un ano

Okay so these past two weeks have been crazy!! Honestly every week is crazy on the mission. But something even more crazy, this week marks exactly one year aka twelve months aka 52 weeks aka 365 days being a missionary but not only a missionary, a representative of Jesus Christ. Here are 12 funny/sweet experiences from the last few weeks that give you a small peek into the kids of experiences I live everyday. 

1. We have a neighbor across the street who says I'm his "queen". (He's a 50 year old black man haha). He got jealous this week because I was talking with another man. 

2. Jessica, a friend we are teaching, is doing so well! She committed to be baptized the 15th of September and we are so happy. She has stopped smoking and drinking so she is living the Word of Wisdom 100%. She is such an amazing example to her family. They surprised me for my birthday and got me a little gift and made me some posters. The Tuitupou family is my favorite!! 

3. A member who hasn't been coming to church for a while recently came back, so of course we went to go visit her and she is the sweetest!! She shows us love through fruit, hichews, milk, eggs, and seltzer water haha. We were doing service for her and my companion (Hermana Connor) was chopping of branches of a tree with a katana haha. I did it like once because I was scared to whack myself. Missionary service encompasses everything. We knock lots of doors and teach lots of lessons, but we also have the oppourtunity to serve in the more temporal things like cleaning a house for example which is what we did this week. The Book of Mormon teaches is that "when [we] are in the service of [our] fellow beings [we] are only in the service of [our] God (Mosiah 2:17). And in the Bible as well when Jesus Christ says, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40). We are so blessed, each one of us, to serve others and be an instrument in God's hand of lifting their spirits. As we do so, we are serving our Heavenly Father!

4. Speaking of service and cleaning. One day we went to the church building to do studies (aka to use the church wifi haha) and some tables hadnt been put away from an activity. So we went to go put them up and the storage closet was a hot mess. Friends, let's make sure to take care of the house of the Lord. We straight up found a the bone of a chicken leg that had been sitting in the back of the storage closet for who knows how long. 

5. We had a lesson with this man named Kevin. He had gone to church the week prior and he was soooooo excited about it. He went on and on about how it just felt so good and how it just all made sense. We taught him about the Restoration and he just was soaking it in like a sponge. He is already sharing with other people about it too. He said things like, "I just want to tell everyone! I was telling people that I didnt think would even be interested and they said 'oh that's pretty cool I'll have to go one day.' I'm gonna get a big group out here for you to teach." Haha he is awesome! Unfortunately him and his girlfriend are having some problems in their personal life so we havent been able to have another lesson with him but I have faith that soon we will get back in touch with them!

6. My companion is just the best. Haha here is an example of some of the crazy stuff we get into. Written by Sister Connor, "We found a girl who wasn't wearing any clothes and was in a hospital night gown.. We asked if she needed help and she said yes and said, "I just escaped a mental institution because I'm not crazy. Can I get in the back of your car?" We told her we couldn't allow that because it was a business car and she went "I'm serious, do you want the wrist band?" And tried to hand me her hospital band and I was like oh that's okay. "can you call my girlfriend" So we called her girlfriend and her girlfriend said "so she just escaped a 72 hour hold, the cops have already been notified and are looking for her. "Will y'all keep an eye on her?" So basically we done watched this naked lady in a hospital gown walk around in a square? She kept walking from one side of the street to the other and trying to act casual, while we was casually watching her from the car awkwardly. Hermana Brown kept staring at her while she was staring at us and I'm just over here escribinen this here story. The girlfriend got her before the policemans, which is funny because we're pretty sure the girlfriend just went and done returned her to the hospital place. My favorite part of that phone call was "I don't know who y'all are, but God bless" and of course ya gotta tell her exactly who we are "actually we are representatives of Jesus Christ" so yes, God bless. What an eventful 15 minutes."

7. We went to Walmart with one of our friends that we are teaching and we picked out a bunch of Sunday clothes for him to wear! It was so much fun. He didn't want to wear them, but we think he's warming up to them. The tie is still a little too much for him but we'll get there haha. 

8. A skill you learn as a missionary is speaking on the fly. I got asked last minute to speak last Sunday for the Spanish congregation. Then this past weekend we got asked to speak again this week in the Spanish Sacrament meeting. And during English Sacrament meeting we got asked to teach Spanish Sunday School. Those poor Latinos heard my voice so much yesterday haha because I also lead the music (in which no one sings so everyone hears me and the notes are really high haha. I'll let yall put two and two together on that one. I just hope the gift of tongues works for singing as well). But!!! Despite the fact that it is always last minute, you just smile and say yes because we are here to serve in whatever way we can!!

9. Va a la tema de número siete. Es mucho más fácil hablar en español ya que tengo un año en la misión jajaja. Mi español no está perfecto pero sigo aprendiendo cada día y a mi me encanta el idioma!! 

10. I love the Book of Mormon. My love for the Book of Mormon has like quadrupled on my mission. I know with all my heart that it is the word of God. I have found so much peace, comfort, and council through it's words. Right now I'm reading in Alma and I love verse 15 in Chapter 42. It says, "And now, the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also." 

11. Just to give yall a little background on the missionary life scedulde. Everyday we wake up a bit before 6:30am. We exercise for 30min. Get ready for the day and start our daily studies at 8am. One morning we went to the church for morning exercise time and my companion played soccer while I played volleyball! It was so much fun. I hadnt touched a volleyball in so long. Literally all I did was practice passing to myself and hitting and wow it felt good. Another morning we went to the park and swung on swings. 

12. I see God's hand in my life daily, but sometimes it is just so obvious you cant help but be amazed. I may have already said this story in part but it just gets better as time goes on! One morning we went to the Church in the morning to do our daily studies. As we pulled in this woman pulled up behind us. We were kind of confused because it was really early in the day and a weekday so it's not typical for other people to be there. But we got out and started talking with her. She is this sweet Hispanic lady from Guatemala. She told us how she needs to do some service hours and as she was driving she saw us pulling into the church and thought well maybe these church people will have something haha. We said of course and explained how we could use help cleaning the church building weekly. We started talking with her more about her life and explained which church we are from and turns out she is a member!!! She moved here only a few years ago and didnt even realize it was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!!! Since that day she has come to help us clean but also she has been coming to church on Sunday! She is such a great example of what Elder Uchtdorf said in his most recent talk in General Conference "come and see, come and help, and come and stay"!! And she brought her husband and grandson neither of which are members, but they love it! Seriously what are the odds. I know and can testify that God places us in the right place in the right times. Sometimes so that we can answer someone else's prayer and sometimes so that we can have our prayer answered through someone else! 

I love yall so much. Thanks for all your support. 

Cuidense! Y que pasen una semana maravillosa!