First of all, I just have to
say...buckle up. This week...was an emotional roller coaster of absolute
insanity. There was hardly a dull moment, and I think I felt both
extreme joy and sorrow in the space of four hours. I know I say this a
lot, but...I have no idea where to start.
I
guess I will start on Friday night! Do you remember our Mexican Grandma
friend? Well, we still love her and all, but we had quite the
frustrating lesson with her. We'd just gone through a day full of no one
listening, cancelled appointments, you name it, so I guess you could
say that we didn't walk into this lesson with the best attitude. But our
mexican grandma had also had a long day at work, and I don't think any
of us three were in the mood. And the lesson was okay and all, but she
didn't really feel like being preached to by two twenty year olds and
just went off about how we don't haven't had any experience thus far in
our lives, blah blah blah...we just stayed calm, taught her the
principles, expressed our love, and left. We just didn't talk on the way
to our last appointment, which we were already ten minutes late to.
Luckily,
our appointment was with Georgette, who was preparing to be baptized
the next day. She was so cool with us being late, and had been sitting
with a few people inside the chapel. She was beaming!! So excited for
her baptism. We went into another room and taught her about some Laws
and Ordinances, but she turned it into how excited she was for her
baptism, she wanted to know when she could receive her patriarchal
blessing, she practiced being baptized, she asked what she would need to
wear...this is the most prepared investigator I have ever seen! We just
talked to her for a long time about how she felt, and she said that she
was so excited, she wasn't going to be able to sleep all night. Then
she gave us a big hug at the end and we told her we'd see her the next
day. When we drove home, both of us were just grinning, counting her
blessings that we had someone like Georgette to remind us how amazing
the gospel really is.
Then the next day we had
an AMAZING MEETING with someone named Elder D. Todd Christopherson!
That's right, an Apostle! I think I told you all last week that I was
asked to sing in a double quartet for this meeting...we sang "My
Shepherd Will Supply My Need." Super simple, super beautiful! Well, we
practiced for a little bit before, said a prayer that everything would
go alright, and then went down to wait for the Apostle to come. We got
to sit in the front row since we were participating in the program! Then
a HALF HOUR before Elder Christopherson was supposed to get there, he
came walking in!! And he wanted to shake each of our hands and know our
names and where we were from.
IT WAS SO
AMAZING. When it got to me, I just felt something well up inside me, and
I thought, "this is an Apostle of the Lord." It was just...such a cool
experience. Then the meeting started, and we sang right after the
opening prayer. And okay, we were okay in our practices, but something
happened while we were singing! Because we just filled the room! Just a
sound, or more of a feeling, filled all the empty space during the song,
I wish it could have been recorded! Our vowels were good, we blended,
the spirit was strong, and it was such a cool experience.
Then
we had an open-question time with an Apostle. So many answers to so
many of my prayers were made in those two hours that we held that
meeting. But I guess the most impressive part of it was how it felt when
Elder Christopherson was speaking. Yes, my mission president is
powerful, so were the members of the Seventy (Elder Corbridge) or
General Bishopric (Bishop Davies) that were with us...but...when an
Apostle of the Lord spoke, he spoke with a power and authority that was a
little shocking. I will never forget it. Also, he is super nice. He
just smiled and waved and said that when he stands next to President
Toone he feels like he just stepped into a hole.
The
meeting ended, Elder Christopherson left the room, then Hermana Homer
and I jumped up to run to the baptism for Georgette. As we were leaving,
however, I opened a text that we had received from her about halfway
through the meeting. It said: "I can't make it to baptism today. :("
Hermana
Homer and I were concerned, obviously, so we tried to call her, call
her, call her...we went to the church anyway, but we couldn't get a hold
of her. We texted her asking if everything was okay. About a half-hour
after the baptism was supposed to start, we got a text from her, very
formally, telling us that after "much consideration" she had decided
that she was going to stay Catholic. We asked if we could come visit her
one more time, and she said no. We sent her a text bearing simple
testimony and telling her how much we loved her, begging her to remember
the "tingles and goosebumps" that she always expressed to us as she
heard the message. No response.
So...we still
do not know what happened. And my heart is broken. Our best guess is
that her husband went crazy on the anti in a space of 12 hours.
But...that's a guess. Hermana Homer and I have had a good couple cries
since then. It hurts so bad. And I don't feel this because I wanted a
baptism...we really grew to love Georgette. She was so ready. But as
Elder Corbridge stated just an hour before the baptism was cancelled,
"rarely does a convert sneak into the church without Satan noticing."
There
we were, sitting in our car on Saturday night, with a schedule filled
with cancelled appointments/salvation, without any idea of what to do.
So we decided to just get up, out of the car, and talk to people. (Our
Zone has had a huge focus of trying to ask for referrals, so we're
supposed to tally up how many we ask for every day. So far, our weekly
total as a companionship has averaged at about 2. We are awful at it.)
Well....we
just started, then we kept loving it, and it helped us numb the heart
ache, so we just kept asking, asking, asking....WE GOT THIRTY! I know
that probably doesn't matter too much to all you, but that's unheard of.
We got thirty referrals asked for in about 4 hours. We just would start
on a street, decide how many we wanted to ask for, then said a prayer
asking that God would place that amount of people in our path to ask.
And at the end of every street, we always had exactly how many we'd
prayed for. We got some great referrals for other companionships in
English, too!
Then we just got showered with food on Sunday...three
investigators at church, as well, and we just started recounting our
blessings...we still have so many amazing investigators to love! And my
chilean ward-member friend randomly called and invited us to his house
to eat chilean empanadas for lunch. They weren't as good as the real
stuff, but it made me feel so happy to just step back to some great
chilean memories! And he gave me a recipe for chilean bread!!!!!!!
This
weekend turned into a counting blessings experience. I am still sad
about Georgette, but I am so grateful that I had the experience of
hearing from an Apostle right before, who said things that really
strengthened me in my heartache.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND I HAVE NEWS. I am stepping down as a Sister Training Leader. :( That was so fast! One transfer, that's it!
....................but.......
I
am so excited. I will find out this week where I go and who I am with,
but the point is, this week was up and down and all around! I still
don't really know what to do about it. So I'm just going to take it!
Sometimes when I pray, I ask for a hotter refiners fire. Why not? That's
how you grow!
"It's not like I'm ravenously hungry, but I kind of am." --Hermana Homer
"It's just a fat day." --Hermana Homer
"No we can't put the food there, the homeless people will get it." --Hermana Homer (charitable.)
As you can see, Hermana Homer was on a roll this week. I will miss her!!!!!!!!!
I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. Keep keeping me updated. I love it. I miss you so much!
BE GOOD.
Love, Hermana Thomas
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