February 1, 2016

New companion! Hermana Curneal

Hello! I survived my first week of training and my baby survived her first week in the mission! YAY!!! :) This week has been a bit crazy trying to adjust, but it's been a great experience! On Tuesday we got to take the nice scenic drive again to San Juan and there, Hermana Melgar left for her new area and I had to wait for about an hour at the church before the pre-training meeting. But after about 30 min, my trainer Hermana Stevens showed up! It was so good to see her! We just talked and talked and talked and shared our experiences with each other and everything. It was so nice! And she gave me a lot of tips for training which was really super useful. Then, we had a mini training orientation with President Boucher and then the greenies arrived! It was funny, because when the greenies walked in, one of them saw me and started getting really excited and whispered something to another greenie who also got really excited and I was super confused. But then she said, "I've been reading your blog for the past several months and I absolutely loved it! You've helped prepare me for my mission so much and you make it look so easy and that made me really excited to get here!" So I just wanted to say mom, thank you for updating the blog! Apparently it helped someone. :)

Then we were assigned our babies! My baby is Hermana Curneal from Riverton. She so super cute! She's a super girly-girl and absolutely gorgeous and such a hard worker and a great missionary! She's has a really strong testimony and has taught me a lot this week. The spanish of course is a bit rough so that's been something we've been working a lot on, but she really is super great and already I love working with her!

After the baptisms last week, we didn't have very many investigators progressing, so this week we got to do a lot of finding activities! It was great because we were led in so many different ways. Also, I had a super cool experience! Because she is training we have an extra hour of companionship study in the morning where we study fundamentals of missionary work. And for this specific day, we were studying "Revelation through Prayer". We talked a lot about saying prayers with investigators in a way that helps them see that through prayer we can have close relationships with our Father in Heaven. So then later that day, we were contacting and we taught a man that was pretty interested. He said he had seen missionaries pass by his house many times but none of them had ever stopped to talk to him so he thought it was really cool that we stopped by his house. Then after we shared a bit about our message, we felt like we should say a prayer so we asked him if we could say one. But he was like no no it's ok, I'm tired and need to go rest but thank you for sharing the message. And usually I would be like that's ok, next time we'll be sure to say one, but this time I was thinking a lot about what we had studied that morning and realized that he needed a prayer. So I pushed for it. "Please please please can we just say and really short fast prayer?" "No, no, esta bien." "Look, I'll say it and it'll be super short". and after doing this for a while he finally agreed to a short prayer. so I said a short quick prayer and after I had finished he paused for a bit and didn't move. Then finally he looked up and said "I really liked that...will you guys be passing by again?'" It was a miracle! It definitely strengthened my testimony of the importance of prayer. That really is the best way to feel the Spirit and to draw closer to our Father in Heaven.

And CONGRATULATIONS Nathan and Michelle!!!!!! That's so exciting! You guys are seriously the cutest couple and I'm so happy for you! Thanks for all the pictures and the story and all that. :) YAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!! :)

Also, congratulations to Christopher for turning in your papers! My guesses..... Texas and Thailand. :) I can't wait to find out!

I just want to end with a quote I read this week from General Conference by Elder Maynes. It says, "The joy we experience in this life will be in direct proportion to how well our lives are centered on the teachings, example, and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ." and then "Our lives must be centered with EXACTNESS in Christ if we are to find true joy and peace in this life." As we strive to follow Christ in everything we do, we will be blessed with true joy and happiness in our lives. Of this I am certain because I've seen it work in my own life. There is nothing better, nothing happier, than following Christ and feeling the love of our Father in Heaven. This gospel is true! This is the one true church of God restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. I promise that our lives will be forever changed and forever improved when they are centered with exactness in Christ.

Thank you everyone for supporting me each and every day and for all your love and concern and all your prayers. I'm positive I have the best family in the world. :) Hope you have a fantastic week!

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~Hermana Allan