¡Hola mi familia y mis amigos! Is that good Spanish? Honestly, I couldn’t tell ya. You know when you think things cant get any crazier… and then they do? Well I know a little bit about what that feels like from this last week.
My trainer, Sister Minson, got a call last Monday letting her know that she would be headed home due to COVID-19. Man, that was not a pleasant thing to hear. We didn’t know exactly when she would be leaving at the time, but she was gone by Wednesday morning.
I have since been put in a trio! I am with Hermana Capener and Hermana Cortez and I’m sure you can guess, they’re Spanish speaking. So your girl has gotta dust off what little Españolshe knows and learn some more! I dont know how long I’ll be in a trio, but chances are I’ll go back to english after the end of this transfer, so I’m not too worried.
Denton County, where I live, put into place a stay-at-home order this week so we haven’t been able to do much outside the apartment. But we have had lots of opportunities for service! On Wednesday, we had two service opportunities. We first went to a food pantry and helped load and restock a bunch of food and that took up a few hours of our day. Afterwards, we went to a members home and did some yardwork and after we were done with her yard, we went around her neighborhood and offered to do more yardwork for whoever’s wanted it. We were there for basically the rest of the day.
It’s kinda crazy, with the stay-at-home order, you are only allowed to leave your home of it’s an emergency or you’re getting groceries or else you can be pulled over and either arrested or fined… So because we work at these food pantries and kitchens that are still open and feeding people, we had to get documents that we signed that give us permission to be out and about. I swear, I feel like I’m in a post-apacolyptic movie… this is all just crazy.
One thing that has been neat is getting to know our neighbors. A few we just have brief conversations with as they take walks outside, but this one little girl whose parents are actually members of the church loves to come by our little patio on her bike and talk our ears off. We just entertain her and shes so cute. We have asked her if she is missing church and primary or if she reads her Book of Mormon and says her prayers. So that’s about the extent of outside missionary work we’ve had but it’s been good hahaha.
I am adjusting well to my companions and we have had a lot of good times already. I almost burned the apartment down trying to make burgers, we had a dance party to some LIT youth music, made some cheesy videos that I may or may not post to facebook and have had too many laughs to count. We are discovering ways to continue to be productive missionaries even with all this craziness.
It has been tough though. It’s hard hearing of so many people going home. A TON of my friends serving missions are back home already or being sent home soon. I cant imagine how tough this is for them and I pray those who can will be reassigned so they can continue to serve in this great work.
I’m so grateful for the chance that I have to be a missionary. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for this wonderful opportunity. What a true blessing it has been. This week I had somewhat of an eye-opening realization that has shifted my mindset a little bit. I realized that I’m not gonna be a set apart, full-time missionary forever. My time here is limited, and for some, it has been cut short and I dont know if mine will be too. It was a realization of the fact that I gotta get my stuff together! I gotta give my 100% every day because I dont know when my last one is gonna be. It was the kind of reminder I needed because it’s easy to be lazy when you’re stuck at home all day. It’s easy to take a nap rather than do your studies. It’s easy to sleep in rather than get up at 6:30. But I’m finding that the joy I feel when I am SERVING my mission is so much greater when I am exactly obedient.
“Obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles” and I can testify that that is true. I’m gonna do better this week. I’m going to give up the natural man in me and be true to who I am and who I always have been: a Daughter of God.
Elder M. Russell Ballard once said:
“This is who you and I really are and who you have always been: a son or daughter of God, with spiritual roots in eternity and a future overflowing with infinite possibilities. You are—first, foremost, and always—a spiritual being. And so when we choose to put our carnal nature ahead of our spiritual nature, we are choosing something that is contrary to our real, true, authentic spiritual selves”
I want to be better at being my “real, true, authentic spiritual self”. And I’m so grateful for the opportunity I have to start over and improve every day through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It is so real. I know it is. I have seen it work miracles in my life and I cannot deny that.
I hope you all have an amazing week and I have no idea what lies ahead for me hahaha. Who knows what’s gonna change? But it’s all just so exciting, isnt it? Say your prayers and read your scriptures! It’s the little things! God loves each and every one of you and he is aware of us, I know he is.
I love you all!
Scripture of the week! 1 Nephi 19:9
Get Busy, Get Lost!
-Hermana Oldham