Hello one and all!
LA LOVE:
I guess this one is more of an "LV Love" as my dad would call it, but we were checking on some sweet old ladies in the ward and when I told her where I was from she mentioned that she was born in Las Vegas because her dad was working on the Hoover Dam at that time. She never really lived there past infancy but always felt a strong affinity to it. I told her my dad works in Boulder City and how much I love going to the dam and learning about the history and the celebrations they've had regarding the dam, and she was so happy to hear about all of it. We ended the call with me singing "Home Means Nevada" for her.
EVENTS OF THE WEEK:
On p-day us sisters had a nacho party and it was SUPER fun. We went all out. It was also kind of a goodbye party for Sister John so that was fun but also emo.
We had a great district council this week about teaching our friends for understanding! And at the end we all sang "God Be with You Till We Meet Again" for Sister John which was yet again super emo.
We went on exchanges! I got to go to the Torrance 1st/South Bay YSA area with Sister Chou. I love that girl. She is a sweetheart. You have never met a more caring person.
We had a mission training on how to do weekly planning! Our mission is now a lot more organized and uniform on how we plan for our friends. It was nice to get to apply it right after.
We had a sisters conference! This is a conference that happens twice a year, so this was my last sisters conference of the mission. It was amazing. We couldn't all be together, but we all met up for breakfast in our clusters so we were still unified as sisters and then watched the conference together. I had the privilege of singing a musical number, "You Can Make the Pathway Bright", accompanied by my dear friend Sister Wall! Our mission counselor Jennifer talked to us about managing our mental health, some sisters showed a presentation about our power as sister missionaries, Sister Galorath answered some questions we had asked earlier in the week in preparation for the conference, and Sister Cordon talked to us about the book she had had us read earlier in the week, Women of Purpose by Jean B. Bingham. It was an amazing conference. I love being a missionary, and I love being a sister missionary especially, and I love the amazing sisters I get to serve with.
That night Sister John and I got a call about information for what would be happening that weekend. Sister John would stay in the temple patron apartments on Sunday night, and I would get my new companion, Sister Nault!
President called us for an interview this week because Sister John will be leaving, so he got to say one final word to her before she left. And of course he told me that my new companion was a very capable missionary so she could learn a lot of information in a short amount of time.
We got a very spicy mission update that night as well. We talked about California's four-phase plan to reopen, and since phase two has just recently begun, a few restrictions have been lifted for us missionaries. We can now have any and ALL food delivered to us, and that includes going through drive-thrus. We can go to parks, trails, and beaches! We can do some service as some opportunities will be given to us to serve others! Best of all, we can now drop off materials like Book of Mormons and Bibles to people as long as we just leave it on their doorstep and don't interact with anyone! We are so happy! On a funnier note, President Cordon and Sister Cordon told the elders that they have a great opportunity to exercise their faith: they will have to have somebody in their cluster cut their hair! The elders were freaking out. President told us not to worry because our hair is beautiful so we don't have to do anything. Haha!
The next day Sister John and I had to do a bunch of errands before she left for Nauvoo. It was super weird because we were just doing normal people things on a Saturday morning. We picked up Chick-fil-a with our new rules before we went home. We felt like such civilians. It was crazy.
The Sunday firesides will now be alternating between Spanish and English every week, so last night we had our fireside in English! It was all about missionary work. The highlight of course was when President Cordon spoke at the end. He is the best. I never get tired of hearing the story of how his mother became converted to the Church of Jesus Christ.
Last but not least, we took Sister John to the mission office so she could leave the next morning for Nauvoo. It was pretty sad. I just love that girl. My new companion, Sister Nault, is so sweet and awesome! We got to introduce her to the zone in the congratulations call! Fun fact, not that I'm obsessed with this girl or anything, but Sister John was there too and we all sang "The Lord is My Light" for her because it is her favorite song. Super emo. She was given the last few minutes to say whatever she wanted so she told everyone in the zone her favorite memory with them and favorite thing about them. Wow I love her so much but I ma excited for her to be in Nauvoo.
FRIENDS:
Cathryn is so amazing. Our lesson with her and Sister Kakazu this week just blew me away. It was a spiritual highlight of the week all around. We talked a lot about how perfectionism honestly stops us from progressing a lot of the time, because then we never finish anything, but if we try our best and move forward we can accomplish a lot! We made spiritual goals together and it was so amazing.
We did a Bible study with our friend Joshua. He is so amazing! He has a lot of faith. We read about Daniel and how he prayed in faith. Joshua could relate because he prays every day and is very faithful to God. He is so awesome!
We read about the covenants we make at baptism with Kelene this week. She is such a faithful woman and a great example to everyone around her.
We read the first few verses of Isaiah 25 with Andre about the strength and relief the Lord can provide for us. He is so cool. He was talking a lot about covenants so I'm excited to get more into that later!
We read from Matthew 26 with Beverly this week and talked about the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us. She has a lot of faith and is starting to open up more every day. We simply love her.
I had a lesson with Hilario this week and we talked a lot about faith! He has a strong belief in God. I briefly introduced what the Book of Mormon is and he agreed for us to do a read of it with the Spanish elders sometime!
We had an awesome lesson where we read about Nephi obtaining the plates and how he was obedient! Gisele noted that it isn't always easy to be obedient but you do come out better in the end.
We taught our new friend Benjamin about the purpose of life! He is incredible. We talked a lot about service and preparing to meet God. He is so sweet. We made goals on how we can better accomplish our life purpose.
We had another Bible study with Jessie and Mari this week. They led this one and we talked about the word of God! I got to sing a classic song, "Search, Ponder, and Pray," for them and they LOVED it.
We read a talk by my fave, "Forget Me Not" by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, with Ariana this week. It was nice to get to bond over womanhood and being faithful daughters of God together.
This week we read in Mosiah 24 with Monica and talked about how God hears the prayer of our heart. She had a great Sabbath worship experience with the Nakamotos where we talked a lot about relying on the Lord. Monica has a strong testimony of that and of being patient and faithful. She is so sweet.
We taught Judi and Sophia this week about how baptism cleanses us, which was super fun because Sophia is preparing to be baptized in a few months!
We read from Mosiah 24 with Diana too about how God hears the prayers of our hearts and loves and understands us perfectly. She had a great Sabbath worship experience with Ariana where we talked about God's plan for us and the three kingdoms of glory. It was so incredible. Ariana used an awesome metaphor of baby sea turtles trying to get to the ocean and Diana understood it perfectly. We talked about how it took a lot of work and how the sea turtles naturally understood that they wanted to go to the ocean because it was their home. Similar to us, we naturally want to return home to our Father in Heaven, but it takes persistent work. And then when we make it, we will be so happy and see how all the hard work was worth it!
We had a great little discussion with Craig B. this week. We read from Mosiah 18:8-10 with him because he was talking a ton about the importance of serving others. He is so cool!
We had a great Come, Follow Me study with Marian this week. The most incredible part was that while we were teaching Sister John and I both felt the Spirit INCREDIBLY strongly and KNEW that Marian knows somebody that desperately needs to hear the gospel and is very ready for it. So stay tuned.
We had a Sabbath worship lesson with Sophia and Khiara this week. We talked about God as our loving Heavenly Father. Khiara said the coolest thing about how God never stops loving us but He gives us commandments because He wants us to be the best version of ourselves that we can be. So true! The ladies talked about their relationship with God over the years and the things they like that they've found in our Church.
We talked to Ken! He is so cool. He told us about his spiritual journey with God. His religious ideas are pretty much that we can all be united and equal in the eyes of God. Ken said he loves anyone that loves God. He is a super spiritual guy. We are excited to be teaching him.
This was probably the most tiring week of my mission--we did so much work, but working missionaries are happy missionaries. Never forget the words to the classic hymn:
"We are all enlisted till the conflict is o'er;
Happy are we! Happy are we!
Soldiers in the army, there's a bright crown in store;
We shall win and wear it by and by."
Thanks and much love!
--Sister Day
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