Hello family!
First off, let me just thank you from the very bottom of my heart for the CDs that you sent me. I love Mormon Tabernacle Choir and those songs are all Hymns and Sister Dobbins and I are just in heaven having new music to listen to. So thank you so very much. Plus one of the CDs has Adam-Ondi-Ahman which is one of my very favorite songs ever.
So this week was so busy. We had a lot of exchanges. I had the opportunity to be with Sister Batton (my MTC companion) in the Highline Samoan ward. It was really fun to be together and back in Samoa for the day. We worked so hard and sang to absolutely everyone we saw that would let us. We met an incredible man named Anthony who is so prepared for the gospel. We were talking to everyone that we saw and we were leaving a complex and he was in a moving van with the window rolled down. He left Detroit a few months ago and is working and changing his life. His kids are going to come from Detroit to be with him in a few months and he was just so prepared. We taught him the Restoration and he wants to be baptized. Sadly for us he lives in Federal Way so he's out of our mission. But he will make some missionaries over there really happy. Best referral ever. Also, I don't remember if I told you with all the crazy things happening the last few weeks but Sister Salabao (my former comp) is in the Highline ward too. I have STL serving every single one of my past companions. I'm grateful for it, though, because I love them all so much.
I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Hermana Boley in the Seahurst branch. So I got a day of Spanish which was fun. It made me so tired though because I was concentrating so much. But I actually understood a lot more than I thought I would. We also saw a lot of miracles. We were driving down this road and there was this green house that I had tracted before when I was in the Samoan ward. I told Hermana Boley that they had been Hispanic so we decided to try it. We met a man named Luis who really needs the gospel. He works on the boat as a fisherman and he had just gotten back that morning and was asking himself what he was doing with his life. What his purpose was. We sang I Am a Child of God (we do that a lot as missionaries. It's so powerful, I love it!) and we taught him a little bit and he wants to be baptized too. Wahoo! Hermana Boley and I were just so grateful after as we recognized how good God really is. He has prepared Luis to accept the gospel and he knew that six months ago or so when I was tracting that street looking for Samoans that he was preparing me for the future to remember that house. God's plan and timing of things just amazes me. I love him so much.
We had a great Zone Meeting this week. Sister Dobbins and I gave training about repentance. I'm so grateful for repentance. We are so lame and make so many mistakes but if we repent daily we can be forgiven and move forward and progress. All because of our Savior, Jesus Christ and what He's done for us. It's incredible. We had interviews with President and Sister Choi which is great. Mine are always so short. They've always been shorter than any of my comps. But it was cute. At the end of my two minute interview President just said: You are happy, yeah? I told him I was so happy. And he said: Good, when you are happy I am happy. It was just really sweet. I love President and Sister Choi so much.
This month our mission has a goal of 100 baptisms as a mission. It's been incredible the miracles we've seen as we've all gone out and worked harder than ever before. I am literally talking to everyone and singing and teaching and it just feels so good. I love it. Sometimes it is hard, but lately I've been really pondering about how I am a representative of Jesus Christ. That means that I am supposed to be doing what he would do. I realized that I have so much to work on. I've been trying to have the attitude lately of what would I do if the Savior were my missionary companion. And I've been seeing so many miracles.
I want to tell you about two really fast. Sorry this letter this week is so long. But first let me tell you about Connor. So on Wednesday night we were dropping off our member fellowship and it was about 8:55--almost curfew. There was this guy who was on the phone but I gave him a card and told him to check out the Because of Him video and he said he would and then walked away. We walked our member up to her door and then as we were turning the corner Sister Dobbins and I saw that the guy was off his phone. He was about two blocks away. She looked at me and hesitated and I was just like: Yeah! So I hurried and grabbed my stuff from the car and we started walking very briskly towards him. He turned around and we waved and started running to him. Most people would have started running away. But guess what? He turned around and started walking towards us and then started running too. It was the most ridiculous scene ever. I was laughing so hard. Here are two missionaries in the streets of Burien, WA running to this random guy and he's running back. I still laugh. I wish someone could have recorded it. Anyway, we sang to him and told him about how there's one path back to God. We didn't have a lot of time but we put him on date for baptism and set up a church tour for the next day.
The next day we have an amazing church tour and the Spirit was so strong. After the church tour we were eating the dinner we had packed really fast because we didn't have time to go home and eat. All of a sudden we see this guy's face through the kitchen window. He opened the door and he said, "I'm looking for Jesus. I'm looking for a church home. God led me here." Then he stopped and looked at us for a sec and was like, "Wait, I've met you before." We had met him at the bus stop a month earlier and said a prayer with him but he was not interested at the time. Anyway, what happened next was one of the most spiritual, powerful church tours I've ever had. His name was Zezzlet (yes, that was his name) and he was so ready to change and it was just incredible. He said the prayer at the end in the chapel and I know without a doubt that he knew this was right. We had a lesson scheduled with him for the next day. About ten minutes after it was supposed to start he called us and told us he's not coming. He said he's had a change of heart. We didn't even understand. He said that he had been doing some research and he didn't want to be a part of the Mormon church. It was really sad. He came across some anti stuff. He told us to never contact him again. It's really sad that he's using his agency in that way. But I know that he felt the Spirit and I hope that he can remember that eventually. It made me think about how heartbroken Heavenly Father must feel. And that it made me think about how many times I must break Heavenly Father's heart when I do something I know I shouldn't do or when I'm really rude to myself, etc. I don't ever want to break Heavenly Father's heart. I love him so much. I am so grateful for Him and the plan that He has for each one of us. I love this gospel with all of my heart. The month of June is going to be a beautiful month. Jesus Christ is our Savior and He lives. I am so happy! I'm sorry this is so long and probably boring. I'm not a very good story teller. But just know that I love you all and pray for you everyday. Read the Book of Mormon and CTR!
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