.JPG) |
| Hermana Whitney and I along the famous Chicago Riverwalk |
 |
| Hermana Allyse Selfie on The Ledge at the Skydeck in the Willis Tower Building in Downtown Chicago |
 |
| Hermana Whitney and I at the Skydeck in the Willis Building in Downtown Chicago |
So now that I have your attention, wondering what in the world a grip is, I will tell you :) It is Spanish for a cold, I just think it sounds a lot more impressive in Spanish than English! Yeah, that was basically my week unfortunately was a super bad cold. But we still got to do a lot of work and teaching so it was great!
 |
| Hermana Missionaries out on The Ledge at the Skydeck in the Willis Tower Building in Downtown Chicago |
Back down at street level we had a quick lunch and went to the Harold Washington Library, the largest library in the world. We were able to use our Chicago library cards to email our families on the computers there. It was an amazing library! I wish I could have spent forever in there. It is definitely a place I will want to go back to after my mission and explore! We then just walked down the streets of Chicago because it was so relaxing to us. We ended up by the river and just stood there and enjoyed it. We walked down the Riverside Walk and it was so much fun, especially for Hermana Whitney as it was her last time in Downtown Chicago as a missionary. We walked back down Michigan Ave to our train station and caught our train back to Indiana. This train was super cool because it was a two story train. That evening we had a dinner appointment with a Hermana and her family from the branch. It was a good appointment and she really enjoyed the scripture we shared in Ether 12:4 about hope. We had a very AMAZING day.
Tuesday: We spent this morning planning for the rest of the week and then headed to Chicago Heights. We went and taught one of our newest investigators. We read in 1 Nefi 1 with her because she can't see to read. She understood really well which made us super happy. We were able to make an appointment with a potential investigator and after that we actually found another potential investiagor at home that we had never been able to contact previously. We set up an appointment for Sunday with her and she seemed pretty legit. We then headed to Hammond for our dinner appointment with a family from the branch but they had just gotten home from an all day trip to Indianapolis and back. They had tried to text us to cancel earlier in the day but had texted the Elders instead. So we talked with them for a little bit and then shared 2 Nefi 25: 16-17. She really enjoyed having us there and bringing the Spirit into her home.
 |
| Hermana Whitney and I on the South Shore Train to Chicago |
Wednesday: Today didn't turn out exactly as planned, but it was alright. I woke up feeling even worse than I had the day before (I had a sore throat yesterday), sore throat, runny nose, and congested head. We head to Valpo. We stopped at the Chiropractor's and he adjusted both Hermana Whitney and me. We then went to District Meeting where we learned about some of the new things President Woodbury wants us to implement: we don't make goals as a district or zone anymore, he wants District Meetings to be more focused on helping each other with investigators and less actives, etc. It was a good District Meeting. We also talked about the importance of baptism and helping people come into the waters of baptism. To finish, Elder Bringhurst had Hermana Whitney bear her testimony and offer words of wisdom to us. She did really great and it is just so crazy for me to think that was her last District Meeting because next week is Zone Training. After District Meeting, at the urging of both my District Leader and Hermana Whitney, we went home so that I could rest and try to get better. I slept for an hour as Hermana Whitney made us spaghetti and then we ate and went back to bed. I woke up again around 5:00pm for just a little bit and we read in el Libro de Mormón and then I went back to sleep and slept until the alarm went off at 6:30 the next morning!!!
 |
| Downtown Chicago View from the SkyDeck in the Willis Tower |
Thursday: Today was another day that didn't happen as I had hoped. Although I was feeling a little bit better this morning, both a fever and coughs had set in and both Hermana Whitney and I didn't feel good about me being out around people, especially because neither one of us thought I should be driving anyways and she can't drive. So all of today was spent inside the apartment. We had to cancel our appointments. Everyone was so understanding but I still felt so bad. This has given me just a sample of how Hermana Escobar felt for all of those weeks that she was sick. I hate being a missionary that has to stay inside because you are sick, it just feels wrong! But Hermana Whitney has been so great about it and has really enjoyed getting in a lot of Book of Mormon reading. And I feel blessed that this has been the first time on my mission that I have gotten too sick to work. Kind of ironic that through the coldest and snowiest winter on record in Chicago and I was healthy all winter, and now it is the middle of summer and I have this bad case of "gripa"!
.JPG) |
| Dunkin Donuts in Downtown Chicago |
Friday: I woke up today and Hermana Whitney immediately told me that I didn't sound any better than yesterday :-( So, both she and I (mostly her) decided it would be better for everyone if we spent one more day inside, just so I didn't scare people off with how awful I sound! We had studies and then spent part of the day doing weekly planning. We have a very busy, full week coming up! It was a long process but it always pays off in the long run when we know what we are doing, plus it shows The Lord our faith and allows Him to put people in our path who are prepared.
Saturday: So we actually got to go out and work today! So that was awesome! It still wasn't the greatest day because of some of the stuff that happened while we were working, but we were so happy to be able to be out there again. Our less active branch member who has been in the hospital called us this morning to let us know he had gotten home last night and he wanted to see if we could come visit him. So we headed straight there. Unfortunately there weren't any other women in the house like he had thought there were going to be so we couldn't stay and teach him. But we helped him translate his medicine instructions and told him to call us later in the day so we could come back and talk. Next we went to try and see a member of the English Ward to see if she needed some service because she had mentioned it before. She didn't need us right then because she had some doctor appointments but we did get to meet her sons so that was cool. As we were driving away one of them asked us to stop. He came up to Hermana Whitney's window and the first thing he said was, "You ladies are very pretty." Of course we were like, "oh no! not again!" (this happens quite frequently with Hermana Whitney as my companion! :) Thankfully he went on to tell us that he wasn't hitting on us but really giving us a compliment and also letting us know he might be interested in learning more about the Mormon Church. Oh the things you deal with as a Sister Missionary! #SisterMissionaryProbs :) After that we went and taught one of our newer investigators about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It went really well. We taught short and powerful and she seemed to grasp it really well. The only problem is that she also told us that she no longer wants to be baptized :( She told us that she had prayed about it and no longer felt a desire. So that is super sad but she was way excited to get a large print Book of Mormon so that she can actually read it. We told her that her desire could change if she read the book and she said she would so we are praying that the Spirit will touch her. We went to the library to teach another investigator over the internet. He was really slow in responding so we weren't able to get in a lesson but we were able to talk with him and ask him to come to Church tomorrow. We promised him it would help him a lot in his life. He replied by saying, "Yes it will, especially being with you guys." #ExasperatedFace! Not again! He tried to backtrack it by saying that he was excited to be there with us so he wouldn't be alone, but we all know what he really meant. It is sad because I was worried about that happening with him, but all we can do is pray that he will have real intention to learn about the Gospel. We are hoping and praying he comes to Church tomorrow too so that he can feel the Spirit. After that we went looking for a couple of people before we went to our appt with a branch member Hermana. She made us some super good food and we shared a message from Preach My Gospel about the Plan of Salvation. She also gave me a nickname (she does it to all the hermanas) and I am now Hermana Meanie, which I like a lot because no hispanic can ever say or remember my name, which actually makes me feel like I am at home too! But this one seemed to stick for her so I am happy. While looking for some other people we called our super legit investigator, to confirm our appointment in a little while and he told us he wasn't home and wouldn't be back until tomorrow afternoon. We were so sad because we were way excited to teach him and we had lined up a Hermana branch member to come with us too. So that was a big bummer. We drove to Park Forest and Richton Park to try and find some potential investigators, with no luck, and then went back to Chicago Heights. After going through all of our plans and backup plans, We thought of calling the less active Hermano who had been in the hospital to see if we could come over now. He said yes so we were able to go and have a lesson with him. He is doing really good and was way happy to meet with us. We shared 3 Nephi 11:3 and talked about the Holy Ghost. He really does know so much and has a strong testimony. He let us know that he can't go to Church tomorrow because he can't really ride in a car with his stomach still healing, but he is planning on being there next week. It was a pretty rough day because in one day, all of our investigators that we had on date for baptism, fell off date. It hurts, but what really matters is that we are trying to find the people who are really prepared and ready for the Gospel.
Sunday: We had a really good day today. We got ready and then drove to the Church for Branch Council Meeting. This was really good because we were actually able to talk about some less active families in the branch and plan how the branch council is going to help those families, so it was really productive. Unfortunately no investigators for us or the Elders came today, so we didn't have Gospel Principles. BUT one of our recent convert that had totally told us he wasn't coming anymore, CAME!!! When we had tried talking to him over Facebook yesterday to set up at time to come see him, he told us he was good but he promised he would come to Church. I have to admit, given the past couple of weeks with him, I was doubtful if he would actually be there. But he came!!! So that is amazing! It was a good Sunday with a lot of people there. Following church we had our study time. I had an amazing time studying Alma 4 and found a lot of things that really helped me personally. We also had a short little companionship study to plan our lessons that we are scheduled to teach. We drove to Chicago Heights and went to a potential investigator's home. We found her at home and she had actually been expecting us. We were able to sit down and teach her about the Restoration and it went really well. She is catholic by name but doesn't go so she is very open. She seemed to be really interested in our message and willing to accept it as well. She was happy to get a Book of Mormon and to start reading it because she hasn't really read scripture before. She commited to read and pray. We invited her to be baptized on Sept. 14 and she said yes, why not, she would like that. She also asked us where and when our Church was before we could even invite her to come and she asked when we could come back and invited us every Sunday. She seems super legit so we are way excited. We went looking for a few more people and were finally able to find an a family that had previously been investigators. They were really happy to see us and us them. We set up an appointment with them for Thursday and they are excited to learn some more. We then drove to Presidente's house and had fun with Hermana and their two daughters. Their baby really is the cutest baby ever! She loves me and loves to smile at me. Twice she got into my bag and immediately pulled out the iPad and our phone, she is so smart. She also brought me a toy camera to take pictures of her and when I would point it at her she would pose and smile as big as she could. It is the hardest thing in the world for me to not take her in my arms and hold and love her! Presidente came home as we were eating arroz con pollo and we were able to talk with him too. After that we shared a message from Preach My Gospel about how we need to relate to people personally, especially using families, to share the Gospel with them.
It was a great week, not exactly how we had planned but I definitely was appreciative for the Zone Training we had a few weeks ago where President taught us that sometimes the Lord gives us sickness so that we can be humble and know how to help others. So I am just going to look at it that way and use what I learned last week to make this next week amazing! We have a lot planned and a lot to do for Hna Whitney's last week as a missionary and I know it will be great! Thank you so much for all of your love! I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!
Hermana Meanea
 |
| Panoramic Photo of Chicago from the Sky Deck in the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower) |
