So... This week
has been one of the greatest weeks and one of the hardest weeks so far.
The hard part was
the fact that it was my birthday. Never
would I have thought having a birthday would be this hard. I didn’t even really celebrate my 20th
birthday, but not having any family here, and not be able to have the option of
celebrating, was hard. We worked all day
long, which has entailed a lot of walking. I was sunburned. I don’t burn usually and then
my birthday present was a nice red chest and arms. Not to mention how
dark my legs look. LOL. We were able to go to dinner, and Sister Hopkins told
them that it was my birthday, so we made brownie sundaes, they sang to me, and
then I blew out the candles. We then
went home and watched The District
for my celebration. O, and my district leader called and sang me Happy Birthday with his guitar. Which
was actually pretty funny.
Well, let me tell
you about the amazing experience we had on Wednesday though. Which literally makes this the best week so
far. Sister Hopkins and I decided to walk all Wednesday because we didn't have enough miles
(left on the allotment for each week) to drive anymore. However, on
Wednesday, we
had 5 appointments and they were all scattered around different parts of our
area. We had no idea how we were going to make it to all of them. So we drove down a road that is about center
of our entire area, and I said a little prayer asking for strength to endure
all the walking we had to do and opportunities to find those that the Lord had
prepared for us. Never had I expected a prayer to be answered so fast or so
much in one day.
Not even a minute
after we started walking a van pulled over on the side of the road we were
walking on. That can be slightly scary since our area isn't the greatest, and
it was a really busy road. However, it
was the Relief Society President for the Spanish ward in our zone. She
recognized that we were missionaries since not many people walk the streets of
the desert in skirts. So she asked us if we needed a ride. She was able to
drive us close to our next appointment.
After we had an amazing lesson that was perfect for the situation she
was in, we began walking once again.
This time, no one
came to pick us up, and we walked 2.5 miles along the road next to the
interstate. We had a lesson with the
cutest old couple that have been married for 70 years, and followed a whim to
move to California where they were introduced to the Church, and have been
members ever since. She just has a lot of health problems that have prevented
her from making it to church. They felt bad that we were walking all day long,
so they drove us down the busy road to a church that was about a mile away from
our next appointment.
This appointment
was with our only investigator!!! Who had been cancelling on us all week, so we
were starting to get discouraged and thought that she would cancel then too. But, to our surprise, she didn't. We had a
wonderful lesson about prayer, and we read all of Enos. She loved it and
understood most of it. So we were prompted to set up a baptismal date for April
12. She accepted, and told us that the
other baptismal dates the Elders had set up never felt right, but that this one
did. So were/are pretty excited about that.
After the
appointment, we started walking back to our car, because when we left the car
that morning we had left the cell phone in the car. And we never would have been able to make all
of our appointments if we had to go back to get it, so we had left it. Well on the walk back, I started to get a
blister, and had taken my shoes off. Well not even a minute after I had done
that, a sister from our ward passed us, and she pulled around. She saw I had my
shoes off and told us to get in. She drove us all the way to our car.
Then once we got
in the car we had only missed one call from our dinner appointment with a less
active person that cancelled. So we
decided to just drive back to our apartment, freshen up (we stink walking
around all day!!!!), and then just walk to our last appointment from there.
Well, once we get
out of the apartment and started walking up the road, a lady from our ward was
walking down the street and she looked very disoriented. So we walked up to her
and she started telling us that she had walked out of the ICU looking for her
daughter who had stolen her fridge and stove. We were kinda freaked out to say
the least because the hospital is a good 5 miles away from where we live. So we
start walking her to her house because I didn't feel comfortable leaving her
alone. She hadn't had any water or food that entire time. It was about 80
degrees out and there was no cloud coverage. So I gave her my extra water, some
Tylenol, and an orange that I had in my purse. We were able to get her to her
house and we said a prayer with her. It was kinda cool because she didn't live
far from our next appointment.
So we finally got
to our appointment and again the lesson was just what the family needed to
hear. We stayed and talked to them for 3 hours. Some of that time was actually
them feeding us dinner. Then she took us back to our apartment. I thought it
was amazing that no one canceled, that we met some amazing people while out walking
(sorry I didn't talk about them), and we were able to help those that needed
our help.
It made me so
happy to see the fruits of my labors. It showed me and my companion that we
really are meant to be here. And how amazing it is that if you are perfectly
obedient the Lord will provide a way for us, and he will put those people that
are prepared in our path.
I hope that all
of you will have an amazing week! Please try and strengthen your relationship
with your Heavenly Father. I know that He is always looking out for us; He will
not leave you comfortless. In ward
council yesterday we were talking about just taking that first step, and then
Heavenly Father will provide the rest. Just have faith and not be afraid to
take that first step.
I found a quote
by President Monson that I love, "There will be nothing in this world that
can defeat us. My brothers and sisters. Fear not. Be of good cheer. The future
is as bright as your faith." What does that quote mean to all of you? What
can you do to make your faith stronger? I challenge you this week to find a way
to strengthen your faith, and take that first step.
Love you,Sister Bell
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