Well Aurora is awesome!!
As hard as it was to leave Elgin, Aurora truly is amazing! And Hermana Trimble is amazing. And the apartment, and the ward. And the people. And the miracles.
Not sure how we got so lucky, but here we are. Ill try to send some pictures too, but until then. This has been such a great week. I would need hours to tell you all the great stuff that happened… but here is a start:
Hermana Trimble is 21, from Boise and went to BYU before her mission. She has been out for over a year so she knows just about everything. She is the most patient and considerate person I have ever met and she talks to EVERYONE. We have a lot of really awkward moments but she likes to just brush them off… I like to dwell and laugh but she is very professional. We have great workouts and runs in the mornings and she eats pretty creatively… meaning, whatever she can find in the fridge, she puts it all together and makes something somewhat healthy… somewhat delicious :) I love it. She is the most obedient missionary and she has such a strong testimony and works so hard!!
The apartment:
Well we are roughin’ it… fancy gym, reserved parking spots, walk-in-closet. We even have a washer and dryer. This mission thing is making me really spoiled.
The ward:
It’s an entire ward! It takes about 30 min. to drive there (the chapel is in Geniva) but there were actually people at church. Almost every pew was full. I was in shock, im sure I drove Hermana Trimble crazy, just saying “there are so many people!”
Our ward mission leader (yah, we have one of those!) is incredible. He fed us breakfast before the meeting yesterday. He only works half of the year so the other half he can come out with the missionaries. He is driving us to a baptism in Hermana Trimbles last area on the 15th. Its amazing!
The work:
Well, every day of my mission I have prayed for families to teach. We found 4 families this week. We have done a lot of knocking, but everyday have meet really solid investigators!!! We think it is because the ward has started praying for the missionaries by name. It works!!
My second day we knocked into Lisa, she told us to come back on Thursday. So we came back. Melina (her sister in law) answered the door, told us she wasn’t here and that they weren’t interested. Then lisa walked in and invited us in. Lisa’s husband was not happy that we were there and immediately walked out the door taking lisa with her. So we awkwardly sat on the couch as Melina and her husband walked out of the kitchen. “Sorry, we can leave.” Melina: “well we are still here.” So we taught the restoration. And the spirit was SO STONG. We invited Arthur to say the closing prayer, he has never prayed out loud in his life. As he finished, he looked up with the biggest smile. They have a 2 year old daughter and they are so excited to learn more they asked if we could come back the next day. She asked if she could take some cards and pamphlets to work so she could tell more people about it and gave us the addresses of all of their family members. Unfortunately, their daughter doesn’t speak Spanish so they we prayed and felt best to turn them to the English sisters. But we went to the lesson to hand them off… The most amazing lesson. They truly are the elect of God, they agreed to getting baptized on the 8th of march and went to church yesterday!
My very favorite part of my mission is listening to people pray for the first time. On Friday Melina gave the most heartfelt prayer I have ever heard. You could tell she was talking to Heavenly Father, and the spirit was incredible. I feel so privileged to have met and taught them. I think those are the moments of indescribably joy that president Fenn always talks about.
Oh also, we knocked into Claudia… The sister of Alicia (My favorite family from Elgin). And Alicia, Chuy, and Manny were all there!!! We got to come in and teach a short lesson! It was such a great surprise!!
Today I was reading a talk my Elder Bednar – Pray Always, Oct. 2008. He said:
“Once we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part.” We are all children of our Heavenly Father. We state this everyday, in almost ever doorstep and lesson, but it holds so much meaning. When we realize our relationship with our Father in Heaven, we begin to understand what a blessing it is to talk to the creator of the world who knows you individually. “Such meaningful prayers are instrumental in obtaining the highest blessings god holds in store for His faithful children.”
I love you all!! Hope you are having an amazing week! Thanks for the great pictures, sorry I couldn’t be there for Elsies birthday!! Looked like you all had fun. Im getting over a lingering cold too :) but I hope you all get healthy soon, you have had your fair share of sickness this winter! I haven’t gotten the package yet, but thanks in advance. You are so nice to always think of me!! I really do appreciate it!!
Thanks for everything! All my love!!
Hermana Johnson
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