Everyone, meet my "baby" Hermana Emma Hull! She's
the cutest and sweetest thing ever! I'm so excited to be a trainer! More on
that in a little bit.
Monday was the Fourth of July and was actually a pretty good
day. They changed the schedule of our P-day a bit, because President wanted us
to be in our apartments by 6pm just in case, for safety. Usually our P-day is
from 10am-6pm, but last week we did 10-3, and then 6-9, that way some work
could get done in our areas. It was pretty weird, but nice that we had plenty
of time to pack Hermana Marble all up and ready to go. She was pretty excited
about my packing skills because she used to carry four suitcases and a box, and
I got it all into three suitcases! Woo hoo! (Thank you Leggett genes!) It was
pretty fun to pack, but weird being the one that's staying! It's my first time
being the companion that stays and takes over the area. Tuesday we went around
to all of our investigators, less active members, and a few favorite members to
say goodbye. It was so sad! But we are all really excited for Hna. M, who gets
to "die" where she was "born"!
July 4th at Panoramic Point
Last District photos before transfers
Larissa with Hna M. I think this is so ADORABLE!
She wanted to hug me, too, even though I'm not saying goodbye!
The Drehobls
Wednesday we woke up at six and hurried and got ready and finished
the last minute packing. Then we drove to Lyle, to the Hovinghoff's house (they
were the ones that let us sleep over after the train explosion a few weeks
ago.) They drove us up to Goldendale (the transfer site) where we met up with a
bunch of other missionaries who were leaving. It was hard in those last few
moments with Hna. M. I love her so much, and it was so hard to say goodbye!
Goodbye Hna. M! I will miss you!
Goodbye present I made for Hna M.
Pretty soon a big van pulled up, Elder Oliver, and Elder Shugart were driving
(they both used to be my zone leaders, and are now the AP's Iit was so fun to
see them!) And out of the van popped Elder Wilde (SO EXCITED HE'S IN MY ZONE
AGAIN!) and Hna. Paulsen (Texan!) and then HERMANA HULL, my greenie!!! I was
like OMG SHE IS SO CUTE! I HAVE THE CUTEST BABY EVER!
Ya’ll ready for the best part? She's from TEXAS! Woo hoo!
She was born in Arizona but then when she was 10 days old she was adopted by a
family in Austin Texas. She is named after Emma Smith (cool!) and has two
brothers, Eric who is 27 and her parent's biological son, and Nathan who is 18
and who is actually her biological brother! It's truly amazing the story of how
her family ended up together. Heavenly Father Is so cool!! She is so, so, so
pretty, too, and about the size of my pinky toe. That is really fortunate,
because I found a cute dress at the thrift store a few weeks ago, thinking that
Hna. Luevano would look good in it. But it was slightly too small, and now I
have an even teenier companion that can fit in it! I'll have to take a picture.
It's been really fun all week introducing her to the
members, when they ask her where she's from and she says "Texas"
they're all like "Oh no! Not two Texans! The Texas pride is just ooozing
everywhere!" It's so fun! But I guess I have to say goodbye to my nickname
for a while (a lot of people call me Tex or Texas here.) She also is a GREAT
singer and loves country music. She plays the fiddle and piano! We have a lot
of fun together. She does like the best Miranda impression I have ever seen.
Seriously, put some red lipstick on her and it’s just like Miranda!
On our way home from Goldendale, the Hovinghoffs took an
eight minute detour and took us to this random zoo?! It was so strange, a mini
zoo with giraffes, zebras, camels, and donkeys in the middle of the mountains
of Oregon... but it was a really exciting and a fun thing for Hna. Hull on her
first day here! Then when we got to their house they made us some lunch. It
turns out Hna. Hull has Celiac's disease, which is cool for our comp unity,
because we both have dietary restrictions. Now neither one of us has to feel
bad about making the other person not get to have bread at member dinners.
Mini-zoo
After we got home she told me I was actually in charge of
giving her orientation, because her flight got delayed nine hours! So she
didn't get to the mission home until about 12:30 the night before. She actually
stayed up for 24 hours straight and then only got to sleep four hours until she
had to wake up and get in the van to come down here to me! Poor girl! So I was
going to let her take a nap, but she didn't want to. She's a really hard
worker, which I LOVE. It's been amazing seeing the miracles already from her
greenie fire! After we unpacked her and I gave her orientation, we went out and
tracted for a while. I personally don't believe in tracting, because when I was
at the MTC, they gave us tracting statistics, and on average, a missionary
would have to knock on a THOUSAND doors before finding someone who would
actually be interested in the gospel, and I can definitely testify to that. I
have had exactly ONE investigator in my entire mission who came out of
knocking, and she only had like 2 lessons before she dropped us... but I feel
like it's a good experience for the missionaries, to break them in and get rid
of their fear. She had a really hard time actually talking when people opened
the doors, but after a while she loosened up a bit. We're not planning on
spending a ton of time knocking, but we want to go at least a couple of times a
week just to help her boost her confidence and courage.
Fun "mother/daughter" pictures!
Hna. Hull in the cute dress I found
Thursday something REALLY cool happened. One of our Spanish
members texted us and said she had a friend who was interested in the church
and wanted to talk to us, and could we meet them on Saturday. We were like, “Holy
cow, yes! We can totally do that!” So we met on Saturday and he literally said,
"I have been learning about the church from my girlfriend and I really
want to get baptized, what do I have to
do to get baptized?"
*OKAY LET ME PICK MY JAW UP OFF THE FLOOR*
We met with him the second day, yesterday and committed him
to prepare for baptism on 7/30! It will be so exciting to have a baptism on my
sister's birthday! His name is Ramon, and he is so prepared by the Lord to receive
this. I LOVE MEMBER REFERALS. Hna. Hull and I were so excited after the lesson
last night we actually cried a little. This has been a really hard area to work
in. I feel like I've been working harder the last two transfers than I have in
my entire mission with little or no results, and now we have someone on-date
for baptism! We are so happy for Ramon! Please keep him in your prayers.
I guess that's it for this week. I love being a trainer! :)
Pictionary for language study
Cute baby deer that came up close to our car
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