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| P-day Selfie at the beach... |
Hola Querida Familia! It has been another week, another super good week! We were able to do so much and really find joy in the journey so it has been wonderful. Life is going great, my Spanish is getting better, I really love and am learning so much from Hermana Escobar, and it has been rainy, so everything is pretty much fabulous! :-)
Monday: We had a super busy P-Day today! We woke up at 6:00 so that we could be studying by 6:30, to be out the door at 8:30, to shop and email before 10:00, to leave for Zone Activity at the beach that started at 11:00! Whew! I am exhausted already just writing that out! :-) But we had some good studies and then went to a couple of stores to get some groceries and a couple other things we needed. We then went to the library to be able to email for just a couple of minutes before we had to leave, carpooling with the English Sisters, for Zone Activity. Lucky for me, the English Sisters got confused on the time for the activity and so we ended up having a little bit longer on the computers than planned, which was really nice for me! We then got some lunch at Arby's and drove to Porter Beach near Michigan City on the shores of Lake Michigan.
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| Jumping for Joy on my Mission! (Doesn't living the Gospel of Jesus Christ bring such great JOY?) |
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| Missionaries, Members & Investigators at the beach |
We then drove back to the library where our car was and then Hermana Escobar and I ran home and rinsed off and changed real quickly and went back to the library to email some more. We then went and had our dinner appointment with a branch member hermana. It was sooo good because she made us tostadas de tinga (spicy chicken with beans, lettuce, and cheese on a tostada) because she knew it was my favorite! We shared a message with her family about the Sacrament and how it points us to the Temple as our goal. It was a great end to a super good P-Day.
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| Hermanas at the beach, but NOT in the water! |
Tuesday: We spent the morning at home letting Hermana Escobar rest because she was so exhausted and in a lot of pain from the day before. I worked on cleaning and organizing the apartment as well as as studying. We then went to the chiropractor to see if he could give Hermana a little bit of relief from the pain. He adjusted her and then me again too. He was able to help Hermana Escobar feel a lot better so that was really great. We then had some Facebook proselyting time and then had a lesson with our less active family we have been working with. We talked about the story of Abinadi and the 10 Commandments. It went well except it was kind of all over the place because they kept asking questions about other things and wanting to discuss it.
Wednesday: I woke up feeling like I had been beaten up because of the chiropractor visit yesterday. :-) But after stretching out just a little bit, I felt a lot better. Poor Hermana Escobar tried and tried to wake up and get her body moving, but it just wasn't possible. I did what I could to get ready while trying not to wake her up as she was sleeping in the living room. I then had a good personal study, again, trying as hard as possible to be as quiet as a mouse! Finally about 9:30 she was able to get up and get ready so that we could head to District Meeting. District Meeting was good, we had a discussion on the adjustments to missionary work. It is a just a few things that we will being doing differently, such as teaching Lesson 5 before and after baptism, arranging the new member lessons, and staying in better contact with the convert. I really think that these are good adjustments. Especially because I feel like we were already doing a lot of that because it was what was best. We also talked about unity and especially unity in teaching as a companionship. After checking Facebook for responses to some contacts that we had sent, Hermana Escobar and I went home because she was in so much pain and her muscles were spasming really bad. I made us lunch and cleaned. We then went to our dinner appointment with a branch member family. It was really good, homemade fried chicken and potatoes. The hermana really just opened up and talked with us. She is struggling a little bit right now because of her family. She also told us her entire story of being diagnosed with fibromyalgia. It was really interesting because that is like the 5th time fibromyalgia has popped up in regards to Hermana Escobar's health. We are starting to wonder if that might really be the problem. But we called and talked to the mission nurse after our appointment and she said that it has crossed her mind too, but she wants to wait and see if Hermana Escobar gets better and if not, she will think about it. We had a good lesson with the hermana and her grand kids. We read Moroni 7:33 and then Alma 32:26 and talked about faith, how we grow it, and what we can do with it. They seems to enjoy it. Once back at home we spent the evening cleaning and preparing for apartment inspections tomorrow.
Thursday: This morning Hermana was feeling pretty tired and in pain again. So we spent most of the day at home. We had apartment inspections and Sister King went through so fast because she already knows that we keep a very clean apartment, thankfully she wasn't here a week ago! :-) We journaled together a lot and wrote thank you cards. In the evening we went to our appointment with another branch member family, the absolute cutest family EVER! We then had a lesson with a couple of hermanas about the people of Alma when they were in bondage.
Friday: AMAZING day! WOW! Today was quite the crazy busy day! We were able to teach and work so much and it felt so good! We first had a lesson with a less active we are working with a lot. He doesn't feel comfortable coming back to Church yet and so we really focused on the Book of Mormon in our lesson because we know that if he is comfortable with the Book of Mormon, he will be comfortable going to Church. It was a good lesson and he committed to really read it. We then decided to do a couple stop-by's before our next appointment. We went to an investigator's house who we haven't taught in FOREVER. She was home and invited us in. Her and her family are struggling a lot right now with just a lot of different problems and so we read Mosiah 24:8-16 about Alma and his people being in bondage. They really liked it and I think it helped them have some comfort and hope. We were able to make a return appointment with them so we were excited about that! We then stopped by another one of our investigator's houses, we have taught her and her brother once but haven't really been able to contact them since. But she was home and let us in! We had a short but very powerful lesson with her about the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson we invited her that when she knew all of this was true, to be baptized. She said she would! So yeah, now we have an investigator on date! :-) We then tried one other stop-by but they weren't home so we headed to our appointment with our recent converts/investigators. We had lunch with our investigator and then we read 2 Nephi 31:5-13 about baptism and talked about the Book of Mormon. It was a very powerful lesson, but she still doesn't understand that she needs to be baptized again in our Church. We have been very bold and loving with her, she says she knows it is true, but still won't make the decision and says she is still waiting on her answer. We feel it is because she hasn't been reading in the Book of Mormon so we recommitted her to do that because we so want to help her. After that lesson we spent the afternoon doing stop-by's and trying to find some old potential investigators and less actives. Today was also a very special day because it was exactly 170 years since the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I am so grateful to have the knowledge that I do because Joseph Smith restored it. Because he was willing to die for this Gospel, I am able to live to share this incredible Gospel with others!
Saturday: We had another good working day today. We spent the morning studying and then doing weekly planning. We were able to get a lot done and planned for. We the tried to take cupcakes to one of the members in our area, but she wasn't home. We went to the library and worked on Facebook proselyting and I worked on our population map. We then drove to Chicago Heights and tried to find some people to teach. We walked around the 20's a little bit and we got a PNI and gave a really cute little girl a card with our number to give to her grandma. We went to another potential's house because we had been told she would be there, but she had just left. We gave a Book of Mormon to her sister who is in 5th grade and she promised she would read it because she likes reading. As we were leaving we saw a black man looking really sad sitting on his doorstep. We went up to him and asked him if we could give him a card. He said yes and we started talking with him. We asked if he had ever heard of the Mormons before. He said yes because his son is a member and is in the army stationed in Germany. We gave a brief summary of the Book of Mormon and asked if he would like to learn more and he said yes! He definitely was more happy after talking we us and we now have a legit referral for the Chicago Heights English Sisters. We then drove home, through a CRAZY rainstorm, and started dinner because the English Sisters were coming over for dinner. We had a good time with them. We then finished the evening by having language study.
Sunday: It was a REALLY good Sunday. We had a good MCM with our Branch Mission Leader and a member of the Stake Presidency. It was so good because we had a lot that we were able to share and discuss with them. Us and the Elders than waited hopefully for all of the investigators we had invited that we just knew were going to flock into the Church at any minute. After waiting for a while, it became apparent that no one was coming, we were all pretty sad. We decided to at least go and sit in Sunday School to help build relationships with the branch members and because there was no point in just us four missionaries having a Gospel Principles class by ourselves. We walk into Sunday School and got the biggest shock ever. There is the less active family that we have been working with and who are preparing to go to the Temple along with the Mom who hasn't been able to come to Church in years because of work! Then, we saw another lady that we didn't even know, but Hermana Escobar was able to figure out who it was because she is a less active in our area that we haven't ever met but who Hermana Escobar has contacted on Facebook! It was so cool to be kind of down because we thought no one came and then to walk into Sunday School and see 5 less actives sitting there, 2 of whom we haven't talked with in person! It was so good! Then, it got even better after Sacrament Meeting because our 12 year old less active boy that we have been working with received the Aaronic Priesthood and was ordained a Deacon!!! It was seriously one of the happiest moments of my mission because he got the "Force"! He loves Star Wars and so we relate the Gospel to Star Wars to help him make connections! We were so happy! After that we went and helped a member out moving some stuff and then went to Chicago Heights to try and find a couple of people. No one was home so we decided to stop by the a recent convert's house because they hadn't come to Church and we wanted to check on them. After we knocked on the door, the hermano, who is the recent convert walked out barely acknowledging us and hopped on his bicycle and rode away. This made us quite worried because it has seemed he has been avoiding us the last little while and this strange interaction was the cherry on top.
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| My cousin Annie took a photo like this in Guatemala, I wanted to be just like her! |
As you all can see, it was a REALLY good week! We were able to teach and work a lot so it was so good! Illiana (the name for our area because we are on the border of Indiana and Illinois and work in both) is doing good and we are working hard. I hope that you all have an amazing week! I love you!!!
Hermana Allyse Meanea
