Monday, April 4, 2011

DELTA GAMMA!

Well, I decided we can start with the most exciting story first....
So this past week I went on exchanges with Sister Allen which was AWESOME!! It was so much fun to be able to serve with her again. AHH I loved it!! We really have so much fun together and we teach so well together. Anyway, she is in Storrs, Connecticut, and she wanted to show me something cool that was there. So I am just chillin while we are driving, and I look over to where she is taking me and I see the most beautiful greek letters I have ever seen. WE WERE AT THE DELTA GAMMA HOUSE AT UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT!!!!!!!!!!! I FREAKED OUT! I was so excited!! She took me to "The Village" (UCONN's version of Greek Row) and I was so excited! Their greek row is a circle and all the houses are all identical like town homes based around this park area. Such a cool idea. So of course we go up to the DG house, and I knock all excited and this adorable girl lets me in and gives me a tour of the house. It was an adorable house! They said the Sigma Chi's there were the best frat, I guess that is the same wherever you go. Right next to them were the Pi Phi's and she said they were cool too. I was in heaven! I got pictures and the girl was so cute! No one was really there because it was during class but it was still cool. LOVED IT. I will be sending pictures home of that.
Anyway, this week was Patrick's baptism interview, and he passed and Sarah's is this week. They are both set to get baptized on Saturday and I am so excited! There is nothing better than when we are reviewing the baptismal interview questions and they answer every question right and they are so happy about it. I always smile so big that I can't ask the next question haha.
Herrod came to conference with his two friends, Miguel and Arnold. They all loved conference and can't wait until next sunday to come to church. Miguel is from Jamaica and has dread locks, he is so cool. He goes, "I donno where ya'll are gonna be next sunday at 1 but i am gonna be right here in this church!" So funny.
Conference was of course incredible. There were so many talks that spoke to me and I just loved it.
The work is going so well and things are progressing! Sister Green leaves this week to go back to Southbury, so that will be sad but she will love training the new Sister Carpenter.
I love you all!
Love, Elizabeth
TAWANDA

My trio

So supposedly the Grand Canyon is in Arizona, NOT COLORADO

So to start off the email, lets start with a blonde moment by me. We are at this member's house eating dinner, and its just her and her son. He is struggling because they are moving to Colorado. So, I try to cheer him up and I say, "Well, you could go see the Grand Canyon! That is in Colorado! The mom quickly turned to me with a grumbly look and said, "the Grand Canyon is in ARIZONA NOT COLORADO." I am guessing I made things worse by the way she acted. He thought it was pretty funny though. Little known fact I found out this past week.

Ya, pretty much me and Elder Zwick are TIZIGHT! He came and talked to our mission and when his wife sat down, she looked at me and winked. I wondered how she knew who I was and just figured she winked at everyone. Then Elder Zwick got up and said everyone looked great and then looked at me on the front row, and said, "And some of us are pretty much family!" Then smiled at me. Made my day. He knew who I was! We all got to individually go up and talk to him and his wife, and they both greeted me with eagerness to tell me my family loves me and says hi. Sister Zwick gave me a hug and said it was from the family. They were so sweet. They sat and talked to me forever about how you all are doing and I was just so happy to hear it. It was definitely a tender mercy for me. Who knew, I thought I would have to go up and explain who I was, but they knew before they even started the conference.

The conference was incredible. We talked about many things, one of them being the Law of Sacrifice. The sacrifice missionaries need to make is time. That is all we have to give besides our will, and we need to have perfect use of the Lord's time. It was such a great talk and I was loving every second. All of the missionaries are striving to be more diligent after the conference. It was so wonderful. Sister Zwick talked about her son Scott and Spencer a lot. They are such great examples. Wednesday was so incredible and there was such a spiritual high. I have been having a wonderful time applying what I learned in my mission.

We had some incredible success this past week! It has just been so wonderful and the work is really picking up here. The Lord blessed us tremendously, and I am so grateful for it. So yesterday at church we had two investigators come to church which was great! One of them I would like to take a minute and talk about.

His name is Herod. Pronounced HerOd. Not herid or herad. HEROD. Yep, just like the bible. He named himself that, because he wants to make Herod's name a good name rather than a bad name. So anyway, he came to church and I sat in the row in front of the other sisters with the other investigator. So throughout the entire sacrament he was asking questions and making comments which was great. So little side bar, we have a boy in our ward with cerebral palsy and sometimes he makes really loud noises during the meeting. So right after the sacrament prayer, he leans over to Sister Jacob and says, "Did they just pray for the Holy Ghost?" So sister Jacob explained how you can have the Holy Ghost with you, etc. So then he says, "Did you pray for the gift of tongues? Because I heard that lady shout out with the gift of tongues just barely. Was that the spirit giving her the gift of tongues?" Sister Jacob then explained to him that the boy has cerebral palsy and sometimes he randomly shouts out. He then told Sister Jacob, "Umm, I didn't need to know that." So funny. The people you meet out here are just hilarious.

So my favorite event happened last night. Event meaning this is a normal occurrence... We walk up to this lady's door who keeps telling us to come back at another time and knock on the door. Suddenly the lights turn out and everything goes quiet. Then we look over, and they are all packed in the car trying to quietly drive away so we don't notice. Too bad their car was squeaking and we could hear them every inch they moved. Of course Sister Jacob waves at them. We were laughing so hard. GUess you had to be there.

Being in a trio has provided so many funny times. I have had such a blast these past 3 weeks with these two. I have been greatly blessed.

Last but best story. So last week we taught this investigator and she asked so many questions without accepting any answer. It was probably the hardest lesson I have ever been in and the spirit wasn't there. So we had another appointment with her that I was not looking forward to. We prayed that she would have a soft heart and willing to learn. We got there and she started out by saying this....

"I am going to be honest, the last time you guys came over, all I wanted to do was prove you wrong. But this past week I have had a lot of time to think and I just remember when I was little, I always had this voice telling me the right things to do. Then I stopped going to my church and it left me. All I want is that voice back. I decided that if I am searching for the right church and I am trying to prove you wrong, I can't learn anything new. So I am open and willing to learn so please tell me waht I need to do to get that voice back."

My jaw dropped. It was a complete miracle. I was so happy! We taught her and it went so well. She wants to get baptized and is so excited. I know the Lord softened her heart. Sometimes I forget how powerful sincere prayer is.

I love you all and hope all is well!
Love,
Elizabeth
TAWANDA