Dear Everyone!!
This week has been absolutely wonderful!!! Last week was full of trials, but this week we sky-rocketed!! We found FAMILIES to teach not just individuals and we FINALLY had people come to church!!
So in the first week of this transfer we met this cute lady named Barbie. We have not yet had the chance to teach her because she was never home and cancelled the return appointments we had made with her before. We still felt good about teaching her though so we stopped by again this week and caught her and her entire family home!! Her husband and 2 step kids are only there every-other weekend apparently and her kids are in a lot of sports and such so it's hard to find them all home together and when they're not busy, but we were prompted to visit them even though they weren't in our plans and they were all home, not busy, and we were able to teach all 9 of them at once!! What a blessing and a miracle that was!! Now it's just a matter of getting them all back together again, or at least the ones that always live there!! But we're working with them :)
Then later in the week we were again prompted to change our plans and go to a different area. We got to the street and heard some kids screaming inside a house, so we went to knock it. A lady answered the door, visibly distraught and looked like she was about to cry. We asked her if we could give her a hug and she hugged each of us super tight and started bawling. She eventually let us in and she just cried and told us about her rough family situation, her abusive husband, her teenage daughters moving out with their boyfriends, etc. Her name is Isabel and she has severe depression. We were able to teach her and 6 of her 8 kids the restoration of the gospel and how that is proof of God's love for us. She really appreciated it and just kept saying how grateful she was for our visit. I really felt like a missionary this week, feeling inspired to change plans, knocking the right doors at the right times. I am just so grateful for the Lord's hand in the work. Without it there is NO WAY I, or anyone, could do any of this work! I am so blessed to be a part of it, no matter how small of a part I may be, I am glad to be a part.
One of the biggest miracles this week was seeing our investigators Carlos and Verenice come to church!! We met them last week, and Carlos is one of those Atheists we talked to, but they said we could go back last Sunday, so they were part of last Sunday's miracle when we found 5 new investigators. We taught them on Saturday this week and they committed to come to church, but everyone else does too and they never come. But they told us we could call them Sunday morning to wake them up. We did and they didn't answer.. then we called them just before church started and they were on their way!! I was up sitting at the piano at the beginning of the meeting and I cannot tell you the feeling of relief and joy I felt to be up there and watch them walk into the chapel, dressed up in church attire, with their 2 little kids!! That was the biggest miracle and blessing of the week! At the beginning they didn't want to stay for all 3 hours, but after taking the Sacrament, listening to very uplifting talks about joy and prayer, they decided to stay. We helped them drop off their kids at nursery and primary then we went to class. The class was on Joseph Smith and the restoration. The teacher was very welcoming to them and bore a sweet, sincere testimony at the end and invited all of us and especially those visiting to pray about the restoration. Then in Relief Society Verenice introduced herself by saying "Hola, soy Verenice. Es mi primera vez aqui y..me gusta!" meaning "Hi I'm Verenice. It's my first time here and.. I like it!" What a blessing to see an entire family come to church!! That was the first time I've seen a whole family come to church, with both parents!! It just made us all so happy!! <3
Then last night we had dinner with one of the English-speaking members of our ward, Sister Nordgren. Her husband went on a Spanish speaking mission so they were asked to help out the Buena Vista ward but she doesn't speak a word of Spanish. She is going through a really hard time right now with her little kids' health problems, her older kids leaving the church, and her own physical struggles. We were able to talk and laugh with her, help her with the dishes and clean up the kitchen. At the end she couldn't stop thanking us and she said she had no idea how much she needed that. It just feels so good to serve. In church we had a talk about joy and the speaker spoke on how joy simple is serving others. And it is SO TRUE!!! If you are sad and don't know why, don't know how to get out of it, SERVE!! You may not want to because of how you're feeling in the moment but once you start serving someone else and put your problems on the back burner, you are so much happier!! I know that because I experience it every day on my mission!! Whenever I am having a sad day it's because I'm not giving it my all, I'm not focusing as much on others as I should. Happiness truly does come from forgetting yourself and going to work. Sister Murdock in her email to me this week told me that salvation and happiness comes from following the prophets. IT IS SO TRUE!! What have the prophets ALWAYS said? SERVE OTHERS!! FORGET YOURSELF AND GO TO WORK!!! Christ is the PERFECT example of that :) It's worth it, it really is :)
Well that's all from me today folks. I hope you now have some sort of a spark to serve someone now, visit someone, give someone a hand, or a phone call. Little acts of service like that are what make the world go round. Want to change the world? Start by helping someone change their day :)
I love you all so much!! I hope you all have a wonderful, joyful, service-filled week!! That is how we follow and serve our Savior, serving others :)
Love siempre,
Hermana Martineau <3
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