Okay, this is my real letter...
Monday: I packed! Ha, I hate packing, even on a
mission. I always get too lazy to pack things so I just get rid of as
much stuff as I can. Each transfer I've had less and less. It's kinda
nice :) We played some fun games with our zone. Putting the cookie on
your forehead and getting it down to your mouth, putting whipped cream
on your arm and then catching it in your mouth, etc. I wish I woudl have
taken pictures. It was hilarious.
Tuesday: Transfer day!! I really don't like
transfer days, they are always so so depressing. Because Sister Fatai
was picking up a new missionary, we didn't transfer until the afternoon
so we still had time to go out and work for a bit. We went out and biked
and contacted. We contacted a group of people in the park. They ended
up being members but tried to pretend that they weren't. That is the
meanest thing. Don't ever do it to missionaries. haha it's probably one
of my biggest fears in contacting. Ugh I hate it :) We also talked to a
pest control guy. Most of them are mormon, so it was fun to talk to him
for a few minutes about his mission. I love doing missionary work, but I
don't think I could ever go knock doors for something that didn't have
eternal value :) Nate and Dan, I thought of you. You were probably
in parts of my mission when you were here. What area were you in?
That afternoon we moved my stuff to Los Alamitos, picked up Sister
Fatai's new missionary and said goodbye to everyone. Sad sad day. But
really exciting at the same time.
In the evening we went on splits and taught. I love teaching. It's
hard when the person you're teaching likes to talk too much haha. I'm
still not very good at taking control of those situations and moving the
lesson along. Hence I'm like infamous for long lessons. Any suggestions
on how to do that? Hopefully someday I'll learn...
The miracle of Tuesday was Jackie. She is a recent convert of about
3 years. I'd hear about her when I was in this ward last year but never
met her. After our dinner apt we walked out and saw some people across
the street so we walked over to talk to them. It was one of those really
awkward moments where you try to talk to people but they ignore you
because they are in a conversation. I HATE those haha. But we just
waited patiently until they were done. Several times I wanted to leave,
but we just stayed anyways. When they were done talking we were able
meet them. And lo and behold one was a guy I had met several months ago
on an exchange in cypress and the other was Jackie. After the man left
we were able to talk with Jackie for about 30 minutes-about her life and
what she wanted for her kids. We offerred to teach her the missionary
lessons and invited her to take small steps to living the Gospel again.
And she said yes! We didn't realize what a miracle that was until we
talked with the Bishop that night and he said that they have tried so
hard to fellowship her and up to that point hadn't made any progress. I
love how the Lord truly can put us in the right place at the right time.
She has reached a point in her life where she's ready to progress and
we happened to be there just at that time. I love Heavenly Father :)
Wednesday: Did service. Had a dr's apt for sister
Saunders. Biked a LOT. We pretty much just tracted all evening. It's
always an adventure when you come into and area that doesn't have
investigators yet :) But we're goign to find lots of them. I know it :)
Thursday: District meeting. Weekly planning. Susan
:) We had a referral from some other missionaries for a woman who
wanted to learn. When we called her she made it really clear that she
did NOT want to convert, she just thought she could help us out so we
knew how to talk to people better. We decided to go there and just meet
her anyways and see how it went. It actually turned out pretty well. We
were able to teach her alot about the priesthood and the restoration and
eternal families all while she felt good about being able to give us
tips and advice :) At least she said she'll read the pamphlet.
We had a challenge from our district leader to invite 10 people to
church. We've really made that a focus in our mission-gettign people to
church and getting them there for the right reasons. It is so so hard.
People are waaaay too busy these days. Adn they always say, I know you
can't be too busy for God, but I just can't at this time in my life.
Don't ever do that! Put God first. It is like the number one way Satan
is keeping people from the Gospel. Elder Oak's talk on good, better, and
best was so inspired. Don't get so caught up in good things that you
don't let yourself have time for the best things. Every single person
can make time in their life to read the scriptures. It is possible. So
just do it. Make time for it. Take time to show God you love Him. I've
been thinking about that a lot this week. That phrase, time is love, is
so true. Show God you love Him by giving Him your time.
Anyways...we met Amy! She is from Canada and wants to come to
church! Sadly she wasn't able to make it. But hopefully next week.
We taught Jackie. That was another miracle.
Friday: Service. Bking. Lots of biking. Talking to
born agains ;) They love to argue with us about 3 things (literally you
always know it's going to be one of these)-we believe Jesus and Satan
are brothers, we believe we have to work to get to heaven, and we
beleive we can become like God. I fell for it and had a little bit too
intense discussion-which never does any good-so I repented and made a
promise that I will never let myself argue with a born again ever again.
It is no good. I love em, they have some of the most beautiful
testimonies of Christ. But I just wish they would listen to us instead
of believe what their church tells them about our church. All of their
questions could be answered if they just read the Book of Mormon. It
literally is the keystone of our religion.
Oh! And then we met Chad. He was the charter leader for
southern california hell's angels. He was awesome. He couldn't get over
the fact that I had 12 siblings, all of whom were healthy and didn't
have any drug problems. But mostly he couldn't get over the organization
of our church. He kept saying-if only we could use that organization
for our bikers. We tried to explain that it wouldn't really work because
you need a prophet of God at the head, but then he compared himself to a
prophet and how if they just respected him and didn't argue it would
all work out. I guess they're having problems with disunity or
something. He asked if I wanted a ride with a Hell's Angel. I said,
Yes!...but I can't on my mission. When I come back and visit I'll
totally take you up on it! :) And then he tried to set me up with one of
their prospects. Ha. I love being a missionary.
Saturday: Exchange with Sister Perry! It was
awesome but I dno't have any time to write about it. But I was able to
meet Haelani. She is amazing. Her brother is a convert and just got back
from his mission and she is taking lessons from the sisters. She is
amazing. We had such a good lesson, the Spirit was SO strong. She is
brilliant. I already love her and she isn't even my investigator. I'm
going to get permission to go to her baptism...
Sunday: Church. JACKIE CAME TO CHURCH! I was so happy :)
It was so good to see everyone. This has been a really interesting
transfer because I had forgotten almost everything from this area since I
was only here for 6 weeks. And only 4 sundays. But as I've been here so
many memories keep coming back. It's been really cool :) So I got to
see so many familiar faces and meet a lot more people. We went to
David's baptism. He was taught by the elders in our ward. He's only 13
but has such a strong testimony. I love baptisms.
And that was my week. I love being a missionary. It's hard. But so
so good. Miracles literally happen all the time. We just have to have
faith and trust that thigns will work out and that God sees our efforts
and knows our hearts and understands us perfectly. The Gospel is true.
Love you!
Love,
Sister Andelin
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