Holy travel jeebies batman! Tel Aviv sounds AMAZING and I can't wait to hear about your trip into Old Jerusalem. And I loved that half the letter was from my seester...I sure miss you Lauren! I walked past someone here in the library a little while ago and she smelled like vanilla and coconut and I started to miss you so so much!
So much has happened I don't even know where to begin.... we got our transfer calls on Saturday morning (well, they kind of begin on Friday because anyone who will have a leadership position gets called then). One of the APs was supposed to go home this week, but I guess he's buddies with one of Elder Holland's relates so Elder Holland called President Martin and told him that Elder Wilhelm needs to extend his mission for another transfer. Who's going to question an apostle?
They readjusted boundaries and put in all new companionships all over the place, so it's been a super exciting couple of days, figuring out where everyone is going, who is going to be Zone leader, district leader, who is going to train, etc. One of the elders in our district, Elder Castro (the one from Ecuador) hasn't had any kind of leadership calling thus far (he's only got about 7 months left) but he got called to be a zone leader. Crazy! Thankfully, he'll still be in our district and the other zone leader, Elder Torres from Colombia will be his companion. They'll be awesome together.
And my new companion..........Hermana Waite! She was actually born in North Hollywood 5th ward int he bike area (meaning she started her mission here) so she knows the streets and even some of our investigators (we have some major progressing issues....but we're working through them) so it'll be awesome to put our brains together. She's from......can't remember where, Texas. It's somewhere between Dallas and Texarkana, so she knows where New Boston is. She's super cool and seems like a really hard worker. I've picked up some bad habits this transfer so hopefully she'll be able to help me be a more obedient missionary.
Last week we helped one of our investigators paint his house, which turned out to be super rewarding and he really appreciated our help. Mario is just so sweet and humble. He just needs some free time to dedicate to reading the dang book and get into it. He and two of our other investigators (Milagro and Carlos) all live in the same house. We see Milagro most consistently, but she's had a really tough time progressing. She loves our visits, but hasn't really wanted to take the time to read the Book of Mormon, despite that we emphasize every time we're with her that everything we say depends on whether or not the Book of Mormon is true. I guess she and Carlos had had quite the tiff this week and it took a toll on her. We invited them to come to a baptism that was actually for the adjacent ward, but we thought it would be good for our investigators to see what we mean and have them hear the talks about baptism, the Holy Ghost, etc. We called every one of our investigators and about 5 said they would come, but we weren't very optimistic. As it was fast sunday, President had asked all of us to fast to be able to use study time effectively to become powerful missionaries, that the members would work more actively in giving referrals, and that we can meet our baptismal goals for the year. I didn't even think about the connection until later that night, but miracle of miracles, Milagro and Carlos BOTH came to the baptism! I got to sit next to Milagro and while the family who got baptized were getting dressed, there were a few elders who provided musical numbers, the first one being a song that a former missionary wrote about baptism, and the second one being the spanish version of "We Thank Thee oh God for a Prophet." At the end of the first verse which is all about modern revelation via a living prophet, Milagro leaned over to me and said, "I did my reading in the Book of Mormon, and I love it!" She told me about how God does everything for a purpose, and He made it so that she couldn't drive so that she could have time on the bus to read the book of Mormon and have time for the "Palabra de Dios." She read 2 Nephi 2-6 and just loved every bit of it. before, she had always talked about how she just had a hard time reading it because she was just too accustomed to the Bible. We spent at least 6 or 7 visits explaining what the Book of Mormon is, why it works WITH the Bible, why certain parts of the Bible are contained in the Book of Mormon, why she didn't recognize the names of most of the prophets mentioned, etc. She acknowledged that and she told me how silly she had been to just keep pushing more of Heavenly Father's counsel for us away simply because she loves the bible so much. She also told me how she had patched up her relationship with Carlos because she made a concerted effort to see him as a child of God, and then lo and behold, she found scriptures relating to that very topic in the Book of Mormon!
Oh my gosh I almost cried when she was telling me all this. She kept saying things like "you know, when I read this, I feel Heavenly Father's love. It's from Him." I kept thinking "I KNOW! Isn't it wonderful!!!!" All I could do was just beam down at this tiny woman and hug her. I'm so excited for her! I love when people feel the same Spirit and love of heavenly father that I feel when I read the scriptures!!
Oh and! I'm finally gaining an incredible appreciation for the Ensign. It's amazing! This month's, I am quite certain, was made specifically for our investigator, Daniel. Thank you thank you for your prayers. This last time we met with him, it was completely different. He had texted us and asked us for a commitment that would help him be more worthy for baptism ( he was angling more for word of wisdom things, but we assigned him to write down specific questions he has about life, relgion, God, families, etc, and then look in the Book of Mormon for the answer.) Beyond that, he just seems so much happier and he seems to have so much of his confusion cleared so that he can finally move forward and understand the message about the Savior that we're trying to share with him. He's so sweet. I just love him!
I heard yesterday though, a member expressing impatience with him and another investigator because they have been meeting with the missionaries for so long. A vast majority of the members in our ward were absolutely golden investigators who just grabbed the gospel message and ran with it, so they have a hard time understanding those who need a little (or sometimes a lot) more time to grasp concepts. It's true, there are a lot of people who are ready for the restored gospel, but just because someone doesn't get baptized within 3 months should never disqualify them from continuing to meet with missionaries. What matters is if they are progressing. As long as they are making those efforts to grow their faith in the Savior, apply the atonement to their lives, and keep searching the scriptures for their answers, they deserve the time to fully comprehend the covenants they'll make.
Oh gosh, there are just so many things I want to share with you!
Hermana Strong is leaving tomorrow and I'm so so sad for her to leave. I just love and care for her so much and I'm so blessed to have had her as my trainer. It's pretty heartbreaking, really.
Ok, before I have to go, here are a few little stories.....
I got a horrible migraine yesterday from fasting, and then we ate a member's home where they feed to til you pop, so the nausea from the pain coupled with nausea from eating too much was just horrible. I had Hermana Strong call elder Zundel (our district leader) to come give me a blessing, and by the end of the prayer, I had no headache whatsoever, and whatever residual nausea I had went away within 10 minutes. Yeah Priesthood blessings for healing the sick!
And last one to send you off with a smile, we were talking about wishes and Elder Castro piped up with "Ees like dat one movie with de lion and de doll and de robot..." We spent a good 5 minutes trying to figure out what he could possibly be referring to until his companion said "Wait, are you talking about the Wizard of Oz?" "Yeah yeah! Dat one!"
Oh my gosh I love missionaries so much!
I love you more than all the tabouleh in the world! (ps mama, stop getting hurt! you're too precious!....speaking of precious, I found Ryan and chelsea's christmas card.....such a tender mercy!)
---Hermana Beauchamp
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