Transfer 11: Week 1

Transfer news! My new companion will be Sister Johnson from Wyoming- different from the other Sister Johnson I came out with. I haven't met her yet, but I'll meet her this week and I'm so very excited. I also found out that I'm going to get to go on exchanges with the Farmington YSA Sisters this transfer. It's going to be a big travel, but I can't wait.
Holbrook is doing great, the leadership is all excited for the new year. They've set new ward goals and new approaches to ward missionary work. I'm so excited for everything that's about to happen! The excitement is not without a tinge of sorrow for Sister Jeffrey's departure. I have enjoyed our time together so much. We have a funny way of communicating but somehow I know that when she tells me she wants to stab me what she really means is that she enjoys my company, and when she tells me she hates me what she really means is that she wants to be my companion forever. Either that or I've been misreading her insults all this time. That's embarrassing.

Last Tuesday was Zone Conference. Sister Jeffrey gave her departing testimony and didn't even cry- What a champion! I learned so much. They taught us about the simplest of things: The Restoration. We focused on simple teaching, on sticking to Preach My Gospel. We role-played like our life depended on it. The best part of the day was the last role play. We practiced teaching the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I had come to Zone Conference pondering the Atonement. I wondered how I can know that I'm doing my best, how can I know if God is happy with the effort I'm putting in? An Elder, nearing the end of his mission, taught me the atonement. He taught so simply. He handed to me the picture of Christ kneeling in Gethsemane. The spirit hit me like a ton of bricks. He testified of the most simple truths. That God loves me. That Christ suffered, and felt every type of pain- for me. The most important thing is that he said it all from the heart. It wasn't over rehearsed or robotic, it wasn't extravagant- It was simple truth. And that truth brought me to tears. I am in constant awe of the love God has for us. In those small pauses of silence during his teaching, I felt God. And that's exactly what I needed that day. I was so grateful.
We got a new investigator named Debbie. She lives in a broken down old motel with her wiener dog, Jack, and her cat, Snow White. She's Apache Indian. And she's a real interesting one. Have you ever talked to someone and felt like you've always known them? I've felt like that with a few people on my mission and Debbie is one of them.

This week I've had a weird itch to create. I don't know if you know what I mean. But every song I hear, I want to write one! Every time I see a Mormon Message, I want to create one. I have that itch and it's hard to not be able to just sit down and obsess over something, and emerge out of my bedroom with a creation. I'm not sure what to put all of this energy and itch into, but I'll find something. Ironically enough, I haven't taken barely any pictures at all this week so all I have are a million of Sister Jeffrey on the phone, and a couple I took on the way home from Tuba city. Oh! Also we made brookies (brownie/cookies) for the man who got us out of the mud.
This week I am grateful for the constant humbling I receive from my Father in Heaven. There are few things better for the spirit than a good hard humbling from a loving God. I am constantly brought to my knees. Humility is a great gift. It forces us to seek God's will. It turns us in the right direction. It's funny to think how often I have prayed for investigators or less-active members to be humbled. Some people pray for trials to pass, and sometimes the missionaries pray that you'll have trials. Not that I pray for exactly that. But there are times you leave a lesson and say "Man, I love that person so much, I hope God humbles them". And if you can't understand that maybe you need a tad more humbling. Trust me, God will give it to you. And it's a great blessing.
I love you all lots and pinch you wherever it is the squishiest.
- Sister Valdez