Hi everyone! How are you doing?! I'm doing super well. This week was really really good. We had a bunch of cool experiences.
We met a lady who is a member of the church, but hasn't gone in awhile. A bishop in an english ward told us about her. When we first met her, she wasn't very open and didn't want to open the screen door. But then we talked to her a bit and found out she works in Boise in a ear/nose/throat doctor's office. She's an assistant person. I don't remember exactly what she does, but RIGHT when she said that, I was SO happy. I had seriously been thinking about going to one of those doctors. I've had a lot of sore/mucusy throat problems for awhile. And actually, Hermana Hernandez looked at me at that same moment. She agreed. hahah So it was really cool that we were able to meet her at EXACTLY the moment in my mission when I needed that. I just asked her advice on what I should do and that definitely opened her up a little bit. NOT COINCIDENCE!
Also here, in the Nampa south stake, there is a lot of area, but mostly just neighborhoods with really large houses. And yes, hispanics might live there, but not quite as likely. Not racist or anything, just how things go here in Nampa. And so the area has struggled quite a bit. There are people, but they are harder to find. SO, one day this week, we made it our goal to study about and pray to have more faith to find people who are ready. So we did and decided that we were just going to head out and be guided. So we started off in the neighborhood of a referral. We parked and tried the referral and no one was home. So we just started walking and walked past a few houses until we went up to one. We walked up and were startled a little because a girl was sitting outside on a hammock. We started talking to her and she was super nice and receptive. And when we talked about the gospel, she applied it to her life and wanted us to come back. We could just TELL that we had been guided to her and there was a feeling that she was prepared. We're super excited for our appointment this week. A little while after that, we knocked on a few houses and nothing really. Then we met these members who told us about their neighbor. We went over there and he was barbecuing. We started talking to him. He told us that he had been in jail for awhile and been through a lot. Then we got into this really deep conversation and he opened up with some really good questions about religion and how things have changed since Christ's time and just so much. It was seriously EVERY question that could be answered by the message of the Restoration. So we talked to him a little before his friends showed up with beer (it was his son's birthday and they were having a party. We got there right before.) And we have an appointment with him tomorrow morning. I'm super excited for it. On first glance, he looks pretty rough, with tattoos and everything. But he was super friendly. At the end of our discussion, he said to us, along the lines of, "People always have misconceptions about me. I'm not what you may think..." Things like that. And about how he was actually a good guy, he's just had a hard life. Then I told him after, kinda laughing, that when he started saying that, it made me nervous. I had thought he was a cool guy, but then I was starting to second guess and maybe we'd have to get out of there if he was a serial killer or something. He just laughed and said that was probably the best thing I could have said. He just kept repeating, "So much respect. So much respect." Hahah I'm excited to teach him again. He definitely has a lot of questions and could benefit a lot from the gospel.
This just taught me a TON about faith. Praying with true faith. It really does work. When we feel like our prayers aren't answered or that we're just going along with not very much purpose, it's probably because of our prayers. We can say them with more intent, more faith, more trust in Heavenly Father. He really is there. I know that.
Thanks for listening! Or, well, reading. This was a long one. Hope you have an amazing week!
Con amor,
Hermana Shirley
PHOTOS:
When I was in Caldwell, we did a service project. The family had a pond that had mostly dried up. But there was plastic underneath that kept it from drying completely. So we got in there and took out the plastic. MESSIEST SERVICE EVER, but probably most rewarding. #gettingourhandsdirty
So many dead fish. SUPER good-smelling...
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