Week 18

Hello to Everyone!

This week has been crazy with transfers yesterday. Sister Martinez got transferred to a new area and my new companion is Sister Teniza. She is so sweet and nice and is another fluent Spanish speaker, which is a huge help to our area. It was really hard to say goodbye to Sister Martinez and stressful to be taking over the area, but I know that Sister Teniza and I will do great together. I am so happy to be staying in Central Phoenix for at least another transfer. I am hoping I get to stay for two more so I can be here for Christmas; most sisters stay in this area for at least six months.

When we found out Sister Martinez was
leaving for sure

With our new companions

At the beginning of the week, Sister Martinez got super sick and we had to stay in the apartment for two and a half days. She kept waking up from her sleep with really red eyes and a runny nose and gross cough and saying, "I think we could go teach at least one person!" She is so diligent and dedicated to helping these people it amazes me and set a great example. Sadly, I had to give her the news that the mission nurse said we shouldn't go out or we were going to get other people sick. It was a blessing when she got better because we missed the people in our area so much!

This last week we had the opportunity to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead with a returning member and it was so amazing. She took a question to the temple and told us it was answered when she was there. We are so proud of her and happy that she is happy. I just love all the people we teach so much and I am so grateful when they can recognize the blessing that this gospel can be in their lives. We also had an investigator have her baptismal interview this week and she will officially be getting baptized this Saturday! It's kind of a weird situation because we are not the missionaries that taught her but she decided to be baptized and then right after became our investigator. No matter who taught her, I am just happy that she is getting this chance to join the church and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which will help her throughout her life.

Last lunch together at our favorite restaraunt

Sick day

This week we got to go to a member’s house with an investigator for "Japanese night," which was really just eating a lot of Japanese food. The investigator is taking Japanese at school and loves everything Japanese, and the member's mom is from Japan. The food was great and I tried a lot of new stuff. It was my first time eating tofu. The only down side was that we went straight from Japanese night to our actual dinner appointment. I was so full by the time dinner was over I could have died. We get fed SO MUCH. Every member and even investigators that we visit always wants to give us food. So much so that they have started packing it for us to take with us. Our fridge is full of amazing Mexican food! 

Those are the main things that have happened this week. With Sister Martinez leaving we have said a lot of goodbyes to the members and investigators in our area. It is really sad because the people here really love sister Martinez and she loves them so much. With sister Martinez being sick and leaving and with transfers we weren't able to teach as many lessons as we had wanted but I know that as long as we are trying our best God will take care of us and the people in our area. 

The old apartment crew

Elders ruin everything :)

Sorry for the extremely scatter brained email but I love you all and pray for you all! Have a great week and I will write again on Monday!

And regarding the new church policy, I would just invite anyone with questions to watch the video interview with Elder Christofferson. He explains that no doctrine is being changed within the church and that the meaning of it is to not allow the church to cause any contention in the home. I know that the family unit is the most important thing we have in this life and the church is trying to protect that. I know that these men are called of God to tell us how to live like God wants us to so that we can have the happiest lives we can. 

Love you all!

Sister Doxey