BIRTHDAY WEEK!
HOLA FAMILIA!!!!
Thank
you SO much for all the Birthday wishes and for the wonderful gifts!
You are the BEST! It was exactly what I needed to make it the BEST
Birthday :) I feel SO SO SO blessed this past week. I got all I could
have ever asked for, plus some. It was amazing!
The "partying" began
on Friday
when we had a Leadership Meeting in Sarasota. Hermana Duong and I
didn't know what to do when we were asked to wear "approved 'other
activity' clothing" Aka Jeans and a t-shirt! It was SO weird to see
everyone like that, but it was fun for a change. We had part of our
meeting at the Sarasota church building, and it was an AMAZING meeting. I
learned so much adn teh spirit was so strong. Our responsibilities as
leaders in the mission have expanded, but our obedience levels are
rising and we are seeing a lot more success. This IS the Lord's work and
this is His way. By it, we are receiving His blessings.
Around 5 we went out to the beach. Oh man, it was gorgeous!
There we had Olive Garden on teh picnic tables and then after we enjoyed
roasting marshmallows and taking pictures. One of teh Elders had his
guitar (I don't think it ever leaves his side) and sat down in the sand
and started to play and sing "Nearer My God to Thee". All the other
Elders sat down adn joined in, and before we knew it, all of us were
singing hymns sitting on teh beach watching teh sunset. THAT was a
beautiful moment! We had a little fireside there and the learning
through the spirit continued. I was able to see Hermana Birch AND
Hermana Rodriguez and Larsen, so that in and of itself made me SO happy!
Then being able to spend that time with them, and learn from them as
they gave us trainings during the day was even better. Hermana Duong and
I had a training that we gave on Planning. On the front of our planners
is a Compass. We compared this compass to teh one nephi had and then
related our planning to that story. That training again was a witness to
me that the Spirit speaks through me because I was uplifted, and others
were as well. (I will try to send p ictures adn videos, but I'm not
sure if it will work or not. My camera doesn't capture the colors here
well, but they are beautiful!!!)
Saturday
was another beautiful day! It was SO hard to get out of bed, as we got
home later than usual, but it was so worth it! We exercised and after, I
opened my presents. Thank you!!! IT was just what I needed! Hermana
Duong made me French Toast for Breakfast, and then we hit the studies
and they were GREAT! We went out to start our work for the Day and when
we knocked on our investigator's Tachima's door, her little boy opened
it and started s inging "HAPPY Birthday! They had a cake and everything
Chocolate Tres Leches. YUM! They are SO sweet! Alex, her little boy,
helped me blow out the candles. He is too cute! We then went and had a
lesson with Jose. HE HAS A BAPTISMAL DATE for
October 27th!!!!
: ) We are so excited for him! He has been progressing so well and he
absolutely loves being a part of the church. We went out to dinner at a
Steak house, YUM! Thanks Mom! Some of the Elders in teh area joined us
too, so it was even more fun with more people :) We then went to our
appointment with the Arguetas (the ones you met on Skype over Mother's
Day) and they pulled out this HUGE Tres Leches cake adn whipped out the
hispanic Happy Birthday music. They are so awesome!!! So they sang and I
blew out the candles. I guess it is a Mexican thing to take a bite of
your cake after you blow out the candles, so they told me to do it. I
did it, and as I did, they shoved my face into the cake! We all laughed
and had a great time eating that DELICIOUS cake!!! No worries, we still
taught them like we were supposed to, just had a a lot of fun along the
way. Afterall, missionary work is supposed to be FUN! :)
After that, we went to my favorite investigator's house, Noemi
and Julio and saw their girls. They were having a Halloween party for
their girls. Our mission president gave the leaders a special assignment
to "get out among the people". We are in testing mode right now, but he
is having us get out among the people with members who are too busy
being parents adn running from sports game to sports game, and going
with them to the games, not to watch the games, but to contact their
friends there and to build the kingdom! :) We went to this party and
that is exactly what we did! Everyone was all dressed up for halloween
and they were all Mexicans at this party. We got the weirdest looks when
we walked in! It was really neat experience though, and we were able to
contact a lot of their friends and they loved introducing us to them.
We were about to leave so we could get home on time, and Noemi asked if
we would wait for just 5 more minutes. We still had a few minutes, so we
did. A few minutes later, her husband walks in with this huge cake for
me, with my name written on it. I blew out the candles adn again, took a
bite. Hermana Duong got me from behind this time, adn all the Mexicans
laughed because that was such a mexican thing to do, yet these 2
American girls were there. They definitely had that one planned out
before... haha It was so sweet of them! Noemi and their Oldest Daughter
Yessenia have birthdays today adn
tomorrow
too, so it'll be a fun week of celebrating for them. They are the
nicest couple and have such a wonderful family structure. We are working
hard with them and preparing them for baptism, adn especially the
temple! I LOVE THIS WORK!!!!!
I know it is true with all my heart adn I am SO grateful for the
opportunity that I have had to share the great message of happiness, and
especially the blessings that come from the temple. WE CAN AND WILL BE
TOGETHER FOREVER!!!!
I love this girl, she is amazing. Sounds like she is touching everyone's lives she is good at that.
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