A Heart Too Grateful

  

What an amazing week.

Monday, we went to the mall for a zone activity. This is the country's third largest mall in the USA. It is HUGE!

Zone Activity at the mall

In front of one of the stores at the 3rd largest mall in USA

My goal was not to spend anything while I was there. Did it! Almost didn't. haha

It was super fun to spend some time with the zone and have some "girl bonding time" with my companion. She's awesome :)

Tuesday, I had an awesome exchange with Sister Rigby. She's an English missionary, but knows quite a bit of Spanish, so she was really helpful in lessons on the exchange. She is darling. I really grew to love her. That's my favorite part about being a Sister Training Leader, being able to be with so many missionaries, help them, and just love them. She's having a really hard time right now and at the beginning of the exchange I wasn't really sure how to help her. I kept a prayer in my heart though, that through out the exchange I would know what to say to help her. At the end of the exchange we had our evaluation, where we just sit down and talk about what we learned so that we can take it back into our proselyting areas, and it was probably one of the most inspired evaluations I've ever had. I felt Heavenly Father put the words into my mouth. They felt perfect coming out. In the middle of the evaluation, she stopped me and said, "that was exactly what I needed to hear. I know that Heavenly Father needed me to be on this exchange with you." It was nothing that I did. Through several missionaries being obedient and following revelation, a miracle happened. I am just grateful that I got to be a part of it.

I probably say that every time, but it's true!

Wednesday, so many miracles happened. We finally got in the door of a less active who has been avoiding us for a little while. She knows that we have been trying to see her, but seems to always find something to put in the way of our appointments. Well, Wednesday she finally let us in. We had a wonderful lesson with her about the spirit. She mentioned that she misses feeling the spirit at church. She wants her kids to go and learn and feel, just like she did, about the restored gospel, but when we asked her why she is waiting to come back, she didn't give us a very clear answer. It's ok though. I know by the end of my time here, she'll be coming back to church with her two sons!

We also taught Danny, on Wednesday, for the first time after his baptism. He is amazing. I sure love him and his family. They are inspiring. When we followed up about his baptism, he just looked at us and said, "I know this is true." I just about cried. I was so happy. Words just can't explain. In the time that I have been here, he has changed from a man who didn't have much interest in being baptized-more in just learning about the church and what we believe, to a man who will follow the Lord wherever he may direct him. As Danny was sharing his testimony with us, I felt the spirit so strongly. He is going to be a great leader in the church one day.

Thursday was probably the coldest day I have ever experienced on my mission.....and it was walking day. Humbling. It is truly humbling to be representing the Lord and walking in the freezing weather. It was a pretty rough day. The people we had taught weren't very nice that day. We had been yelled at and rejected in every way and on top of that, it was cold enough to kill. Our last appointment of the night fell through, and our back up was about a mile away. The back up we had planned was a former investigator of ours who had been lost after the holidays. We weren't able to get a hold of him for weeks, so we dropped him. Well, after walking a mile in the freezing weather, and praying for a miracle, we arrived at his house and knocked. And knocked again. Then the doorbell. Nothing. We waited for a minute or two, and then decided to head off. We were planning to stop by the grocery store on the same street to buy some ear muffs so that we could walk home in less pain. After walking a few steps away from our former investigator, Carlos,'s house, we heard someone call out to us, "Mis hermanitas!" It was Carlos! He was just walking home from the grocery store on the other side of the street. We was carrying his groceries, so we ran over to help him. He let us in and we were able to talk to him for a bit. It was so good to see him! I'm pretty sure every cell in my body was smiling to see him, I care about him a lot. It broke my heart to lose him the first time. After we chatted with him for a bit, it was time for us to head back. We set another appointment, and promised to talk soon. It was a huge miracles for us. We would have totally missed him if he didn't call out to us. We were too focused on not slipping on the ice. After all of that praying for a miracle, and walking in the freezing weather, just talking to Carlos for 5-10 minutes to definitely worth it. I'd do it all over again. I bet that is what heaven is like....working and working and working and you might not see the results of your labors in this life, but they will all be worth it in the next.

So Much Snow...and FREEZING!

Saturday, we had a quick Sister Training Leader meeting at the Mission home. It was amazing, but I ate gluten and definitely paid for it later that night. I love being a Sister Training Leader. Really, I just love being a missionary.

Miguel is progressing incredibly. We are taking him to the temple this Saturday. The best Valentines Day gift that anyone could have ever asked for! He conducted his very own family home evening last night after we showed him how to do one a week ago. They love family night. And I love them!

I only have 1 minute left, but this week has been awesome. Hard, but awesome. Heavenly Father always seems to make things work out. He's great :)

I love you all. Have a great valentines day!

Hugs!

Hermana childs

NJMM for Life!