Hey everyone!
This letter reminded me what a miracle missionary work is. I obviously don't go into the details of the challenges that our friends faced in these letters, because it is not my business to disclose their private information. People trust missionaries with a lot of stuff, guys--they can tell we're servants of Jesus, so they tell us everything, sometimes even when meeting us for the first time. As I read this letter, I reflected on all the unique challenges that my friends went through. They were incredibly difficult things to go through. Honestly, they were heartbreaking. A lot of these challenges took a lot of hard work for them to resolve. A lot of them took a lot of brain power and creativity. That's what I mean when I say missionary work is a miracle. Some of these people were in circumstances that made it so hard for them to come unto Christ or progress in the gospel. But the Holy Ghost inspired our minds to know what to do to help them get to where they needed to be. It was not easy at all, and it took a long time for a lot of these problems to get taken care of. Many of them I never even saw the resolution for. But I know it was only by the miracles of God that we were able to do anything for our friends at all. Being a missionary is the most God-given gift. I am so grateful I got to be a part of it.
Enjoy!
Hello one and all!
LA LOVE:
Shoutout to Sister Nault for fixing our air conditioning this week.
So, I'm gonna put this into the simplest terms possible and explain as little as possible: I have a new hobby. I love bleaching things.
EVENTS OF THE WEEK:
For the last p-day of the transfer and our last p-day with Sister Shay, we had a super fun twin party, where we had nachos, performed songs and poems, and exchanged gifts in honor of special milestones we had all achieved. Those girls are my best friends. It was a party never to be forgotten.
New transfer new us! This was a really special start to a transfer, kind of emo, because it was the start of my second to last transfer--the amount of transfers I originally started with. From two-transfer missionary to full-time missionary, I have almost completed my journey here. But there are still many great adventures ahead in the next three months! The entire zone stayed the same except for Sister Romney leaving to be in the Chinese zone (luckily she's not far, just in Torrance with Sister Chou), replaced by Sister Price, one of the newly reassigned missionaries in the first wave! We are so happy to have her!
We had a great first district council of the transfer. The best part was that it was in person for the first time in months. I loved getting to see my elders and sisters and just be with them. We were all wearing masks and the elders and sisters were sitting on opposite sides of the room from each other because we have to stay in clusters, and everyone had to wash their hands as soon as they came and as soon as they left. We learned about how to strengthen the culture of the mission, how to best accomplish our work, and honestly just had a great time together. I love this zone.
We had a great Makeup with the Sisters this week featuring an everyday makeup look with the best audience ever! So responsive.
Another great mission prep class with Bree and Rohan! The kids once again blew our minds with amazing roleplays and will be participating in a Member Missionary Amazing Race, the prize being a batch of my world-famous brownies!
I don't know if I mentioned this previously, but this month we are getting over fifty new missionaries--I can't remember exactly how many, but it is a high number. However, the missionaries are coming in waves over a period of three weeks. Sister Nault and I have known that our area is going to split and we will both be receiving reassigned missionaries, but we haven't known when that would happen. Well, this week we both got new emails telling us about our new assignments! I will be in Palos Verdes with Sister Allred, and Sister Nault will be in Redondo 1st and Redondo 2nd with Sister Torkornoo, the sister that's been teaching with us! We are so excited to welcome these new missionaries.
This week's Sunday night fireside was SO AMAZING. Our mission was privileged to host the amazing musical group The Bonner Family! I swear I have never heard cleaner vocals. I was shook to my core. I was thrilled by amazing directing. I was emo pretty much the entire time. 10/10 would recommend. You can still give it a watch; I posted it on my Facebook page, and I promise, you don't want to miss this.
FRIENDS:
Wow, this week was a wild one with Craig T., as usual. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation, and it really motivated him more to repent. He said, "I wanna be in the celestial kingdom with you girls!" The next time we taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the way that we get back to the kingdom of God. Listen, we intended to commit Craig to read the Book of Mormon with this lesson. But the Spirit was ridiculously strong in this lesson. We felt prompted to invite Craig to be baptized on the twenty-second of August. Craig said that was too soon. But we know the Lord wants Craig baptized on that day. He finally confessed that he is concerned that he is not getting enough support from his family. We taught him about how the gospel blesses us all and it makes our families stronger, so we think we are making progress there.
We had a transition lesson with Nataly featuring my dear friends Elder Platt and Elder Mangum from the YSA ward! We hyped up the ward for her and told her what a good time she is going to have there and how much it will help her. She is excited!
We taught Scott and Heather about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Scott said he really wants to gain a relationship with God and he is happy to be learning about the gospel right now.
We shared a spiritual thought with Ken for the first time over video call! He is so sweet; we love him!
Cathryn is doing great. Her spiritual strength is amazing and we are more than excited for her baptism in a week. We learned about the laws and ordinances of the gospel and she does not have any more questions about the gospel! The world truly isn't ready for Cathryn to be baptized--the very powers of hell are going to shake.
Diana is an angel. We are trying to convince her of how much God loves her and wants her to be baptized and we think it's working. She desires to be baptized, we are just helping her overcome those hurdles.
Poor Ariana is going through a difficult time right now, but we talked about it with her and she got a priesthood blessing and is feeling a lot better and hopeful for the future.
We had our first in-person lesson (those are allowed now if we are invited) with Macy! She has been learning with missionaries for awhile and is so sweet. She has a strong faith in Jesus Christ and how he carries our burdens.
We had a great lesson with Stephanie and Annie about the priesthood! Stephanie is so grateful that her husband Scott holds the priesthood.
We told Tomm about the Book of Mormon! He found the idea very interesting and is becoming increasingly interested in the gospel of Jesus Christ! He is eager to get a copy of the Book of Mormon.
Khiara is doing so amazing. We told her about how the gospel of Jesus Christ is restored. She loves how she feels when she prays and learns with us and we told her that is the Spirit of the Lord testifying to her that she is doing what's right, and she can know our message is true for herself. We love her.
We shared a message about Jesus Christ's divine mission in saving us from physical death and spiritual death with Mary!
I feel comfortable enough to say this this week. Usually when I have discussions with friends from home I don't mention them in my emails because I want to respect their privacy in case they are uncomfortable with people knowing about that, but this friend has expressed many times how badly she wants to be baptized! I have the amazing privilege of being my high school friend's missionary, Raquel! We read 2 Nephi 31 and talked about the way we were commanded to follow Jesus Christ, His gospel. She is so excited to be a part of the Church.
For my final thought, I wanted to share a bit about faith in Jesus Christ. I must admit I got a little angry with one of my friends this week. I was talking about how by coming unto Christ, He was able to change me into an entirely new person. He said that I have to give myself some credit, because I made the effort to come to Him. I probably shouldn't have gotten as heated as I did, but it did kind of turn into the beginning of an argument. I told him if I started thinking that way I would be letting go of the humility that got me to Jesus Christ in the first place, and would thus be turning away from Him. Everyone, you must remember that this is true. It is true that to accept Jesus Christ we have to go to Him, but we must remember that nay change made in us is truly done by Him. As hard as I as a person try, I will never be able to be perfect, but Jesus Christ takes my mere mortal efforts and makes them something magnificent. Never forget this. We strike the match, but Jesus Christ lights the fire. We plant the seed, but Jesus Christ grows the forest. We pick up the pen, but Jesus Christ writes the book. We allow the Savior to perform miracles for us, but we must remember that we are by no means the ones performing the miracles.
Thanks and much love!
--Sister Day
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