So I have a lot to tell you about so
hopefully I get everything down.
1) So yesterday we had a baptism for a
woman named Noemi. She is Spanish speaking and is really sweet and shy. It was
awesome to be there. I only got to teach her twice so I don't really count this
as my baptism because I didn't really get to know her. It was awesome until
Sunday. So our English ward invited us to Ward Council to talk about missionary
work that was going on and it was during our Spanish sacrament meeting. So we
missed sacrament meeting to go to this other meeting. Well as we were driving over
to the Spanish ward to pick up the other sisters I was looking at the phone and
realized that the Zone Leaders and the other Sisters texted us saying that
Noemi didn't show up... We were devastated! So we called her and she didn't
answer. So after our English ward's church we drove over to go see her but her
gate was locked and so we couldn't get in! We have no idea what happened but we
really want to know why, especially because she told us at her baptism that her
whole family was coming, which is a big deal because her husband isn't really
interested in the church and we thought this would be his ticket in. So
hopefully next week she will be at church to be confirmed!
2) So there has been a lot going on in our
apartment this week.
3) Sister Love (a member of the Rancho
Sereno ward) is the BEST!!! Seriously I want to be her when I grow up. On
Saturday she invited us to her house to teach an investigator that she found
off the street. So this investigator in our last meeting had told us that she
didn't believe the Book of Mormon was true and she refused to pray to the point
that she almost threw us out of her house. So as you can imagine, I was really
worried about this lesson. Well, we decided to teach her the Plan of Salvation.
So in this lesson it was me, Sister Fries (we went on exchanges so she wouldn't
be in the house), Sister Love, Janice, and Faris (who I will get to later). The
Spirit was so strong in this lesson that Janice was crying, and she doesn't
cry. She loved the Plan of Salvation and said that it was all she wanted. She
told us about her son who she gave up for adoption and wanted to see him again.
Sister Love really was in tune with the Spirit as she testified that to Janice
that she was a daughter of God and it really affected Janice. It was an AWESOME
lesson. Later on Sunday we were sitting in Gospel Principles and Sister Love
asked to talk to the two of us in the hall. All she said was, what can I do for
you? You look really sad and the Spirit just told me to come and talk to you.
It was amazing! She new that we had been having a very stressful week and was
ready to come and help us.
4) So one more family to brag about... the
Wagstaffs. They seriously are the best! They have been willing to come and help
us out A LOT. Once we get a new investigator all they want to do is help us
fellowship them into the ward and make sure that they have everything they
need. They seriously have been such a blessing to us.
5) So we had a mission tour on Wednesday.
One of the members of the 70 came and talked to us. It was awesome! He taught
us a lot about how to get people to pray and to feel comfortable with us. It
was really cool to see his perspective on everything. He also wanted to get to
meet all of us so he met us one by one and we told him where we were from and
how long we have been out. It was really cool to see how he really taught to
our needs.
6) So now to Clint and Faris. Clint is our
investigator (sorry I think I've mentioned him before). He seriously just is
getting better and stronger and stronger in the gospel. Faris (his wife and a
Less-active) was telling us how he springs out of bed in the mornings because
he's worried about missing his baptism. Faris always makes us food like cookies
or pie whenever we stop by. She seriously is so sweet. We gave Clint the
Restoration video to watch and during church he told me that he watched it and
it made him cry because of the faith that Joseph's father had. He really gets a
lot of things that are going on he is just a little long-winded sometimes.
7) Oh so I know I told you about how we
offended Stephen last week. Well he and his wife still let members and other
missionaries stop by but we are no longer welcome (her rule, not his). He is
going to talk to the bishop because he is worried about his wife's threat to
us, because apparently she isn't kidding about her threat to kill us....Don't
worry we are being safe and avoiding that house...or trailer.... We still
haven't talked to Stephen yet but apparently this kind of offending has happened
before and once the missionaries explain themselves he realizes that he was
overreacting. So all will be well...we just will never go by there again.....
8) Anyways the bishop told us to stop by
this less-active's home so on Saturday we did. Well this older gentleman
answered the door and welcomed us in and we sat and talked. We talked with him
about the Book of Mormon because he had some questions and then when his wife
came home we talked some more. Well as we were getting ready to leave he said
he had a comment for us. Then he told us that he wanted to be rebaptized. We
were shocked! We thought he was a member and then he proceeded to tell us how
he was excommunicated 15 years ago and figured it was time he came back and
told us that he had a testimony of this church. Well we told the bishop during
Ward Council and apparently we have to talk to the mission president to see if
we can teach him and then get him baptized again. We were so shocked after leaving
their house because the bishop gave us no warning on this guy.
9) Friday night the elders told us that
they had a service project for us the next morning. This guy's house was
vandalized and so he needed people to come and help him get everything out of
the house because there were people living there that he didn't know about who
trashed the place...it was disgusting. Anyways so the Police told him he had
until today to clean up the place or they would take it from him. So our job
Saturday was to get everything out of the house and repaint a room because they
had graffitied the entire room. So we went in early on Saturday morning after
calling members to come help us and it was amazing. All the sisters helped to
paint the graffiti room under my direction, because I was the one with painting
experience. So we didn't totally finish but it looked a lot better. In the two
hours that we were there everything was taken out of the house and the graffiti
room had a coat of primer. I am hoping to get pictures when we go back sometime
this week to finish the job. It seriously was exhausting because the
electricity and water had been shut off to the house so we just had the windows
open and a bucket of water to drink from to stay cool. I was so happy to
take a shower.
10) I start my Mexican dinners this week.
On exchanges I had cold soup with shrimp in it with fish tacos. It was delicious.
I am so excited to have big Mexican dinners, it will be awesome.
11) I bike everywhere! We are lucky to have
the car. We try to stay inside and do our studies during the hottest parts of
the day but that doesn't always work out. We had the car a lot this week
because the other companionship was inside a lot. It was nice but we never got
to do our studies because we were trying to meet with all of our investigators
and also help them out.
12) I haven't had anything weird to eat
yet, which is fine by me. I really just am excited for dinner when the time
comes because usually we have been biking all day and we are starving and
slightly dehydrated. My leg is doing well. It bothers me to rub a sock because
the cuts are right where the elastic is and so it rubs but it’s ok. I think I
will have scars from my little accident. The marks are still on my foot and
don't look like they will leave for a while.
Well I love you all, the church is true. Oh
and Mom, thank you so much for the package it was awesome!!!! Seriously I was
so excited to get it. You are awesome.
Love,
Hermana Aimee Rich
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