Week 38

Hello to all!

This week has been my first week with my new companion. Her name is Sister Jackson and she is so sweet. She has such a strong desire to improve and try new things. It has been such a blessing to me and to our area. It has been a bit of an adjustment period, not gonna lie. It was a little hard to have a companion who went home and then get a companion who just came out. I think it left me with unrealistic expectations. But it has also been a really good opportunity to grow and learn and stretch myself. 

As a zone we have been making a huge push to be bold with people so we can know who is truly interested in the gospel. Holy cow - I have a testimony of being bold! After having a meeting with the zone, we had the opportunity to put what we learned into practice that night. We went to a Spanish lesson with a mom and daughter who we are teaching. They are investigators but we really couldn't tell how interested they were. Going into the lesson it was one of those “they have to commit to something or we can’t teach them anymore” situations. So we decided that the best way to go would be to start at the beginning. We retaught the restoration, this time focusing on what we need to do if the message was true. By the end of the lesson the daughter accepted a date to be baptized and the mom said that she supported that, and that if she knew the church was true she would be baptized and set a date. It was SO cool. We had a member with us and she was a huge help, not only with the Spanish but also with helping the investigators feel comfortable. The member had also converted from Catholicism so she related to the investigators so well. Now the member is really excited to help us teach the family. I just left the lesson smiling and so happy. 

We also have two new investigators with baptismal dates, but sadly they are being passed to other missionaries before those dates. That’s the problem with downtown Phoenix Spanish speaking - most of the people we find either move in the middle of teaching them, or we have to pass to the English Sisters. 

Speaking of Spanish, my Spanish has magically improved like X100 in the last week. That quote, "God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called," umm...yeah. So that’s true. I haven't ever learned so much Spanish so quickly. I think it is because I HAVE to be able to speak it. I don't have a companion who can help me out in that aspect anymore so I just have to buck up and figure it out. I can really feel the spirit when I speak Spanish because I know that I couldn't do it on my own. I think it has also helped going back to the basics with my companion. Teaching her a language that I don't even know fully has helped push me to learn faster. 

Me and my ladies

Happy Easter

We got to go the Mesa Easter Pageant one last time with our investigator and a member. She is seriously so cute and I love her so much. She LOVED the pageant. We also had an investigator come to church for the first time. We met him last week - he was a referral from the Mesa Easter Pageant. He went to the pageant almost ever night. After we taught him the restoration he just said, "well yeah after I watched the pageant I knew the church had to be true so I read the Book of Mormon and prayed about. It's true." So he accepted the invitation to be baptized and is super excited to have a fresh start at life. On Sunday he went to church, and he taught me what true dedication to what you believe is. He lives about 15 minutes in a car away from our church building and said he would take the bus to church (normally when people say that it means they are not really intending to go). But he left his house TWO HOURS early just so he could take the bus and walk to church. He also got there really early... but the point is that he knew it was true so he put in the effort to do what he felt was right. It was so cool, and he loved church. It made me feel bad for the excuses I have made in the past to avoid doing what I knew was right. There really aren't any excuses for standing up for what we believe in, whatever that may be. 

I am super excited for this next week - it is going to be hectic, but I know that I will grow and learn a lot. Thanks for your prayers - I can feel them!

Love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Doxey