Valentines in Chicago, sharing the Love of God... with Olympic Ice Skating, missionary style

This is personal study in the laundromat,
on P-day in Chicago while our clothes
are washing and drying.

Water Main breaks are common
in the cold weather here in Chicago
and the result is 2" of solid ice on
side walk for me to show my
Olympic Ice Skating Skills

Hello Amazing Family and Friends!

It has been another great week here in Chicago. On Monday we just finished up P-day by grocery shopping and letter writing. We had a Noche de Hogar that night with the C...... Family
and it was good and Hno. C....... gave a great lesson about how it is the member's responsibility to help recent converts and less actives, not just the missionaries job, a lesson that made us super happy!

Tuesday we did a lot of looking for former investigators. No one really opened their doors though. We also did some tracting and then went to an appointment with a less active, Hna. M........ It was so good. She made us enchiladas, which were amazing, and really good flan. She asked us some questions about tithing and the Sabbath Day. We also talked about the Book of Mormon and read the first chapter with her. She really seemed to enjoy it and it made her want to read. She also said she wants to start paying tithing because she had been thinking about it and it made us so happy to hear.

Wednesday we had District Meeting. We listened to a talk about self-worth and how to apply it to ourselves and investigators. We then had an appointment with Hna. M........, a super sweet less active. We talked about

Yes, this is just kind of a
 random picture. but we
 were just standing, waiting
 for the bus and I looked
 at it and thought it looked
 kind of neat.

agency and she fed us. That evening we had a fun experience. We were looking for former investigators and I put Hna. Black in charge of the map so she could learn the area better. I was just following her along. We stopped at one house and knocked and the door opened and a lady was like"Hermanas! Pasanles!" (Come in). I
looked at her and realized Hna. Black had taken us to Hna. E.......'s house, and active member! She invited us in and gave us hot chocolate and Oreos and we talked. It was just so funny because I hadn't been paying super close attention to where Hna. Black was leading and she was so confused! But it was good because we had a great visit with Hna. E........ That night, finally a miracle happened with family that we had taught a lot and gotten so close to baptism, and then they all of the sudden stopped communication with us.  We stopped by and they were home! They let us in and said they still really wanted to learn, they had just been really busy. We were able to teach them the Restoration and it went super well. Hopefully now we can stay in contact with them and they will start progressing again. We also stopped by a potential investigator's house. He had just walked into the Church when we were at Sister's Conference last week and said he wanted to learn more about the Church because he had a Mormon friend and his friend said he should go to his Church sometime, so he did! He was so excited to see us and wanted us to teach them right there but then his wife said they were eating and would prefer us to come back next week. He seemed to have a lot of potential so we are excited about that.

Thursday we had an appointment with a less active family, the A........... It was good. We got to know them and

Flautas with potatoes

shared a scripture about the Atonement, Alma 7:11-12. They fed us lunch so that was good too. We then had a lesson with Ramon, one of our investigators. It was a super good lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We were talking about Baptism and he started asking questions like, when, how, and who could be there. He is really ready, even if he doesn't think so yet, the only thing is we need to get him to Church. Because of his economical and financial situation right now he has to work on Sundays so that had been hard, but we will get him there! The rest of the day was spent in weekly planning. That night Hna. Black and I made Flautas with potatoes inside and they were sooooo good!

Valentine's Day! It was pretty much a normal day but it was still good. We went looking for some people but no

Valentines Missionary Outfit

one was really home. We then spent some time getting our ward list of actives and less actives ready for our missionary correlation meeting tomorrow. That night we went looking for more former investigators and then went to the Ward Valentine's Day party. We acted as servers so everyone could just enjoy it as couples. It was fun. I tried Chicharron and it wasn't my favorite! I also got the most amazing Valentines package from my incredible family today!

Saturday was a super good day. We had MCM with Hno. N......., our new ward

Lunch at Giordano's for Hermana
Black's 9 month mark. This is the
Tropical Pizza, their version of a
Hawaiian Pizza

mission leader. It was so good. He really wants to get the ward going so much more with missionary work and has some good plans and
ideas. Hna. Black and I then went to Giordano's to celebrate her 9 month mark as a missionary. It was amazing, of course! The rest of that day we spent checking up with former investigators to see if they had any interest to learn more about the Gospel. Most said: "Soy catolico." (I'm catholic) But that is OK because it just isn't quite their time yet!

Sunday was a pretty normal day. Church was good. None of our investigators came but Hna. M........, our less active, came AND she paid tithing! We then had studies and then tried to see some people who didn't come to Church but no one really wanted to open their doors.

Thank you so much everyone for all of your love, prayers, and support! I couldn't be doing this if I didn't have all

Us four Hermana Missionaries
outside of the library where we
email our families from on P-day

of you! I hope you have an amazing week! Sé qué esta Iglesia es verdadera. Sé qué tenemos un Padre Celestial y Él nos ama tan mucho, más que podemos comprender. Este Evangelio trae mucho gozo y paz e mi vida estoy muy agradecida a compartirlo con las personas de Chicago! Hasta Luego!

Eternal Love,

Hermana Allyse Meanea