Week 36

Hello all!

This week we had our last full-day exchange of the transfer (I am a little relieved) and it was so cool to see all the miracles of the day. A Sister from Paradise Valley came into my area with me, and she was SO needed that day. We got a referral on our iPads and we went to contact them, and it ended up being the Ecuadorian (if that is how you say that) consulate. And guess where that sister is from? ECUADOR. They were basically BFFs right off the bat. Sadly he lives in Chandler, so we had to pass the referral on, but he wants his whole family to be taught. It was super cool to be in the building and have all the Ecuadorian flags and stuff. We also found two new investigators! One was a part member family that we were finally able to teach. And the last miracle was when we went to go see an investigator just to drop by, her whole family ended up being there! We knocked on the door and no one was home, and when we turned to walk away the whole family walked up the stairs! Only two of them live there but we have been talking to all of them off and on so it was just amazing that all of them where home. So basically it was a successful exchange. 

This Saturday we got to go to the temple visitors center with our investigator Trudy and she is just the sweetest person ever. It was crazy because we saw so many people at the visitor’s center. We say Keny, who was a member of our branch who got his call to serve in the Tempe mission. He went out to lessons with us all the time so it was so fun to see him as a missionary! We also saw some elders I used to serve with which was fun. I also got to see a sister who was in the MTC with me - she is working in the Visitor’s Center now. 

Made it to the top!

Don't mind my red face and braids

We had a few funny contacts this week. To explain how awesome the first one was, I have to give a little background info about my companion Sister Ferre. She LOVES basketball. Like so much so that I dream about basketball sometimes. Her dream on her mission was to contact someone playing basketball and say "hey if I beat you will you take the missionary lessons" so because her time is limited on the mission we realized if we saw the opportunity we had to take it. So we went to the park and saw a teenager playing basketball by himself, so we were like "its now or never". So we asked if Sister Ferre beat him at horse if he would let the missionaries come over and he said ok. (ok honest moment we started out with PIG but she lost so we played horse after) and halfway through the game he said he would take the lessons anyway. Best part is he is in our area so we get to teach him! We have a lesson on Tuesday and we are pumped. 

We also had a funny contact when we were pumping gas this week (yes, I have finally learned how to pump gas all by myself). There was a man pumping his gas next to us (like 80 years old - I didn’t think he could speak English) and he just says, "I like your hair" so we started talking to him and invited him to the Easter pageant. Turns out he is from Israel and owned a restaurant and invited us to get the best lemonade in Arizona. Not sure if talking to him will lead anywhere, but it was funny in the moment. 

We had a dinner this week at a member’s house with our whole district which is four Elders and us. So normally when we have Spanish dinners it is a team effort to eat all the food because there is always SO MUCH FOOD. But one of the Elders, the Samoan who normally pulls more than his weight, was sick and couldn't even finish his first plate so Sister Ferre and I had to eat his food when the member wasn't looking. One Elder ate 6 empanadas. We were all dying coming out of that dinner. 

Temple trip with Trudy

We had stake conference this weekend and it was so good. The second councilor in the mission presidency gave a talk and it was so good. He talked about Peter and why he went back to fishing instead of continuing to preach the gospel. It was all about how he was convinced that Jesus was the Christ, but not converted. He said that the only way to be converted is if we live the "thou shalt" commandments and not just the "thou shalt not" commandments. He also talked about the paradox of charity, how the only way to have charity is to give it away. But my favorite part by far was when he said, "I love my wife, I love my son, but I love them best when I love God first." So...yeah, that is my new favorite quote. I also got to see the branch president’s wife from the branch I served in last and it was adorable. She got so excited to see me and was telling me how she wants to visit me in Oregon, oh man I just love her so much and was so happy to be able to see her again. 

So those were some of the very random things that happened this week. It was such a great week and Sister Ferre and I are just trying to soak up the last bit of time we have together. Transfers are this Friday, so by next Monday I will be able to tell you where and who I am with, but we wont know for sure until Thursday. 

I love you all - I am so grateful for all of you! I hope you have the best week of your lives this week!

Hermana Doxey