Week #30: Dec 19, 2017 Below Zero

Hola familia!
First of all: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE!!!! Sister Johnson and
I LOVE it! It has been so much fun to do! Sister Johnson took a video
right after I H opened it that I will send to you and we took some
pictures too. I really appreciate it!
How was your week? You been busy with Christmas stuff? That is fun
that you are going to Georgia to visit Lisa and Tolson! I hope that
all goes well with flights and that you will have tons of fun while
you are there! What are your plans? Are you going to stay there until
Christmas or will you be home for Christmas? I cant believe that Lisa
is going to have her baby in January! I feel like I just found out she
is pregnant. That is so awesome!
SO I GET TO SKYPE HOME TO YOU THIS SUNDAY!!! Would you rather facetime
or skype? I am not totally sure how all of this is going to work but I
am so excited for it! I heard that dad might have to work but
hopefully he will be able to at least be on the phone or something.
What time would be good for you? I just have church at 9 and it is
only sacrament meeting so I will be done early in the day. We are
planning on going to my bishops house to skype but I should be able to
just use my iPad and FaceTime I think. President literally hasn't told
us anything so I don't know.
That is so fun that you got togo and visit Quinn for a little bit! I
am sure that he loved and appreciated that! I bet he was surprised
too. That would be crazy to open the door and see family haha.
Also, I assumed that the big box that you sent for me to open on
Christmas was boots and so I opened it a little early (confession) and
I feel so bad but we aren't allowed to wear Uggs on our missions! They
are so cute and I really wish that I could wear them! Do you want me
to send them back to you or there is a Nordstrom rack here (i dont
know if they will let me return them). I opened them because it has
been below zero this week and we haven't been able to use the car so I
am literally freezing all the time but its cool. So I needed some
warmer boots and those would have been perfect but Sister vest (the
mission presidents wife) said that uggs are too casual and that I cant
wear them. THANK YOU THOUGH!
So on Tuesday we got to go to the temple with like a 1/3 of my mission
and that was amazing! We had a big conference and then walked over the
the temple and did a session together. I love the temple so much!
I was sick all at the beginning of this week though. I ended up
literally throwing up ALL NIGHT on Wednesday night and all throughout
the day. Literally I never left the bathroom because it was like every
20 minutes on the dot. It was awful. But i am feeling much better now.
Being sick on the mission is literally the worst but luckily it didn't
last too long.
The weather this week was ROUGH. It was below zero a lot and we
weren't able to use our cars because of the snowy and icy roads so
that was fun. We did a lot of walking in the freezing weather. Hey, it
builds character right? I'll send some pictures of that. At times, I
literally thought that my toes were going to break off with every
single step that I took. But we showed up to our dinner and they were
freaking out that we had been out finding and trying potentials in the
freezing weather and literally would not let us leave their house (in
a nice way). They lived down in the bottom of our area and our
apartment is at the top so we needed them to give us a ride back near
the top and they said no...instead, they turned on the fire, wrapped
us up in blankets and had us watch the Life of Christ Bible videos
that the church puts out with them. But their daughter and son in law
were there and they weren't active so we got to talk to them a little
bit and it was good. We were kidnapped for a little bit though. Since
the #LightTheWorld thing for yesterday was "Jesus kept the sabbath
holy and so can you" we thought it was funny that we were kinda forced
to keep it holy.
BUT because of the cold, we were able to see a lot of miracles this
week. Since it was snowing, everyone stayed home and that was great
because every person that we tried was so willing to let us in or talk
to us. We got to see an awesome less active and get to know her, which
was great! She hasn't been in FOREVER and apparently it was like a
miracle she let us in. We also got to set lots of appointments for
this upcoming week! So the snow was like a blessing and a curse at the
same time.
It was a really good week though! I hope that you all had a great week
as well! I look forward to hearing from you! And I have loved getting
the christmas cards! I have been putting them and some other pictures
on the wall by my bed. Makes the apartment feel a little more like
home.

LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL ❤️

Week #26 November 21, 2016 My P-day is now Monday

Hey family!
It sounds like you are all doing well and having fun together in
Houston! That is sad that Lisa can't make it but I'm sure that you will
still have a lot of fun together! Make sure to keep sending me
pictures and updates if you can, I love seeing you all!

This past week has been pretty crazy! I got called as a trainer this
week and I found out through some of the other sisters haha. We were
walking up to shift and 2 sisters were walking out and they were like
"congratulations on being a trainer!!!" and they gave me a big hug and
started walking off and I was like, what the heck are they talking
about. I didn't get a training call. And then I go in and all the
senior couples and other sisters start doing the same thing and im
like, what is this, some kind of joke?? Well, it wasn't a joke. Soon
after, the assistants to the president walked up the stairs and told
me that I would be a trainer! I was shocked but I felt good about it.
On wednesday we had departure breakfast for all of the visitor center
sisters that are going home. Departure breakfast is a time where all
the VC sisters get together and have breakfast and watch slideshows of
pictures of the sisters that are going home and they bear their
testimony to us one last time and stuff like that. I love it! Its a
time when i get to hear basically what their biggest takeaway or
lesson that they learned on their mission. Its awesome. But then we
went out and took a bunch of pictures so that is where most of the
pictures from this week came from. I love all of the sisters there so
much! They are all so sweet!

We also had zone lunch on wednesday so that we could all see each
other 1 more time before transfers and such and that was really good!
Then, we had transfers on thursday and I found out that I was leaving
the visitor center (😭) and that i am training in a trio for a week
until one of my companions goes home. It has been fun being in a trio
but it is kinda crazy at the same time. They are both really sweet. We
are now in Overland Park 1st ward and all of the members there are
awesome! We have had so much support from them in the past few days
and it is great!

We have some baptisms coming up on Friday which is really exciting! It
has been causing us a few headaches though because there is so much
confusion over who is doing what and who is speaking and who can go
and who is going to be out of town and its a mess. BUT we got it all
figured out and they have already done their baptismal interviews and
everything so they are good to go! They are so cute and are so excited
to be baptized! Stay tuned til next week...

I was sad to leave Riverview and all the miracles that are happening
there with Inocente, Pablo, Larry & Cecile and Glen and their baptisms
but I am excited to be here in Overland Park 1st ward and share the
gospel with people here! I know that the church is true, no matter
where you are.

I hope that you all have a good week and I look forward to hearing
from you soon! Thanks for all your love and support! Have a great
thanksgiving and dont forget to send pictures!

Love,

Erin

Week #25 November 17, 2016 TRANSFER

Hey fam! 

Just thought I would write you real quick and say I am being
transferred...AND TRAINING. Kinda nervous but excited at the same
time. 

Love and miss you lots!

Week #24 November 10, 2016 One a day...

We had a fun p-day today and went to the zoo.
I know I didn't usually like to go since I am not much of a zoo person but we had lots of fun!

This week was good! We saw a lot of miracles. Sister Rowley and
I have made it a goal to invite at least 1 person a day to be baptized
and so far we have been doing great! I keep forgetting to tell you
about it but we have been keeping it up for like 3 or 4 weeks now.
Sometimes we will even get 4 or 5 people a day. It is awesome because
it really helps us to search for those people and opportunities to
talk to people and helps us to become challenging and testifying
missionaries.

I had to give a training on how to be a challenging and testifying
missionary this week and it was a little intimidating because I still
dont know exactly how to do that but i am working on it! I think that
it went pretty well!

We had a breakfast with our branch president this past Friday and that
was great! We finally had like a real correlation! We haven't had one
in a long time because we have had stake conference and regional
conferences lately. We did some service for him and I got some nice
cuts on my hands that seem to open every single time I shake someone's
hand. And we do that a lot on a mission...

We met a man named G who is the real Santa Claus. He has a giant
beard. Ill try and get a picture next time I see him. He is so
prepared and has been taught all the lessons before and then all of a
sudden the missionaries just stopped coming. That was about 2 yrs ago
and he is still searching for a church and said that he really wants
to be baptized.

Great things are happening here in Riverview! Transfers are next
Thursday and I have no idea what is going to happen. Love and miss you
tons though!

Thanks for all the love and support!
Love and miss you!

Week # 23 November 3, 2016 Baptisms still on schedule.

Hey Family,

I am doing well! It sounds like you guys are all doing well! Thanks for all the pictures! You all look great!

That's great that you felt so good during this Ragnar! What do you think was the difference? Did you train more or eat healthier or just like trails more? I think that you can definitely do a marathon if you put your mind to it! You would have to find time to train in all of your traveling and busy schedule but I think that you would love it! Don't get too much faster than me, haha! I finally got to run a little bit more than normal this week though! Every monday we have a thing called "mospo" (aka. morning sports) where all the Elders and Sister in the zone meet at the Stake center at 6am and we play sports and its so fun! We have been having some conferences in our stake center though so we decided to do it in the Norfleet building instead, which is like 6ish miles away. We always run to mospo so I slightly joked (hoping that it would actually happen) that we were going to run to the Norfleet building too and to my surprise, my companion went along with it and so did another companionship! Everyone else thought we were completely crazy though. We decided to do like a ragnar idea where I would run the whole way but I would always have a sister with me and the car would meet us at a certain spot, the sister running with me would jump in the car and another would jump out and replace her. That way they didn't have to run the whole way and I would be able to run the whole way! It was a good idea but didn't work out too well in action. We woke up at 5:10 (a realistic time for the other sisters) and the first mile was great. I ran with Sister Rowley and then a mile in, the car pulled over and Sister S hopped out and ran with me. Only about .5 mi out (and up a big hill), she was already struggling and wanted to get back in the car, but when the car was turning around to come back to us, it lost us and could not find us anywhere. Sister S started having a panic attack or something and was exhausted and it was a mess. But she was a trooper and kept going, doing a walking/jogging thing. Eventually (about 3 miles later) the car finally found us and Sister K got to get out and run for the last few miles. I loved finally being able to run. I'll just be sure the next time we will carry a phone with us. Hopefully they let there be a next time. 

When does Jason find out about schools? Is he worried? Is Rachel sad that she will be all alone soon? She looked like a cutie for halloween haha! Ya she looks like something I would have dressed up as. Not much effort but enough for other people to tell who you are. 

I have really enjoyed having our family calendar and I get a lot of compliments on it from other sisters! I have it hanging on the wall right by my bed. 

I cant believe that there will be another president by the next time that I have pday. Im not supposed to talk politics so I dont know much but I know that both of those candidates will be bad for the country. It'll be crazy to see what happens. I am glad that I am on my mission right now and don't really have to worry about all of that (not like I was into politics before my mission though). 

I heard that all of the kids are getting together for thanksgiving! That is so fun! I wish that I could be there with you! You'll have to take lots of pictures and send them to me. Maybe I'll be home for next Thanksgiving. Im not sure when I go home because typically, they send the spanish missionaries home one transfer before all the other missionaries they came out with. If that happens, I would come home at the end of October but if they keep me then I will be home in the first week of December. That's still a while away but its crazy to think that if i do go home in October, I only have less than a year left of mission. Weird. 

As for J and L, the only problem is that they live in another stake but our ward building is closer to their houses so they come to our building but technically, because they aren't in our stake, the elders shouldn't be teaching them. So im not really sure what is going to happen with that. He is so ready to be baptized though. 

I.B. is doing really well! We had a little scare this week because he came to church with a member but when the member got to the church, he ditched I.B. And I.B. doesnt know any english. So he was lost and couldn't talk to anyone and no one knew where he was. We walked around for forever before, during, and after the meeting trying to find him and we couldn't find him until like 20ish minutes after the meeting ended. So he sat through the stake conference but he didn't have headphones so he didn't understand anything either. I know the spirit speaks all languages but it still helps when you can understand what the speaker is saying. He still wants to be baptized though, so that's exciting! We have a lesson with him tonight so I will update on that next week. Hopefully he will be able to be baptized next weekend!

C and L are doing well too! C has already quit all of her word of wisdom issues but L is still working on smoking. He has been smoking since he was 14 and he is almost 60 so he is having a hard time but he is doing great! They aren't married though and they are living together so we are going to have to address that when we see them this weekend. All is going well though! It is so crazy to see the atonement in action in all of these lives. I love it!

We have a less active girl in our ward named L that we have been able to see a lot recently and her parents are not members so we have been helping them too! The dad isn't super interested but the mom and L are doing personal progress together and have been loving it! 

Its been a pretty chill week though. Not too much has happened in the visitor center. We don't get very many people in anymore. We are lucky if we get 60 people. I cant even imagine how it is going to be in the middle of winter. I really want to stay in the VC for christmas though! I love it here and I want to stay as long as possible haha. We'll see though, transfers are on the 17th. 

Sister Rowley goes home next transfer (on December 31st) though so im not sure what is going to happen. I have been in Riverview branch for 3 transfers now and typically they kick you out of a ward every 3 or 4 transfers but because my companion goes home next transfer, I either have to leave this transfer so she can lead in the area, leave in December and Riverview gets whitewashed (2 new sisters get put in the area), or i stay for 5 transfers, which is not very common. We'll see. 

Love and miss you tons! Because this letter is so long, can you just take things from this to put on the blog? You are the best! Tell the fam I say hi and that I love and miss them!

Hermana Greenwood

See I told you I.B. was a cute little man.

Y.W. at Visitor Center

Week #22 October 27, 2016 Pray Everything Works Out!

Hola,
It sounds like you guys had a great time at ragnar though! That is awesome that you did so well! I knew that you would! That sounds like a really fun group that you were with! The pictures that you sent are really cute! 

Jason and Malery looked great in the pictures before Homecoming! So cute! I bet that they had a great time! That is so crazy that they are seniors now. Wow. 

This week was great! Our mission president had a mission conference here with a bunch of mission presidents so we got to take 50 mission presidents here and their wives came as well so it was really cool to get to take all of them through the VC on Friday morning! There were also a few general authorities here that we got to give a tour to. That was really cool! I only had like 15 or so of the mission presidents but they are all SO nice! 

We started teaching this couple named J and L this week and we took him to a baptism on Saturday. L is a member and J is not. 

We went to a baptism in Kaw River and that is where Sister Gonzalez is serving right now so I got to see her again! That was great! Sister Rowley is great but I really miss sister Gonzalez. 

Sister Rowley and I have been going through our Area book and so we wrote down all the people in a notebook that only had a phone number in their information and we have been calling them while we drive and trying to weed out people that way and get a little more organized. 

We called a man named I  B and he is like a 70 year old cuban man who is so sweet! We went over on Sunday night and taught him the Restoration and he committed to being baptized on Nov 12th! He said that he believes it is all true! He then came to our trunk or treat yesterday and was so happy to be there! He said that he "wants to be in this church forever" and is so excited! So pray that everything will work out for Nov 12th! 

We also put another couple on date for Nov 19th this week. They are named L and C and are super excited as well! We are going to have to teach them a couple of the commandments pretty soon, if you know what I mean, to help prepare them for baptism but we are excited for that as well!
Things are going great here! 
Love and miss you!!

Week #21 Oct 20, 2016 Action Prayers Instead of Object Prayers

Hey Mom :) 

I love getting letters from you as well! I look forward to being able to read your talk for stake conference! I am sure that it is great and that you will do a great job! It sounds like you and dad had a great time in NY! That is so fun that you got to go on a little vacation and take some time for yourselves. You look great! We really are blessed to have these flight privileges and that cool that you got to go on a trip with him as the pilot. I hope I can do that when I get home. I told dad that it would be another motivation to learn spanish well if i got to travel to spanish speaking countries with you guys...

You're on your way to Ragnar right now? I am sure that you will do a great job! I want you to email me about it and let me know how it goes. I know I probably don't need to say this but, don't forget to take and send pictures. I look forward to doing that with you as well! That's cool that Scott and Patti are doing it with you as well! 

It was really neat being able to go visit one of the most sacred places on Earth and being able to go where no one else is allowed to go. They gave us a really cool tour and took us where only the missionaries that serve there are allowed to go. Super cool. I definitely think that I was supposed to be called to this mission and I have loved being here. It still is kinda hard occasionally to see a lot of my friends in foreign countries and in really cool places around the world but I know that I am supposed to be here. I love serving in the VC so much. 

I was able to write dad partially in spanish and that was good. It took a lot longer than it would have to just write it in English but I know that it will help me to learn it as I use it more often. I definitely have a LONG way to go but it is coming slowly. It is hard, especially because I am around people that speak english like 90% of the time and I am always just giving tours in english.

This week was good! We had zone training on Friday and they talked a lot about prayers and how we need to have Action Prayers instead of an Object Prayer. We can't just pray for things to happen and expect Heavenly Father to just do things for us and we take no action. We need to tell Him what we are going to do (following the spirit) and ask for His help and His spirit to be with you as you do it. We have to act and not just expect.

After zone training, we went and tried a headquarters Bible referral but he wasnt home so we went to one of our swahili speaking families that was in the area and they were home, which like never happens! We were able to go in their home and teach them I Am a Child of God and super basic things. They were so cute! 

We had exchanges on Saturday and got to set up for a halloween event that is going on in Independence. We went and contacted a less active that hasnt been to church in years and he was super nice and came to church on sunday! He said that he had been thinking about coming back for a while but he didnt have anyone in the branches number and it cant drive because he is an amputee (plus no one here has cars. its so weird). But we were able to arrange him a ride and he loved it!

On sunday, we had a little run in with the cops. Again. This time though, the cops were called on us. We went to contact a LA and no one came to the door so we went and talked to the neighbors and that was a success! He has been to BYU hawaii and knows a lot of mormons and was super interested. We talked to him for like 20 minutes and as we were getting in our car, cop cars pull up with their spotlights shining right at us. Turns out, the lady in the first house was home and she panicked when she saw our car sitting in front of her house for 20 minutes and called the police. The cops had a nice little laugh when they realized that we are harmless because all we do is talk about Christ and our car is full of scriptures. It all worked out but the lady was still upset that our car was in front of her house for that long...oops.

Yesterday we had district meeting and our district leader gave us the invitation to invite someone to be baptized every day for the next week so that will be interesting! So far, its going well! I'm excited to try this out.  

Pday today has been good! I love hearing from you and I hope that you have a great week. 

I love you lots!

Week #20 October 12, 2016 This Week Has Been Really Good!

Hola!
This week has been really good! Things are going well with my new
companion! She is so sweet and charitable. She's from Utah and has a
huge family. Her and all of her siblings are adopted which is cool. We
have been able to get to know well and she is super sweet and great
for being willing to get up and run with me every morning. This week
we got to go running in the rain with another companionship and it was
so fun!
We have had a pretty good week with our investigators but we had to
drop one of our top investigators, which is always sad. She has a
daughter on a mission and seemed like a golden investigator. She was
so prepared and willing to learn and meet with us often but then we
found out that she had some fears and insecurities that she wasn't
willing or even trying to overcome so it wasn't going to work out. We
had to let her go and give her some time but it'll all work out
eventually. We found a really cute family that we have started
teaching that is progressing well and we are super excited about them!
Today we had night pday because we got to go to Adam-ondi-ahman as a
VC, which was great! We went there and to far west and to Liberty
Jail. It was such a cool experience. The spirit was so strong. I love
all these sisters so much...
So I'm out of time... you can just pull things from my letter to you
and my letter to dad if you want to add more about that. Love you
lots!

Photo a person on a tour texted me of Erin and the other sisters.

Photo from a person on a tour.  We love getting these.

(Since Erin's letter was short this week I am including her letters to me and Brian as well.  She is really expressive, complimentary and loving.  We can see her growth and maturity. She even tries writing in Spanish! We sure love and miss her.)

Hey mom! I love hearing from you too!
My new companion is going well! She is really sweet. She is so nice to
get up early and run with me too. We woke up the other morning and
went running super early in the rain and it was really fun! Another
companionship got up and met us there as well. Super nice.

It is always so sweet when they want to send pictures to you. A lot of
people have been really nice lately and I have been able to take some
awesome people on tour. The other day I ended up talking to a couple
for seriously over 2 hours (because it was super slow and no one else
was in the VC and they wanted to just keep talking after their tour).
I definitely think that it has made me a much more social and outgoing
person. I know that this will be a huge benefit for me when I go home.
I think im turning even more into a mini Paige haha. Ya being at BYU
would be really fun but I am definitely learning and growing a lot
more here than I did at BYU. BYU will still be there when I get home
so Im not too worried about it. Sometimes it is hard to not reminisce
and think about things before the mish and things that will happen
after the mish but I try my best.

I am sure that you will do great at stake conference! I think the
hardest thing for you will just be to keep your talk in under 10
minutes haha. You are going to do great! When is it? Let me know how
it goes!
Love and miss you!
Hola papá! Cómo está? Suena como su última semana fue súper bien!
Si, tengo una nueva compañera y ella está muy amable. Ella está súper
simpática y dispuesta a despertarse muy temprano entonces podemos
correr en la mañana. Su español es muy bien y puede enseñarme mucho.
Es muy diferente que cuando estado con hermana González pero todavía
está bien. Está chistoso cuando hablamos en español porque soy súper
blanca y ella es... Otras personas no piensan que hablemos español.
Me gusta mucho cuando estoy sirviendo en el centro de visitantes
porque tengo muchas oportunidades para usarlo. Hay como cinco otras
hermanas en el centro de visitantes que hablan español también y hay
una que habla español para su idioma nativo. Ella es de Colombia. La
misma hermana jugó tenis a BYU antes su misión y su compañera jugó
voleibol profesional en Germany. Me gusta ellas mucho.
Tengo tiempo a enviar una parte de mi correo en español porque voy a
estar en un carro por mucho tiempo hoy. Vamos a Adam-ondi-ahman y Far
West hoy porque los directores del centro de visitantes siempre
muestran las misioneras nuevas la historia de este área. Salimos a las
7 en la mañana y vamos a regresar a las 5 y después tengo día (noche)
de preparación. Entonces no vamos a tener mucho de la obra misional
hoy pero tuve la oportunidad a sentir el espíritu mucho.  Sé que mi
español no está muy bien (y usted puede corregirme si no tiene
sentido) pero no voy a aprender si no trato.

BUT now I am running out of time so I am going to switch to English.
Because we went to Adam-ondi-ahman today I have night p-day again. But
we just had time to email and grocery shop tonight.

That's good that moms stitches aren't bad anymore! I hope that it
doesn't leave too big of a scar.

Sounds like Jason has some good schools that he is applying to! That's
a great thing to pray and fast for. I know that it will definitely
help him to know what he should put on his application and help him to
have a clear mind about it all. He is a smart and dedicated kid and I
know that he can do it :) Love you all so much! 

I am sure that mom will do an amazing job in stake conference. It will
be a challenge for her to speak in under 10 minutes but she will do a
great job haha! That is great!

That's fun that you got to see Celina at the temple. I didn't know
that she was even serving in Texas.

The ragnar is so close! That is so awesome! I will definitely have to
do some with you both when I get home. I am sure that you will both do
a great job!

The bench looks great! Mom is definitely really creative and talented
at that kind of stuff. It looks great! I remember when she made my bed
for me. That is awesome.

Ya lately, I don't know if it is because it is more slow or what, but
I have been getting a lot more people lately who have been wanting to
take pictures of me and send it to you. It is really sweet of them! I
have been able to meet some really cool people lately and have some
great tours and conversations.

It is so good to hear from you! Love you so much!

Week #19 October 6, 2016 Not Much Time To Write, Transfers Today

Hola Family,
That was a cute way that jason got asked to go to homecoming! So cute!
How is Malery doing? And how is jason doing? He getting ready to apply
for BYU?
Looks like you guys had a great conference weekend! That food looks
delicious and Rachel looks super cute hahah! My conference weekend was
good! We watched the 2 Saturday sessions at the church building and
Sunday morning at the church as well but we had shift at the VC during
the second session and so we were all gathered around a little laptop
as we sat on the main floor in case visitors came in. All of the talks
were so incredible!! I loved all of them! I feel bad that before my
mission I would sleep through so many of the talks because I really
missed out on a lot.
I dont have much time because transfers were today and so we literally
only got 2 hours for pday. The new missionaries came in at 1:00 for
transfers and so I spent my whole morning packing up Sister Gonzalez
and then spent the whole rest of the day unpacking and cleaning up the
apartment for my new companion sister ROWLEY. She is so sweet and I am
so excited for this transfer! She is english speaking but has learned
quite a bit of spanish here on her mission (she goes home in December)
and so she is still able to help me learn Spanish. It'll be good! She
is the one in the middle in the black skirt in the picture.
I hope that you are all doing well! Love and miss you all so much!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I love and miss you so much! I wish that I could
be there to celebrate with you but it looks like you had fun at top
golf! You are so sweet and I have loved being able to hear from you
each week here on my mission. Thanks for all your advice and words of
wisdom! You have really helped me to be confident in myself and focus
on those around me. I am so grateful for your amazing example and for
your support. I hope that you have a great day! I wish I could write
more but I have to go...LOVE YOU

Transfer Day: Goodbye Sister Gonzalez and Welcome Sister Rowley

Week 18: September 29, 2016 The Temple Here is Beautiful

Hi Everyone,

Today we don't have too much of a pday though. We went to the temple this morning, which was great! We are allowed to go every 3 months (if it has been over 3 months for your companion as well) and you just have to have a member ride to the temple. So we woke up at 4:30 this morning and went running. Sister Gonzalez is not a runner so she is so nice to get up and do that with me. She was one of the sisters that wants me to help them become a runner and it has been great running with her everyday. Sometimes we don't get to run for very long but even just the little bit is nice. Then we got ready and had personal and companionship study each for an hour and then left for the temple at 8:30 and went to the first session at 9:30. The temple here is beautiful! As we were taking pictures outside of the temple, sister Gonzalez and I realized that we are kinda matching today with our black and white outfits...wasn't planned but that's kinda fun. We stopped at Walmart on our way home from the members house after the temple and got groceries. While we were wandering around the store we noticed that there were some super cheap Halloween shirts so we ended up buying matching glow-in-the-dark Halloween shirts just for fun. We decided that we needed to do it because we only have a week left in this transfer and sister Gonzalez has been here in Riverview for 6 months now so we are thinking that she will be leaving and I'll get a new companion here. It'll be sad but it will be good to change and have the opportunity to learn from another companion.  

We are still teaching A and he is doing really well! He is still on date for Oct 8th and is excited about it. It has been really difficult with the whole language barrier but we think that we might have found someone nearby that is a recent convert and he speaks both Swahili and English fluently so that was a huge miracle this week! We haven't quite figured out how it is all going to work yet but we are praying that he will be able to at least help us over the phone or something. We were able to meet his family yesterday and they were all so sweet! Hopefully they will see his example and will want to learn about the gospel as well.We had a lesson with a man named P on Tuesday night and that went really well! He is from Mexico and is so nice! It was the first time we met him and we taught him the restoration and he said that he believes that it is all true. We invited him to baptism and he said yes but we haven't picked a date yet. We are praying that he will be able to continue to progress and keep that desire to follow the example of Jesus Christ. He spoke really fast and had a weird accent so I had a really hard time understanding him but I tried. It was nice to have a companion from Mexico to help me out when I was lost.

It has been pretty slow lately at the VC but we actually had a couple large tour groups come in this week and that was so great! It was all a bunch of old couples who are traveling to all the historical sites. I love giving tours in general but this past group that came in this week was one of my favorites. They were just so eager to learn and the spirit was so strong.  

I gave a tour this Saturday, right before women's conference (which was incredible!), and afterwards found out that a member of the presiding bishopric (bishop Waddell) was in my group! So that was pretty cool. He wasn't in church clothes or anything and it was a LARGE group so I didn't even notice him. 

There have been so many miracles this week and I am so grateful for this transfer that I have had with Sister Gonzalez. I have been able to learn so much from her and I am excited to see what will happen next transfer! 

Love and miss you! Have a great week!