I HAVE to talk to everyone! Ordinace Invitations & Transfer News

Hermana's Pearson & Meanea, P-day at the Beach!

The Valpo Zone at the Beach for P-Day

Hola! Buenos Dias! Como estan? Happy Birthday to my amazing brother, Tayson! He can officially do magic now, although the whole official thing has never stopped him before! :) This has been a super amazing week. Busy and crazy and wonderful! We received transfer news on Saturday, but you will have to read through my novel to get to that! :-) 

Last Monday we had a great P-Day. Sister Kershaw and I got up at 6:00 and went for a run together. It was so nice and I especially liked not having to run in circle after circle! We had a good pace and it felt great. We then came back home and got ready. We did our studies and then finished getting ready before heading out to the library to email and then bought a few groceries. We ran our food home and then made the hour drive to the beach in Michigan City for our Zone Activity. We all had so much fun just enjoying the beach, playing ultimate Frisbee, soccer, and volleyball. I especially loved playing soccer and had a lot of fun and wasn't too bad at it :) Some of the Elders brought a little grill and everyone cooked the meat that they had bought. We took chipotle Swiss burgers and they were AMAZING! It was so amazing to just enjoy being on the beach with everyone. It was a pretty cool day so it just felt great. Sadly we had to leave after a few hours and head home. The Rensalear Sisters headed towards home and we changed real fast before heading to our dinner appointment.  The Hermana made us some super good enchiladas and then we had an awesome Noche de Hogar with her family and another family about agency and freedom. We started playing a really fun cat and mouse game with the two families but then we had to leave so that we could get home on time. It was a super fun evening. 

Hermana Meanea with a wonderful doctor that has
helped numerous missionaries in the Indiana area

Tuesday we went and did a little bit of Facebook contacting and proselyting and then headed for the doctor's visit in Griffith.  After that we headed to work in Chicago Heights. We made a lot of stop-by's but no one was available for us to teach. We went and saw a family that we have been teaching and were able to have a quick little lesson with them reading Moroni 10:3-5 and explaining how they can know that this is true for themselves. We went to the family who's daughter we are teaching.  We played the Plan of Salvation game, it went really well and she seemed to like it and feel more comfortable with us. We went to the library to update our iPads to iOS8.

Wednesday in District Meeting we talked a lot about how to begin teaching and the Restoration because President has asked that our District Meetings go in conjunction with our companionship studies. Hermana Pearson and I also gave a little class on cutting people off, in a completely loving and respectful manner. Sometimes it just has to be done because people talk, and talk, and talk. It was funny and useful so it was great! We took a district picture - the Zone Leaders, and then Hermana Pearson had a serious craving for Red Robin so her and I went there for lunch. It was really good, I had a guacamole bacon burger and enjoyed it. Back at home we did studies and then planning. To finish the evening we went and helped a branch member in her store. She fed us rice, beans, tamales, and guacamole and then put us to work chopping peppers and onions. I had a lot of fun serving and helping her, and getting to wear jeans made it even better. Towards the end of the night a really nice lady came in and was buying some things. She was talking with the branch member and asked her if we were Mexican or guerritas. Our branch member told her we were guerritas and she came over to talk with us. She was super nice and told us all about her family. She is half Mexican and half Spanish (as in from Spain). She married a Tai/Chinese, one sister married and Irish guy, another sister an Italian guy, and another sister a Mexican. What a crazy cool family! As she was finishing up talking with us, I felt like I should contact her. But we were holding and cutting peppers behind the counter and it just felt awkward so I didn't. Then she was talking with the branch member at the register for a while, but I didn't go contact her then either and she left the store. I thought I had missed my chance but then she came back into the store for something else and I realized that I was supposed to contact her and the Lord was giving me second chance after second chance. As she was waiting for the branch member I started talking with her and she started asking us about what we do. I explained and then asked her if she would be interested in having some missionaries like us come over to her house and explain more. She said yes and then also told us she would love for someone like us to visit her sister up in Chicago who is going through a really rough time right now. So we got her number and now have 2 really legit referrals. It was such a testimony to me that I HAVE to talk to everyone and that I should never postpone a prompting. But also that the Lord provides second chances for us!

On Thursday we started by cleaning the apartment for 2 hours. It took a while but we were able to get the entire apartment spotless and now it feels so good! We had apartment inspections really fast, 100% as usual, and then had our studies. For lunch Hermana Pearson made us cube steak and I "made" mashed potatoes. We went and did some Facebook contacting and then returned home for some weekly planning. For dinner we went to a branch member hermana's house and she fed us chicken tostadas and we shared a message about how covenants protect us. We invited her to prepare to go to the Temple and receive her endowments and she told us she had been thinking about it and that she would prepare. We then drove to Chicago Heights for our Noche de Hogar with a couple of branch member families.  We prayed and sang together and then the host hermana gave a short little lesson about the importance of family and of family home evening. We testified and spoke a little more and then we closed with a prayer. After that we played the cat/mouse game we learned with a couple of other branch member families. Everyone had a lot of fun with that! We then had some arroz con leche that the hermana had made. It was a good night and everyone seemed to enjoy talking and getting to know each other better and I was so happy it worked out and I pray that maybe it can touched some hearts.

Friday we were able to have a really good lesson with the potential investigator we contacted at the Popcorn Festival. We taught her the Restoration and she seemed to really understand and to think about what it all meant. I definitely felt the Spirit strongly as we were teaching her, testifying to both me and her. We invited her to be baptized and she said she would when she had learned and understood everything. We invited her to put October 25th as a goal and that we would help her work towards it. After seeing her we went and did some proselyting on Facebook and then went back home to do a little bit of weekly planning. We had a couple hours of that and then headed to Chicago Heights for our appointment with a family we have been meeting with, but unfortunately the hermana was sleeping so we weren't able to teach them. We tried a lot of other stop-by's but no one was home, that is what happens on a Friday evening. At home we finished up weekly planning and Hermana Pearson made us a super good dinner of baked chicken and amazing mashed potatoes. 

Hermana Meanea with her La Familia misión

Hermana Meanea with her La Familia misión

Hermana Meanea with her La Familia misión

Saturday started with personal study and it was super good. Yesterday I finished 3 Nephi and today I finished 4 Nephi so that made me excited. We made the Tres Leches cake for the Hermanas, it turned out really good! We then drove to Chicago Heights to meet with the hermano we have been teaching, but as we arrived he called and told us he wasn't able to meet until later. So we went to our backup plans and went through our entire list of stop-by's. We were then able to meet with the hermano and had a good little lesson with him. He was really happy to meet with us again and to talk. We shared Omni 1:26 and talked about the Sacrament and invited him to come to Church.  After the lesson we drove home and had leftovers for dinner with the Rensalear Sisters. They then rode with us to the General Women's Meeting Broadcast in Valpo. The Stake Relief Society had set up the gym so cute with refreshments and decorated so pretty and nice. It was super fun. Rather than sitting with the other missionaries, I went and sat with a couple of the hermans from our branch and talked with them for like a 1/2 hour, all in Spanish, and it wasn't awkward, it just felt natural and nice to converse with them in Spanish. We all then went into the chapel to watch the broadcast. But, people had forgotten the translation headphones so there was no way to get it in Spanish to the branch member hermanas in the chapel.  A couple of the hermanas went and watched it in Spanish in another room on a tv that the branch Presidente had set up. But one hermana from our branch really wanted to stay with all of the other women of the Stake and asked us to sit beside her and help her understand. We started doing  that but it wasn't going to work out. Then I was able to get the broadcast  in Spanish on my iPad and we went and found some earbuds in the library and the hermana was able to sit there and listen in Spanish with all of the other women listening in English. The meeting was super good, I just felt so loved and connected! Unfortunately partway through the meeting, the broadcast on my iPad kept cutting in and out because the internet was really slow. So the hermana eventually had to go into the other room to finish watching it in Spanish. After the meeting we talked with other people a little bit and then started the drive back home. That is when we got our transfer call, even before a transfer text, from President Woodbury himself! Ahhhhh! He told me that I am being transferred to Gurnee 3rd to be companions with Hermana Conover who just finished her training! Ahhhhh! I am greenie  busting in Buffalo Grove! I definitely wasn't expecting that. Then he talked with Hermana Pearsoon, she is going to be a mama! She is getting a greenie!!! The rest of the drive home was spent in excitement  for her, she is way happy! We gave the Hermanas the cake and then they headed home. The rest of my night was spent in tears, laughter, talking, and a little bit of packing. I am so heartbroken to leave this area, these people, this  companion. As much as I loved Midway and it was really hard to leave, leaving Griffth is a million times harder for me! But the Lord must want me in Gurnee, so here I go!

Hermana Meanea with her La Familia misión

Hermana Meanea with a
wonderful hermana from the branch

Sunday was a hard day filled with a lot of goodbyes :-( We got up and went to the Church for MCM and then had Church. One of the families we have been working with didn't come :-( But another hermana was there and she received a calling as second counselor in the Young Women's! I was so excited because I have see her come so far! When I first got here, her and her brother were completely inactive. As we have worked with them over the past 6 months we have really seen them change and come back, she even told us she is thinking about a mission!!!!!!! It is so amazing to see people change through the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I said a lot of goodbyes and took a lot of pictures. The Branch Presidente had called us last night asking us to prepare talks for Sacrament Meeting but we ended up not having to give them because the other speakers took long enough :-) We went home and had lunch an personal study then we went and had dinner with a branch member family at the home of another family, who are members of the English ward but are Chilean. It was a lot of fun, they grilled brats and chicken and we loved just talking with them and enjoying the evening. Especially when they would tease us. The rest of the evening was filled with studies and packing!

So yeah, super good week. I am way excited for this new and exciting adventure! I hope that you all have an amazing week and I can't wait to tell you all about this upcoming week. I love and miss you all!!!

Eternal Love,

Hermana Allyse Meanea