Week 10

It was SO great to talk to you on Christmas! I was just grinning all day. Loved it. Thank you for your patience with the technology...some day it'll work. I hope you all had a fabulous day!

We've had an awesome week. It was Christmas, we ended up having a baptism, we had our prayers answered, AND we had a baptism. That was pretty much the greatest part.

Okay, so Thursday was the prayer answer day. Of course, our prayers are answered pretty much everyday, but this one was special for me. I really wanted to find some new people to teach. I read that one way to find people is to look for the unplanned opportunities on the way to your appointments. So, I decided to pray that I would find someone "unplanned" during the day and know that I needed to talk to them. We had a great day and around 8:00pm we were driving back from an appt. I had gotten so caught up in the day, I had forgotten to look for the opportunities! However, we passed this man walking on the side of the street, and I had that impression to go talk to him. My companion was a little hesitant because we thought he was holding a beer bottle, it was in a little sketchy part of town, and at 8:00 at night. I almost pushed it aside, but then I got that feeling again. So, I told her to pull over and we casually walked back so it didn't look like we were stalking him. When we approached him, he kind of kept walking passed us, but we started talking so he stopped. It turns out, he just had a pop bottle and he was super cool! He seemed a little interested and we got a return appointment. I don't know if anything will come of it, but it was super cool to see how the Lord had answered my prayer. I was happy.

 

The baptism. This amazing lady is Julieta. She is an angel and probably the most prepared person I've ever seen in my entire life. Everything we teach her she already has a testimony of it. It's amazing. We thought we were going to have to baptize her next Saturday, but we worked it out enough so we only had to push it one day back. So yesterday we had the baptism! It was sooo good. We had such a good turn out from the ward (25-30) and she was so touched by it. We had her bear her testimony after the ordinance. Through tears she said how much she felt the Holy Ghost. She said when she got in the font the water was cold, but as soon as she came up out of the water she was warm. It was the sweetest thing ever. She was so overwhelmed. UGH. It was soooo good. I can't even describe it. We had everyone there write their testimony on a card for her. We're going to put it in a book with some pictures and give it to her. I also played the song "Redeemer" as a special musical number. It felt so good to play for people again. I was thinking as I played it, that I've only played that song for some of the most influential, or important events in my life. Grandpa's funeral, Jake's farewell, and my first baptism. It just keeps getting better.

 

We also had exchanges from Saturday to Sunday. I went to south Phoenix. It was interesting to see a different area and to see how a different companionship works. I learned a lot. Plus, the dinner appointment we had was casserole! And we had ice cream. It was so American - I loved it. I was also the only one who could play the piano in their ward, so I played during church. It's a handy talent to have. Mom, I have to laugh when people ask me to play - I just remember you wanted me to learn how to play the hymns so bad when I was taking lessons. Well, now I can assure you it is coming in handy. I play all the time. So thanks :)

 

Anyways, it's been a wonderful week to see the Lord's hand in my life, and the lives of others here in Phoenix. I hope you've been able to see His hand in yours! Maybe you can start the year out by giving someone a book of mormon, ya? Just a missionary thought. I hope you have a fabulous week, and...HAPPY NEW YEAR!