Another Week 8-1-11

Hello Everyone!

This week has been a roller coaster! Here are some highlights from this week:

Tuesday July 26- Busy, and met some new people and taught a few lessons at the end of the day.

Wednesday July 27- Pretty good day; District Meeting in the morning. Sister E. and I had to teach a training on working with the members. I was scared to teach in front of the district but it went well and Heavenly Father supported me in teaching which was great, couldn't have done it with out Him. After district mtg, we had some appointments fall through but when one appointment falls through the Lord always blesses us with opportunities to make new ones or meet new people we can share the gospel with. That sort of thing happens almost every day here.

Thursday July 28- We did some awesome service in the morning! We had the opportunity to go to a place where they help adults read, write, do math and other things. We were asked to go help garden and do some work outside. It was really fun, my favorite type of service is where you can dig in and get your hands dirty like doing gardens and trimming bushes and such. We were offered the opportunity to come back and volunteer to tutor any subject we felt inspired to help with. Oh yeah, later that evening we had a "Green" dinner at a members house. All the food was literally green and they gave it weird names (even though it was simple things like chicken and noodles) but the chicken was green, the drinks were green and yeah it looked pretty sketchy but it tasted alright. We had a baptism on Thursday evening that was just a baptism, but it went well. Our last appointment for the day after that was a crash and burn!! Learning experience, lots of learning experiences, hahahaha.

Friday July 29- Rained almost constantly all day, in between when it rained, was incredibly humid. The humidity here is pretty intense, if you breathe in through your mouth its like drinking the air. Taught my first real chastity lesson, went pretty well since it was an 81 year old gentleman and he already lives it anyway. We taught using the Family Proclamation to a young single father that has two little boys. He seemed to really connect with us in that lesson. Definitely the best lesson we have had with him. We invited him and his kids to have family home evening with another member and their little boy and he seemed to like the idea to get the kids involved with learning about the gospel. We contacted a Hill Cumorah pageant referral. He is in his 50's but he had a stroke about a year ago so it is very difficult to communicate but he does pretty well, we can understand him. We taught him the first lesson and said " I will read and pray sincerely in my heart" which was awesome! He has a lot of potential. Being in that area he lives in led us to meet some other new people which was great. We met a little family outside their home, very Catholic. The grandma was talking to my companion and I was talking to her daughter and I was  able to talk to her and set up an appointment with her all by myself! Normally, my companion does that so it was cool to be able to take that step as a missionary. We met several other really awesome people on that street, but my time is limited so I will just say it was a pretty great day and we were extremely blessed!

Saturday July 30- Went to two baptisms- one in the morning and one in the afternoon. We visited with an older German lady that was referred to us by a member family. She is really sweet, it is so cute she thinks I am an angel even though I'm really not, haha. We have been getting to know her the first couple times we have visited her, but the next time we visit we will really begin to teach her. After visiting with her, we had a dinner appointment with members and we had Cuban food! It was divine! By far my favorite meal since being out here, I never thought I would eat any real Spanish food here in NY, but it was soo good; she made homemade flan, and another dessert that was amazing, the whole meal was great! The next appointment we had after that was a little rough, it felt uncomfortable being there because the investigator just wasn't willing to humble himself to be taught the basics. He is a 27 year old intellectual and extremely analytical, teaching him I usually come out frustrated from the lesson. On Sunday we dropped him, it was mutual though. Sadly, it was relieving and a blessing. Just have to remember that God will force no man to heaven and everyone has the choice whether they want to accept it or not. 

Sunday July 31 (yesterday)- We had 6 investigators at church, which was nice, and we picked up a new investigator. One of the kids of an investigator, he's 8, after church he said "When can I be baptized?! Is that pool in the building (meaning the baptismal font) where we can become clean?! Can I get baptized today?!" It was so refreshing to see his eagerness to know more and be baptized, so he is our new investigator :). That was the first time they had come to church, and the mom and her two kids all have baptism dates later this month and in September. 

So that's roughly what my week was like, very busy, and this week will be just as busy, if not more so.  Love you all and hope things are going great back home! Thank you so much for all your prayers, I feel them each and every day. I know that this really is Christ's church restored once again upon the earth and that the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith is a prophet of God! I know that even though things can be tough, that the atonement pays for it all and we can become better through the atonement. I know my Savior lives and loves each of us individually and personally. I know that if we can take each day moment by moment and make of the most of every one then we can feel the influence of the holy spirit more abundantly in our lives.

With love,

Sister Gifford