I just want to say thank
you all for the love and support that you are constantly sending me!
For the letters, notes, emails, packages, and the non tangible as well. I
can feel your thoughts and prayers being directed my way and they lift
and support me. I know that Heavenly Father listens to prayers, He
listens to your prayers, and I want to thank you for mentioning me in
some of them. I know that part of the reason I am having such an amazing
mission, and one with such success, is due to your love and constant
pleading with Our Father. Please continue to pray for the missionaries
and our investigators. We really need it out here!
This
week has been a good one, as always! There were some ups and downs, but
everything turned out okay in the end, as it always does when we put
our trust in The Lord. We were "dropped" by a few investigators this
week, and one of the baptisms we had planned (Maria) fell through. She
is still having some trouble with deciding to marry her "fiancee" or to
leave him. We only have about 3 progressing investigators right now, but
lots of potentials and we know that right now it's "out with the old
and in with the new", which sounds like super harsh, but it's what needs
to happen. Sometimes people just aren't ready, aren't willing, aren't
progressing, and as missionaries, we can't waste our time with that!
Time is valuable, especially out here, and if people aren't keeping
commitments, we should be looking for someone who is. I hate dropping
people, but it has to be done with faith that there is someone else out
there who is more prepared!
One of the most
miraculous things that happened this week was how we found the Ponce de
Leon family. We got a referral from the Hermanas in the Rubidoux area
with a name, a number, an address, and a note saying that they wanted to
meet with us at 6 o clock on Tuesday.
The name of the referral was for the Torres family. We called the
number given and when the Hermana answered we asked if it was still okay
for us to stop by at 6. She said yes, but sounded a little confused.
When we got to the house number, it wasn't her house. It was a
completely different family, but they let us in and we had a little
lesson about the Restoration of the Gospel with them. They weren't too
interested so then we went on our way. We got back to our car and tried
to call our referral again. She told us we had the address wrong, but
that her house wasn't far from where we were. We showed up at this
referrals house and as we started talking, she told us they weren't the
Torres family. They were the Ponce de Leon family, but that she had a
son whose last name was Torres and that's why she allowed us to come
over. It turns our they had never met with missionaries before, in fact
she didn't know what church we were from when we called, but she wanted
to learn more! This family is so so cute and they have so many sincere
questions! They asked us all about our church and told us they were
really interested in coming and we got a return appointment! I have no
idea how that referral was so messed up, but it worked out in the end!!
Heavenly Father knew we needed to meet them so He made it happen.
Other good moments from this week:
Other good moments from this week:
1.
When we went on splits with our recent CONVERTS. Ahhh I love that. Kim
and Catalina both went out with us to share the gospel. They are true
converts.
2. We got a flat tire in the middle of the freeway
and a group of Elders had to come rescue us! The culprit was a pair of
nail clippers (don't ask me how)
3. We went to two birthday parties and got two new investigators out of them. If you like to party, go on a mission.
4.
For our zone activity this morning we went bowling and I beat everyone
else in the zone! WOOO! Out of like 18 missionaries, I was #1. Not that
my score was super impressive though, we just all stink at bowling.
Transfers
are coming up next week and I can't wait to see what happens! It's for
sure that my companion is leaving the area, so that also makes it pretty
for sure that I am staying. Our DL, Elder Romero, is going home, so
Elder Sy will be getting a new companion as well! Hermana Santoyo and
Bjork are also probably leaving the area so there will be a ton of new
changes! One of our ZL's, Elder Anderson, will be transferred out, so
lots and lots of newbies in the zone and in our De Anza district as
well! I will let you know all about it next week. I have learned so much
from the missionaries I'm serving with now, I can't wait to see what
the next group of missionaries have to teach me! :)
Have a great week everyone, know that I am thinking of and praying for you always!
Con Amor,
Hermana Rutherford
Flat tire- thanks whoever was clipping their nails on Van Buren and didn't want to keep the clippers.
I have no idea why this is so blurry, but these are all the missionaries who went bowling today!
And we've still got Christmas cheer from over at the mission office!