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| P-Day Selfie from Downtown Chicago! |
Hola! How are you all doing? Today for P-Day I get to tell you all hello from
Chicago because I am sending this to you from
Downtown! I hope everything is going good. We had an amazing week so I can't wait to tell you all about it!
Last Monday: Today was a pretty
typical p-day. We emailed family and friends, spent a little time at the mall, did our
grocery shopping and then finished the P-day time with other preparations for the week.
Tuesday: We were able to teach one of our investigators on
date, over Facebook today. We helped answer some of his questions and
helped him to know what he can do to have peace and happiness in his
life. We then went and saw an investigator. She was doing good but hadn't read in
the Book of Mormon because she didn't have time. So we read with her in 1st Nephi Chapter 1 and talked about how the Book of Mormon is true and we can
have a testimony of it. After teaching her we drove all over Chicago Heights
trying to find different people that we wanted to contact. No one was home that we were looking for. We parked in the 20's
and walked around the neighborhoods contacting and were able to find a few people that were interested so that was awesome. We had an appointment with a former investigator of Hermana
Whitney's from when she served in this area a year ago. We talked with her for a bit and taught about the Restoration.
It was a SUPER good lesson. She is really smart and had great insights
and questions and remembered a lot. I couldn't understand why she wasn't
baptized yet! At the end we invited her to be baptized and she
explained she was catholic and that she never saw herself changing
religions. We were very bold, but not overbearing, with her and explained
about proper authority and the need for baptism. I really felt the
Spirit working through me, giving me the questions I should ask her and
the things I should say. It was a good thing too that we had the
Spirit, because I wouldn't have known what to do in that situation
otherwise! At the end she just told us she didn't think she would ever
be baptized, but we invited her to read and pray and receive an answer.
It really breaks my heart because she is so golden, just won't let go of
her family's religion. But we will pray and maybe the Book of Mormon
will change her heart because I know it has the power to do that! We drove to our MCM meeting with our branch mission leader
in Gary, Indiana. It was really good even though it was just us, him,
and his wife. The Elders weren't able to make it. We were able to
tell him about all of the people we are working with and get some help
for some of our investigator's needs. We talked about and planned for a branch
Noche de Hogar that we want to have as a missionary activity. We are thinking
of showing 17 Miracles and having treats.
Wednesday: This morning we went to
the chiropractors and then to District Meeting. We talked about planning
a little bit and then Hermana Whitney and I taught about extending
commitment invitations, specifically baptism in the first lesson. It is
just so important because they can't repent or change unless we invite them to.
It went well. After District Meeting we went to El Amigo for District
Lunch. It was so fun to talk with everyone and hear how everything was
going while eating a good steak burrito! Hermana Whitney and I then got
cookies and cream palletas and headed towards home. We ended up being
home the rest of the afternoon because Hermana Whitney got some kind of
allergic reaction and had to take Benadryl which knocked her out.
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Hermana Whitney and I with our Mini Missionary
(who ironically is taller then both of us?) |
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| Links of Companions at Sister's Conference |
Thursday:
Today
was a SUPER long but SUPER good day! We got up at 5:30, picked up some
girls from the English ward that are going on mini missions and then
drove to Wilmette for Sister's Conference. It was neat because once we
got there we got to have a special little transfer meeting for all of us
Valpo Sisters because we all got mini missionaries. A mini missionary
is a laurel aged young women for the stake that goes with the
missionaries for 4 days to experience what being a missionary is like.
Our Mini Missionary was so great, just one small
catch, she doesn't speak Spanish! So that led to a lot of fun
adventures. But the Sister's Conference was amazing! The theme was
becoming perfect in Christ, which is awesome because that is something
that I really have been working on. After Sister's Conference we were
able to got to a hospital in South Side where our less active member that we have been working with a lot was waiting to have
surgery. He was so happy that we were able to visit him. We talked,
shared a scripture, and most importantly, I stayed upright with no
problems the entire time, a huge accomplishment for me! We finally got
home at 9:00 at night, 14.5 hours after we left this morning!
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| Visiting our branch member in the hospital |
Friday: Today was rough. There was
some really good stuff but there was also some pretty tough things that
definitely made the good sweeter! We went to try and see this family that we have been working with a lot, this ended up being one of the most heartbreaking moments of my
mission. You see, one of our investigator's church
friends was there. :-( As soon as we showed up, the recent convert that is a part of the same family but has quit coming to church, left the room and wouldn't come back, so that started
everything going downhill. Our investigator was cordial and invited us to sit down
and gave us water bottles. We shared a message about the Book of Mormon
but it was a very difficult lesson because her church friend literally made it
where the Spirit could not be there. She was fighting every word we
said, arguing everything, interrupting, and ignoring us and the Spirit.
It was rough. But we stayed calm and just stuck to bearing powerful,
simple testimony. In the midst of it all our investigator told us that she wasn't
really sure why we were still coming over, she believed in the Bible and
her church and didn't believe in ours. Ouch! So she basically dropped
us and that hurt a lot because us and so many other missionaries prior to my arrival have
worked with them so much. :( We trying to leave the lesson on a slightly
okay note, so we invited our mini missionary to bear her testimony. She had
written it down in Spanish on her own that morning and so she read it.
Like we were hoping, the Spirit rushed in, it was very powerful and we
could definitely feel it. That evening we had a relief society activity
where we learned how to make tres leches cake and decorate cupcakes. It
was a really good activity that I think helped many of the Hermanas in
our branch a lot.
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Sunflower Cupcake made at branch
Relief Society Meeting |
Saturday: Today was a really good
day. After some of the bitterness of yesterday, today truly was sweet.
We did a lot of stop-by's and got a lot of teaching in. One of the
lessons we had was with a potential investigator that we just
hadn't been able to get in with. But we stopped by and he was home and
super willing to listen. We had an amazing lesson on the Restoration,
the Spirit was so strong and it just felt good! He even asked us where
our church was before we could invite him to come to church. He truly believes this
is true and had such a sincere desire to know, so that was awesome!
That evening we had dinner with a hermana from our branch who also speaks English. Our mini missionary really liked being able to speak in English with our branch member and enjoyed being about to understand the hermana. Our poor mini missionary's head was spinning all
day with all of the Spanish!
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| Banana Splits with our Mini Missionary |
Sunday: We had another good
day today. None of our investigators were able to make it to Church
unfortunately but all of the meetings went smoothly so it was a good
day! In the afternoon all of the Sister Missionaries in the stake met up
and we had a little testimony meeting with us, our mini missionaries,
and their parents. It was really good and so wonderful to see all of the
excitement that these girls have for missionary work. We really enjoyed
being with Sister Reyes. We all learned a lot from each other and had a
super good time together!
Sorry my email is a little shorter this week, it had
been a crazy busy week and with us being in the city today, I didn't
have time to write much. I love you all so much and hope you have an
amazing week!
Eternal Love,
