Conference, Companion, Consecration

What a week! My last day with Hermana Jordan was last Monday, and we had SO. MUCH. FUN. We really became best friends. What a huge blessing to have her in my life. 

We had transfer conference this week and I received a new companion. Everyone, meet Hermana Weinstock. 

Sister Weinstock, my 2nd companion in New Jersey

She is a cross country runner from Anaheim, California who loves to have fun, work hard, and talk only in Spanish. Could I have asked for a better companion? I don't think so!

We hit it off right away and have been working super hard since we became companions on Tuesday. 

Together we have seen so many miracles. It has been amazing!!! They just kept coming one after another this week!

On Thursdays we have 'car fast day' which simply means that all of the missionaries aren't allowed to use their car for the whole day. The alternative options are either walk, or call members to drive you. Our area is huge, so we usually have members take us around (this is great because we can have another witness of the restored gospel with us). But this last Thursday was crazy. We just had transfers, I had completely forgotten about car fast day until Wednesday afternoon, and we had no rides set up. We prayed and called the members, but either they wouldn't pick up or none of them could help us out. We had 4 appointments and couldn't cancel: Thursday was the only day that we could meet with these investigators. Thursday morning during our companionship study we prayed that someone would return our calls or would answer and be able to help us. We finished companionship study at 10 and still had language study and lunch before we had an appointment at 1. We called every single family in our ward directory, but still nothing. We said one last prayer and then put our full faith in Heavenly Father. At the very last minute we found a member in a other ward who could take us to our first appointment, but wouldn't be able to drive us anywhere else. We accepted the offer. We went to the appointment, it went amazing, and then after the appointment we were once again car-less. We didn't know what else to do other than start walking and calling again. Our next appointment was 7 miles away and we weren't going to be able to make it, but we had only walked about .2 miles before we got a call from the branch president's wife. She said she heard that we needed a ride and that she wouldn't be able to stay with us or drive us anywhere else, but that she could pick us up and take us to our next appointment. Our prayers were answered. She drove us to the city we needed to be in where we had a couple of appointments. We walked to and from each of those appointments, each of them going really well, but soon it was 8:15pm and we were still without a ride back home. We tried calling all of the members again, but no one answered. We had no idea what do to. We wanted to be obedient and be home by 9:00pm, but we also had done everything possible to teach God's children, so we offered another prayer and told Heavenly Father that there wasn't anything else that we could do, and told Him that we really needed His help. Within a few minutes of ending the prayer, one of the members called us back and told us to text her the address and that she would come pick us up. I wanted to cry. Prayers ARE answered.

Then on Saturday, we saw 2 more miracles. For the past two weeks, we have been struggling getting references and finding new investigators, so as we were beginning our companionship study, we specifically prayed that we would be able to receive new references and that they would be lead to us. Just after the prayer, and within the first 5 minutes of our companionship study, our phone rang. It was a number that we didn't recognize. We answered and the voice on the other line said, "Hello, I was going through my phone and deleting numbers that I didn't need or know, but I didn't have a contact name for this number, so I felt like I should call and find out who it was before I deleted it". We were shocked! We explained that we were the missionaries and that we would love to meet with him. We set up an appointment and then he hung up. I was looking through the list of contacts that we had and I found his name. He is a contact of Hermana Jordan from months ago. They didn't get any response out of him, but Heavenly Father has directed his path towards the missionaries once again and we will be teaching him this Wednesday. 

Then, just after we finished companionship study and were on our way to the Saturday Morning session of Conference, the same thing happened with one of our investigators! We didn't recognized the number, but answered it and she stated her name. At first the name didn't click, but as I remembered all of the contacts that Hermana Jordan and I had called last week, I remembered who she was. We had called her 5-6 times and had left messages, but she had never called back. We thought that she didn't want to meet with us and we were about to give up, but she called us back and we will be teaching her this Saturday.  

It is amazing what will happen when we apply our WHOLE selves. We have to show Heavenly Father how far we are willing to go. Sometimes, we have to step out of our comfort zone and really stretch ourselves, but God will NEVER leave us hanging. He is just waiting for you to try a little harder, to test your faith little more, so that He can give you more than you thought you would receive. 

This month our mission will be "consecrating ourselves" to the Lord. We started with a fast this last Sunday and have covenanted to give every ounce of everything that we have to the Lord. I know that as we do so, we are showing God how much we love Him, and in turn He will bless us more than we can imagine. I'm so excited to see the blessings from it! 

I love being a missionary. I love my companion. I love conference. I love MY Savior. I love this gospel. 

Hermana Childs