H.F. Knows Better than Us :)

Hello my family!!

I still can't believe there's no snow. Shoot, that is not good at all. I hope something comes in really quick for you guys and it just dumps. I'll start praying for it. So the sun here comes up around 6ish and goes down about 6ish...all year round. It was actually a really weird thing for me to realize coming from summer in the states where the sun was still up at 9 PM.

So can we just say this week has been about a million bajillion times better than the past month! Oh my goodness, I just wish you could see the difference. About the beginning of last week, I was thinking about it, and I figured out that there was a part of me that felt like in the MTC they give you a box and they say, ok, now fit into this box. And if you don't, you won't have the spirit and you won't be an effective missionary. Kind of a heavy expectation. But last week, it really just hit me, it does not matter what anyone thinks, what their expectations are of me, or even what my own expectations are of myself. If I can go to my Heavenly Father in prayer at night and tell him about my day and not feel ashamed, I did my job. And we have personalities for a reason! We're in a specific place, at a specific time, in a specific mission for a reason and our personality is part of that reason. Ah, I just feel liberated. I wish I could describe it.  And you know what's crazy, this week our work has started to really progress. I feel like it's actually making a difference because I feel happier and when I'm happier, I have the Spirit. We had 3 less actives come to church and they're progressing so well. They've been studying the Sunday school lessons and the reading assignments we give them. It seriously just makes me so so happy!! I honestly love the people here. I just know them so well and they know me. I have a special handshake with the young men and one of the members even offered to buy me HP7P2 as a remembrance gift. Don't know if I can handle that kind of temptations. Haha, but I really truly just love this ward, the people we teach, the members. How could you not after 5 months in the same place, soon to be six. I'm glad HF gave me a little while longer in this area. Oh boy, does he always know better than us. Too bad we don't ever see it in the moment.

So some stories for the week....I have a lot! First of all with the new focus. We had a broadcast this week from the area 70 on orders from the First Presidency. Their wording was light, but they were very bold and very much straight to the point. They basically said, enough is enough. There are too many people here that are no longer active in the church and it is time to do something about it. And as the members of the church, we are responsible. The question they asked was, if not now, when? And if not us, who? And I thought about it and it's so true. How many times do I see a problem or see someone who needs help or a visit and I go, "oh, no worries, someone else will take care of it." but if not me, who? If we're not actively  doing something, we're not doing our jobs as part of the covenant people and disciples of Christ. The church isn't there just for us to sit back and relax. It's there so we can be strengthened ourselves, strengthen our brothers, and build the kingdom. If we're sitting, it's not good enough. I just really thought…it's such a great motto to live by. I'm excited to realign our work with the wards and start to see some REAL progress here. I think that was one of my problems before. I absolutely refuse to baptize someone unless they are truly converted. It's a waste, and in the end, I am the one that is responsible. But of course, how do they measure you work? By your baptisms and the number of investigators and blugh. I hate it. I hate numbers. So I have decided to throw that out the window as well. I don't care what anyone thinks anymore. I just love the new focus because it's really about helping people solve their concerns and improve their lives, not about a stupid number. Yeah, I'm way stoked. 

So my companion is bomb. She's a nurse, but what she really loves is psychology. She volunteered in hospitals in the psych ward which makes the girl incredible at question asking and discerning what someone is really TRYING to say, not what they're actually saying. Sometimes I pretty much feel useless sitting next to her, but I don't even care because I'm just so glad she's my companion so she can take over when I'm seriously struggling.

Some stories from the week.....one of the less actives we're working with is an absolute gem, her husband actually opened up to us this week. Their whole family is inactive, but brother is a former branch president down in Leyte. What happened was, he was the branch president and something happened with the district president where the district president didn't ask any questions, he just instead blew the situation out of control. So brother didn't feel like he was respected in his calling so he asked to get released. They wouldn't release him, so what did he start doing? He started drinking again so that they would have to release him. Yep. How sad is that. And he's such a great guy. He wants to come back, but it's just dealing with so much guilt and regrets. It's just hard. My heart goes out to them. I really do love working with the less actives, more so than I do with investigators actually I think. But one other cool story and then I gotta go. We have one investigator that we've only taught 2 times. This week, we taught the restoration, but like I said, Sister Sojor is bomb and so good at making them come to the conclusions for themselves. So we got to the end of the lesson and were talking about knowing through the Holy Ghost and she goes, "I already believe you. I can just feel it here" and she just started crying. For like a minute I think, we just sat there. And she's going, I don't know why I'm crying, I'm so happy. And we're going, oh don't you worry, you just let it out honey. Haha. LOVE it! Love the power of the spirit. Love the gospel, and I really do love this work. Even though it's sometimes hard :)

Anyhow, that's all for this week. I love you all so so much and hope you have a fantastic week! Until next week! Ingat!