Dear Family,
TRANSFER NEWS:
Sister Johnson is going to shiprock with Sister Howells
and I will be getting Sister Howell's companion, Sister Cambell. Pictures will come. You will love her. And so will I
This week has been wonderful. I caught a cold. Just as the cold went away, the wind picked up and now I am using a box of tissues a day for these horrible allergies. We had a great day one day, though, where I woke up feeling horrible. I was transitioning from the cold to the allergies and was all congested and exhausted from a night trying to breathe. I prayed so hard before studies to know whether or not I should rest. I felt that I needed to work. I knew that God, if I put my full energy into the day, would carry me through it. Let me tell you, I was miserable. But I made it the whole day. Sneezing and rubbing my nose raw with tissues, but I made it. It's been a interesting journey being sick this week and seeing the Lord carry me. It was funny to me that I felt like I needed to work hard that day, and yet it didn't mean the day was easy. I am slowly beginning to learn the way that God speaks to me. Some days when I was sick, He told me that I needed to listen to my body and rest. Some days He told me I needed to get up and push it through the whole day. Some days He left it up to my own best judgement (those are my least favorite situations). I'm grateful for these small trivial experiences, because they are small lessons in divine communication. Like a Divine Communication 101 course. And I know that learning to talk with and listen to God, as well as make decisions for myself, will help me with the bigger decisions.
Sister Johnson was very sad to hear that she's leaving Holbrook. But I took her aside for a minute this Sunday to talk about it because I could tell she was distressed. We talked it over and had a good discussion for a few minutes about how the Lord knows where we need to be, and who we need to be with. I told her my feelings, and how it's hard for me to be at peace with the transfer as well, but I have been praying for the peace to accept God's will and trust that He runs this work. She is talking more openly with me now and I encouraged her to do the same with Sister Howells. Sister Howells is an amazing missionary and will be a great trainer for Sister Johnson. I'm grateful for the things that her and I have learned together.
This Sunday after church we had a referral to contact. The gate had been locked before and finally we came by and it was unlocked! I passed Sister Johnson a Book of Mormon and she just shook her head. And I nodded. And she shook her head. And I nodded. I tried to get her to role play it with me before we approached the door, but she refused. We sat in the car, conflicted, as a woman approached her side of the vehicle. Without time for either of us to change our minds, we jumped out and chased her down and talked with her. She wasn't interested. But referred us to her friend... who also wasn't interested. But then we were referred to one of their boyfriends... who really wasn't interested. But we got to share a bit with each of them and invite each of them and that's what matters. We chatted with them and laughed and invited them out to an activity this week which they seemed more comfortable with. We prayed with them and went on our way. Then we went and contacted that referral. He... wasn't interested. But he was so nice. I asked him, "Listen, my companion is trying to get in some more practice presenting the Book of Mormon, would you let her just try on you?" So he stopped preaching to us about Jehovah and the bible and let Sister Johnson stumble through a presentation of the Book of Mormon. She testified simply of it's truthfulness. He smiled, urging her on, nodding and saying "Great, keep going!" In the end he still wasn't interested, but we met his wife and she was the sweetest lady. We gave her hugs and gave him a firm handshake and in the end it was a great interaction. Something he said to us was interesting though. We had stopped by earlier that week to knock on their door when the gate was locked. And there were two dogs outside. One of them was a puppy and was just wailing when we approached the gate. The closer we got the louder it cried. It made me cringe. I probably whined something like: "Oh, little pup!" and told Sister Johnson we'd just try back later. We both really felt bad for that dog. He was so scared. When we came and met the man, one of the first things he said was, "I can see right now in your eyes that you're trying to figure me out. But I'll tell you right now, I've already figure YOU out. Yes. I've been watching." He proceeded to tell us that he saw us when we saw his puppy. The pup suffers some emotional damage from being orphaned. "You know what I saw? I saw you two walk up and I saw you hurt when you saw that puppy hurting. You two have compassion. You're Christlike. I was watching. And I noticed." What a small thing that was. But what a big difference it made on how this man thought of us. We don't realize the small things that people notice. I also learned from this interaction that people don't have to say yes. That's they're choice. And when they don't, we don't have to be upset. The best you can do is have a loving interaction. And we did. We hugged strangers. We shared genuine conversation. We invited, we did our job. And the rest is up to the Lord.
Something I have been especially grateful for is the sisters I am blessed to serve. I get to call and check up on the sisters once a week and it is one of my favorite things about being in this calling. One of the sisters talked to me on exchanges about something she felt was a distraction to the work. Her and I talked about it as the evening went on and I urged her just to be prayerful. Well as the weeks have gone on, she's been able to tell me in our phone calls that the distraction has been removed. She made the decision. And she has seen immediate miracles. I don't know if I can describe how much happiness comes to me from such a small thing. I was able to rejoice with her as she learns to give her full heart and attention to the Lord and His work. Hearing their success and miracles gives me so much inspiration. Talking with them about their challenges helps me grow. I am so extremely grateful for the wonderful Sisters that God gives me to learn from. It's always a heartbreak when one is moved or we are no longer in contact.
It's been a really hard, but wonderful transfer. Dad wrote me last week and his letter started out: "You are so funny. The first sentence of a letter you say 'The week was wonderful!' the next sentence talks about how the week was so hard." Well, life is both. Wonderful and hard don't have to contradict each other. With the Lord in this work, it's the hardest thing I've ever done. But it's the happiest thing.
Have a great week,
Sister Valdez
TRANSFER NEWS:
Sister Johnson is going to shiprock with Sister Howells
and I will be getting Sister Howell's companion, Sister Cambell. Pictures will come. You will love her. And so will I
This week has been wonderful. I caught a cold. Just as the cold went away, the wind picked up and now I am using a box of tissues a day for these horrible allergies. We had a great day one day, though, where I woke up feeling horrible. I was transitioning from the cold to the allergies and was all congested and exhausted from a night trying to breathe. I prayed so hard before studies to know whether or not I should rest. I felt that I needed to work. I knew that God, if I put my full energy into the day, would carry me through it. Let me tell you, I was miserable. But I made it the whole day. Sneezing and rubbing my nose raw with tissues, but I made it. It's been a interesting journey being sick this week and seeing the Lord carry me. It was funny to me that I felt like I needed to work hard that day, and yet it didn't mean the day was easy. I am slowly beginning to learn the way that God speaks to me. Some days when I was sick, He told me that I needed to listen to my body and rest. Some days He told me I needed to get up and push it through the whole day. Some days He left it up to my own best judgement (those are my least favorite situations). I'm grateful for these small trivial experiences, because they are small lessons in divine communication. Like a Divine Communication 101 course. And I know that learning to talk with and listen to God, as well as make decisions for myself, will help me with the bigger decisions.
Sister Johnson was very sad to hear that she's leaving Holbrook. But I took her aside for a minute this Sunday to talk about it because I could tell she was distressed. We talked it over and had a good discussion for a few minutes about how the Lord knows where we need to be, and who we need to be with. I told her my feelings, and how it's hard for me to be at peace with the transfer as well, but I have been praying for the peace to accept God's will and trust that He runs this work. She is talking more openly with me now and I encouraged her to do the same with Sister Howells. Sister Howells is an amazing missionary and will be a great trainer for Sister Johnson. I'm grateful for the things that her and I have learned together.
This Sunday after church we had a referral to contact. The gate had been locked before and finally we came by and it was unlocked! I passed Sister Johnson a Book of Mormon and she just shook her head. And I nodded. And she shook her head. And I nodded. I tried to get her to role play it with me before we approached the door, but she refused. We sat in the car, conflicted, as a woman approached her side of the vehicle. Without time for either of us to change our minds, we jumped out and chased her down and talked with her. She wasn't interested. But referred us to her friend... who also wasn't interested. But then we were referred to one of their boyfriends... who really wasn't interested. But we got to share a bit with each of them and invite each of them and that's what matters. We chatted with them and laughed and invited them out to an activity this week which they seemed more comfortable with. We prayed with them and went on our way. Then we went and contacted that referral. He... wasn't interested. But he was so nice. I asked him, "Listen, my companion is trying to get in some more practice presenting the Book of Mormon, would you let her just try on you?" So he stopped preaching to us about Jehovah and the bible and let Sister Johnson stumble through a presentation of the Book of Mormon. She testified simply of it's truthfulness. He smiled, urging her on, nodding and saying "Great, keep going!" In the end he still wasn't interested, but we met his wife and she was the sweetest lady. We gave her hugs and gave him a firm handshake and in the end it was a great interaction. Something he said to us was interesting though. We had stopped by earlier that week to knock on their door when the gate was locked. And there were two dogs outside. One of them was a puppy and was just wailing when we approached the gate. The closer we got the louder it cried. It made me cringe. I probably whined something like: "Oh, little pup!" and told Sister Johnson we'd just try back later. We both really felt bad for that dog. He was so scared. When we came and met the man, one of the first things he said was, "I can see right now in your eyes that you're trying to figure me out. But I'll tell you right now, I've already figure YOU out. Yes. I've been watching." He proceeded to tell us that he saw us when we saw his puppy. The pup suffers some emotional damage from being orphaned. "You know what I saw? I saw you two walk up and I saw you hurt when you saw that puppy hurting. You two have compassion. You're Christlike. I was watching. And I noticed." What a small thing that was. But what a big difference it made on how this man thought of us. We don't realize the small things that people notice. I also learned from this interaction that people don't have to say yes. That's they're choice. And when they don't, we don't have to be upset. The best you can do is have a loving interaction. And we did. We hugged strangers. We shared genuine conversation. We invited, we did our job. And the rest is up to the Lord.
Something I have been especially grateful for is the sisters I am blessed to serve. I get to call and check up on the sisters once a week and it is one of my favorite things about being in this calling. One of the sisters talked to me on exchanges about something she felt was a distraction to the work. Her and I talked about it as the evening went on and I urged her just to be prayerful. Well as the weeks have gone on, she's been able to tell me in our phone calls that the distraction has been removed. She made the decision. And she has seen immediate miracles. I don't know if I can describe how much happiness comes to me from such a small thing. I was able to rejoice with her as she learns to give her full heart and attention to the Lord and His work. Hearing their success and miracles gives me so much inspiration. Talking with them about their challenges helps me grow. I am so extremely grateful for the wonderful Sisters that God gives me to learn from. It's always a heartbreak when one is moved or we are no longer in contact.
It's been a really hard, but wonderful transfer. Dad wrote me last week and his letter started out: "You are so funny. The first sentence of a letter you say 'The week was wonderful!' the next sentence talks about how the week was so hard." Well, life is both. Wonderful and hard don't have to contradict each other. With the Lord in this work, it's the hardest thing I've ever done. But it's the happiest thing.
Have a great week,
Sister Valdez
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