My new companion is awesome! Her name is Hermana Ballantyne, she's from Provo, Utah, and she is such a powerful missionary.
She is so clean and organized - the Area Book was the most organized I had ever seen and the apartment was spotless, a first for right after transfers! She has excellent posture - and she doesn't eat sugar at all, because of all the health benefits.
She's a shining example of gratitude. She's always sincerely thanking people for things: "Thank you for texting that investigator." "Thank you for all your hard work." "Thank you for asking that question."
She has an amazingly powerful testimony - during a lesson with the Reyes family this week, we were teaching the plan of Salvation. She kept looking at them steadily in the eyes and saying," I know this is true. I know you can be together eternally." After the lesson, she continued to amaze me and said, "Let's say a prayer of gratitude!" In the prayer, which was one of the most heartfelt, spiritual prayers I'd ever heard, she thanked Heavenly Father that the family we were teaching was going to the Celestial Kingdom. She also thanked Heavenly Father for her companion, me. I felt honored to be included her prayer.
Later in the week, our weekly planning session was the most focused, alert, spiritually directed weekly planning session I've ever had the privilege to be a part of. I could feel the love my companion had for every single person we discussed - and at the end, when we did "comp inventory", which is like a weekly one-on-one with your companion, she had nothing but positive things to say. Truly, she is a consecrated missionary.
But.
It is my personal opinion that Satan works the hardest against the best missionaries. The tool that Satan chose to use against sweet Hermana Ballantyne was severe clinical depression. She's on the plane back to Utah right now - to heal and prepare to come back. The four months she spent here touched so many lives - we didn't have time to visit all of the people she had grown to love.
This past week has been the best and also the most difficult week of my mission. I was heartbroken that she had to leave - she was so good! I felt as though I could have done something to help her stay - say the right thing, or read her the right scripture. But we only had a week together. She assured me there was nothing I could have done - and, of course, she thanked me for being with her in this difficult time.
So I'm off to Albuquerque. I'm sure it will be full of adventures and whatnot, and the field is white and ready to harvest up there. But I will miss Texas... and I will never forget Hermana Ballantyne.
No comments:
Post a Comment