May 5, 2014

This week has been soooo crazy and so miraculous! I loved every minute of it! so Monday after we emailed we did our grocery shopping and not much else! we had dinner that night with some members who have 4 adorable little boys and one girl on the way! we talked to them about their missions and learned a lot from them! after that we went to a lesson with this guy we met a few weeks back. His wife told us to stop coming over and that they weren't interested so that was sad! we then went to check on a few more people that we met a few weeks ago and as we were walking down the street in the pouring rain this guy opened his door and was like "hey! what are you guys doing out in this awful weather?!" we talked to him for awhile and the elders are going to go back and check on him soon! We ended the night having a member lesson. The members we taught live next to the lady we met last week who has the "lady of the night" living in her home and the mom told us not to go back there because she thinks it isn't very safe for us. so we'll take her advice! Tuesday was pretty insane!! We had district meeting in the morning and on our way home we decided to check on Luis. Miracle of miracles: he was home!! we had a lesson with him and he told us he finished the book of Mormon but he didn't feel the spirit at all when he read. that was discouraging to hear so we just spent a lot of time this week trying to figure out why that could be! we also decided to try and convince him to read it in Spanish and see if that makes any difference! but he was still super excited to see us and he wants to learn. He just has a lot of learning left to do! So after that we met with Valeria. our lessons with her have been getting better and better so that's really exciting! After that we finished studying and then headed to Kingstown which is right by Alexandria to have a lesson in Portuguese! these 2 ladies are named Yonanda and Tabitha. They are both from Sao Paulo and they are both so sweet! It was such an amazing opportunity to get to teach in Portuguese! It is scary and frustrating because I really can't fully express myself, but I still really loved it. We went to the Hills right after that for dinner. They are the Brazilian family we met a few weeks ago that we are trying to teach. I don't think they really knew what to expect but I think the lesson went pretty well. we had really awesome conversations and we shared the video because of Him and they really enjoyed it. Silvana, the wife, is a lot more interested than her husband but they are both awesome. We are really hoping to get her together with sister Koford, the Brazilian ward member, so that she will realize how her life could be with the gospel. That night we got the sad news that sister Martindale would be transferred on Thursday! It was pretty shocking because we didn't think president would leave 2 visa waiters together but it's great to have one more transfer to practice Portuguese together! Wednesday was even crazier than Tuesday! We spent a lot of time prepping Sister Martindale for her move. but we had an amazing miracle happen! we had another lesson with Pedro, our Portuguese speaking friend in Russia. so we went to sister Kofords and she helped us teach him and it was seriously so perfect! The lesson started off by him telling us he wants to be baptized! Then sister koford shared her conversion story with him and it helped him see that it really is possible for him to change. That was amazing! then we helped set up a room for Mormon prom which was fun. We stopped by the Stoupas that night so Sister Martindale could say bye. that night we got a call from one of the assistants telling us that me and sister Egbert needed to come to the mission home on Friday morning at 5 AM to pick up our third companion. He said that her companion was going home for health reasons so I was pretty positive it would be sister Wilcox! Thursday we went to transfers and it was an amazing meeting! There was 16 missionaries who went home and they all bore really powerful testimonies! there was tons of change done in our mission as well. Only like 60 missionaries weren't effected by the transfer. but they created 2 Spanish zones and a new Alexandria zone and got rid of the Arlington zone. President talked a lot about change and how we need to choose if we are going to let change teach us and strengthen us or not and that was something I really needed to hear! It was fun to be in a regular companionship with sister Egbert for a day! We helped a ward member move all her stuff into her kitchen so her house could be recarpeted and then we had a correlation with the ward mission leader! Friday we got up at 4 so we could go get our new companion by 5 at the mission home! as i expected it was sister Wilcox. it was sad to see sister Phelps go home but I am glad she will be getting all healed up! We found out that sister Wilcox will possibly only be staying with us for a couple days or maybe a week because the bishop in Franconia ward really wants to have sisters in that ward, so he's trying to call members to be sister Wilcox's temporary companions in franconia...so we will see what happens! it was nice. I felt very at peace about the change and I'd really been praying to feel that it was all right and that's exactly how i feel about it! We had weekly planning on Friday and then we had dinner at the Kofords! we had the coolest miracle happen there! so one of their neighbors kids just walked into the house and wanted to play and then her dad followed her in and was kind of like "sorry I'll get her out!" But sister Koford was like "no let her play and you can come talk with us!" The daughter has some special needs and so he's extra protective of her and just wanted to be there while she played. He was kind of hesitant to talk to us at first but he had all these awesome questions and he really opened up by the end. hHe asked us if we really don't drink alcohol and we ended up explaining the word of wisdom to him which was awesome! Sister Koford and him exchanged information so they can have play dates with their kids and then we gave him a mormon.org card! Sister Koford is such a great neighbor and great person so we are sure that from here on out he will be learning a lot more about the gospel! Saturday was another miraculous day! during lunch we got a call from the Russian missionaries asking us to help them teach Pedro in twenty minutes. So we rushed to the church and had a great lesson with him! We didn't actually teach very much that day but it was still fun! After that we took Sis Wilcox to go meet our ward mission leader. then we decided to check on Luis again! We had the best lesson EVER!!! We talked to him about the spirit and we were just asking him a lot of questions trying to figure out why he didn't feel the spirit when he read the book of Mormon. We were eventually able to figure out that he thought the book of Mormon and the bible were the same books trying to tell the same stories! We explained to him that they have one purpose but they are different stories and all that and he was like "oooooh! now i get it!" So we challenged him to read it again and he agreed!!!! We also talked about prayer because he says the lord's prayer and we were sharing with him that prayer can be a conversation with God and we can be open with him and at first he didn't want to try it out but he eventually said he would try it for this week! He also told us this cool experience he had when he was praying once. He was at a really low point in his life and he was praying and he said he just felt someone come and put their hand on his head and comfort him. When he opened his eyes no one was there! It was crazy and I felt the spirit so strong when he told us that! Luis is so prepared and I'm excited to see how his reading and praying goes this week! he is so funny because he has these nicknames for us based on how we teach. so sister Egbert is his teacher because she wagged her finger at him once. He calls me his heart because he said I'm bold and tell him what to do haha. And Sister Wilcox is his soul apparently hahhaa! he is such a hoot. I want you guys to meet him someday! So after that lesson Sister Thompson came up to Vienna and took us out to dinner. She had signed up to feed the sisters in Alexandria and so she decided to just feed us since there are none there! It was great to see her again! Then we went and checked out Mormon prom before it started. You wouldn't believe how intense this dance was! They went all out on the decorations. I'll send you some pictures! after that we went and saw the Clark's. we talked to the son and had a great visit. it's been a hard week for them because the anniversary of his dads death is this upcoming Saturday. we talked about the plan of salvation and about prayer. I love the Clark's and want to do all i can to help them come to church! Sunday was super awesome! Sadly Luis didn't come to church, but sister McLeod came!!! it was sooo exciting! she's been saying for awhile that she'd come but now she finally did!!! best day ever!! Sunday afternoon we checked on brother Harris, another one of our friends we have not seen out to church for a while. Then we had dinner at the Adams. they are such a fun family! Their daughter Adalina is the most hyper, cutest, child i have ever met!! she is just so happy all the time and she says the funniest things! She did a concert for us and she sang a bunch of primary songs. It was so adorable! Also they made us the best ice cream ever which was sugar free! they used coconut milk, strawberries, and dates to sweeten it! they are gluten free as well so if David ever needs recipes, i can ask them for some! they are good cooks! we then visited Ermie, our friend from the Philippines! she is such a sweet lady! we read from the book of Mormon with her. we then met two of the coolest African guys EVER! the first was named Michelle. he grew up in Cameroon and he didnt' have much time to talk but we get to teach him later this week! then we met Taure. he is really amazing! he grew up in the Muslim part of Africa but he converted to Christianity in his teens. he had a bunch of crazy dreams that led him to convert and he is just a really awesome guy! I'm so excited to see what happens with those two!! I am so excited to skype!! i love you all sooo much! love, Sister Pehrson