Santa Rosa: Good things come from change
Buenos Dias a todos!
I am in Santa Rosa!! Yay! This week has really been incredible! I am realizing how much I have grown as a missionary and as a person. I used to really dislike change and as a missionary change has been hard on me at times but this transfer I have realized that this change is so good. I loved Saint Helena but Santa Rosa is a breath of fresh air. I know that I am supposed to be here. So many amazing things have happened!
First of all, before I left Saint Helena we had an amazing English Class and Spanish Class. It was an amazing experience to help these sweet people learn another language. It was also super hard to find people at home to say goodbye to them and I kind of got super down about it but then I was like, "Hermana Andrews STOP it! You don't need to say goodbye to them in order to feel like you have truly helped them. You know that you have helped them because you have felt the Spirit pour into their hearts as you have testified". This was exactly what I needed to feel ok about leaving these people behind.
It was so hard to say goodbye to my dear Hermana Zimmerman. I love her so much and we learned so much from each other. However, the second I got to the transfer meeting and met Hermana Whitney things clicked and I was really ready for this new change. Hermana Whitney is 21 she is from the Logan, Utah area. She graduated from Utah State with a degree in Dairy Sciences so she lives cows. She has been out for about 4 months and she is amazing. She has such a passion for the work and she tries so hard to speak Spanish. It has really been fun to kind of let her take charge and just guide her in the right direction.
At the transfer meeting we learned about how much change has been going on in our mission. We now have over 250 missionaries and almost half of them have only been out for less than 6 months a total of 70 percent have been out for less than a year. I am old but oh well I still work hard.
Serving in Santa Rosa definitely has its perks. There are 40 missionaries serving in this city! So we always see other missionaries. There are 9 missionaries serving in the Spanish branch so that is also fun! Also we see President and Sister Alba like all the time! This Friday was Sister Alba's birthday so President invited all 40 of us over to the mission home to surprise her and have cake! It was so fun! I love President and Sister Alba so much!
On to the biggest miracle EVER! I had my first Skype lesson on Thursday with my cousin Devon who is not a member! It was unbelievable! When we Skype of course we do it with our companions so it was fun to introduce Hermana Whitney to him! We talked about his life and our life as a missionary. Then all of a sudden we just started talking about his religious background and he explained that he has not gone to church for a very long time. We explained more about the church and what it means to us and how it can help him. He said " I have been waiting for something like this and I know I will come back to church". It was so amazing! I know that he has been so prepared and that is why I am in the first mission to get the ipads. We set up another appointment with him for this Tuesday and we hope to teach him about prayer and the book of Mormon. It was just such an incredible experience to teach some that I love so much! We also taught one of Hermana Whitney's really good friends yesterday so it was neat to share that experience with her and to see what a blessing it is to be able to teach the world.
Even though teaching the world is sweet we have so many wonderful investigators. I have not met all of them but Carolina is our Golden Investigator. She has only been taught for about 3 weeks and she has a baptismal date for this month and has read up to 1 Nephi 8. She loves the Book of Mormon and knows that it is true. She works on Sunday mornings but she is trying so so hard to get Sundays off. She is so ready for this step in her life. I am excited to teach her tonight because she is a sponge and just soaks everything up!
The branch here is incredible! They are so close to being the first Spanish Ward in the mission and Satan knows it so he is attacking them but I already love all of the members and I am so ready to help them. The branch president is a gringo but he has a deep love for these people and for the missionaries. This branch is a legend in the mission and so I am glad to be here.
I am so excited to continue meeting the wonderful people of Santa Rosa and see many miracles!
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers and please think of who you know that I could teach on facebook and let me know! Change is good so embrace because I am jumping right into it!
Love you all,
Hermana Hillary
No comments:
Post a Comment