Investigator found a year later, exchanges back to the City, parking skills!

Hola! Buenos Dias Queridas Familia y Amigas! This week went by so fast! I can't even believe it! We worked a lot and had some great experiences!

Indiana shirt T-shirt just like the ones
that I sent to my family to wear at the
family reunion this weekend.

Monday: We had a REALLY good P-Day today! As we were finishing up our preparation day activities this morning, the Rensalear Sisters, who were going to carpool with us to Chesterton for the Zone Activity, showed up.  We drove to a park in Chesterton. I enjoyed being able to drive with Hna Escobar and tell her about everything that was going on in the area. It was an awesome Zone Activity. We started by all playing Ultimate Frisbee, and that was a lot of fun. Half of us then played volleyball while the other half played soccer. I really loved playing volleyball, I had so much fun. I hadn't realized how much I like it and how I am not completely awful at it! We then played kickball for a while to finish off Zone Activity. It was so fun to be there with everyone, even though it was pretty hot!  When P-Day ended at 6:00 I started working on our population map and Hna Whitney worked in our area book. At 7:00 we started teaching one of our investigators who is out of town, over Facebook. He asked some amazing questions about how the Book of Mormon can help him with a certain situation he is dealing with in his life right now. We were able to teach and testify and really help him understand. During this lesson, which dragged on for a long time because he took a while to respond, one of our recent converts that we talk to and teach a lot over Facebook came online and messaged me saying hello. He then proceeded to tell me that's was afraid he had some thing bad to tell me. He told me that he was going to have to leave the Church for while. Astounded, because he had been SO solid, I asked why. He told us that he couldn't explain it to us. I couldn't believe it and of course just did the best I could by bearing testimony of prayer and reading scriptures and how the Father could help him through his struggles. Then it got crazier. As soon as he was done messaging me, he deleted his Facebook!!! Now, Hermana Whitney and I are so afraid for him, but all we can do at this point is pray.

Latino Express buses. I just think they are so fun!

Tuesday: Busy, long, hot day today! But we did a lot of teaching and finding, so it was good! We started with studies. I had a really good time studying in Enos and then in comp study time we planned our lesson for one of our investigator families. We headed to Chicago Heights where we tried looking for a few people with no luck. We parked in some shade at the library by the park and had our lunch hour and ate the sandwiches we had made at our apartment and brought with us. After lunch we continued down our list of people to try to contact. For the most part, no one was home, which was really sad because we just wanted to teach. Even one of our part member families that we visit often were not home. It was a pretty warm day today, about 97 degrees with a fair amount of humidity, just a tad different from the negative 50 degrees that we experienced this past winter! :-) After trying to find a lot of people, we went to the library and worked on contacting and proselyting Facebook. I posted about prayer and the story of Enos that I studied in personal study this morning. After we finished our time working on Facebook we went looking for more people to contact and teach, with no luck until we found this lady that Hermana Whitney had met and taught when she served here previously. We knocked on the house twice with no answer and were leaving with a young girl came out. We asked if this specific lady was home and the girl told us that the lady we were looking for had moved. Saddened, we headed back to our car. Right before we got in the car, we noticed an older woman walk out of the same house. So we go back and find out that this lady is the one we were looking for, the one that Hermana Whitney had taught a little bit a year ago. She let us sit down and we talked about the Restoration. She is quite an older lady so she doesn't stay on topic super well but we tried teaching her. In the beginning, both Hermana Whitney and I didn't think that she was too into it. But as we continued teaching and testifying, she agreed with us and seemed to understand. Then we gave her a Book or Mormon, and her eyes lit up so much and she hugged it tightly to her chest. It was so amazing to me to see such a reaction to the Book of Mormon and it really made me think, is that how I feel about the book? It is how I should feel because he Book of Mormon really does bring us that peace! It is the key to our religion, it is a gift from our loving Heavenly Father. To see this lady so overjoyed at receiving a Book or Mormon made me want to make sure that I always act the same towards this precious book. After giving her the Book of Mormon, we put her on date for baptism for August 30th and she readily accepted! It really showed both of us that we can never judge who is or isn't ready for the Gospel. She is very prepared to learn and we are so excited to work with her more. After that we went to visit another part member family. They fed us pizza and we enjoyed talking with them, and sharing  a lesson with them about love at home. We started with two questions for them that I love and I think can be applied to everyone everywhere: How would you feel if Jesus came to visit us in our home (or mission, our life)? And: Would we want to change the way we act toward each other with Jesus present (or how we act in general)? These questions really make you think right?!?! They are definitely questions that I want to remember throughout my life to make sure that I am on the right path and am focused on what really matters. The rest of the lesson went good and then we left and tried to find a couple of people before our next appointment with an investigator. We found one man who is a former investigator that Hermana Whitney knew. He invited us back next week to teach him so that is great. Unfortunately our next appointment wasn't home so we went to our backup plans and tried to find a few other people to contact.  That evening one of our less active branch members that we have been working with called us and let us know how his doctor appointment went today (after being in the hospital last week). He is going to have surgery at the end of this month to remove the tumors in his stomach. He was so amazing about it on the phone through. Just how he was putting it all in God's hands, and if it was his time to go he accepted it. He also asked if we could possibly come over and visit with him before his surgery to give him strength. Yep, he is just amazing!!! 

Wednesday: I had a really good personal study this morning reading in the Book of Mormon, PMG about humility, and a talk about the Prophet Joseph Smith. We then had just a little bit of companionship study before we had to get ready and head out for the District Meeting. We had to be there just a little early so that Elder Bringhurst, our DL, could inspect our car. We then had a really good District Meeting where we learned about Elder Warner's conversion story (which was very powerful), ordinance invitations and role plays with that, and then the Fourth Missionary. It all was so good. Hermana Whitney and I then went to the chiropractors. He helped Hermana Whitney a lot and adjusted me too, although I really don't think there is too much wrong with me! We drove home for lunch and language study and then headed to Chicago Heights. We started by contacting people via Facebook in the library. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking for a lot of people that have been former contacts over the years. Unfortunately most of them didn't answer their doors or don't live at the address we have for them any longer. We did get hit on several times by several guys today, it was great. #SisterMissionaryProblems  Today was also a complete flip flop, from yesterday. Yesterday it was 95 and really humid. Today it was 70 and cool and breezy. Because we weren't able to get in with anyone, we went through our plans really quickly. After trying all the names we had planned, we decided to try and contact some people in the trailer parks. Again, no one was available. We had just a little more time so we had the thought (really an inspiration now that I look back) to go and try and see our investigator who had missed her appointment with us last night.  We found out that her phone wasn't working last night so we had no other way of contacting her. We stopped by and she was outside with her kids! We were able to talk to her and she explained she had needed to go to the doctor with her mother and felt so bad she had missed our appointment yesterday. We were able to set up another appointment for next week to teach her.

I love getting to go back to the city, which I was
able to do this week while on exchanges with
the Sister Training Leaders

Thursday: We cleaned the apartment a little bit this morning for apartment inspections and then we started personal study. I read Omni in the Book of Mormon today and then kind of continued my study based off of vs. 26 about offering our whole soul unto God. This is definitely something that I have been trying to do my entire mission. I feel like it is getting better, but I am not quite there yet. Knowing me and life, I will probably get there on the plane ride home! :-) But it was a super good personal study. It was interrupted part way through because the Kings showed up to do the apartment inspection. She just took a quick glance around, because she knows that everything is already clean, gave us 100% and left us brownies, so it was a success!!! :) We then had companionship study, We read a really good Ensign article about living in this land, or trial, or situation, as though we will be there for years and just making the best of it. We also read in Doctrine & Covenants to try and help Hermana Whitney get as far in her D&C challenge as possible.  For language study I read in el Libro de Mormón. All of my studies were so amazing today because in each one I felt like I read and learned things that I really needed to hear and that I feel like apply directly to what I am working on right now! We had lunch and then started baking treats for one of our investigator's birthday tomorrow. The Sister Training Leader Hermanas showed up really early to do exchanges so we talked for a little bit and then I left with Hermana Kinghorn to go back to Midway. The drive up was pretty long because traffic was really bad, but that was okay because Hermana Kinghorn and I had a good time talking. We got to know each other because we had never served around each other and didn't know each other at all. I absolutely loved the drive because I got to see the city and my old area, it was so awesome! Once we were in Midway, we stopped by their house to drop off my stuff then we walked to our appointment with an investigator family. A Hermana ward member that I knew well from my prior service in this ward came to the lesson with us and it was so great to see her again.  She was super excited to see me too! Unfortunately, the investigator family wasn't able to listen to us then but said we could come back the next day. We walked around the Sister Training Leaders proselyting area contacting people to find someone to teach. It was great to walk around the city again, I sure do miss the vibe of the city!  We went back to their house to get the car and stop by one more person, who wasn't home. We went and picked up another hermana from the ward to go with us to a teaching appointment. It was fun because I knew the area and where she lived so I was able to help Hna Kinghorn get there. The member hermana was so happy I was there and it was so neat to actually understand and be able to talk to her a little better than I ever could when I was serving here. We then went to our appointment with a less active member. I had never actually met her when I was serving here because she goes to the Blue Island ward instead of Midway, but I had heard so many stories and good things. We had a good lesson (it really was just us talking because she loves to talk and had a lot to talk about) where we read the talk "Your Wonderful Journey Home" by President Uchtdorf. She really liked it a lot. She also made us huge sandwiches, which was awesome because we both were so hungry. After finally getting out of there, we took our member hermana home. She insisted on getting a picture of me and her together because I didn't get one with her when I was transferred, I wasn't complaining! :) We then drove home and had nightly planning.

One of the great hermanas from the ward I previously
served in who I was able to see again while on
transfers with the Sister Training Leaders.

Friday: Waking up and realizing I was in Midway was so neat. It is just so fun to go back to one of your old areas (basically) and see familiar things and people and places. We had our studies, comp was really good and then we had language and then got ready to go. We then had lunch at a super good taqueria that I had eaten at with the Hermanas before. We had tacos and it was so good to be able to eat in a real taqueria and have real tacos again. We drove to Chicago Heights to meet back up and exchange back. We arrived at the library in Chicago Heights with enough time for us to go in and do some Facebook contacting, and so the STL could check my iPad. We exchanged back and Hermana Whitney and I went to one of our investigator's homes for his birthday. Once again him and his wife were kind of surprised that we actually came as we told them that we would and that we brought cookies and cinnamon rolls.  He was very glad to see his "daughters" as he calls us and Hermana Whitney even called him Papi :) They were getting ready to go eat out for his birthday so we just dropped the goodies off and talked for a couple of minutes.

A Tres Leches Cupcake that we made for one of our
investigators who had a birthday this week.

Saturday: Another long but really good day! It seems like we have a lot of those! :) We had studies and then went to the library to teach one of our investigators over Facebook. Unfortunately he never came online as we had schedule with him, so we just had to drive to Chicago Heights. We parked our car and then started walking around trying to find people. No one was available to listen but we set up with a lot of people to come back tomorrow so that is good. It was a really warm day and walking around felt so good. We went to our appointment with a branch member who just got back from being in Puerto Rico for 7 months. She is such a fun person. She made us lunch, fish. Yep, I had been waiting for the day on my mission when someone was going to make me fish because I don't like fish. I have been surprised that it didn't happen sooner honestly, I count that as a tender mercy from Heavenly Father! :-) But just before eating I prayed REALLY hard that Heavenly Father would help me eat and enjoy the fish. When I took my first bite, it wasn't too bad. I was able to eat two whole pieces of fish. It definitely was not my favorite but I am so grateful I was able to do it. We shared with her a short message with the Because of Him video. We went to our lesson with one of the less actives that we have been working with. He is really good and is super calm and ready for his big surgery to remove a tumor in his stomach next week. He truly has the faith and had put himself in God's hands and is ready for whatever happens. We talked about enduring to the end (we thought that might be an appropriate topic) and he was very glad that we were able to visit him before he left for the hospital. After that Hna Whitney and I went to see our newest investigator to see how she was doing and if she was still good to attend Church tomorrow. She was really sad and said that the letters in the Book of Mormon were too small and she couldn't read them. We read from the introduction to her and talked about it. She really like talking with us and enjoyed telling us stories of her life. She said that she will come to Church tomorrow and we arranged with a branch member family to take her. Before we left we felt that we should sing her a song so Hna Whitney and I sang "I Am a Child of God" for her and she loved it. We headed to Whiting for our dinner apt with branch member hermana. Apparently Whiting is having a Pirogi (Polish food) Festival right now and so there is nowhere to park, unless you are willing to pay $15. So when we got there the hermana came out and moved her van forward about 6 inches which gave me a spot to parallel park in a spot that was just the size of our car, which means getting our car into that spot was a lot of fun! I have never really needed to parallel park before but we got it in there, after 10 times of "move forward 1 inch, cranking it, and backing up 1 inch"! I was pretty proud of myself afterwards though! We had a great spaghetti dinner with her and shared a little message about conversion.

My parallel parking job in Whiting, my Uncle Joe
who is a Driver's Ed teacher would be so proud of me!

Sunday: By all accounts, I should record today as a HORRIBLE day. If you look at it straight on, then yeah, it was a pretty bad day. But it never actually occurred to me to look at it as a bad day, instead I feel like it was a good day. We started with personal study which was really good. I read in Mosiah 2 and then studied about what a successful missionary is in preparation for our upcoming mission Sister's Conference. We then finished getting ready and headed to Church. The first sad thing about Church is that our new investigator wasn't able to make it. The branch member family that we had arranged to have her ride with had gone by and had talked with her but she told them she couldn't come because her children had left her to babysit her grandchildren. She did tell them that she really liked what we talked about with her and that she hoped to come next week. Then, Presidente pulled us into his office and told us that the new member who has been less active lately who had messaged us over Facebook this past Monday, was not doing good at all. Presidente then explained that he had actually talked to him that morning and that he had told him he wasn't going to come to church. He is having some pretty bad problems right now and so we are going to do the best we can to help him out. We then were able to have a mini MCM with the Elders and Presidente. It was great because Presidente is so willing to help and support us in any way he can.  Another recently activated family was at church and their 12 year old son that we had taught and he recently received the Priesthood did a great job passing the Sacrament. After Church we went to Chicago Heights to contact people. One thing that made today very stressful and overwhelming is that we were under a 1/4 tank of gas and had less than 70 miles of range. Between going to Griffith for Church, and then to and from Chicago Heights, it was a little iffy it we would make it without running out of fuel. But we prayed a lot and we ended up making it everywhere we needed to go today! But yeah, today looks like it was a very overwhelming and bad day. But really, I haven't even been looking at it like that and so it has been fine! That is definitely I have learned to apply a lot as a missionary is to always look for and see the positive in everything and everyone.

Wow! I am pretty long winded this week, sorry about that! But it was a really good week, the downs just made the ups so much better! I love being out here and being a missionary! I love sharing the Gospel and seeing the joy that it brings. It is hard, but it is so worth it! I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week! I love you!

Hermana Allyse