TRAINING AGAIN!

I did Hermana Buss's makeup

for the Christmas Party. Fun!

I have the best news in the whole world! I am training a brand new missionary again! That rarely happens! I'm so, so, so excited and so honored! It was funny, because we had totally forgotten that transfer calls were on Saturday, until like Saturday morning at about 9. The Sisters mentioned it, and we were like, "Oh yeah!" Then like 10 minutes later, Sister Atkinson and Sister McCourt's phone rings. (We only get direct calls from President Lewis on transfer calls day if someone is getting called or released from a leadership position. Otherwise, we just get 1 mission-wide voicemail that talks about leadership changes, and a second one from the APs that says specific changes within our zone.) So, Sister McCourt yelped! And then Sister Atkinson got released as an STL for her last transfer and got news she is transferring to Moses Lake :( I will miss her so much, I love her. Then President told Sister McCourt she would be receiving Sister Michalek as her new companion, which was so crazy and cool because Sister Michalek is her "Mom"! Very rarely are trainers and trainees ever companions again so that's a huge blessing for them! Sister McCourt is very excited.

Then after all that, we figured the call was done, but then president was like "Can I talk to the Spanish Sisters, now?" MY HEART ALMOST EXPLODED. He said it was really cool to get to have transfer decisions on the same week as the Christmas Gathering, because he got to observe all the missionaries and companionships and relationships while being in this prayerful state and that some unexpected changes were made. Then, he said "Hermana Knight, we want to ask you if you'd be willing to train a new missionary." Tears welled up in my eyes because I literally LOVED training so, so, so much, and very rarely do people get to train a new missionary twice! I was so surprised! I laughed and said "Oh my goodness! I totally will! Thank you so much for this opportunity! I love training!" He said he knows that one of these three new hermanas coming in really needs me. It was so shocking! We thought we had heard that 11 Elders were coming in, and no sisters! So we were definitely not expecting any of us to get called to train! Then Hermana Buss got news she will be leaving on Wednesday to go to Ephrata. She gets to serve with Hermana Clark, which will be so awesome! I love Hermana Clark.

In other transfer news, Hermana Luevano got released as and STL! I'm glad for her because now for her last two transfers she'll get to see what it's like to be a normal missionary! She got trained, trained me, and then has been an STL for the whole rest of her mission! It will be a cool experience. I don't know where she's headed :( but she's been in the Englewood Branch for 5 transfers now! So we weren't surprised to hear she's leaving. Hermana Hull is staying in Englewood Branch as far as I know. Sister Hirsche is "dying" on Tuesday! It's so sad when all your mission friends die. I'm starting to realize how old I am, too! I only have three transfers left, and every time I think about it I just really want to cry. I want to stay on my mission forever. Things just make sense here.

Some other Highlights of the week:

 Tuesday I went on exchanges with Sister McCourt, and it was so awesome! She's seriously cute and fun and we actually have a ton in common that we didn't realize before. I'm glad she's not leaving because she's a really good friend :)

Wednesday was the Mission Christmas party!!! It was so fun, and of course I loved ,loved, LOVED seeing my mom, Hermana Luevano, and my daughter, Hermana Hull. I love them so much. One of my favorite moments of the day was when the Yakima Valley Zone was doing their musical number (each zone shared a musical number and a message) and Hermana Hull sang a solo! It was SO beautiful, and I was so proud of her. She's like an angel. She gets really nervous singing in front of people and has never done a solo before, so I'm so, so, so proud of her. Her heart is so big, too. Also, can I just say that Hermana Luevano looks SO DANG GOOD WITH LIPSTICK ON. She is so cute. I love and miss her all the time. I got to see Hermana Shewell, too! It was so fun. She was pretty sad to hear about Fernando, but she sounds like she's doing great in Hood river and really loves it down there! We also got to watch a newer movie (new since I've been out, but I've been out for like 14 months so that's not saying much.) It's called "Ephraim's Rescue" and it's so good! It was equal parts inspiring, funny, and super sad!

 Three Generations!

 My hija and me!

 My mom and me!

 Sister Young and I

Sister Andrews, Sister Hernandez, Sister Young and me

This week we were blessed to find FIVE NEW INVESTIGATORS. That rarely happens, too! It was crazy because it was one of those harder weeks when you feel like you're working really hard, but have nothing to show for it, except 12 referrals (not bad) until Saturday and Sunday, when we were finally able to contact some of those referrals and turn them in to new investigators! They are actually showing a lot of interest in the Church. One of my favorite moments was yesterday with Rosella and Paulo, at the end of the lesson we said a prayer with them and Paulo just sat there for a moment and said quietly "Wow what a great birthday present from God." and then Hermana Buss was like, "Is it your birthday?" He said, "Yes, and it's so amazing because two of God's servants came to my house and said a prayer for me and my family. It's the best present ever". BEING A MISSIONARY IS THE BEST THING EVER.

Another cool little miracle happened yesterday, because the Reina's nephew, Miguel has been showing a little bit of interest lately, and always asks us a lot of questions, but we never know when he's going to be at their house. He just shows up there randomly sometimes. We talked to Hermana Reina earlier that week about what she would think of us teaching Miguel, and she said she thinks it would be really good, and that we should definitely try it. Then, we went to stop by the Reina's house yesterday afternoon, because they didn't come to church and we wanted to make sure they were okay. No one was home, but right as we were pulling out of their driveway, Miguel pulled in!! It was a miracle for sure, we were able to stop and talk to him for a minute, and ask if we could set up a time to talk to him and answer more of his questions and he was like "Yes! I was hoping for that, but I didn't know how to ask". MIRACLE for sure!

One last cool miracle, before I sign off. So on Tuesday Sister Buss and Sister Atkinson had gone to our investigator, Rosia's house for a lesson and talked a lot about the Book of Mormon with her, and especially about how when we read the Book of Mormon and the Bible it brings us a lot of peace. Then yesterday Rosia texted us and told us she had gone out of town to Mexico for a little trip and that she was super nervous to fly in a plane, but that she remembered what the sisters had said about the Book of Mormon and decided to read from it while she was on the plane and she felt a lot of comfort and wasn't afraid anymore. So cool! #scripturepower

Well, that's it for now, I have a lot of stuff to do to prepare for my new baby to come in a couple of days! I love and miss you all!

Snow!