Knowing me, even though I say this needs to be a fast email, it probably won't be--my poor companion is all done emailing and I hadn't started the main email because I had to take care of soon-to-depart missionary things. It's super relaxing and fun . . . *sarcasm*
Well, last Monday, we got to do an activity with a young woman named Brooke. I posted about it on Facebook, but I just wanted to inform you that it was a lot of fun, and especially after doing another painting activity this Monday, I think I've found a new hobby (that will take lots and lots more practice).
Charles is doing great! He loved learning about the Word of Wisdom. Emily, another young woman, came with us. She was incredible! She shared her testimony about the word of wisdom and it completely made the lesson. Emily is also completely blind, so while we were driving, she explained what colors are like to a blind person. She said that she associates colors with things that she knows. I love her optimism about everything and that she's just so willing to share her personality with others. We had another lesson later that week with Charles. We started talking more about his scheduled baptism date, which is November 25. He is beyond excited.
We also had a fun lesson with Laura, Anthonee, and Aalyra, and they are still doing great.
We made a new friend this week! Her name is Felicia. She is from Nigeria. I met her one of my first few days in this area and we hadn't heard from her much since when out of the blue she called us because she needed help. We arranged with the ward to help her, and then she requested a larger size copy of the Book of Mormon. We went to go drop it off, and she invited us right in. We had a wonderful discussion on the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and she just loves the Book of Mormon. We also had a second discussion with her, and without us asking her to, she had read the Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith before we came. She said that she wants to come to church before I leave.
We've still been doing a lot of finding, and this week, we had some amazing quality gospel discussion with people that we met. One night, we were having a hard time finding anyone to talk to at all, so we decided to say a prayer. Afterwards, we had a few really good conversations with people. We even gave one person a Book of Mormon. Another thing we've been able to do is to invite people to the Mesa Temple Christmas Lights. That has been a lot of fun. There are a surprising amount of people who had never even heard about the lights, but the miracle was getting to see people who were not happy to see us have their heart a little more softened as we simply invited them to come and see.
Speaking of Mesa Lights, Sister King had a HUGE miracle this week. The Mesa mission, again, invited sisters from the surrounding missions to come and help. Sister King really wanted to go because last year for Christmas, she was in the Ironwood Zone and didn't get to go. It was too far away, so they had sisters that lived closer go, which is why I got to go last year. Because we are in Temple View now, which is in the north half of the mission, I was just expecting to get an invitation. Well, we didn't. We were at Zone Conference when we found out, so I think I was too busy being wrapped up in everything going on around me that it didn't register what that meant. Sister King, on the other hand, was devastated--especially when we found out that sisters from "southern" zones had been invited. She started trying to bribe President, the Assistants, and anyone she could to try to get an invitation, and it was just turning into a wild goose chase. Eventually, we got sent to President Lowder, one of President Wheeler's counselors. We walked up to him, and Sister King proceeded to use her cookie bribery, but President Lowder said he needed to talk to us in a few minutes. We were about to turn and leave to the training we were kind of running late for, but he stopped us and asked us to wait just a little longer.
When he was done talking to whoever he was talking to, he came over to us and said that he wasn't going to come to zone conference, but about 30 minutes prior, he had received the strongest impression that he needed to come. He followed the prompting and as he walked in to the chapel, he saw Sister King and me, and the Spirit whispered, "They need to go to Mesa Lights". Because of that, he managed to work out a way so we could also go. I don't think I can express how big of a miracle this was. I was excited because I was hoping to go once more before I came home, but it meant the WORLD to Sister King. I'm really excited for any more chances I have to serve there (and hopefully I can keep my allergies under control this year), and I am even more excited that Sister King's fervent prayer was answered.
The rest of Zone Conference was amazing. I felt blessed because I have been able to see my mission come full circle. My first transfer was with President (now Elder) Nattress. One of his main focuses that he tried to teach the missionaries was to find the one. I especially heard that a lot when I was companions with Sister Kranc because it impacted her a lot. It was one of those little things that always reminded me of my first few months as a missionary. This Zone Conference, President gave a wonderful training, and it was all about fulfilling our purpose one-by-one. I tried to highlight ever time I made a note that included the word "one". I felt like it was something God really needed me to remember, not just only on my mission, but for the rest of my life.
At the end, we had our testimony meeting, and it felt really weird to be getting up for my "departing testimony". Every time I go to the pulpit, I have to make some joke about being short because the pulpit is always lowered for me. Well, I beat the system this time and I stood on the little step. AND THE PULPIT WENT UP! And then it went back down because President was giving me a hard time, but THEN IT WENT UP! I made a comment that you could say I had grown a lot on my mission. Anyways, I always expected my departing testimony to be super eloquent and what not, but it wasn't. I lost my words a few times, but I felt happy with it. I felt happy because I had been able to bear my testimony on the things I felt really impacted me on my mission: the Doctrine of Christ and learning humility. It was also a teaching opportunity from God to me because it reminded me that, yes, in just a few short (way too short) weeks, I'll be a returned missionary, but that doesn't mean I'm completely eloquent and perfect in all I say. My testimony will be powerful when I have the Spirit with me, not when I am able to "wow" the masses with my words. I think that it is still an important lesson that Heavenly Father has wanted me to learn throughout my mission, and I am so grateful for all the time I have. I love you!
Sister Emily
1001 N Burk Street
Gilbert, AZ
85234
Everyone likes to do these things called "Posterity Pictures" with all the people they've trained, and their trainees have trained and so on. This is my posterity picture. (Also, I'm really glad we had the Mesa Light Training because those are the only pictures I have.)
Original MTC Squad
Mesa Light Sisters--Arizona Gilbert Mission Edition
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