Family and Friends,
Anyway,
this week has been pretty amazing! The highlight of the first half of
my week was that we got to go to the Temple. I can't express how much I
love the temple. It is truly the House of the Lord. It is filled with
peace and love and enlightenment and every time that I am able to
attend, I feel such a Spirit and rejuvenation fill my soul. I wish I
could go to the temple every week, but since I can't, I truly treasure
the times when I am able to be spiritually uplifted in such a sacred and
holy place! Especially on my mission, when I am truly in need of the
guidance of the Spirit, I feel so blessed to be able to go to the Temple
and receive personal revelation and revelation for those I am serving
as well! I feel so blessed to be able to have a temple so close to my
mission and to my home. I pray that I can always live in such close
proximity as to be able to attend on such a regular basis.
On Saturday,
after a lot of rejection, we weren't sure who to go visit, but after
some prayer and planning went to visit the family of Carlos and Maritsa.
I had met them once before, but didn't know them very well and didn't
know how they would receive us. When we pulled up, one of their little
girls, Celeste, saw us through the window and got really excited. She
ran in and told her mom "las misioneras estan aqui!!" When we knocked on
the door they were all gathered around and welcomed us in with lots of
hugs! It just so happens that that very day was Celeste's birthday.
Guess how old she was turning... EIGHT! We had a really good lesson on
church and invited them to come. They agreed (well, Carlos wasn't there,
but the rest of them did). This family really doesn't have a lot of
money so we found out that Celeste wasn't able to have a birthday party
or get any presents, but she was okay with it. She is such a sweet
little girl! We gave lots of hugs to say goodbye and then walked back to
our car. There was a little store nearby so we drove over and bought
some cupcakes and a huge birthday balloon. When we went back to the
house, Carlos was home. They let us in again and Maritsa (the mom)
started crying with happiness that we had brought some simple treats for
her sweet daughter!! We were so happy we could make their day. As soon
as Celeste got the cupcakes she opened them right up and started passing
them around to all her siblings, her parents, and of course to her
favorite missionaries! We recommitted them to coming to church, this
time with Carlos included and then left for the night. Sunday
morning, bright and early we got a call from Maritsa saying that she
really wanted to come to church but they didn't have a ride. SHE CALLED
US! Ahhh. You best believe we found them a ride and all 6 of them came
to church yesterday :) They really enjoyed it and can't wait to come
next week. We are going to see them tomorrow and get them on date for baptism! The Lord is good!
Training
is going really well. I can't complain at all. Hermana Rasmussen seems
"pre-trained" in a lot of areas. We are working a lot on our Spanish,
and we have the Lord on our side, so things are going pretty great! She
is a really hard worker and that's all I can ask for! We work diligently
every day and come home exhausted. It's a wonderful feeling. One thing I
love about her is that even when we can't see the fruits of our efforts
right away she is always whispering "just planting seeds". I know that
we truly are planting seeds every where we go and I would ask you all to
do the same thing! Continue to plant seeds for your neighbors, your
friends, and your family. I know that God will be on your side as you do
this!
Con Amor,
Hermana Rutherford
My little cutie and I at the beautiful Redlands Temple on Thursday!!
This says "call for prayer", we didn't put it there. But I wish we had.
Seems like a really good finding technique!
The Young Women were selling "cake jars" as a fundraiser for girls camp.
They were sooo yummy. I'll have to learn how to be domestic one day!
PS. Shout out to my big sis Karen and her husband, Trevor, for making an
adorable little baby boy. I can't wait to meet you, Jasper!