Hi family!
First off, Jen...good luck this week if you have your baby! I think about you everyday and say (probably multiple times a day), "What if my sister has had her baby by now?!" I'm assuming you haven't. Can't wait!
As for this week, there is so much good to share; where do I begin?
MIRNA: She is the less active we "happened" to bump into on April 23. Since that day, she has only missed church twice, and yesterday I had the great privilege of translating her temple recommend interview for baptisms. SO, everyone...WE ARE GOING TO THE TEMPLE on Saturday! :) :) :) :) :) Can you tell I'm excited? It was such an amazing experience and we really have seen a transformation in her. On Sunday when she walked into church, she was beaming, and as she hugged me, she whispered (in English, even!), "Oh, I love you." She is so dear to my heart. I will definitely have pictures next week. She did play a trick on me this week though! We were visiting her on Friday and we ask how she is doing. She says, "Great, just drinking coffee." My heart sunk...what? I start panicking..and thinking...okay, we can help her fix this. It's just a bump in the road. I start explaining the Word of Wisdom and telling her how we can help...then she just starts smiling and says, "Hermanas, it's hot chocolate." :) But, she hasn't had any coffee since we started seeing her in April. She really is going to strengthen the Spanish in the branch, I feel.
Rodney Rollins: On Saturday, we found ourselves doing lookups and trying to visit former investigators. As we get ready to get in the car, I see a man kiddy corner from us in the driveway so I said I think we should talk to him. We hadn't even gotten to his driveway when he beckons us to come talk to him, with a big smile on his face. He's a big, older black man who was born and raised in Riverhead, played professional basketball and coached NCAA for 16 years, and now has a program where he teaches youth "bible, books, and basketball." He said you need to have God, education, and keep busy from "knuckleheading." He really cares about the youth here though and likes to make sure they are staying out of trouble. He was happy to see that we were teaching about God as young people (we get that alot from older people) and was so friendly. We had a 20 minute chat with him and as we testified of our message, he was close to tears. We said we knew it would bless his life and he told us his heart had been "deeply touched." He said that he was at a crossroads and had some doubts, but that we looked like angels to him. We are planning to visit him again this week (he has a wife and two kids, one is studying journalism at UMass). We have been asked to pray for the "pure in heart" by our Mission President and we feel that he is an answer to that prayer.
Another thing I wanted to share is that I have been working to become less prideful! I know that I like to be right, and I like my ideas. But, missions aren't about us. They are about God and doing what is right, and helping find the pure in heart. I have really felt lately that if I can humble myself and work on not being prideful, that the Lord will bless me. And, guess what? It's been working! Sometimes I have to bite my tongue or think, "I don't need to point out that I was right..." and I have noticed a difference -- there has been less tension in our companionship and I have been happier too. I know that sometimes when we have problems, we should look at ourselves first as a solution.
Cool little experiences? This week, Sister Blom and her Duty to God kids made us a painting for our wall! I need to take a picture of it as it really is so special and it has the word "faith" on it. It really brightens up our apartment!
We were getting groceries before emailing today and the cashier said to me, "So what do you believe? I saw you in here last week and have been thinking about asking you!" I explained a little about the church, gave her a mormon.org card, and invited her to church. But, we never know who is watching us or that people see a difference; yet they do!
Finally, a fun story to share. Hopefully you'll be proud of your Sister Peacock :) We were at the Bloms for dinner on Father's Day and Brother Blom was making oreo shakes (per our request) for dessert. Well...you know I can eat icecream ... and fast. I had an oreo shake, and then he made a fresh strawberry shake. Sis Hale was saying she couldn't finish the oreo shake...and I was joking about my competitions in high school with my guy friends about shakes. So, Jaden (the 15 year old) and Mauritz (their German exchange student) decide to have a challenge with the strawberry shake. Guess who won? I'll leave it at that since I've been working on being prideful lately...hehe. But it was a little too much fun and Jaden does want a rematch in the future! They are my New York home and I can promise you we are being taken care of by them!
Wow. Long email. It's a good thing typing fast has always been a hobby of mine!
Les quiero!
Hermana Peacock
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