Week 13: August 23, 2016: Almost done with 1st transfer!

Hey Fam!

Ya! It was good to take the Dennis' around the VC and finally meet them! I had heard of them before but it was good to give them a tour and talk to them! 

I got a letter from the YW this week and it was super sweet! They all did a great job and were so cute! Tell them thank you and that I loved reading them!

We had exchanges from Friday night to Saturday before shift at 3 so it was pretty short but it was crazy! Sister Gonzalez went to North Kansas this time and I stayed here with Sister W. She helped me a bunch and I loved being on exchanges with her. We typically have more English appointments than Spanish here but of course the time that I am here without a Spanish speaking companion is the time that we have all these Spanish speakers trying to talk to us. We had an appointment at 1:30 on Saturday, so we showed up just a little bit before and as we were waiting at the door (which they didn't hear us knocking on for a while) this blue van was sitting at the house next door and 2 people get out of the back seat and break open the window to the house and climb in and were robbing the house. I have gone finding at that house before so I know who lives there and it definitely was not them. So we call the cops and tell them everything. We go into our lesson and we are teaching them when the cops show up and start talking to the people. They were just telling a bunch of lies about everything and the cops just got right back in their cars and left. So frustrating. Then the people robbing the house knew that we had called the cops so they starting yelling at us to come out of
the house and were videoing us through the glass door and were going crazy. Then they jumped in their cars and left. But don't worry I'm safe. And we got through the lesson and it went really well! I gave an entire lesson in Spanish and could speak and understand! (at least I think so...) Sister G got a training call again which means that she is  probably leaving Riverview to train a new Spanish speaking sister so I don't know what is going to happen to me. That's awesome for her though! We finally had a solid comp inventory this week and we are getting along so well! We find out tonight who leaves and who stays but it's after pday is over so it'll be a week before I can let you know what happens.

We had to drop 2 of our top investigators yesterday and while it was super hard, it was also one of the most powerful experiences I have had on my mission.   We have had quite a few lessons with them and they seemed really interested at first but then they seemed like they weren't progressing very much towards baptism. They haven't kept any of their commitments. After explaining to them that faith requires action and that if they want to be baptized they have to act on our invitations, they started getting upset. They finally told us that they just wanted to do fellowshipping and study the word of God together but not be a member of our church, so we bore more testimony with more power than I ever have and I told them that we couldn't keep meeting with them. It was a great bonding experience between Sister G and I and the spirit was so strong. They just weren't ready and we could have spent all our time together with them, trying to teach them, but there are so many other people in our area ready to harvest (D&C 4). The importance of investigators keeping commitments

that will bless us in our harvesting efforts going forward. Eventually they will understand, but for now, we have to move on to other people.

This past week was spirit week at the visitor center so we got a new "mission call" everyday and we would have to wear the colors of their flag that day. Then we would have food from that country brought in to us and it was great. We also had to do a scavenger hunt which was awesome! We finally have started taking more pictures! They are all random and awkward and weird but still! (Photo in a separate post so you'll need to scroll down to Week #13 Photos.)

Thank you so much for everything you
do! I love and miss you all! Thanks for all the pictures this week!

The photo I sent Erin of Jason and Rachel on first day of 2016-2017 school year.

Rachel is looking so grown up and pretty! I love her saltwater sandals... I miss sandals so much. Tell her to email me about how school is going and sports and everything! Tell Jason to do the same

now that he is a senior! Crazy! I look forward to hearing from you all!
Hermana Greenwood