At transfers I was asked to accompany the musical number. Sister King and Hermana Hofrietza sang and Sister Cotton played the violin. It was a version of Come Thou Fount. It sounded so good! The photo below is of me at the podium sharing a miracle. I asked for my former YSA companions who were there to come up with me because I'm not used to sharing miracles alone. So they came up and I shared the success of the YSA with how we've had 7 baptisms and Keith went to the temple, got the priesthood, and got his patriarchal blessing. Aaron has been to the temple and got the priesthood, Austin same, Jaykob same, Wayne is getting the priesthood.... Miracles are just flowing out of there. So we all were up there talking about it and it just brings tears to my eyes.
Sharing YSA miracles with Sister McDonald, Sister Oldroyd and Sister LeFevor at transfer meeting.
Chris's friend Nathan moved out and it sounds like they're getting too old to keep track of each other. ..... like I'll ask Nathan and he says he doesn't know. I wrote Chris a pretty bold letter yesterday and I'll send it off today. That’s the last way I can think of to try to get in contact with him..
It's funny that you ask about my new companion. I've served around her a ton so I already know her so I just assume you do too haha. So I am just loving being with her! We have been laughing so much every day!! She is from South Ogden and she is a brand new STL. She's been out for just barely over a year. We now have Hermana Gamble living with us and I like her. We've had a fun 3 days stuck inside.
OOooook... The long awaited email about the week!!!
Monday:
So Monday was not real relaxing. We just went around visiting Spanish people before Sister Dansie was transferred and I typed my emails as I followed along. It was rough for me to want to be there. But I tried to just make the best out of the situation that I was in. I played with the little kids and just smiled and tried not to be sour about it all.
Tuesday:
Our ward mission leader, Brother Sims, took us to the transfer meeting and it was a good one! It was hard though... because I knew it was the last time I would ever be at a transfer meeting and be in the audience to watch it. It made me want to cry. Things became really real when I saw the last group before me go home. Now... I only have my time left. And I have to work harder than I've ever worked before!
So we came home and then we were taken by the Hermanas over to the Sims for dinner. Waffle Tuesday! Then Brother Sims came with us to see Debbie S. Debbie is an Investigator who has known missionaries for a while. She met them about 2 years ago in Lebanon, TN. Then she moved here and met more. She's learned a lot, but I don't know how much she's really considered and prayed about. So we told her our purpose and asked what she expected from our visits. She said she wanted to learn. Her only concern is being so connected to her church back home in another state. She's going to start making some progress.
We went back to the Sims and went over the ward list a bit to sort them into groups of who is active and Less-active. Lastly, Sister Sims came with us to see Debbie F., the recent convert. We talked about her study on the Holy Ghost and what she learned. She is just amazing as a convert to the church! She is always so excited to learn something new and progress in the gospel.
Wednesday:
We had District meeting and it was a good meeting. I love those meetings. We have trainings and then we spend the majority of the time role-playing.
We tried to see Cathy... she wasn't home. I don't know how well she is progressing. She hasn't been remembering when we're coming lately and we can't confirm because she never answers her phone.... Bummer. We also tried visiting Aiijalon. I don't know if you remember me talking about her. She has 3 kids and she is just so sweet! She had been gone for a month which is a long time not to see someone.... so we decided to try knocking on her door and she was home! We went in and sat down to talk to her. The elders were teaching her too, but we felt it was kind of confusing for her to have more than one set of missionaries coming to teach her. We didn't know what she had been taught by the elders. So we talked to the elders and they told us we could just teach her. So we went and told her that just us would be coming and she said that she was kind of confused with everything. So we went over with her some of her concerns. She was confused about the Book of Mormon and where it came from. She has been taking it to Bible study and trying to find comparisons in the Book of Mormon. She asked her Pastor about it, but he said he didn't know and would do his research. She thought that she had to believe in the Bible or the Book of Mormon, so when we told her we believed in both, she was pretty excited about it. She is incredible! She said she'll keep reading and praying.
We finished the night by contacting potentials and we had success with contacting Tawyna. She served at the storehouse one day and said she was interested but she's always so busy that she's never been taught... so she was home that night! And we got to set a return appointment with her!! It was for today... but we're stuck. So we had to cancel. But so many miracles happened that day! Sister Gustaveson is a miracle worker!
Later that night we tried to contact an Investigator and we had to get past the apartment gate. We planned to just sneak in behind the car in front of us. but the problem was that they didn't know the code either.... so soon a train of 7 cars were lined up and a guy from one car came running up to let her in... and we snuck in with them haha We sat there for close to ten minutes and..... the lady told us to go away. So we left.
Thursday:
I can't even remember much about Thursday besides the fact that we laughed a TON and it was super funny! It was a good day! This was the first day we had to ride the bus and I had to figure it all out. We made it to Cha's and it was fun for her to see Sister Gustaveson. Sister Gustaveson took my place in Nashville so she knew Cha too.
We then realized that we wouldn't have enough time to get all the way home for dinner, so we had a Rafferty's gift card from Aunt Cheryl and we took ourselves out to dinner. It is an amazing restaurant! We had to scarf our food down and then while I was paying we asked for sweet potato pie to go. So we ran to the bus, and had to figure out how to get onto the connector bus. No one on the bus knew, not even the driver. So we got off and asked a lady and she told us. We made it on the connector just fine which just ventures out into some neighborhoods away from the main road. While I was freaking out about where to get off, Sister Gustaveson was talking to a lady name Jaque, who is amazing! She was totally interested! We got her number and she said we could come over on Friday, but we've been calling and its telling us that she has her phone off or is out of service range. So... that's a bummer. We got off at the right place and went to Debbie F.'s but she wasn't home yet... so we plopped down on her porch in the 30 degree weather and had ourselves some sweet potato pie. It was so good! We were just laughing and eating and having a good time in the cold.
We had a great lesson with Debbie but it was short because we had to get back to the bus. She talked about how she's learning about forgiveness and learning to forgive her grandfather even though he did some pretty terrible things to her. She is amazingly strong and has a deep testimony of the gospel and the atonement of Christ. I love her. We got home that night and we were just dead and sore because we ran to all our bus stops because we were afraid we'd be late! So we did lots of running and walking. But it was such a fun day full of good hard missionary work.
Friday:
We tried contacting a lot of potentials this day and we had no success at all! Not a single person answered their door... it was lame! But we did have fun driving and laughing and singing and telling stories. I really love being with Sister Gustaveson because we just get along and she is a good hard working missionary. Those hard workers are the companions that have been my absolute favorites. It makes it a lot easier to work hard and to have fun while doing it too.
Lastly we saw Debbie S. and taught her the Restoration and she really liked it. We only got through half and then asked her to pray about it and she said she would. I wish we could see her more often. That would help her progression. But I really love her a lot and she's one person I want to stay in contact with forever.
Saturday:
Sister Sims picked us up and we went to visit Aijalon. She had been reading and so we taught her a bit more about the Book of Mormon and answered her questions. She's so sincere and really seeking answers... so we are going to explain the Restoration clearly to her next time we see her.
When Sister Sims dropped us off, she asked if we had a dinner appointment for Valentine's. We said no and she laughed and said "It's ok, I don't even know what I'm doing for dinner..." Haha but when we walked in, the Hermanas had warm pizza and bread sticks and shared with us. It was a good Valentine’s dinner.
That night we trekked back to our complex and met with Sherry, Kia, and Tastasia. They have been taught quite a bit but I just didn't know if they were interested... so we went and asked and they said yes and then Sister Gustaveson got them to commit to church!! It was a miracle! We left and I joked with Sister Gustaveson "Hi my name is Sister Gustaveson and I work miracles. Wanna come to church? Yeah? Ok see you tomorrow!" Hahha it was really cool though.
Sunday:
Everyone was freaking out about "the storm". We had meetings and then..... KIA, SHERRY, AND TASTESIA CAME To CHURCH!!!! They came! And..... Sacrament meeting was the most zombie meeting I've probably ever attended. EVERYONE was asleep. They didn't stay because they had already been to 2 hours of their own church so they were tired, but we had Investigators at church!!! It was so cool.
We had dinner that night with the Hamblin's and I hardly knew them, but I love them! Super fun couple! She's really into selling tupperwear and she's a violin teacher and she teaches over Skype!! How cool is that?! Her husband also imports scripture cases from Guatemala and so we got to pick some out and take them for free. It was the best dinner appointment ever. And she made us custard with caramel and mint Oreos with marshmallow cream inside. It was so good!
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Scripture covers from Guatemala.
That night we tried to contact a lady, but some man kept yelling "Who is it?" We were so scared! We went to leave and saw him staring at us through the window.... we booked it to our car and got our tails out of there! Haha
This week I think the theme has been "who cares!" Meaning.. Who cares what others think. Sister Gustaveson has commented a lot on how happy she sees that I am because she's been around me my whole mission and she says she can see a change... It's awesome. I told her that I just stopped caring what others think of me and really focusing on my relationship with God. She points out when I say "who cares" and I say it a lot. Like she'll talk about being an STL and scared to correct things and have sisters mad at her... And I'm just like "who cares?" Haha so it's awesome.
So it's been a good week and I'm thankful for these few days of being iced in... Because I've needed them to relax. I've been needing pure relaxation for a while, and now that I've got it, I want to just give God even more for the last month. I love this gospel! I love you so much!! Have a great week!
~Sister Rokovitz~
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Our Tennessee snow and iciness.
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Iced bushes.
