I love being a missionary!!! Last Monday we had an FHE at Centennial
Park with some members in our ward and Elvin and his friend Lupe. It
was a blast! I got to know Hna Kimber a lot better- she's Hna Paty's
lil sis- and I just love her so much! She cleans Jessie Baylin's
house! The cute lil musician that's married to the guy from Kings of
Leon! And his brother who's married to a Victoria Secret model! Hna
Kimber is almost famous by association! I had no idea so many
musicians really lived here! We had snacks at the end of the activity
and I over ate AGAIN and almost lost my cookies. It's so hard not to
over eat when people place amazing authentic Mexican food in front of
me!
Tuesday was a doozy! I was not feeling that well and I had many
moments where I thought I was going to pass out because of my health
and the dang heat but the Savior completely carried me through the
day. We had our last lesson with Carminia :( she told us that she
believes everything we teach her, she's just worried about the people
that she preaches to on Facebook- what she does as a stay at home mom-
will think she's not staying true to her beliefs if she decides to
accept the teachings of the restored gospel. It made me so sad that
she was more concerned about what people thought of her than what her
Savior thinks of her. I know that some day she'll figure it out! I
have complete faith in that. I just love her so much and it was hard
to say goodbye. We've been teaching Sergio's mom Alicia who just got
here from Mexico and she is so amazing! She is totally catholic but is
super open to learning more and loves us being in their home. We had a
way cool miracle happen that night- we planned to have dinner with Hna
Kimber and have another member Byron give us a ride- well dinner time
rolled around and Byron's phone wasn't working and he was no where to
be found after waiting around for 30 minutes. As we were on the phone
with Hna Kimber frantically trying to figure out what to do because
she was still in the middle of cooking and couldn't get us, this car
pulls up outside of Goodwill and this sweet girl asks us if we needed
a ride! She was a member in the green hills ward and she was such an
answer to our prayers! It turns out that I actually met her a year ago
bc she manages a really cute shop downtown and I ran into her when we
were there for a baseball game last summer. Small world! Hna Kimber
was so excited and kept telling us that it was such a miracle that we
got there! Since we didn't have a ride back, Hna Torres and I ducked
down sitting on the floor in the back with Hna Kimber's three boys. So
illegal but so fun! We ended our night with Elvin and I just love that
guy! We talked about the scriptures and modern day prophets and ended
up on the subject of baptism. He said that he would get baptized
someday, but not soon, so we talked about how today is the day to
prepare to meet God and afterward he just sat and thought. After some
golden silence, he asked us for our Bishop's number and said he wanted
to ask him some questions if he was going to get baptized into this
church! We happily gave him the number and I can't even imagine what
he wanted to ask him. Haha Elvin is the best.
Tuesday night I couldn't sleep and I finally witnessed for myself that
Hna Torres sleep talks! I died laughing when she turned to me and
laughed and just said, "I know!" And then snoozed off again. She's the
cutest thing ever!
Wednesday was a weird day! We left early to stop by la tienda mexicana
to get a surprise for Elder Cottam and Elder Peterson! We had a
contest with them the week before and they lost so we got to pick
something out for them to eat! We chose chilies of course! We chose
some really little but hot ones! So we rode the bus there and had
enough time before the meeting started to watch them suffer! We gave
them 6 little chilies each to eat and Elder Cottam tried to play it
cool but you could tell he was dying.....Elder Peterson on the other
hand haha! He did not hide anything and we died watching him walk
around in circles with his tongue sticking out and eyes watering! He
made the funniest noises and when he went to grab for the water and we
told him that it would just make it worse he said, "What kind if devil
food is this??"
Elder Cottam played it cool and Elder Peterson lost it!
He is such a character. After the meeting we jumped
back on the bus and went into a part of town that we never go into-
it's pretty ghetto and I'll admit I was a tad bit scared even though
it was day light! So we took the bus forever bc our friend Adrian said
he'd be there but when he got there all we found were cats! So after I
played with the kitten that reminds me of Minnie we left to get back
on the bus. We spent ALL of our day on the bus and then that night we
went finding but didn't find anyone that interested. It was a strange
strange day BUT we ran into Hermana Paty and her kids at the park and
she had us teach her how to give away a BOM! I am so proud of her! She
has started to get this fire in her to share the gospel, I love it!
Thursday was Zone Conference.....my last one. We got a ride with the
Bellevue Sisters and when we got to the Green Hills building all of
the office angels were there checking everyone's cars and I got to see
my sweet little Sister Crawford who's the same size as me. Well at
8:45 our ZLs walk in and tell us that the assistants just called and
the whole Franklin Zone and President are waiting for us at the
Franklin building! Whoops! Major miscommunication! We finally got to
Franklin a little late and it was a wonderful meeting! I learned so
much and was so inspired to carry on with this great work for 3 more
weeks and after my mission as well! The end of the meeting was the
worst part though....I had to give my departing testimony :/ I will
attach what I said at the end. We had a beautiful dinner with the
Donaldsons that night and Elder D had plenty of marriage advice for
us! He cracks me up. They leave in a week and I'm so sad to see them
go back to St George! We met some cool people that night- good day!
On Friday we had a good weekly planning session and just as we were
getting ready to leave the house, the hot burning sun disappeared and
it began to pour! Literally within minutes! It was the strangest thing
ever and it was raining so hard! Sister D picked us up and we went on
a hunt for ponchos but by the time we found some it stopped pouring so
we gave up! We saw Alicia again and were able to teach part of the
plan of salvation, it was so amazing. She started recognizing that we
really are different and there really is more for all of us. We made
it to Alex Javier's that night and had such an amazing lesson with
him! He showed us his little notebook that he's been keeping and he
had written down some scriptures from the BOM that he liked- so cool!
He's really just diving right in. It blows my mind that two months ago
he didn't even believe in God! He's a funny guy, we were talking about
the resurrection and final judgment and he just looks at us and asks,
"..but what about the animals?" I told him we wouldn't be able to
answer that one! I love how his mind works!
Saturday was jam packed with fun times! We started at the pantry as
always and had a blast with everyone there. Hockett always cracks me
up! I love that we are like best friends with felons, people's pasts
mean nothing! I love those guys! We had an awesome missionary
correlation and got to ride in Hno Linare's super cool red space can
again! Guess what we did afterwards?? Are you ready? We met Elvin's
girlfriend and daughter!! Corina and Yasmin just got here on Thursday!
They made it across the borders from Honduras safely! Corina is the
cutest thing ever and is sooo nice! Yasmin is only 4 and super nervous
around us still, but she'll open up! Afterwards we went over to Flor's
and the Kimbers picked us up for dinner! Hna Kimber made mole rojo and
yummy rice and chicken! And Flor brought tons of yummy left overs from
her work! Flor had a blast and it was so fun to see her being social
and loving being with the members! It was just nice being with the
members, especially Hna Kimber and Hna Paty, they're like family to me
and I love them so much!
Sunday was awesome! Elvin, Corina, Yasmin and their friend made it to
sacrament and Corina made a lot of new friends with the woman! Alex
made it too and stayed for second hour. Our lesson was about the
sabbath day and it was so nest seeing every thing click for him and
listening to his awesome comments! In the middle of church, Hna Torres
and I received blessings from Elder Loveless, our ZL, he's like a
patriarch! We received the most beautiful blessings, it was exactly
what we needed to hear from our Heavenly Father. The priesthood is
here! And it's organized exactly the way God needs it to be right now!
We are so lucky to have it here on earth. After church we headed to
another member's house for lunch and the Kimbers and Hna Paty were
there too! Sister Corrillo is from Guatemala and made us yummy sopa,
just like the kind that Santa made me in Paducah! It was such a tender
mercy because that day just happened to be the one hear anniversary
from when Domingo and Santa were baptized! It was so humbling to look
back and see their conversion and how I got to be a part of it. We had
an awkward door contact that night- we were talking to a woman and I
looked at Hna Torres and stared at her so she would say something and
she got nervous and started laughing and then I started laughing- it
was horrible! Haha, we have a problem, we always laugh at each other.
Despite the laughter, the woman Ruby was super cool and invited us to
come in Tuesday!
This morning I got to go to my old stomping grounds in Madison and see
Dr Thompson again. He is a homeopathic chiropractor and I feel so much
better! He was able to tell me exactly what's wrong with me and made
me a homeopathic remedy, I am SO grateful for him! When you read about
the gifts if the Spirit- he totally has the gift of healing! It is
incredible!
Anyways, this week we made a goal to sacrifice sleep and be up at 5
everyday to have more time to find and teach. Wish us luck!
I love all of you! Here's some of my departing testimony:
Departing Testimony
What do I know?
I know that the power of the gospel can change lives and change people
through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I look back just 4 years ago
and I see a broken, misguided and rebellious girl and I truly stand
all amazed as I see who I've become in this short amount of time and I
am truly humbled wearing this tag with my Savior's name, knowing that
iris only through Him that I am worthy to wear it and to have this
calling at this time, it is only through Him that I am the daughter of
God that I am at this time.
I know that what we share as missionaries is far more powerful and so
much more than having Christ's true church on the earth and having a
prophet to lead and guide us- those are extremely important things,
but what it really comes down to is that we have the way back home to
our Father in Heaven. All that our father wants, is for His children
to come back to Him and to be happy and to be the people He created
them to be, and this can only be done through the restored gospel. I
know that when we are inviting others to come unto Christ through
faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to
the end, we are inviting them to return to their Heavenly Father.
I know that the Book of Mormon is the most powerful book on this earth
at this time. That's a really bold statement that is said in the
introduction but it is true. I know that the Book of Mormon was
specifically saved by God for thousands of years for us in our day. I
know that it was revealed through a modern day prophet, Joseph Smith,
to testify to all the world that the heavens are not closed and that
God still lives and loves us, and He still speaks. The Book of Mormon
has completely changed my life and was what gave me the hope and the
strength to change. The Book of Mormon is what caused me to repent and
come to personally know who my Savior is. The story of Alma the
Younger saved my life.
Brothers and Sisters, I know that Jesus Christ is the savior of the
world. I know that He is our redeemer and that He suffered for each
and everyone of us personally. I know that the work that we are doing
now, as His representatives is a continuation of the work that He did
when He was here on the earth. His work didn't stop with His
resurrection, it continued the second He and our Heavenly Father
answered a young boys prayer and we get to be a part of it right now.
We are so privileged to be here.
I know all of these things to be true! My mission has changed me forever!
Hermana Knight
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