Getting to be a Member Friend!

From 13 January 2014

Dear Family,

This week I had the unique experience of being a member friend. Sister Albrecht and I got a call from a man we had street-contacted the week before, and stopped by to visit him. His older landlady F was there and wanted us to teach her too. The problem? She only speaks Spanish... and neither our branch nor Sister Albrecht do. Our investigator J speaks Spanish as well, but prefers English. So I ended up teaching the whole Restoration in Spanish to both of them, and Sister Albrecht closed up the time with J while I talked with F.

We passed F to the Spanish Elders that day and they set up a time with her to visit the next day, near the time we would be visiting J. Shortly before we headed over we found out they were sick and wouldn't be able to make the appointment - so we went and had two separate lessons at the same time, J with Sister Albrecht and F with me (in sight and conversational sound, no worries!). The next day the elders came, along with a bilingual member of our branch. Sister Albrecht and our member taught J while I transferred F over to the elders. She came to church on Sunday with the elders, absolutely loved it all, and is getting baptized next Sunday.

I am supportive of her and still see her when we go over but I am not responsible for her. I absolutely love her and will definitely be in contact with her after my mission - she's my friend, one of those people you meet on your mission who, no matter how different you are they're somehow familiar, and the bond is instant. It's strange but fun. And I get to exercise my Spanish!

Other news...

We finally finished up clearing out our referrals this week, and one of the oldest ones on the list hadn't been visited. When we dropped by G was home, but didn't know who had referred her. She had been wanting to get back into church life, and told us that she needed baptism. She was busy and her phone didn't work so we weren't able to see her for three days. When we came by we found out she had told her roommate about us, and her roommate wanted to get baptized as well, and wanted her two teenagers to be baptized as well. We had a powerful member-present Restoration lesson with G and T and they are both excited to get baptized!

This week I was studying from the Book of Mormon about the fall, particularly in 2 Nephi 2 and Mosiah 15 and 16. The verse that got me thinking about all this is Moroni 7:16, "The Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil." Hold on, hold on, I thought we had the knowledge of good and evil as a result of the fall, not from the Spirit of Christ! So I read a lot about the fall, about the difference between agency and moral agency (thank you Preach my Gospel), about the influence of the Spirit, and about the need to put off the natural man and not allow Satan to have power over us. It was fascinating! I'm still processing and trying to put it all together in my head, but it has been fun to study and learn, and I will continue to do so... probably for the rest of my life.

 

Anyway, I love you all. Out of time - write to me!!

 

I keep seeing Public Works buildings and trucks,
but I never get the camera out in time to take a picture.
That's for you, Dad!

<3

HH

Miami parking!  This isn't even bad.
Sometimes the whole right lane is taken up with parked cars.

We don't need our TiWi anymore.
Sister Albrecth's rule:  If the muffin moved,
she didn't get to eat it til we got home.
Safe, well, Miami, driving for 30 minutes!

Marta made this.  I LOVE IT.  She rocks!