This week was just about the coolest with my studies. We had transfers [i.e., exchanges] and I went with Sister Cruz -- Sister Knight was with my companion. Funny story about Sister Knight, she's from Herriman and we have some friends in common and one time I was with them and the car I was riding in backed into hers. So that's an interesting connection, when we put that together. "Hey, I backed into your car once!" "Hey yeah!”
But anyway it was really good and we had some awesome discussions, Sister Cruz and I, and I ended up stealing their 2012 conference Ensign because HOLY COW those talks, every single one of them changes your life. President Uchtdorf taught me how to make resolutions on how to love who we're with, reach our potential, and LET OURSELVES BE HAPPY! There is happiness in every moment and I feel like that's something I learned in the rough points of Tapachula, but have kind of forgotten when things got easier. I also learned that it doesn't come when you just want it, but when you completely disappear. It is so hard to disappear. You just try and then you're still there. But it's a process and I have a testimony of the INCREDIBLE difference it makes.
Then President Monson changed my life with his talk on "Seeing Others as They May Become." Changed my perspective on EVERYTHING. How many times do we look at a person and classify them in our mind, or focus on the negative or wonder if they'll ever make it. He talks about a missionary who, every time he contacted, whether it be a man with a cigar and an angry face, he would envision them all in white and knowing who they are, and when he did that he could speak in a way that the spirit could touch them. He had a ton of baptisms just from those contacts. This week I started putting that into practice and I would look at a person as they blabbered excuses and see a Relief Society president, or an old temple worker, or a missoinary, and I was shocked at the huge love I could feel for each one and desire for them to understand who they are!
Last but not least, I-don't-remember-who-but-a-sister spoke about "First Observe, then Serve," and that really opened my eyes to HOW IMPORTANT service is. Jesus always served! But service isn't just washing dishes or delivering cookies. He helped people with that stuff too, but most important was the way He listened, lifted, mourned with, and loved individually every person He came across, regardless of whether He had time.
Okay real quick, I want to share an experience with a girl named Alejandra. She is 9 years old and has lately been coming with her grandma to church. Her mom went inactive when she was about 13 and never has liked the church, but Alejandra loves going and a couple times when visiting her grandma told us she wanted to be baptized, but the grandma would always say that her daughter would never even allow us into her house. A few weeks passed and a new transfer and one day I just had the feeling we needed to work with that girl, so we decided to do something we'd never done and go right to her house! We knocked on the door one night and the mom opened up, looked at us, and we said we'd come to see them and get to know them better because we'd been talking with her daughter. She said, "I don't like the church, but you can enter if you want." We went in and had a nice talk with the kids about being obedient and the mom warmed up and we all started laughing together at things her kids said. I hadn't even planned bringing up baptism, because I thought it would be better for her to warm up to us first, but Alejandra said as we were finishing up, "Are you going to talk to my mom about my baptism?" And we asked if she had a desire to be baptized and she said yes. The mom asked, "Can she be baptized?" and we explained that above the age of eight they could decide for themselves. After talking about it for a while, we invited her to a date two weeks away and the mom slowly nodded her head and then asked what her daughter needed to do to prepare. And thus we began visiting very frequently and it only got better and better. We had a lesson on Palabra de Sabiduria [Word of Wisdom] and found Alejandra drank coffee every morning and night and loved it, but after the talk and putting some goals, she only messed up twice in the whole week, and the week after was completely coffee-free. What was more, the mom stopped making and drinking coffee herself and would constantly remind Alejandra that she had made a promise not to. We couldn't believe the change! This last Saturday Alejandra was baptized and to our surprise at the request of her daughter, the mom agreed to give a talk on baptism which we helped her prepare and in which she said she hoped her daughter would one day be a missionary. She is now working on changing jobs so she can come to church too. Sometimes labels are put on a person, even by their own family, but what we don't know are their desires and their potential, and though she has made many mistakes, this woman was ready to want more for her daughter and follow her example!
Also the fleas seem to be disappearing as a result of maniac-Sister Wilson spraying everything with chemicals and almost intoxicating us both and throwing everything I own into buckets of water and soap to drown them. I may have started this week completely paranoid, as I kept finding myself hunched over staring at black dots on the ground and waiting for them to jump and reveal their true and evil identity, then finding they are pieces of fabric.
Love you!
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