March 4, 2013 Maren

Hey family!

How are you all doing?! 

Man, there is so much to write about and I know that I'm forgetting half of it but i'll do my best.

So this week was hard. A lot of long days with people forgetting or purposely ignoring us when we would stop by for appointments. Kinda sad, but it'll be okay. Our hardest thing is to go out Tracting... but when we push ourselves to do it we always find at least one person to talk to. On Friday we had a few hours of "free" time so we decided to go knock... and when I say decided I mean we forced ourselves to go knock doors. We tracted into a house full of hispanic people, probably 3 or 4 families all living in this one house! The two people that let us in were so nice and readily listened to our message. I got to tell the story of the first vision (in spanish!) and it was really cool. The girl seems like she's been taught before... she already has a book of mormon and a restoration pamphlet and she seemed really excited to be talking to the missionaries again. We're excited to teach them again this week.

Lets see... 

Okay. So Gjina has an official Baptism date. It will be March 17! Cool! She is a really cool woman and is already so firm in the gospel. When she learned about Sabbath day and keeping it Holy she went to her Boss and basically said I am not going to work on Sunday's... if you don't like that I will be going somewhere else to find a job. And her Boss said, okay! you won't be working on Sundays. :D Pretty cool huh?

On Saturday we were invited to go walk in a parade in the Far Rockaway's. That is the area that was hit the hardest in hurricane Sandy and where the missionaries spent most of their time serving after the storm. We got to wear the yellow helping hands vests. I'll try to include pictures. It was such an amazing experience. First it was cool because almost the whole mission was there so I got to see all my friends from the MTC. They are all doing so well and it was good to be able to talk to them. But it was really cool because of the reaction that the locals had when they saw the yellow vests. I couldn't Believe all the cheering. Even before the parade started people would walk or drive by and yell "Thank you!" to us. While we were walking people cheered the loudest when we walked by. They waved, and clapped, some ran forward to give us high fives or shake our hands. Many people were crying. I got my first glimpse of what happened there and how the service of the missionaries had soften the hearts of these people. Some of the coolest things we heard was 'We love you guys!" and people chanting "Mormons! Mormons! Mormons!" Talk about crazy... only in Far Rockaway. Maybe we should just start tracting in the yellow vests... haha. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My other favorite part of this week was yesterday. It was a good day of running around and meeting lots of members and investigators. We started teaching the 14 year old niece of our Branch President who has been coming to church for a few months and wants to get baptized... we're not 100% sure why but she can't for a while so we'll just be teaching her the lessons and reading with her until she finally can. She's really fun. Getting to know her yesterday was so cool. We're going to have fun teaching her.

Last night we also got to go to the CES fireside being broadcast at the church. It was Elder Bednar speaking and O man was it good! You should all go watch it. I hope Tania saw it because it addressed something we philosophized about on our way home from California in September. It was about how faith and the Will of God coexist and interact with each other. Seriously... just go read it. It was exactly what I needed to hear, especially as I've been trying to figure out if I am really supposed to be here. I know that this is where God told me to be... and I had enough faith to act... to get here... now do I have enough faith to give it everything I have? It was a good one. 

In other news... we are having a special stake conference on the 24th of this month and reportedly one of the 12 is supposed to be coming for it. Cool right!? I feel like i am here in this area at exactly the right time. 

Well family... I love you all. I miss you a lot too... Boys.... I miss you probably the most because I know you are all growing and changing so much while I am gone and I am missing it... please please please keep me in the loop? I know I seem really far away but I still want to be your big sister who you can talk to about anything. Mom and Dad too... I think one of you mentioned that handwritten letters would be good... I agree... don't be afraid to write some and send them off... its nice to get mail in the middle of the week. 

Tania actually wrote me this week so she's off the hook. :D Haha. All of you should follow her example. 

But seriously. I love you. This is probably the craziest experience of my life but its awesome! Its going to be hard... harder than I am sure I can even imagine... but its going to be worth it. :D 

I know that this Gospel is pure light. The hope that it brings to people is indescribable. It changes people. It can change them from down in the dumps, drug addicted, whatever to a prophet of God... I mean just look at Alma the Younger. Who know what he was all into... but he was a pretty ugly piece of work... his sole purpose was to go around a destroy the church... and then he became this awesome spiritual giant who guided the Nephites and helped make the church strong in the land! How cool! There are people out here just like Alma the Younger. They have sunk about as low as they can go... but they are ready to start looking up, and I get to find them and help start them on that path. Its a pretty cool thought.