Oh, hello there. It's been a while. I was so sad that I
didn't get to write an email last week. Really, truly. I had so much to tell
y'all, and then it just got so busy, and then all of the sudden the day was
gone. Time is not on my side on Pants Day.
So, this week's been really, really long. It started off
like this - Sister Hardy, the toughest chick on the block, got sick. She's a
tough cookie - imagine the knight from Monty Python and that's pretty dang
close. Well, she just kept getting sicker and sicker until we asked her on
Wednesday how she felt on a scale of one to poop and she said poop. We thought
the world might have ended. She got a blessing and it said that she had a virus
that stupid Satan had given her to get her to stop, so she should take time to
rest. So, we did.
Around this same time, my head started to hurt - really
badly. That then turned into a nasty migraine that would not go away, no matter
what I did. I tried really hard to get out and keep working so as not to keep
my companions inside or hinder the work, but it didn't go away. Then, my foot
decided to start hurting...for no reason. It's the one I broke in high school,
and I didn't do anything to it - it just decided to be stupid. We still kept
going, though. We've been inside resting a bit, but not very much. I'm pretty
dang proud. I also got a blessing last night that told me that Satan is also
trying to stop me in any way that he can, so he gave me a migraine and a
sprained foot. Stupid head. I'm resting it off and seeing how that goes, but
mostly I just want to prove him wrong.
Some really cool stuff happened this week, though, and I'm
convinced that it was because we kept working through the stupid stuff. There
was one afternoon in particular where I had absolutely no interest in
missionary work at all. I was almost literally dragging myself from place to
place and it was almost painful. I kept going on sheer willpower and a lot of
divine help, and we just kept visiting people. Later in the evening we decided
to visit a referral from the Spanish Elders. We've been over there a ton and no
one's ever answered, so we were about to drop her - and she opened the door!
Her name is Tiana, and she's 16. We caught her in the middle of packing to go
to New York to live with her mom. She talked a lot about how she just wanted
peace, and I told her that most of my peace in life came from the knowledge of
who I was, why I was here and where I was going. She said she didn't know the
answer to any of those, so we taught her the Plan of Salvation. You could just
watch the Spirit working with her. It was amazing. Later that night, we visited
a headquarters referral named Lashatay. She was hysterical and was excited to
have a church to go to and was open to having us back. Two new investigators in
one night? Don't mind if I do. I just love teaching, and it was so wonderful to
remember why I'm here.
We also got to meet with Kayleigh. She is the granddaughter
of one of our members and lives here on the weekends. We've been trying to get
in with her forever, too, and we finally got to see her on Saturday. We taught
her the Restoration and it all just clicked. She said that she's already talked
to her parents about baptism, and they want her to wait until she's 18 - she's
16 now. It's kind of a bummer, but I'm not worried. In her prayer at the end,
she said, "Help me to know if what the Sisters are saying is true - even
though I kind of already think it is." She's just hilarious and awesome
and I love her. Plus, she loves Doctor Who and Sherlock - and she's the only
person on the planet besides me who doesn't like Rose. Total geek out moment,
but we're basically soul sisters.
Also, Ashlee moved into the Westfield ward boundaries.
Weird, right? We haven't gotten to see her yet, but we're working on it. Oh,
Ashlee. Just get baptized, dear.
So, I know you all are wondering about my new boyfriend. I
shall tell you. Once upon a time, we went to eat dinner at the Ward's house.
They're great. Their son, Micah, just left for the MTC - his farewell was my
first Sunday here. He's great. We were sitting at the table and a conversation
like this ensues -
Makayla Ward, 18; "My boyfriend goes to A&M."
Allison: "My boyfriend goes to...just kidding. I don't
have a boyfriend. He doesn't go to school."
(I thought I was terribly clever.)
Brother Ward: "Well, he probably goes to school, you
just don't know which one because you haven't met him yet."
Sister Ward: (From the other room) "Yes you have - he's
my son!"
So.
There you have it. Micah Ward and I are now a thing. He
wrote my companions and I letters, so I told him about it in my reply - I
offered to spray his letters with perfume, but I told him I'd need to get some
first.
We had a really cool Zone Meeting this week. The Sister
Training Leader got up and said that they were all going to be talking about
the Law of Chastity. I was a little perplexed - and pretty skeptical, I won't
lie. It turned out to be one of the best meetings I've been in, though. I feel
a lot more comfortable teaching that now (it's the hardest lesson to teach, by
far, and there are so many people who just live together here.)
It also added to this little theme that I've been finding in
my life recently. I've been struggling a little lot bit, and it's been really
hard to not just quit. I want to go back to comfortable things so badly I can't
even handle it sometimes. At the same time, though, the Lord has been teaching
me a lot about choosing better things over good things. It's hard to make
something work, but when you have confirmation from the Lord, you know that
this thing, however hard it may be, will be better than anything that's easy if
you're willing to put the work in. I thought about that a lot as we were
discussing the Law of Chastity. It would be so much easier to just live with
someone. It would be easier to be able to go willy-nilly and walk out when
things get tough. In the end, though, you won't be happy. When you stick it out
and fight through the tough stuff, you're left with something much better than
anything you could have had on your own. It's rough. I know. At the same time,
though, I know that the Lord has not given us anything that cannot bless us
more than we know - and He hasn't given us anything we can't conquer.
Except when Elders and Sisters are asked to role play
teaching the Law of Chastity to each other. There's a level of maturity that's
needed for that sort of thing that's just not there. It's just how it is.
So, that's all. Have a lovely week, do some cool stuff, hug
yourself a missionary, and share the gospel, will you? I love y'all!
Love,
Me
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