My new comp!

Hello!

For all of you that were worried about my new companion, I don't think I could have gotten a better companion. We are so much alike, it is crazy! And people are having troubles telling us apart already because we are both blonde and cute. She is a lefty like me, and we have the same major. She did sign language in high school and loves sports. Wierd, we are like twins. Seriously, this past week was the best week of my mission. We worked incredibly hard, and have had a blast doing it. We had so much success because we have been strictly obedient, and we are not wasting time! I have been incredibly blessed to have her as my companion! She is from Spokan Washington and went to BYU-I, our only disagreement.

So we were planning on meeting Monique around 11 a.m. so we went over to her house and there was a note in her mailbox for Sister Thomas. We knocked at the door, and no one was home, and we read the letter which said how sad she was that Sister Thomas had been taken away from her so quickly, etc. So, our backup plan for this was to tract Northside Street. After we walked around and couldn't find it, we decided to just tract the street near her apartment which was Doman Street. As we were tracting each house, we went up to the third house, and knocked to find a guy named Nick. We told him who we were and if he would like to hear how he can come closer to Christ, and he said, "Ya actually! I am going into the Marines and I would like to have a religion when I enter." So of course we were so excited and set up a return appointment for the next day. When we were done, we walked back to our car and saw Monique walking inside her house. She turned and said, "Sisters!" So we walked over and she wanted us to come in right then, but we had an appointment and told her we would be back in an hour. It was no coincidence that she wasn't there so we tracted that random street to find Nick. The Lord puts us where we need to be!

We then went to Hector's and taught him the Plan of Salvation. As we were teaching him, I started reading a scripture, and Sister Allen gave him her scriptures to read from. After I read the scripture, he said, "I feel something when I hold this book." We then told him that it was the Holy Ghost he was feeling. It was awesome! It was amazing to see how the power of the Book of Mormon is real and that he could feel it.

After, we went to Monique's and had quite the experience talking about the Atonement and self worth. She doesn't believe that she will ever return to the Celestial Kingdom and that she is going to come back in another body. We then told her that this life is it... Haha sorry! She wondered why God would allow bad things to happen to good people because she has had such a hard life. We read with her the story of Ammon and Amulek and how they watched the mothers and children burn and how they stood by because they would be returning to their Father in Heaven and that those people will be judged for what they did. We also came to learn that because of people's agency they choose to do those things to other people, so this will be our focus for our next lesson.

So on Thursday, we met with Nick, and it was so awesome! We couldn't find a member to come with us, and it was raining so we weren't sure what we were going to do with teaching him. So we prayed that the rain would stop and that we could teach him somewhere. Turns out the rain stopped and he had a back porch where we could teach him the lesson outside. It wasn't even cold when we taught him! The Lord blesses us in many ways, even though they are simple. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and testified of its truthfulness and he loved it. He felt the spirit so strongly as did we! He committed to read it and as we talked about setting up another appointment with him, he said he would find out his schedule the next day and so we told him we would call him. So the next day he called us at like 5 right after he got his schedule to set up an appointment. He is so excited to learn and we are excited to teach him!

We were street contacting and talked to some boys our age and they directed us to a woman named Donna. We went to her house and she said she puts together bible studies for teenagers around her area. She was hesitant because we were Mormons, but said she would like to meet with us to see what we are about. We are excited, because this could be a great missionary opportunity for many teenagers!

So the first week I was here, I don't know if you all remember, we tracted Barber street and we found Kirby and he was legit! He wanted to hear more and loved the Book of Mormon. We came back for our return appointment and he wasn't there and later met his wife after many visits to their house and she wanted us to come back but she was never there again. SInce I had felt so strongly about them, I decided to not give up. So, we went and knocked on their door and no luck. We went again the next day, and Suehedy (kirby's wife) answered the door! We were so excited! We asked if we could come back for another appointment and she said, "Can you come in and teach me now?" So we pretty much ran inside because we were so excited to teach her and had one of the most powerful lessons I have ever taught. We taught about the Book of Mormon, and she told us that she had just lost custody of her daughter. At that moment, Sister Allen said to her, "I can promise you," and at this point I knew exactly what she was going to say and the spirit came over me so powerfully, tears filled my eyes, because I knew she was speaking from the Holy Ghost, and she said "if you live this gospel, you will have your daughter back in this home." Most amazing experience I have had so far on my mission. The spirit was so strong in that room, and after that we asked if she will be baptized if she knew it was true and she said "Yes!" So we asked if we could come back and she said yes as well and kept saying, "Now you are going to come back next Friday right?" Over and over again. They are solid, and I came out of that house feeling an extreme amount of Joy!!!!!

On Saturday, we pretty much contacted and tracted all day. We handed out more books than I have so far on my mission, and 2 of them were spanish. We have a street by our house that is all spanish, and we were walking and this spanish man called to us asking what we were all about. We started talking to him and he said he didn't speak english, so I told him we would be right back. So we ran home, grabbed a spanish book of mormon, called the APs to ask some spanish lines, went back, spoke little spanish and gave them the book of mormon. We decided that we are going to learn as much spanish as we can so we can talk to all of these people who speak spanish. It will be hard, but it will be worth it!

Ok, now for the story you all have been waiting for... SPIKE. So Wednesday night we are planning and we get a phone call. I answer, and a man says, "Are these the missionaries I met a while ago?" I then said, "Well, we are the sister missionaries, but the ones you met already left the area, but we can help you!" So he then tells me his name is Spike and he has done many bad things in his past and how he wants to change. So I told him we could meet with him and tell him what he can do to change his life. So he says Burger King is where we should meet. And when we get there, look out for someone wearing black or camo. Hmmm... Ok? So we go and walk in and Sister Allen whispers in my ear, "There he is, in the corner." I look and there's Spike in all black. As we approach him, he is writing letters, one of which read, "Dear Ghost". I noticed he was left handed and I said, "I see you are left handed, so are we!" He didn't think that was funny. So we sit down and start talking to him and he starts telling us that he has killed 3 people and he loves inflicting pain on others. It was then that Sister Allen says, "why would you enjoy that?" He goes on to tell us some flibble flabble about how he wants to die in 6 years if he hasn't found God. So, at that point we let him know in a very forward way that we are not going to put up with his stupidity and if he is serious we can help him and if he isn't, then we aren't going to waste our time. I think he was a bit shocked. He asked us if we would be cold outside, and he wanted to chat outside because the lady in the booth behind us was staring at him. We were scared for her life! She was like, "Oh, sorry!" Awkward! Anyway, we told him we wouldn't meet with him until he read the book of mormon and once he decided he was serious, to call us and we would meet with him. SO the next night he calls and says, "hey I want to come to church and I need a ride." It was stake conferencce and I told him it was too late to find a ride for the next morning (partially because we weren't sure if we should put a member in that position, and so we could tlak to the bishop about it) but we would for the following week. We were told to proceed with caution. Don't worry, we are smart and have the spirit of God.

The work continues, and I am loving it out here! I love you all!

Love,

Lil

TAWANDA!!