Week 58

This week was a very, very long week. We had almost every lesson get canceled and I have been fighting off being sick all week. But hey, it's Monday, and as soon as I’m done writing emails I’m going to go take a much needed nap.

We had another service project this week out in the sun. Most yard clean ups we do are getting rid of a bunch of hoarder’s stuff. So it's just a bunch of trips to the dumpster and back. This one was kind of funny because this elder was there and he was DYING. It smelled like dog poo and he just could not get over the fact that we had to pick stuff up - he was taking like three pieces of wood a time. But it’s a little rough if that’s your first clean up job in Phoenix.

This week Sister Garcia and I have just been so out of it. Here are two examples:

We were talking to this guy and he said that he had a friend who was LDS and he was super nice and always invited him to church. So sister Garica says, "Well would you be... ... ... I forgot what I was going to say." She forgot the word for “interested” in English. She grew up in Texas, she Speaks English just as well as I do. We died laughing afterwards.

Then at dinner, a member passed her a piece of bread and she takes it, she just stares at it for a solid 20 seconds and looks back at the member and says, "what is this for?" The member was so confused and just says, "It's bread...You eat it..." once again we died laughing.

Those were not the only times when we were super out of it, but those are the two that I can remember.

Huge miracle of the week - I will give the back story as well. So when I was in the Central Ward, I taught a part-member family. Sister Martinez and I were pretty close with them. A little while before I left the area we had to stop teaching them. Fast-forward ten months and I go on an exchange with Sister Fukushima who is from Japan. At the time she was serving in a YSA (young single adult) ward. During companionship study I remembered back to that family I taught and realized that their daughter (who was not a member of the church, and who LOVES all things Japanese) was now YSA age. So we decided to visit. When we got to the house she answered and her family wasn't home, which was weird because she was the one who was never home when I used to teach them. So she let us in and I introduced her to Sister Fukushima. They really hit it off with their mutual love for all things Japanese. So sister Fukushima invited her to church and she came for all three hours that following Sunday. Fast-forward until this last Saturday and that same girl got baptized. I got permission to go to the baptism and it was the most spiritual experience I have had in a really long time. The spirit was so strong and she was so ready to make this step to follow her Savior. Sister Fukushima gave a very sweet talk about baptism and she talked about how aware God is of ever person. It is so true! God knows what we each need in every moment, it might not be what we think we need, or the timing that we would want, but he knows us and loves us and will put people in our lives to help us return to Him. It was no mistake that we ended up on the exchange together that day, and it was no mistake that I was put in the areas I was in. The Sisters that taught her were the right missionaries for her. I have come to realize that the best gift and experience you can have is to feel the Holy Ghost work through you. It is such a sweet experience to see someone's life be changed and know it was (or at least it happened at that time) because you were worthy of the spirit and were willing to follow it. And because of that baptism, her non-member stepfather who attended wants to start taking the lessons again and be baptized. The gospel is true and I feel so blessed to be a missionary.

Other great news, our recent convert got to bless the sacrament this week and it was so sweet to see. He was WAY nervous, but he did great! I love the area I am in. The longer I am here the more I don't want to leave it. The joke with the bishopric is that I need to get assigned visiting teachers because I have been here for so long. It legitimately freaks me out to think I would ever have to leave these people.

People are awesome and I love talking to them, even if they say very bluntly, "I don't want to talk to you" and walk away (that hurt my feelings this week, but I'm getting over it :) )

I hope you are having a great week!

Stay awesome,

Sister Doxey