Hi fam!
So I had my first bike wreck...but don't worry, all I got were a couple bruises and a scrape.... I was following Hermana Waite down the street and a woman who was holding her 2 year old grandson wasn't looking my way and stepped out right in front of me; unfortunately, I ran right into her and all of us toppled. I think she hurt her knee, but otherwise she looked relatively unscathed. Thankfully the baby was fine, too, but they wouldn't let us help them or even really talk to us. I felt so so bad, but after they had left, Hermana Waite was making sure I was okay and we discovered that I had a cut on my leg. There was an Armenian family who had been watching the whole thing from their balcony and they beckoned for us to come up and drink some water. We headed up and the mother took care of my leg, gave me ice, they even gave us water and juice and Armenian goodies, but they only spoke about 10 words of English. They taught us how to say "how are you, I'm fine, you are beautiful and I love you" in Armenian. It was quite an adventure trying to communicate. They finally understood that we were teachers, but we tried I don't know how many languages to say God. I always forget how effective basic hand signals are. Pointing up always works :). The poor mother kept apologizing because she was sick and couldn't do more, but they were so gracious and sweet and I just wanted to hug all of them. We did, actually, and they even gave us kisses on the cheek. Man, I love Armenians. We have a plan to go back with a plate of cookies and all three of the church pamphlets in Armenian we could find.
Our investigators are progressing slowly but surely. I keep looking back to conference and wishing that so many more of them could have been there, but I'm so grateful for the Liahona and church websites. Speaking of church publications, I started reading this month's Ensign, and as per usual, it's phenomenal. There's an article called "Faith and Infertility"...totally not applicable to me and my situation right now, I know, but I learned some really great things. First off, they discussed the importance of sharing your burden so others can help you and so that you can help them too. Hermana Waite and I have had multiple discussions about our personalities and how to make them work together effectively. She and I are very different but we work really well together and as I've learned to open up to her and share my concerns openly, we've made a lot of progress. We're seeing that with one of our current investigators as well. We know from her best friend who is a member that she's having a really hard time right now, but we had to talk to her about communicating what her concerns and needs are so we can actually help her. She lives a ways away and we don't get to see her very often, but we've been encouraging her to tell us what she needs and when. We likened it to prayer in that we sometimes need to ask for specific things in order for Heavenly Father to bless us. Of course He already knows what we need, but if we don't ask specifically and then look for those blessings, our faith in those small miracles will never grow. We'll just chock it up to chance or good fortune.
The other amazing thing I found in the article has a lot to do with the talks from conference about trials and adversity. I really like what one of the general authorities said about how we need to be careful to not resent the opportunities to grow and be a little more like Heavenly Father. One of the women in the article wrote "When someone has an ailment or an illness and they are healed as a result of a blessing, their faith is being strengthened. But for those who aren't healed but continue faithful, their faith is being perfected. The first is a faith- promoting experience, the second is faith perfecting."
I really love that.
I love that Heavenly Father knows more than me. I love that He has a plan for us and that He shows His love to us every day through little miracles.
I love you more than all the Armenian I don't know,
Hermana Beauchamp
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