Monday, June 02,
2014
Well hello.
I just have a full heart this week. We have seen so many miracles. I am actually really sad because time just doesn’t permit to share EVERYTHING... which I so desperately want to do. I put a lot of trust in the Lords promise that everything will be brought to my remembrance through the Holy Ghost. This week was one of the busiest weeks on my mission-- and this transfer isn’t even over... if only you saw next week. Haha!
So, last Monday was very fun-- we were able to go to a cemetery. Let me tell you. This was a beautiful cemetery. It was 478 Acres! Crazy. Apparently there were famous people there, but really I don’t know who any of them were-- people that were famous in the 1800’s aren't people I know... But we walked around for a few hours, for Memorial Day they were having a concert in part of it-- so we went by that for a minute. It was just a high school concert band and they were really good. I miss band so much. There were tombs and tons of cool head stones. I really love cemeteries and mortuaries. I feel like they are a great place to feel the spirit, and reflect. Our whole district went.
That night we were on our way to our lesson with a Recent Convert, and we were sitting on the train, and we saw a man enter the train a ways down and another man said "take this man to the 9th avenue stop" and then after the train started going, he started moaning and every once in a while he would scream. He just sounded like he was in a lot of pain. We couldn’t tell what was going on. But the lady next to us said "is that blood on his shoes?" and so we looked at each other and decided we would go help him, since not only was no one helping him, everyone was walking away from him to another part of the train. So, we walked down and I asked someone next to him what was going on and she said "must have drank too much at a BBQ... which was evident as soon as we saw him up close. The red on his shoes was puke, and it was all over his pants and he was WASTED... So, we asked him where he was supposed to go, and he really had no idea-- we kept listing off a few options. I debated helping get him to 9th avenue, but I really didn’t want to be liable for anything, on top of-- how in the world is he going to know where to go after he gets to 9th avenue... So we told him to follow us, and as soon as we got in the subway station we were going to walk him up to the MTA guy upstairs to get him some real help. But it was clear that he couldn’t walk straight and could fall off the platform into the tracks so we grabbed him by the arms and slowly walked up the stairs. We motioned to the MTA guy to come out of the little help desk, but for his safety he stayed inside, and called for the police to help him home. So we handed him over to the cops and went on our way. Friends. The word of wisdom is true. I love it.
Tuesday was transfer meeting, as you can see-- I am still in Brooklyn, in Bensonhurst :) Which is what I had anticipated. I anticipate finishing my mission here-- which I hope ;) Transfer meeting was definitely great as always. The main message from president was that we are not to 'aspire' to callings or leadership positions. He spoke on it really well. I feel like it is always good to be reminded we are nothing, and that God makes it all possible. We have added one companionship to our stewardship-- and they are two sisters that both just finished their training last transfer, and are being put together to open the first sisters pool in the Chinese program here :) So we work with 8 sets of sisters-- it is so fun! Leaders meeting is after transfer meeting and all the district leaders go to that meeting and the zone leaders and STLs. So we talked about doing lesson presentation work, and more 'putting our shoulder to the wheel.' It was really inspiring. I have been asked to give a workshop on faith and in district meeting this upcoming Tuesday-- and so I am going to talk about what president and the assistants talked about in that meeting. Just having perfect faith. Meaning we need to work our butts off and believe in the Savior. I am never good at articulating my feelings/thoughts so... sorry. But it was powerful :).
The next day we were able to have 2 spectacular lessons. Both with women that are LA. One is the one with the pictures of the puppies I sent home. She is not clear why she doesn't come-- but we love her and she is so friendly! She is from Colombia! Sister Lopopolo, our RS president came with us and really helped the lesson be powerful. We talked about keeping covenants :)
The other lesson was with a woman who is going to the temple-- we are helping her understand again the commandments and the things that she has to do to go do baptisms for the dead. She is excited to start getting ready. :)
Oh, we were also able to teach a former investigator who is Muslim. We aren't sure why she is still willing to meet with missionaries’ because she doesn't seem to want to believe what we believe. She also doesn't believe the Koran, and is not a practicing Muslim. So when we meet this week hopefully we can see what she would like from meeting with us.
That night we exchanged and I was with Sister Palu-- we were able to visit the deaf woman I think I talked about last week. We have a lot of fun talking to her. She is special and just has a lot of vigor! :) Poor Sister Palu couldn’t talk loud enough to be heard. I guess having a loud voice comes in handy every once in a while.
Friday was a great day, but so busy. We went to 2 of 3 leaders meetings. Our zone's leaders meeting and zone 1. The leaders in these zones are superb it is a great example to follow.
We experienced a great miracle on Sunday- we had a lesson with a LA member who really wasn’t progressing. I have been really worried about her but when we met she was really able to feel the spirit. We taught her about FHE’s and how to teach gospel principles at home. We sang, Teach Me to Walk in the Light, and she cried as we sang and bore fervent testimony afterward. It was evident that as she applies our lessons she is growing closer to God.
I just have a full heart this week. We have seen so many miracles. I am actually really sad because time just doesn’t permit to share EVERYTHING... which I so desperately want to do. I put a lot of trust in the Lords promise that everything will be brought to my remembrance through the Holy Ghost. This week was one of the busiest weeks on my mission-- and this transfer isn’t even over... if only you saw next week. Haha!
So, last Monday was very fun-- we were able to go to a cemetery. Let me tell you. This was a beautiful cemetery. It was 478 Acres! Crazy. Apparently there were famous people there, but really I don’t know who any of them were-- people that were famous in the 1800’s aren't people I know... But we walked around for a few hours, for Memorial Day they were having a concert in part of it-- so we went by that for a minute. It was just a high school concert band and they were really good. I miss band so much. There were tombs and tons of cool head stones. I really love cemeteries and mortuaries. I feel like they are a great place to feel the spirit, and reflect. Our whole district went.
That night we were on our way to our lesson with a Recent Convert, and we were sitting on the train, and we saw a man enter the train a ways down and another man said "take this man to the 9th avenue stop" and then after the train started going, he started moaning and every once in a while he would scream. He just sounded like he was in a lot of pain. We couldn’t tell what was going on. But the lady next to us said "is that blood on his shoes?" and so we looked at each other and decided we would go help him, since not only was no one helping him, everyone was walking away from him to another part of the train. So, we walked down and I asked someone next to him what was going on and she said "must have drank too much at a BBQ... which was evident as soon as we saw him up close. The red on his shoes was puke, and it was all over his pants and he was WASTED... So, we asked him where he was supposed to go, and he really had no idea-- we kept listing off a few options. I debated helping get him to 9th avenue, but I really didn’t want to be liable for anything, on top of-- how in the world is he going to know where to go after he gets to 9th avenue... So we told him to follow us, and as soon as we got in the subway station we were going to walk him up to the MTA guy upstairs to get him some real help. But it was clear that he couldn’t walk straight and could fall off the platform into the tracks so we grabbed him by the arms and slowly walked up the stairs. We motioned to the MTA guy to come out of the little help desk, but for his safety he stayed inside, and called for the police to help him home. So we handed him over to the cops and went on our way. Friends. The word of wisdom is true. I love it.
Tuesday was transfer meeting, as you can see-- I am still in Brooklyn, in Bensonhurst :) Which is what I had anticipated. I anticipate finishing my mission here-- which I hope ;) Transfer meeting was definitely great as always. The main message from president was that we are not to 'aspire' to callings or leadership positions. He spoke on it really well. I feel like it is always good to be reminded we are nothing, and that God makes it all possible. We have added one companionship to our stewardship-- and they are two sisters that both just finished their training last transfer, and are being put together to open the first sisters pool in the Chinese program here :) So we work with 8 sets of sisters-- it is so fun! Leaders meeting is after transfer meeting and all the district leaders go to that meeting and the zone leaders and STLs. So we talked about doing lesson presentation work, and more 'putting our shoulder to the wheel.' It was really inspiring. I have been asked to give a workshop on faith and in district meeting this upcoming Tuesday-- and so I am going to talk about what president and the assistants talked about in that meeting. Just having perfect faith. Meaning we need to work our butts off and believe in the Savior. I am never good at articulating my feelings/thoughts so... sorry. But it was powerful :).
The next day we were able to have 2 spectacular lessons. Both with women that are LA. One is the one with the pictures of the puppies I sent home. She is not clear why she doesn't come-- but we love her and she is so friendly! She is from Colombia! Sister Lopopolo, our RS president came with us and really helped the lesson be powerful. We talked about keeping covenants :)
The other lesson was with a woman who is going to the temple-- we are helping her understand again the commandments and the things that she has to do to go do baptisms for the dead. She is excited to start getting ready. :)
Oh, we were also able to teach a former investigator who is Muslim. We aren't sure why she is still willing to meet with missionaries’ because she doesn't seem to want to believe what we believe. She also doesn't believe the Koran, and is not a practicing Muslim. So when we meet this week hopefully we can see what she would like from meeting with us.
That night we exchanged and I was with Sister Palu-- we were able to visit the deaf woman I think I talked about last week. We have a lot of fun talking to her. She is special and just has a lot of vigor! :) Poor Sister Palu couldn’t talk loud enough to be heard. I guess having a loud voice comes in handy every once in a while.
Friday was a great day, but so busy. We went to 2 of 3 leaders meetings. Our zone's leaders meeting and zone 1. The leaders in these zones are superb it is a great example to follow.
We experienced a great miracle on Sunday- we had a lesson with a LA member who really wasn’t progressing. I have been really worried about her but when we met she was really able to feel the spirit. We taught her about FHE’s and how to teach gospel principles at home. We sang, Teach Me to Walk in the Light, and she cried as we sang and bore fervent testimony afterward. It was evident that as she applies our lessons she is growing closer to God.
Here is an excerpt from my journal.... I stink at writing... sorry.
We were greeting people in the foyer of the church, and having a
ball saying hello to people, when a woman walked in the church. It was a woman that has already come to
church previously one other time. Her name is Thelma Hernandez. The Yam family
is their neighbor and they came together. Thelma has a family-- she brought her 5 year
old daughter Melanie. It was so sweet to
see them. We had Gospel Principles, and Brother Lo-- our ward mission leader taught
the class. It was on Our Loving Heavenly Father. She was very engaged and seemed to agree with
everything that was said. She has a Catholic
background. When we tried to get a
return appointment, she said that she would have to talk to her husband. So we are so desperately praying that her
husband will allow their FAMILY to be taught. Including her. :)
You really have to understand the magnitude of this to understand
why this is so great. We have been
praying SO fervently to be led to a family that is pure in heart. We have committed to baptize 3 people this quarter,
and when we had interviews with President this past transfer, President made it
so clear to both Sister Montgomery and I, in our separate interviews, that we
are going to be the means to setting the goals. I am telling you-- my faith has been far from
perfect. I was really skeptical about
these goals when I came into the ward but I know that they are possible. I know that The Lord is preparing people to
receive the gospel. This family is one
of them. When I heard brother Yam
talking to her at church they were talking about if she felt comfortable at
church, and she said yes, and she wants to keep coming. Brother Yam bore his testimony on how this is
the church that she is looking for and she agreed. Sister Montgomery and I were at a loss for how
we were going to get this goal, how we were going to raise the faith of the members,
and the bishopric, and the other elders in our district. But The Lord has a way prepared. We were
trying to pull out names and things from the past records to see if we could
teach someone from them, but we got nothing-- since people had to have gone to
church at least 1 other time previously.
I love you all. Just trying to work, and put my faith in the Lord. Continuing to be humbled. It is sometimes hard, I really love it here.
:) Sister Freeze
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