I'm on a mission...preachin the gospel's my game...

April 29, 2010

I don't know where to start this week...all the weeks go so fast, they all kind of blur into one and I can't remember where one started and one ended or if I've already told you stories or not.

Mabel got baptized last Saturday!!!!!!!!! Her husband came! That was cool because we've only met him once. He's not really interested but I think that he will follow her example. She said that he's been asking questions about Joseph Smith. He doesn't want us to come teach him, but I think that that will change soon. Her dad, Abel, is getting baptized this Saturday!!! (Her mom is Sister Quiztian that got baptized in March.) And now her younger sister Jacky, who is 22, wants us to start teaching her so we have an appointment with her tomorrow morning!!!! Their whole family is amazing...I can't wait to go to the temple with them in a year!!!!

We had zone conference on Tuesday. It was great. I love getting together and see all the missionaries (well. half of them). It's fun because I'm beginning to actually know people. President challenged every companionship to have 2 baptisms in the month of May. (more on that later.) After zone conference, we went on exchanges with some other sisters; Sister Vasquez went up to Denton with Sister Jacobson, and Sister Savage came to Arlington with me. (Well, stayed. ZC was in Arlington.) It was really fun and she is really cool. She served here about a year ago so we went and saw people she had taught that hadn't been baptized. We also tracted and met this old guy named "Little Bear." It even said his name on his hat. He got the name because when he was a teenager he was small but he had huge hands. He could crush a full 3 lb coffee can with one hand and carry a full size fridge on his back up three flights of stairs and some other stuff. He told us a bunch of crazy stories that had nothing to do with each other, then told us that he has his own religion.

That night we went to Fort Worth, ate some crazy potato/chicken/I don't want to know what else was in it stuff with Hermana Hernandez (one of the members Jesus lives with, but he was at work) then went to an appt that was home. After we taught Chalino the ten commandments and tithing. He is the coolest guy ever. By the time he gets baptized, we'll have taught EVERY single thing, that doesn't happen that often. The only thing is he's old and he can't drive himself to church and we have a hard time finding him rides and then he's sick or something so he can't come anyway. BUT he promised us that he'll be there the next 2 Sundays and then he can get baptized after church on the 9th!!!! We're praying hard that that will happen.

After we went to the Quiztians. I didn't have time to tell Sister Savage much about them, just that they were recent converts. (It was Mabel and Sis. Quiztian). Sis Savage directed the conversation while I laughed inside.. When she asked them if they were reading in the Book of Mormon, I laughed really hard. Because Sister Quiztian started teaching Sister Savage all the stuff she'd read. AND all the things she's read in the 7 Liahona's we've given her, and everything she's read in the Doctrine and Covenants. Sister Savage was pretty impressed and a little jealous I think. ;) They're a great family. And Sister Quiztian says our name, "Hermana Vau-ooh-g-nay."

Afterwards we went to see if Jesus was home but he wasn't. The next day we went out to Mansfield, did a few more of her formers and then tracted. Mansfield is kind of cool. You should google it. It's kind of how I picture a little Texas town. And I bet they have a really cool 4th of July program. Everyone had flags in their yard.

We met our companions at the church and then we went and ate with Sister Favela and the elders. We had ramen noodles with cabbage in it and egg rolls. We were late so Sister Favela explained to us that they were egg rolls, not mini burritos. I guess the elders got confused. I didn't eat the cabbage because it was slimy and Elder Alcaraz said, "Why aren't you eating that?" "Because it's weird." "You Americans have no taste for Japanese food." And one of the other elders said, "Elder. It's ramen noodles."

After that we had an appointment with this girl that the elders had contacted Sunday night after we'd all had dinner together too. We went because it was in our "area." Turns out she wasn't there but her brother was and he'd taken lessons before. Actually, the memeber that was with us had been there with the other sisters a year ago. (He speaks Spanish.) He was nice at first, but then he started asking crazy questions and telling us all these JW beliefs like the 144,000 or whatever that will go to heaven and questions about whether heaven is going to be on earth and that all churches are just there to confuse us and to preach to us and just going off. Sister Vasquez and I kept trying to explain; like we taught him the 3 degrees of glory and we were showing him scriptures in the bible that talked about it and stuff. It was hard because neither of us knew exactly what he was saying, just the gist of it. We'd answer, and then he'd keep talking about it. Finally I was done so I said a prayer and then a scripture that Elder Adair (he went home at the end of last transfer) had shared with me in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 came to my mind. I told him that I wanted to share a scripture, I read it, and then I told him that missionaries are like Paul. We don't know everything, we don't have all the wisdom, but we do have our testimonies. We do know that the things that we share are true, and that if we pray with real intent, God will let us know. I told him that he could pray too and find out. It was amazing to feel the Spirit work through me...I talked for about 3 or 4 minutes, all in Spanish. I've never done that before and I know that I didn't do it on my own. Our member bore her testimony too. And then he said, "That's great. I have prayed. 3 times. And I got the answer that all churches are good." I thought of another scripture, but I didn't know where it was, just that it was in the New Testament. I had a feeling to open my bible, and I opened right to the page. I read that there was one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. I told him that there is only ONE church, and it's the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I told him so more things, but even right after I said them, I couldn't remember them. We talked for a little more and then we left.

It's amazing how much the Spirit can help us if we let him. I know that this church is true and that what we do as missionaries is important. Jake, I'm excited for you to be able to serve and I know that the Lord will help you as you prepare and put forth the effort.

Ok, I said I'd talk more about the 2 baptism challenge. Well, we already have 3 baptisms lined up (Abel - 1st, Jesus - 8th, Chalino -9th) so we decided that we should go for 2 EACH. We told Elder Taylor our district leader and he said, "Sisters!! I was expecting at least 6!" So we changed it to 3 each. Then we told Elder Birch, our zone leader. Well, Sister Vasquez and I are going to help 8 of our brothers and sisters here in Arlington into the waters of baptism in May. :) We're excited for that.

In RS we shared a thought and then asked who wanted to give a BoM to a friend. We decided to talk about eternal families because that always gets women going. We took pictures of our families and showed them and I told them that you all went through the temple, now we're all endowed and nick and jill got married in the temple. They all cried and we gave away 12 Book of Mormons.

Until next week,

Soy la Hermana Vaughn