What Was That Again?: In Which Elder Gonzalez is a Big Fat Liar and We Get ALL the Miracles

Sometimes when I sit down to write this email, I get completely underwhelmed and wonder what in the world I'm going to talk about. I do not have that problem this week. Not at all, actually.

So, the Spirit has decided to be quite the chatter box this week. It's kind of the coolest thing ever, but it's also kind of overwhelming - I wouldn't trust me with all kinds of promptings, but He does, apparently. Sister Sylvester is the best, though, and he always goes along with me. The first time that happened was on Tuesday. We went to visit a recent convert before we had to go to a lunch appointment...and she was getting ready for work, so we were there for approximately 2 1/2 seconds before we had to leave. Consequently, we were left without anything to do. (It happens quite a lot as a missionary and it stinks every single time, but if something cool is going to happen, that's usually the time.) So, we decided to visit a member family. We went over and chatted, and we gave a lesson, and all of the sudden the mom totally broke down. She told us about how she felt totally defeated in her missionary work because no one would listen to her, and she was just totally overwhelmed. We got to share our experiences with her and assure her that success as a missionary has absolutely nothing to do with how many people listen to you, and we let her know that we appreciated her efforts. While we were talking, her sister, who's not a member, came in and listened. We finished, it was great, and we started to leave. Her sister came up to us and said that she usually can't pay attention to stuff like that, but she was totally riveted while we were talking. Cool beans.

That night, we went and ate with a member family who's new to the ward. They live in an area that's gated, so we don't spend too much time there. It's also new enough that it's not in our GPS, so things get awkward. While we were eating, the dad told us about his next door neighbor that he had talked to about the church. He said that she was an older lady and a Pentecostal, but that she had spent time with the missionaries where she lived previously, so it might be worthwhile to go talk to her. Um, for sure. We tramped on over there after dinner and knocked on the door. This little old lady opens the door and says, "Oh! The Mormon Sisters! Come in!" Her name is Carmen, she's 81 years old, and she is fantastic. It's just her and her middle aged daughter living in the house, and it turns out that her daughter is actually a member. We talked with her for a long time, and she talked with us about how much she loved the Bible and God, so we gave her a Book of Mormon and asked if she'd add it to her daily study and pray to know if it was true. She said that she'd read it before, but she'd never thought about asking, so she would. We're hoping to get back to see her this week. A new investigator and a reactivation? Don't mind if I do.

The next day we were on our way to go give service when the Spirit started telling me to turn around. I was very upset and fought it for a long time because I really wanted to go, but it won (as it should,) and we turned around - having absolutely no idea where we needed to go. As we drove, I remembered that all of the kids were out of school all week for Thanksgiving, so we decided to drop in on our good friend Kezza. We found the whole family at home, and they invited us to join them for breakfast. After we finished, we got a chance to talk with Kezza and her aunt and uncle. We talked to her about the church and how she felt about it, and her relationship with God. She really has come so far, and even if she doesn't see it, she has a testimony. She kept telling us that she wanted to wait to give us an answer about baptism until her mom visited and she could talk to her, and she'll be here on the 18th. We told her it wasn't set in stone and that she still needed to work for it, but we asked if she'd prepare for baptism on the 28th of December. Guess what? SHE SAID YES. Kezza has a baptismal date. I am so deliriously happy, I can't even handle myself.

Thursday was Turkey Day, so we went and chilled with our member friends and ate turkey. It was pretty great.

We had an appointment scheduled with Ashlee on Saturday, but when we got there, no one answered the door. That's happened before, so we called her and then left. Now, this was also the day when literally every single appointment we had except one fell through - even dinner. One of those was a service project with the Spring Trails Elders. I was not a very happy person - we drove all the way out to Africa to this lady's house, and she was out looking at pianos. I felt totally embarrassed and a pinch upset, and I did a fair amount of moping. The Elders, however, saw it as a wonderful opportunity to play baseball with the random bat and balls in our trunk, which cheered me up. They're good guys. However, Elder Gonzalez is a liar head. First of all, he tried to convince me that he was originally a Muslim. Basically, he just makes stuff up - including how long he's been out. He'd been telling me 8 months when in reality, he has one transfer left after this. What a punk. We had honesty hour after I found that out and he told me the truth. Missionaries do that a lot, though. As soon as they pass a year, they say "a little over a year" even if they have 2 days left. Bagh.

We found out that night that Ashlee wasn't home because her boyfriend had threatened to leave her and she was trying to give her space. As we talked to her about it, I was impressed by how much our Father in Heaven is aware of each of us. What she saw as her life coming apart we were able to see as just what she needed. We'd really been worrying about how things were going to work because she was living with her boyfriend and besides the whole chastity thing, he's not the greatest guy and would not have been supportive at all. Even if he doesn't end up leaving, though, she's changed. Ashlee is quite the talker, but as we chatted, she did a whole lot more listening than talking. This has really humbled her to the point where she really doesn't know what to do and has nowhere else to turn but to the Savior. She's been staying with her parents, so we haven't been able to see her, but we heard from her yesterday and she seems to be hanging in there.

To top it all off, we got to teach Young Women yesterday. Someone in our Zone Meeting on Friday mentioned this thing called Rejection Therapy. This guy on the internet figured out that he was afraid of rejection, so he made a list of ridiculous things to ask people knowing that they'd say no so he wasn't scared. We turned that around and applied it to inviting people to learn more about the gospel and challenged them to find three people to say no to learning more, just to help them get over the initial fears. They're all just powerhouse girls and I really think that they'll do it - I'm excited to see how it goes.

Just one last thought. The other day, we talked to a lady who works in our apartment complex. We got to talking and she mentioned that her best friend growing up was a member. We asked about that and she said that she didn't know much about the church - when they would have family prayer while she was over, they never invited her to join and just left her in the other room while they prayed. We invited her to learn more and she said, "No, but thank you for asking. That's more than my friends did for me." Sometimes we pre-judge things. We convince ourselves that no one is interested, so we should just leave it alone. When we do that, though, we're taking away people's agency. We have no idea what they'll say, really. Our job is just to ask. If they say no, they say no. At least they've had the option.

I love y'all. Keep up the good work and I'll see you soon!

Love,

Sister Al

Sister Liljenquist, Sister Sylvester, and Mckenzie.