Family and Friends :)
This week has been
full of changes and ups and downs! All the while sweating over here in the
unruly Georgia heat that is just beginning.
I hope you all are
enjoying June and these summer months!!
HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO
ALL!!!! I am so grateful for my dad who has taught me so many things. I don't
have time or the finger strength to type it all out. So I will just settle with
saying my dad is AWESOME :)
We live with the
English sisters that serve in the Dunwoody area, so there are four of us in the
apartment. We are all super close friends and it was really hard to say goodbye
to one of the sisters. She went home due to some health problems and her
companion that she left became mine and Sister Barroso's companion for the
week. We have been in a trio covering all of their English areas and our
Spanish one! PLUS COOLIO THING!! Sister Crooks is FROM JAMAICA. We have been
teaching her how to pray in Spanish and it's been quite entertaining teaching
in English too.
A young girl named
Eryn is taking the lessons from the English sisters, so that meant our new
Spanish/English trio went to teach her! Only Sister Crooks really knew her so
it was a lot of observing and trying to get to know her as fast as I could so I
could adequately teach her. As we were going through a story in the Book of
Mormon she said, "I just have a hard time relating to things that happened
so long ago!" I asked her what kinds of things she liked to do or her
interests. Guess what she said. STAR WARS. Sister Barroso and I just looked at
each other and smiled. Way to bring the two Star Wars nerds to the lesson :) We
went through the story in the Book of Mormon the entire time relating it to
Star Wars 6 and 3. And a little bit of reference to 7. IT WAS EPIC AND OUT OF
THIS WORLD. Sister Barroso and I had the time of our lives. Sister Crooks just
laughed at us and was glad someone knew Star Wars.
Teaching Ninfa's kids
has been a blessing. They are always so eager to learn and when Melissa (the 8
year old) runs up to me with open arms it warms my heart. We taught them about
the Plan of Happiness and they loved it. Learning about who we are, where we
came from, and where we are going always brings into perspective how perfect
and loving our Heavenly Father is.
If you remember Erika
from my last email, we were supposed to have a lesson with her this week but
she had something break in her house and didn't have time Tuesday. Hopefully we
will be able to teach her tomorrow before I leave!!
We had a Father's Day
dinner at the church and it was hoppin with latino music :) So much food and
wonderful humans who I love. I had a hard time saying goodbye to Gio who is
moving back to Mexico. Ever since day one I have bonded with her. She is a vet in
Mexico and has always helped me with my spanish. I am going to miss her SO
MUCH.
We were able to teach
Esther with Sister Crooks! She was an english speaking person that Sister
Barroso and I had met while knocking doors and referred over to the English
sisters. She was so open and so welcoming. AND SHE HAS 2 CUTE ADORABLE BABY
TWIN GIRLS. We went through the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and
used the pamphlet a lot since it has nice pictures. Went awesome :)
On exchanges with the
Sister Training Leaders here in the Atlanta area, Sister Crooks and I went with
Sister Maughan (who is from England)(I felt so international). Sister Barroso
and I asked Sister Maughan tons of questions about England her true feelings
towards the US. She said we have tons of songs about ourselves. True. And thus,
the heading of this email.
Anywho, We were
knocking doors and met a lady who spoke spanish. At first she was trying to
talk in English, it was just slow. As we talked with her and she welcomed us
into her home I mentioned a couple lines in Spanish to let her know if she
feels more comfortable she can speak in Spanish. She switched languages and
became real talkative with me about the Bible and was super interested in
learning more about the Book of Mormon. I was able to teach her most of the
Restoration and she was asking wonderful questions! Sister Maughan and Sister
Crooks just sorta sat there wondering what was going on until they started
catching a few words and then it clicked what was being said. The spirit was
strong as we talked and she welcomed us to come back! The Chamblee Spanish
sisters get to return and teach Gina :)
Oh
man things are changing up! We received our Transfer News.... I'm leaving
Chamblee :( My heart hurt really bad when I was told by our Zone Leaders the
news that I would be leaving this wonderful area that is filled with all my
dear people. I will be heading to the Cunningham Branch that is over in the
Marietta and Mapleton Georgia area and become the Sister Training Leader over
the Zone along with my new companion. I AM TERRIFIED. Honestly. Oh gosh. I am
pretty new to this whole mission thing and it's rare that Spanish sisters
become STL's. We will see how this goes!
Special thought from
Stake Conference:
Faith is an
interesting concept and a piece by piece kind of thing. This is a a little
different way of looking at it, but sometimes our Heavenly Father doesn't speak
to us in complete sentences, but only in fragments. A tender mercy here and a
prompting there. Feeling of love there and a spoken word from a friend at the
right moment here. When we put all these phrases of what God is revealing and teaching
us, we gain a larger perspective. If you put together all of the bits, what is
Heavenly Father saying to you?
I pray for y'all
everyday!!!
And know that I am
absolutely loving it here and trusting in a caring Heavenly Father to help
strengthen me to accomplish the tasks He has placed before me.
Yo se que Jesucristo
es me Salvador y por medio de El yo puedo superar qualquier cosa. Especialmente
mis desafios y pruebas ahorita. No importa nuestra situacion, podemos recibir
direccion y ayuda de nuestro Padre Celestial.
Con Amor,
Hermana Draper
No comments:
Post a Comment