Hello, hello family!
I'm a bit short on time today, but I just wanted to tell you a few fun and exciting things from this week:
1. A VISIT FROM ELDER MALM. This was actually from last week, but I hadn't told you about it yet. Elder Malm, from the Quorum of the Seventy came and visited our mission, and it was SO amazing! He reminded us that we should NEVER expect someone to say no--they all said yes to this plan once, and there's a part of everyone that wants to say yes again. There were lots of other wonderful things we talked about, but it'd take all day to write. You can just trust that it was FANTASTIC!
2. TRANSFER MEETING! I got to see 4 of my favorite people at transfer meeting this week:
a) The wonderful Doenice Chavez,
b) Sister Kayla Cox,
c) Hermana Proctor (man, I love her) and,
d) JONATHAN!! In case you don't remember, John is one of my favorite investigators from Camarillo, whom I just adore. AND he came to transfers with news...HE'S GETTING BAPTIZED!! Apparently, he just walked right up to the sisters after we left, and said, "I've decided to be baptized...on THIS day (Sorry, I forget which day it is...:). And since then, he's been working toward it! It'll be interesting to see though--the Camarillo Sisters were just replaced with Elders...and John doesn't take too kindly to them. But, LUCKILY, he's converted to the gospel, not the missionaries. He'll be okay. :)
3. I HAVE A NEW COMPANION!! Sister Platt is in Ventura 2nd ward now, and I'm serving with Sister Cox (not the same one that trained me :). She is from Mapleton, UT, and has been serving for about a year now. She is SO great. She has such a powerful testimony, and brings the spirit so strongly when she teaches. We've definitely seen miracles this week.
4. TARANTULA SEASON. So...Sister Cox and I were driving down the road by the church, when we saw something sitting in the middle of the street: I might add, something big enough for us to not only see from down the street, but to stop, and say...what in the world is that?! We seriously though it was a small animal, so we tried driving around it...NOPE. IT WAS A SPIDER. Apparently, this is their time of year, and they are all over the place. They are horrifying...but it's okay, because we have faith that God will protect His missionaries. Still, SO gross.
5. THE WORK IS PROGRESSING. Things are going great here with our investigators. We had an AWESOME lesson with Euell this week, and we were finally able to find out why he wouldn't commit to baptism. We're working right now on helping him overcome it, but he is SO close, and has so much potential. I have no doubt in my mind that he will get there, even if it takes a little while. :) We FINALLY helped Lenore fix her cupboards this week (who knew I could be handy?!), and she was so darn happy. Now that they're fixed, we've painted them...and next week, we're going back to paint flowers on them. :) Beside our handywork, she's also reading the Book of Mormon. It makes absolute and complete sense to her--it's so neat! She's another, that I have not doubt, will get there. I love that lady, and she's on my list of people to come back and visit. :)
6. EXCITING THINGS ARE HAPPENING THIS WEEK! At the transfer, we actually go put into the Santa Barbara district, which means no more of our fun drives out to Lompoc. :( But this week, we're getting together with our district to see "Meet the Mormons." Yep, they're showing it to all of the missionaries, so we can talk about it with our investigators. It'll be a lot of fun!!
Well, cute family...I have to go for today. But, I hope you all know how much I love you. Can you believe I've been here SIX MONTHS?! Time's flying, and I'll be seeing all your cute faces very soon. Love you forever. :)
♥Sister Shay Shay
