and man have I felt the heat! Heat + Humidity=wonderfully sweaty...Let me just tell you...we are lookin mighty fine! ;)
Regardless of the temperature, Heavenly Father has seriously poured out blessings to us this week. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to serve him so far, and I look forward to what lies ahead. Every day since I got here we have been in member's homes eating dinner. Some of the members and less actives that have fed us have so little but they still feed us. Earlier this week we went to a less actives house for dinner and she lived in a one bedroom apartment with her six year old daughter. They barely had anything, but they ordered pizzas for us and they are so happy. It is so sad how we are so quick to forget how much the Lord has blessed us with!!!
This week we met three new investigators!! We had a few appointments cancel, and we were able to contact referrals from the members and found three that were interested. It was amazing. Right when we started feeling bad that our appointments didnt show or cancelled, we saw that Heavenly Father had another place for us to be at that time. One of our major miracles of the week happened on Saturday night. We had an appointment with one of our less active focus families, and right when we got there she texted us and told us she was "sick"....We were really disappointed, but we prayed to see where we needed to go. A few minutes later we went down a list of referrals and decided that we should go visit Debbie. We drove to her house and knocked on her door. She opened it up and she came out on the porch and talked to us for about an hour. While she was talking to us she told us that a few days ago she had had a dream.. in her dream she was on a path with many big boulders. It was dark and stormy and she couldn't tell where she needed to go. All of the sudden she saw a light. She looked to the light and saw Jesus Christ and he said, "Hold on and be good Debbie, someone is coming to bring you to me." When she told us that we were shocked. We hadn't even planned on visiting her, and came to find out that she had been prepared by our Heavenly Father to hear our message. We taught her a little bit about our beliefs and prayed with her. The whole time we were on her porch teaching her we heard a lot of thunder. Right after we set up an appointment with her and got in our car it started pouring rain! I MEAN BUCKETS!!! We looked at eachother and thanked Heavenly Father for this amazing miracle! THE RAIN HERE IN INSANE! And my companion's driving is even more insane! She is a way good driver, but fearless!! hahaha. I just close my eyes and pretend I have something in my eye when I get nervous while she drives!!
We have also had some very funny experiences this week! So on Sunday before our meetings I was really nervous to meet the people in the ward (bishop etc) We had two meetings and then sacrament at 9, and during our first meeting I noticed that my skirt was extra buldgey around the middle for some reason.. I thought to myself..there is no way you have gained this much weight....so after our meeting we had to go make some copies in the library and I went to tuck in my shirt and realized I still had my pajama capris on.....oh my... I was sooo embarrassed!! No one had said a word (not even my companion) the entire time we had been in that meeting!! I could not stop laughing...I pulled them off, folded them, and put them in my church bag.. So embarrassing... Later that night we went to go visit a less active family from Libya. They came here and got baptized about 5 years ago and have been inactive ever since. So my companion, me , and a member were sitting on the couch waiting for the Sister to come out when all of the sudden her husband (big man) came bursting in the door. Side note: the other missionaries had warned me of this guy...he is kinda really really scary.. Anyways so my eyes bug out of my head and I stand up to introduce myself. We sit back down and he just stares at us. He knew exactly who we were because he and his wife had set up the appointment earlier this week. A few minutes later he goes, "Sisters...I just got back from church!!" We are like.."Oh we are soo happy for you!! lalala" and then he throws us a huge curve ball and says, "Yes, I am starting my own church! My church is the only true church that has come forth in these days. Come and be missionaries at my church and bring people to God. We cannot worship your way, come to my church!" Keep in mind that he has the thickest African accent I have ever heard and the LOUDEST booming voice! And he kept getting really close to us and so I just kept scooting further and further away haha. He then pulled out some "church business cards" and said.. "If you dont come to my church, my wife cannot come to your church!!! Do you hear me??" I was terrified and I didn't know what to say.. we just stared at him and he walked away. The visit with his wife went well though!! :) She loves church and the gospel!! After we left, I looked at my companion and said.. well that was interesting!! Apparently we have a lot of work to do with this family, but I am up for the challenge! If he can start a church with that much pazazz, he can be a great missionary for our church someday! :)
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