Cudahy: Translado 5: Semana 4 / Aug. 17, 2010

Hola familia!
 
I'm in the Visitor's Center right now. The libraries all closed on Mondays so we get to e-mail here. So, last week was so crazy that I didn't really get time to explain everything that has been going on. We've been commuting to the Visitor's Center to work everyday half days this transfer, just so that all of the Visitor's Center sisters can get used to it and know what's going on, and then they'll change it so a few of the companionships will be full field next transfer and we'll rotate through. It's a pretty crazy commute- it takes us about an hour both ways, plus we're still doing all of the work in our area, so it has been crazy, but at the same time really great. I love being in the Visitor's Center! I will love it even more when we don't have to battle the LA traffic to get here though. It took us two hours to get here this morning because apparently President Obama is in town, so everyone was trying to get downtown all at once.
 
We started a special training this week that is going to completely change our mission and missions in general around the world. It is focused on having us listen to and follow the spirit more so that we can really teach the people and not just check off the lessons. I'm really excited for it because I've already seen it help, and it has just been the first day of training. We just had an amazing experience with the sister of an Hermana in our ward who came to the Visitor's Center, and we truly listened to her and listened to the spirit and it was really powerful. It is especially neat because the Hermana is a sister that I feel really close to in the ward that I have known for my whole mission so far, and she is the only member in her family and has told us a lot how much she wishes her family would be open to the gospel, and so it was really special for her to see her sister have an amazing spiritual experience here and hopefully be more open to accepting the gospel.
 
Last week I referred to a few really hard experiences that we've had, which actually have probably been the hardest of my mission so far. We had one of our investigators that told us she doesn't want to learn anything else, to take our book and to leave, because we accidently really offended her. Her baby was crying because she wanted Hermana Garcia to hold her, but we told her that we can't hold babies because it's against the rules, and so she got super offended and told us that she doesn't want to be mormon. It was especially hard because we already knew her and love her and had been teaching her, and to have them reject us is hard, especially when we were doing everything we could to be obedient. We had to just keep telling ourselves that she just wasn't ready. Even before the baby incident she kept telling us that she felt nothing when we taught her- and really that isn't something that we can force. They are either receptive to the spirit or they aren't, and if they aren't we can't change that, we can just hope and pray that one day she will accept it.
 
Our ray of sunshine as far as the work in our area goes has been the family that I told you about that came to the Visitor's Center last week. They are so adorable! And they love us. They treat us like we are angels, and like they are so privileged to have us come over when we visit. They are incredibly humble and willing to do whatever they can to get closer to God and do what he wants of them. Their names are Jimmy and Karina, and they have four kids- Melissa (10), Chris (7), Valerie (6), and Maritza (4). The little girls always cry whenever we have to leave. They are getting ready to get married so they can get baptized. They've wanted to be married but had to wait all of this time for everything to go through with Jimmy's immigration papers, and finally they can. Its like everything has fallen into place to prepare them to accept the gospel. We are so excited to help them be baptized and we love them so much! At the very beginning of the transfer I remember telling Hermana Garcia that if the only reason I stayed in Cudahy another transfer was to help them, then I'm happy with just that. There have been a lot of incredibly fulfilling experiences where I've felt "Wow, if I came on my mission just for this, it would be enough." But then Heavenly Father just keeps blessing me with more opportunities to learn and to grow and to be part of these incredible people's lives.
 
Thank you all again for the love and support you always give me. Your love, your prayers, and your letters have helped to strengthened so much.
 
Dios les bendiga!
Hermana Dansie