Wow. Weeks on the mission go by so fast, but when you're in the middle of them they seem to drag by so slowly. This has been such a wonderful week-full of happy and sad and frustrating and glorious experiences. It is amazing how many strong emotions you can feel in one day.
I know I say this often, but I can't say enough how grateful I am for you. The more I interact with people here the more I realize how wonderful my family is. How grateful I am for the lessons I learned all growing up. Dad and Mom-do you know how amazing you are? I can't even believe it :)
First-I will be calling next Sunday (WAHOOOOO!!) just after Church. I'll call Dad's cell phone (you'll be in Washington right?) sometime around 2 california time. I don't know what time that is in Washington.
So-I forgot to mention this last time but I finally remembered this week:) There are Andelins in my ward! It is so cool. We finally figured out how we are related yesterday. They had the baptism for their son Ruben Andelin on Saturday and we were able to attend. It was so sweet. It was such a good example of how things should go-how life should work. What a sweet family. Aaron Andelin is the son of Wally Andelin. Dad, he said that he met you several times while you were both at BYU. Nate, they also met you when you were doing sales down here and mentioned that to me. It was so awesome. His Dad is Ray Andelin and apparently they had lived here for years and years. And then his dad Aubrey Andelin who is the brother of Letrene Andelin? Who is Grandpas dad I think. Is that right? Anyways, it was really cool :)
Anyways, on to the rest of the week. I don't really remember the days very well, but here are some of the funny/awesome/amazing things that have happened this week.
First the funny/less spiritual one:
Last week I forgot to tell you about our meeting with a drunk guy. It was on our way home (sometime around 8:45). We were looking for one more person to contact and we saw him walk out of the store so we crossed the street to talk to him. He started walking and we realized he was completely wasted. He couldn't even walk in a straight line, poor guy. So, seeing as it was rather late we decided to just say hello and keep walking because it was dark and I'm a wimp. But as we were walking past he asked if he could walk with us, so of course we said yes. He was so drunk. I felt so bad for him! And he kept stopping and groaning in pain and grabbing at his chest. Me being the paranoid nursing student got super afraid that he was having a heart attack or something. We asked what was wrong and then he grabbed my hand and had me feel a spot just below his neck. It was super hard and I didn't know what it was but I tried to take my hand off asap. Anyways, we asked if we could call anyone to help him but he said he was fine and I guess the pain stopped because he started walking again. When we got to the street corner where he was turning to go home he started talking to us about how he had seen us earlier that day walking down his street and how amazing it was that there we were again. He kept asking all these crazy questions and I was worried about what he was going to say a couple times but luckily it was all decent. He asked us what we were doing and who we were and he just kept saying how amazing it was that we were there. We gave him a Book of Mormon and 2 pamphlets (because he really wanted them) and then he started to tell us that he and his wife were getting divorced. It was so sad to see him begin to cry as he tried to talk about it. We decided to pray with him (or maybe he asked us if we would? i don't remember) so we did. And it actually was a pretty amazing experience. I know that Sister Thompson and I felt the Spirit, even if he couldn't. It was tragic and comical all at the same time. Sister Thompson got unlucky and he somehow kissed her on the back of the head. He only hugged me thank goodness. We're just praying that when he was sober he would read what we had given him and at least remember positive things from our conversation. Okay-that took way too long to write about. Man.
Second: The Priesthood power is incredible.
Sister Thompson was sick on Friday and we had to stay in. But we asked the elders if they would come over and give her a blessing. And it was so amazing. I obviously wasn't the one receiving the blessing, but I felt the Spirit so strongly as Elder Larsen blessed her. It was one of the most powerful blessings I have ever heard. It was so obvious that it wasn't Elder Larsen speaking, but it was Heavenly Father speaking comfort to her. It was so beautiful. How grateful I am for worthy Priesthood holders. What power they have if they exercise it righteously. It made me realize even more how important it is to marry a righteous priesthood holder.
Third: Heavenly Father knows me personally.
I don't know what it is about a mission, but Sister Thompson and I concluded that it just makes us want to get married so bad. How frustrating it is to not be able to hold little babies and play with kids! As a missionary you get to observe so many families-families in the church that are struggling, families out of the church that need the gospel so badly, and families that are strong in the gospel and are just doing it right. I was having a bit of a rough day the other day feeling like I was getting into a rut of thinking -when I'm married I'm going to do this and it will be so happy- instead of focusing on the joy that comes from sharing the Gospel now. I want so much to be an effective, dedicated missionary and serve with my whole heart. So I prayed about it. I asked Heavenly Father to help me feel the joy that comes from sharing the gospel now. Not the joy that will come when I get to do it in a family. Later that day in comp study we were role playing a lesson for an active couple. And as I bore testimony of the importance of sharing the gospel I was overwhelmed by how powerfully the Spirit witnessed to me of that truth. I knew that what I was testifying was true. And it was able to comfort my heart and help me once again realize the importance of my calling as a sister missionary. How grateful I am for Heavenly Father who knows me personally, who hears my prayers, and who answers them in the perfect way at the perfect time.
Fourth: Fasting brings so many blessings.
Yesterday was fast Sunday. It was amazing. The testimonies that were given were so powerful and again another answer to my prayers. We have really been trying to get members involved in missionary work. We have talked with the Elders in our ward and the ward mission leader about it a lot. The first testimony was the counselor in the Bishopric. We had gone over to their home the other night to share a lesson with them. They have 3 little boys. The oldest is 3 and then they have twin boys that are a few months old. They are so busy. We got there just as the dad got home from work. Being super conscious of how important family time is and how busy they are I felt so bad to be taking up their evening sharing a lesson with them. But we shared what we had planned and invited them to find someone they could share the gospel with. We left and I felt like it was a complete failure of a lesson. I felt bad for taking up that hour of time that is so important to their little family. But on Sunday he got up and bore his testimony about that lesson. He bore his testimony about the Spirit that was felt there, despite the crazy antics of a three year old and them needing to take care of the twins. It was so beautiful. It was such a blessing for me to realize that we had accomplished something good. I know it wasn't anything I did. I'm still a terrible teacher. But it strengthened my testimony of the importance of missionary work and the spirit that we are blessed to have as missionaries for Jesus Christ. We are literally representatives of Him. What a glorious calling that is!
Sunday just kept getting better and better. I have never been mentioned in so many testimonies before. Sister Thompson and I just kept laughing to ourselves at how exactly our prayers were being answered as members have begun to catch the spirit of missionary work.
We had an awesome meal with the Haight family. They have 3 little boys and are so so great. I love them.
We were able to stop by a less active woman (please pray for her, her name is Holly and she needs to come back to the church) and drop off a thank you note and cookies and also drop off cookies to an investigator the elders are passing off to us that we have been having a hard time getting in contact with. Her boyfriend answered the door and he was super grumpy at us at first. He had just woken up and was not very happy. Until we gave him a plate of cookies :) And then he was much nicer. It was awesome. We had an awesome lesson with a member family and then went down to another members home to teach the Feed my Sheep lesson. It is just a challenge for them to pray about and choose someone to share the gospel with. They said that they knew someone right then and went and introduced us to him. And we went in and had a lesson right then. And he said we could come back and teach him again. It was so amazing. Man, Heavenly Father is so good to us. SO we got a new investigator. Our first actually :) We were so happy!
Okay, my time is up. But I know this Gospel is true! It is so wonderful. It brings more joy than anything else. And it is only through Christ that we can be saved.
Challenge: Be a missionary! Just talk to people about the Church. Pray this week for one person you can talk to about the Church. Just open that door of conversation and see what happens. The Lord places prepared people in the path of His prepared servants aka YOU!
I love you!
Love,
Sister Andelin
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