Due to yesterday being a holiday, my Pday was swapped for today. That
is why no emails were sent. This is a fairly common practice and can
be expected any time a holiday takes place on a Monday. (More people
are home and therefore available to teach). I apologize for any stress
this may have caused as we did not know if our Pday would be swapped
until Friday.
Anyways, I hope you all had a great holiday! We sure did!
We went to go try to have a lesson with a new investigator. We didn't
know if he'd be there, because he didn't know if he'd have work or
not, so we just talked to everyone around and got 2 new investigators
in the morning! Then we went to go check on 2 less active families,
and BOTH were home and we were able to teach BOTH of them! Then we
walked to our branch's activity at a park. We walked because we wanted
to save miles- it was on the opposite end/border of where we work
mostly, and we live right in the middle. Well, neither of us thought
through that we would be walking to our area border, and maps told us
it was only 2 miles at first....(pretty sure it was more like 4) So we
walked for a looooong time. Haha it was good though! Me: endorphins are
the magical happy drug.....
After the activity (which was really a barbecue combined with the
other Spanish ward in our stake) we walked home. On our way home, a
member from the English Ward stopped and gave us a ride! Then I had
language study, and we went to go visit our investigators.
So we have 2 investigators on date.
I knew Mario's baptism was this
Saturday (an investigator I taught in Kennesaw/Big Shanty, who I put
on date the day before transfers! So my first baptism basically!) and
I just knew I needed to go. (And I needed to see sister Kafu!!!)
Thursday: I woke up knowing I needed to fast. I just had to go to that
baptism. And to go to the baptism, we have to have a ride and bring a
non-member. So we made arrangements for Fanny,
our investigator on date, to come and we started calling everyone
who didn't work on Saturdays to see if they could give us a ride.
Fanny: from Colombia, is the grandmother of a recent convert. We love
her so much. She's probably in her late 60s-70s. She's hilarious. She
just says "Sí. Exactamente." To everything we teach her! And then when
we checked up on her Word of Wisdom commitment she told us that she already feels
God has given her more wisdom! Haha she is so sweet and is so excited
to be baptized!
After we visited Fanny, I knew we had to do something for Yulisa to
show that we really care for HER and not just about if she gets
baptized or not. But that we care about her as a person. Because I
don't baptize numbers. If an investigator I taught is getting
baptized, it's because they sincerely are coming unto Christ because
they want to live His gospel and have complete access to His
atonement.
I just kept on imagining us giving her a box of Oreos with a nice note
written on a sticky note on it. So that's what we did. I bought a box
of Oreos and wrote her a note. So that the whole family knew these
were Yulisa's and no one else's!
We left it on the porch and prayed it wouldn't get stolen.
That night though, Fanny's granddaughter called us to tell us Fanny
had come down with a fever and wouldn't be able to make it to the
baptism.
I could've died, but I honestly knew that Pedro and Yulisa were the
ones Heavenly Father wanted to come to the baptism. So Pedro called to
cancel, but I asked him if they still wanted to come and he said "Of
Course!"
Heavenly Father answers fasts!
Saturday!
Nothing is more relieving than to finally be fulfilling the plans
you've made. I remember when I was trying to backpack Europe.
Honestly, nothing was more relieving than FINALLY being on the train
to Barcelona, and on our way to Paris.
That's what it felt like to finally be on our way to that baptism.
It was amazing. Miss Donna even came! (I hope it was a good experience
for her!) I got to see Sister Kafu, Sister Castleton, Sister
Patterson, and Sister Kafoa! Also, president came! (I almost pointed
out to him that the only missionary there that I hadn't been companions
with yet was Sister Kafoa. But still, half of my companions were all
in the same room. Pretty hilarious if you ask me!)
And Yulisa and Pedro felt the spirit so strongly!
Sunday: Fanny doesn't come to church. Which is a problem, because she
had to come in order to be baptized this week. Yulisa does come
though! Also, I accidentally bore my testimony in Spanish that Joseph Smith is our Savior. (Whoops, a prophet
of God, not the Savior...) No
language missionary gets a free card.
Yesterday: while at Yulisa and Pedro's we successfully got through a
whole lesson! And the spirit was so strong! The whole house was happy
and just full of the spirit. They both said that they felt so happy at
the baptism and could feel the spirit when Mario was baptized.
Honestly, that was a miracle. No fighting, no contention. It just felt
good!
Then Fanny called us! We were honestly very worried about how we were
going to break the news to her that her baptism would have to be
postponed. Miracle! She postponed her own baptism!
*wow*
I honestly feel like Spanish is this gold mine. It's crazy.
I love you and am so sorry this caused to much stress! I will send
more later today.
Love,
Hermana Wallis
With Sister Kafu
My new bike
With Sister Martinez, my current companion
With Sister Kafoa (the only missionary pictured that hasn't been my companion), Sister Patterson, Sister Castleton and Sister Kafu
