Week 13

So this week has been pretty great. A lot better than last week, that's for sure! 

Monday Sister Andersen asked me to sing in church this Sunday, I decided to go for something I already knew really well so I wouldn't have to spend a lot of time practicing, so I sang "Miracle from Heaven". I've never done it before but I've heard my mom sing it a ton, so it was awesome. Tuesday was almost 100% Spanish! I was so excited. We worked in the food bank that morning, and there actually wasn't a whole lot of bilingual Mexicans there that day, so I got to use my Spanish a lot! I was even translating at the front desk for a while. It was fun but exhausting. My brain was on fire after that. Then all of our lessons that evening ended up being in Spanish, so it was nice that I had that warm up at the food bank. The branch mission leader, Jesus, said that my Spanish is getting a lot better. 

Wednesday we met a new family, the Russos, and they are awesome!! We also met some new people on Thursday, and Saturday, and Sunday, so in just one week we have like 10 new investigators! A lot of pickers and workers went back to Mexico and Columbia for the winter but are coming back lately to start pruning the trees. So it's so nice how many new people we have met! The vacant houses are slowly filling back up! 

Thursday night we also had an amazing lesson with one of our less-active members, Maria. She usually gets pretty "homie" with us, and it's hard to keep her on task and focused on the lesson, but this time we brought a member, Sis. Eyre with us, and she was so much more focused. She bore an amazing testimony about the atonement. She's going through a really, really hard time right now, so her testimony was so powerful. Hna. L was crying. 

We also started working with a new family, the Butlers, they are Christian, but the dad is a veteran and doesn't believe in God anymore because of his experiences in Iraq. It's really sad, and really hard, but we are praying for him a lot. 

Sunday I performed "Miracle from Heaven" It was really powerful because it made me think of my mom and then I sang with more emotion. Bishop said I had them "In the palm of my hands" I looked out and four people were crying! (yesssssss! That's when you know you're a successful musician) I was pretty nervous because it was one of the only times I have ever performed 100% by myself, and the first time I didn't have an instrument like piano or guitar to hide behind. It was like baring my soul! It went really well though. I am so grateful to be able to share my testimony this way--more powerful than words alone. 

Fun Fact- this morning Hna. L found out in the Bible Dictionary that one of the names of Christ is "Shiloh", which is my dog’s name! It's from a verse in Isaiah. 

Hna. Hall is getting a lot of "boyfriends" this week. Ha ha! First, a recent convert, named Marco, started calling her "Hollie" He is known for having crushes and flirting with the sister missionaries a lot…awkward. So "Hollie" is pretty weirded out about that. Ha ha! She also got a text from a random number that said "quiero ser tu novio" (Do you want to be my girlfriend?) What can we say? She's a babe!

At dinner one evening, we were sharing a scripture, and then the sister started bawling! She said that it was exactly what she needed, and the testimony we bore after was "perfectly soothing” for what she was going through that day. Without even knowing what was going on we said the exact right thing. SO cool! Thank You Spirit!

Liesl is still avoiding us. It’s pretty depressing. :( And Ana (elderly man with rotting foot) is starting to get pretty mean. He's always just stirring up contention and trying to pick fights all the time. We love his wife, but we don't know if we are going to continue teaching him. Please keep these two in your prayers. 

It was kind of spring-ish around here for a few days. It is usually around 7-30 degrees, and this week it was like 50 for three days! It was amazing, the snow melted and the green grass was showing, Royal is actually super beautiful! 

Royal City

Friday for lunch, the four of us decided to check out a local Mexican restaurant, La Casa, and when we went to get the check, the owner came and told us a random lady had paid it for us! How sweet was that? I love missionary blessings. We were able to use that money to buy some gloves, scarves, and beanies for a family we are teaching that has two little kids and they are so poor they can barely buy them clothes. 

Some funny Mexican things I have noticed lately, #1 Mexicans only ever use spoons! Never forks or knives, just spoons. #2 If the house has broken blinds, you can be 90% sure they are Mexican. #3 All the stores only sell black and dark brown hair dye! A few people in the ward have started calling me Goldilocks- the nickname is spreading! haha. There's not a lot of blondes around here. 

We were so excited to find a grocery store in Royal. And everything's in Spanish!

I forgot one thing- I had injured my back a few months ago, and I did something kind of dumb while we were playing basketball at P-day last week... and sort of re-injured my back. It's not as bad as last time, but it was really painful. I have to take heavy duty ibprofen, and do ice and heat packs four times a day. It's been a pain (literally) but it could have been a lot worse. It's starting to feel a lot better the last couple of days, so that's good. I can't play sports at p-day today though, so that's a huge bummer :( 

I think that's about it this week, I love you all so so so so  much. Hope you are all remembering to keep a Christlike- Character! 

-Alison <3