It has been a terrific week! We got 3 new investigators, all of whom are really solid! 1 is a recently returning members husband and they are so prepared to be strong strong members of this church. The wife's name is Uma (she is from Thailand) and then the non-member husband is Patar (from Indonesia) They are SO COOL! They cook the most amazing food. Last night they fed us Pad Thai. yum!!!! We had an amazing lesson with him last night and the spirit was so strong!! He said the closing prayer and right after his wife just grabbed and kissed him! Haha...we were a little shocked but it was so cute! They are well on there way to the temple!! We actually will have to give them over to the other Shaker Heights North sisters after transfers... They closed there area for a transfer so we got to start teaching him but now they are bringing new sisters in again....I am so sad but am so grateful to have played a small part in welcoming that family into the church.
Our other 2 new investigators have a lot of potential. Super open and both really spiritual:) They will progress really quickly if they just keep their hearts open!!! Cathy is the sweetest lady, she is always sitting out on her porching and she lives right by one of our investigators houses so we have seen her a lot and would always say "Hi" Well we finally were able to have a lesson with her. She welcomed us right up and sat us down and started asking us all these questions "Whats new with you two?!" "Tell me about your families! How are they doing!" Etc...Then she said "well, What message do you have for me today?" (she is such a talker!!!) So we whipped our the Restoration pamphlet and taught her about Prophets (we were trying to get further but she really wouldn't stop talking!!!!) She is such a spiritual person and said she would read and pray and see us soon! I am so excited to go back and see what she thought about it!!!
Our other 2 new investigators have a lot of potential. Super open and both really spiritual:) They will progress really quickly if they just keep their hearts open!!! Cathy is the sweetest lady, she is always sitting out on her porching and she lives right by one of our investigators houses so we have seen her a lot and would always say "Hi" Well we finally were able to have a lesson with her. She welcomed us right up and sat us down and started asking us all these questions "Whats new with you two?!" "Tell me about your families! How are they doing!" Etc...Then she said "well, What message do you have for me today?" (she is such a talker!!!) So we whipped our the Restoration pamphlet and taught her about Prophets (we were trying to get further but she really wouldn't stop talking!!!!) She is such a spiritual person and said she would read and pray and see us soon! I am so excited to go back and see what she thought about it!!!
Then there is D. We met her in a parking lot right by her apartments and after talking for a second she was like "I am actually a missionary too!" Haha, she is baptist and just loves to go around talking about Jesus so that was something cool we had in common, we were like "wow that is amazing! We LOVE talking about Jesus all day!" It was sweet. So we went back 2 days ago and she is really open. We just got to know her a little better and shared our testimonies with her and I think it really piqued her interest so we will definitely be seeing her soon:)
Training meeting went really well this week. We decided to focus on having more love and gratitude for each other at sites and to really pull together and be unified this summer as things start getting busier and busier...so we had everyone pull another sisters name out of a box and write a letter to that sister. It was the most touching thing! Everyone loved it.
We also had mission leadership council. It was awesome. President Vellinga just got up there and said "alright..an Apostle of the Lord came and told us 2 things...1) to NEVER leave the Church and 2) That we need to teach better. SO....how are we going to do that....???" It was so spiritual, we then counseled together on how we can inspire and help the mission accomplish that. I love being able to learn from President Vellinga, he is such an inspired man!
Now for Transfer info......We have to make up the schedule for all the sites sisters before transfers so we get to find everything out a few days before....It was SWEET! Otherwise I get so worked up waiting for the late night call that will tell us who has to pack there bags...Instead we just got a call from President, he made us solemnly promise not to tell any other missionaries...especially the sites sisters. and then we got an email from Elder Sorenson and started working on the schedule... it took aaaalllllllll day! I was so sick of that office and of staring at the computer screen...I wanted to scream and rip my hair out a couple of times. There just is so much to consider and we are still really low on sisters so its really tricky to figure out. Anyways...we did it though.
SO. Sis. Johnson is getting transferred. I was so so sad. I love her so much! We have been just the best of friends. This last transfer has been the fastest and most fun on my mission yet. I have learned so much from her and really can't wait till you all get to meet her someday. Everyone in the world should meet her and be her best friend...that's how cool she is. I think I am still in denial, I just have no idea what this next transfer is going to be like!!! But, I do know who my new companion is and I am so excited to get to know her better and learn from her. Sis. Jones actually trained her too! Which is awesome because we probably have similar teaching styles because of it. So, I know God knows what He is doing and this must be for the best:) I respect Sis. Mertlich so much and am praying we will be able to do a lot of hard work and good together in this area. I am very excited to be her companion. I am so grateful President Vellinga really is so inspired, I have been so blessed to have the best companions ever!!!! Good thing because I needed them!!
