Dear Wonderful people,
Whew! What a week, what a week.
This week, so much has happened! On Monday, we met the Perez family, and they are so awesome! They are a part-member family, so the Dad is not a member, but the Mom is. We read Alma 32 and talked about the seed of faith. (The kids decided it was a watermelon seed. :) Hermana Burrell commented afterward that it felt just like a family home evening back home. :)
One thing that I have noticed during my time up here in Albuquerque is that it is COLD!! On Tuesday, before zone conference, all the missionaries were outside doing routine vehicle checks - checking the tire pressure, brake lights, horn and whatnot - and it brought me back to those college days at BYU Idaho because my hands were freezing!
During the conference, two men power-washed all the engines of the mission vehicles. During a break, we brought them ice-cream sandwiches, talked with them, and found out that they weren't members. Then one of them, Bruce, told us: "I've been waiting for three months for them to send somebody to my house!"
That evening, we had dinner with the Andersons, a young family heading out to Utah next week. We're helping them move next Saturday. Then, after we saw the Andersons, we went to go see the Andersons (confusing, no?) who are a golden investigator family! We walked in on them doing their daily exercise, then proceeded to have a very spiritual lesson. They have very different religious backgrounds, but as we listened to them, the Spirit took over and we read 1 Nephi one with them. One of the wife's main concerns is that when she goes to church, she feels like she's not going to make it to heaven, because of commandments she hasn't yet kept. It was so awesome when the Dad said to his wife, "Look, honey- in verse 14, it says the God won't suffer those who come unto Him to perish. There's your answer!"
Of course, some crazy things happened this week - we were asked to give service as costumed advertisers for a restaurant (we politely declined); Hermana Burrell's aunt and uncle happened to be traveling in Albuquerque and took them out to dinner while I was on exchanges (NOT allowed, but Hermana Burrell didn't know); and we found the living Alma! (pics below)
I'll explain: we met a woman on the street named Alma. I was excited - "No way! Your name is ALMA!?" I flipped to Alma 32:28 and showed her - "Look! It's YOU! Alma!" She was very excited. The very next day, she invited us back for pumpkin pie. She had told her husband and her grown daughters about us.
"I just had this great feeling last night when you left!" She exclaimed. "That was the Holy Ghost! How do you feel right now?" We asked her. "I feel good! I feel knowledge and understanding," she said. "THAT's the Holy Ghost!" As we shared the message of the Restoration, and told her of the first vision, she got teary. Finally, as we told her of the Book of Mormon, I held it out to her. Her reaction was the best I've ever seen - "For ME?!" She gasped. "Yes, for you!" "My first book of Mormon!" she said, looking at it eagerly. "You know what you need to do now," we said. "Yes! I'm going to read it!" "And pray." "And pray!" :) The best. The Book of Mormon speaks for itself - just like Tad R. Callister's talk this past conference.
SO, as many of you know, the most dangerous zone to be in as a missionary the COMFORT zone. I have learned many things as a missionary, but more recently the skill that I've been able to practice the most is packing. You guessed it! I'm being transferred again. Unfortunately another missionary is going home, so her companion will be coming to Bosque and Coronado with me while Hermana Jackson and Hermana Burrell will be staying in Valle del Norte. Sad to leave - excited to pinkwash!
Love, love, love,
Hermana Smurthwaite
1. The living Alma
2. My most recent mural
3. Tacos from home :)
No comments:
Post a Comment