Transfer 1, semana 5

Helloooooooo humans!

That's a reference to an attraction at Disney World, not an implication that I'm not human.

We saw some wonderful miracles this week and some really good laughs too. Just as clarification, when I say week, I usually mean from pday to pday.

So we started off strong with three temple trips in three days with new members. We also have one tonight! On Tuesday we went for ourselves and then Wednesday and Thursday we went with new members in the ward.

On Wednesday we went with George. It was really nice, except he was late! It's okay though because there were several other groups going at that same time so we just went at the end of the time slot. But next time we'll remember to remind him about it a little earlier. One of the members of the YSA branch who has gone out with us to appointments was working in the temple and he speaks Spanish so was able to help us while we were there. It was fun to see him.

We went with Anthony and his wife Eliza on Thursday. Eliza said that when she walked into the temple that she felt like she had walked into heaven and kept calling the temple workers Angels. She was so excited and it was so sweet to watch her because she felt the spirit so strongly. A funny thing that happened while we were there: we usually need some kind of language assistance because some of our people don't speak English and there was a temple worker there who spoke Italian (he served in the Italy Milan Mission!) and he tried to speak Spanish but got things mixed up. He tried to say Muchas Gracias (many thanks) but instead said Mucho Gusto (nice to meet you). He was very nice though and we were grateful for his help.

Friday and Saturday we were put in charge of teaching English classes. Usually it's put on by an organization but their grant ran out and the teacher moved so we're helping. Maybe helping isn't the right word because what we taught might not have helped. We're volunteering. I was helping David (remember him?) make some sentences. When he was done, he made a comment about my many bracelets and somehow convinced me into giving him one! I was worried for a second that it wouldn't fit on his wrist and would instead break, but it fit. It was my bracelet that said 2 Nephi 2:25, my favorite scripture and also my favorite bracelet (I have since made a new one). It was interesting though because we had just talked with him earlier in the day and told him that if he won't get baptized then we can't keep teaching him. Maybe the bracelet will inspire him to pray about baptism.

On Sunday we had invited Lacey and Sara to come to church. Lacey is on date to be baptized on April 30th and we just put Sara on date to be baptized on May 27th. They really needed to come to church because prospective members need to come three times before they're baptized and they've only been once. So we were really hoping that they'd be able to make it! Then, before church, we got a text from Lacey saying, "Sisters, your prayers worked, a miracle has happened!" which we thought meant that she and Sara would be able to come. Imagine our surprise when we walked in and Lacey's husband and two little kids were there too! We thought that he would stay home with the littles. We were so surprised, especially because we thought he totally wasn't interested in our church. When we split up into our classes (men, women, teens, and children) he took the baby and went to Elders' Quorum, Sara went to the youth group, we took the toddler to nursery (she loved it!) and we went with Lacey to Relief Society. Everyone loved their classes! Eli, the husband, participated in class which was unexpected but so wonderful. And Lacey loved the discussion we had in Relief Society. And in Sacrament meeting, their little kids were quiet and well behaved, which was something that Lacey was concerned about. They really enjoyed and I hope we made them feel welcome. A funny thing about the baby is that they call him Gordo so much that he thinks that's his name. He won't reply to his real name, but he'll turn to look when you call him Gordo.

Sunday night, we had dinner with an older couple in the ward. First of all, they didn't answer our texts or calls because we didn't set a time. Then it turns out that we had said 5 and we didn't know it until 5:40! But we zipped over there and they stuffed us to the gills. They had a casserole, chicken legs, salad and mango juice. So we ate a lot of that and then they gave us ice cream! And I was already full by this point. THEN they brought out a chocolate peanut butter pie from Costco. And I was about ready to explode. I had two bites and basically couldn't move. Hermana Beard took a quick snoozle on the couch and also had a hard time moving. Hermana Messick was fine though, not sure how she did that. Two hours later we were over at a members house and they gave us chocolate chip cookies and I went to take a bite of it but I was still so full that when I smelled it I almost tossed my cookies. Figuratively and literally. So let's hope I don't have to do that ever again.

Yesterday, we had a zone conference with a special guest speaker Jared Halvorsen. He's a professor at BYU and he had so much knowledge about ancient scripture that I could listen to him talk for hours. He reminded me a lot of my college institute (Bible study) teacher. He has a YouTube/podcast called Unbroken (I think) and I would totally listen to it if I had the time. So you should do it for me and tell me about it.

Later in the day yesterday, we went to a family's house that we had knocked a few days prior. We went inside and they had so many kids! Most of them came to listen to our lesson and we gave out 8 copies of the Book of Mormon to them in both English and Spanish. They even started reading it before we left. When I told them about Joseph Smith's first vision, they were soaking it up. One of the girls was looking at me with such amazement on her face, I would have thought she was the one having the vision. We're hopeful about them but their lives are going to get a lot busier because they're having another baby and soon will have 11 kids to take care of!! But we hope we can continue to teach them.

Whelp. This email is officially way longer than I expected it to be, and there's still so much more I could tell you. I'll leave you with this spiritual thought: do you know the parable of the widow's mite in the Bible (Mark 12:41-44, Luke 21:1-4)? It tells of rich men who give a lot of money as tithes and a poor woman who gives a single mite (penny). The woman's sacrifice is greater than the mens' because she gives all she has, even though that isn't immediately obvious. So be careful when comparing yourself and others. What we see and observe is not always what is actually happening.

I love you all! Thanks for sticking with me throughout another anthology of an email.

Hermana Soh