April 28, 2014

Dear Family,

Well, another transfer has come and gone. I'm staying in Bell Gardens! Last night before we had received transfer calls began to take some of my decorations down. I'm a little surprised that I am actually staying because I didn't want to leave, but I was so excited to hear that I am staying! I really feel like there is something I need to do this transfer with Sister Mocellin. I'm not sure what it is yet, but I feel like it is really important and I am so grateful that God is giving me a little more time in this ward to serve. 

This week was really good! I can't remember if I had told you this last week but we got permission for Jose to be baptized on the 27th even though he had only been to church twice, so we have been going crazy trying to finish and get everything ready, but in the end he had to work:( This whole month we have been praying as a mission to have 48 baptisms which would be a record for what we usually average and we got 47. It's only a little too obvious that Jose would have been the 48th baptism, but it's ok. We did what we could and then more. This week we went to the Visitor's Center and it was such a great experience. It was so great because he just kept looking at the temple until it was completely out of sight. We just keep praying to he will be able to get work on Sunday completely off. 

This past week we had a 12 month training...a little late, but it was still good:) I don't have a lot of time, so this is just what I sent president about it.

The 12 month training was so helpful for me! I have been so worried about going back to college and just feeling sick to my stomach about having to socialize with new people again, but as you talked about babylonian trinkets and that we won't be going home I began to think about if I was holding on to anything. I didn't think I was holding on to anything, but I realized that worrying about the future was my "babylonian trinket" and that I wouldn't be able to reach my potential as I continued to worry about that because it won't be the same. College won't be the same because I won't be the same and I don't want it to be the same. Once I decided that I have felt so good and if the future comes to my mind I don't feel sick at all. Even though it has only been a week I have seen the difference it has made and i'm excited to just focus and work hard!

 

This is a little miracle....this is what I sent to Sister Shepherd.

"Hna Rojas hasn't been to the temple for one reason or another even though she and her husband took the classes before I even came to the area. 2 weeks ago at dinner we talked about praying to know whether she and her husband should go through the temple. She agreed because that's what the elders told them about getting baptized. She said she knew she needed to and that she would start praying about it. Well, this past week we were eating with her and she told me that you had written a blog post about...well everything. She began to tell us a few things that really touched her and especially about your experience about praying to know whether you should be here or it was time to go home. She was so touched by that experience and she went on to tell us that she knew she needed to go and would be going through the temple before her and Giovanni leave to visit mexico in August! Seriously Sister! It is such a miracle and you played in extremely big part in Hna Rojas finally deciding that she truly needed to go to the temple!"

Other than that things are going really well. There is so much work to be done! Oh really quick! So, since I have been with Sister Mocellin I have just been losing my mind while driving because my mind is always thinking about other things. I kept forgetting to turn on certain roads, even going to the church! Well on the way to a service project while getting gas I kinda ran into a curb....in the middle of the parking lot. I know! I pretty much feel awful about it. Well, Saturday after english class I decided to get a blessing so I could not feel so overwhelmed with everything and I could focus on what needs to be done. Well, I'm happy to tell you I can focus while I'm driving. I'm not sure why I shared that with you becuase it was so dumb that I ran into that curb, but it was a little tender mercy nevertheless.

Love you lots!