Sept. 28, 2015

With her new companion, Hermana Pardo

Hello familia! Transfers went great! It was weird to leave Hermana Stevens, but it was also very exciting to meet Hermana Pardo. She is awesome! She is almost 24 and has 6 months on her mission and speaks a little bit of English but basically we only speak Spanish. It was really hard at first getting used to each other's teaching styles and I was super stressed to take the lead in the area but I learned so much from all of this. I've already learned so much from Hermana Pardo and I can't wait to learn more from her! And it was so cool to really see the Spirit of the Lord work through me this week and I prayed and prayed for guidance to lead this area and not forget anyone that we are teaching and to be led to the places we needed to be. There were many instances when I felt prompted to visit a certain person or go to a certain places and we ended up finding someone that was interested or needed service or something of the kind. It was so cool and so humbling to see that if we put complete faith in the Lord we won't have to worry or fear because He will guide us and help us know His will. 

We were able to watch women's conference on Saturday but it was in Spanish.... from what I could understand, it was really good! But I can't wait to get the Ensign for next month and be able to read them in English. Also, did you guys get to see the Eclipse last night?! It was so cool! :)

To answer some of your questions- stake conference was pretty incredible because I was able to understand the majority of what was said. The gift of tongues is real! And another cool experience I had with the language this week is that we were contacting and we started talking to this elderly lady and she switched between spanish and english and there was a point in the lesson when I had the thought "Is she speaking english or spanish?" It was so weird because she was speaking in Spanish at that moment but I could understand everything and I didn't even realize that it was spanish. It was so cool! :)

I can't tell you how excited I am for general conference!!!!!!! It's going to be amazing! And I can watch it in English! Yay!!! And we will get THREE new apostles! Yay!!!! :) So excited! However, watching women's conference made me pretty homesick so hopefully general conference won't make me as homesick.... but I'm just so excited!!!!! :)

K. and J. are still slowly but surely progressing. They won't be ready for their baptism on the 10th but I know it will happen at some point. They are so eager to learn and willing to keep all their commitments. They're awesome! It was so sad because we visited them the night before Hermana Stevens left and K. just broke down bawling. It was so sad. But they already have a pretty good relationship with Hermana Pardo now so hopefully they continue moving forward. Thanks for keeping them in your prayers!

Amelia lost a tooth?! I'll have to start calling her toothless now! :) 

Saturday was really interesting, because Hermana Pardo and I had a super deep conversation about the Plan of Salvation. We talked about it in between appointments and contacts for about 3 hours! It surprised me because I realized that I have so many questions about the Plan of Salvation that we don't have answers to. I've always been pretty nervous to ask my questions out loud because I've always thought that questions were the same as doubts- if you question a certain doctrine, then you doubt that doctrine too. But I've come to realize that that's not the case. Just because we are in the true church of God, doesn't mean we won't have questions. Knowing the truth and being members of the true church doesn't give us all the answers, but it does give us the faith that there is a Supreme Being who does know all the answers and the hope that in His timing and according to His will, all will be revealed unto us. I was fascinated that Hermana Pardo and I have so many questions about the Plan of Salvation, but at the same time have firm testimonies of this same Plan. I can't wait for the day when we will truly know the mysteries of heaven and have all of our questions answered. But until then we can trust in the knowledge that has been revealed and we can push forward with hope that God knows the rest. 

Thanks so much for all of your support and love and I hope you all have a fabulous week!

Love you all so so very much!!!!!!!

--

~Hermana Allan