Well, it's been a bumpy ride this week.(literally.. details to come) Yesterday was supposed to be the day that we receive the call who is leaving and who is staying for transfers, but nothing came. I was stressed out of my mind. This morning was wack. The whole zone came to the church and we played ultimate frisbee and went to Chick-fil-A until the zone leaders got the the phone call of who was leaving. Transfers are tomorrow and Sister Cano se va. In Sister Marlowe's words, "Dager to the heart!" I have learned so much from my little 90 lbs red head. We have gone through so much. She is heading to Corpus and I will stay here in beloved, San Isidro, Laredo.
Drum roll please..... S/O to Kara Hartley. Sister Taylor is coming up to Laredo to be my new companion. CRAZY. (she was Kara's roommate at BYU and we randomly made the connection the day we were flying from Mexico to Texas.) So yes, we came to the mission at the same time. I'm so excited.
Details of the week:
As for a spiritual thought for the week, my dad's email was so good, I thought I would just stick a paragraph for everyone to think about.
I started thinking about the significance of the symbolism of how Moses struck the rock and water came forth. As I thought more I remember how the rock is a symbol of the Savior. We are supposed to build on the rock of His foundation. But then I also thought about the water that came forth. It made me think of the woman at the well. He told her that the water from the well would quench her thirst but that if she drank the water that He provided to her, she would never thirst again. It was truly a miracle that Moses struck the rock and water came forth, but how symbolic of the Savior to see that occur. He is our rock and he is the source of water which will make it so we will never thirst again. I really like those images that is created by those scriptures.
As for my thoughts, I gave my talk on Faith, or "La Fe" en Spanish. I looked up faith in the Bible Dictionary and it's synonyms were belief, trust, and obedience. Often times when people ask what faith is, we quote Alma 32:21 "faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."
but really, it's so much more. The first step is believing in our Savior and Heavenly Father, then trusting in their commandments, and obeying them. I related it to the pioneers. What great faith they must of had to leave everything behind for something they had faith in. It was strong. They walked through snow, rivers, and across mountains. Some had no shoes. They left bloody foot prints across the plains. Illnesses were caught, family and friends died. It's my greatest desire to have that amount of faith. Would I go if I was asked? I would like to say I would drop everything and follow, but would I? Would you?
I love you all. Life is so sweet. Disfrute cada minuto!
Les Amo,
Hermana Hemmingsen
Drum roll please..... S/O to Kara Hartley. Sister Taylor is coming up to Laredo to be my new companion. CRAZY. (she was Kara's roommate at BYU and we randomly made the connection the day we were flying from Mexico to Texas.) So yes, we came to the mission at the same time. I'm so excited.
Details of the week:
- It has been SO cold. Freezing rain and wind. Sister Cano's little body doesn't handle the cold very well, and she got sick.. which got me sick. no good.
- On Tuesday Sister Cano, Hiram, and I fasted together. Hiram has been without a job since October. He has looked everywhere and no one would hire him because he was too over qualified. We fasted and that night he called to inform us that he got a job as a fork-lifter in a warehouse. He didn't sound too excited, but he was grateful that he got a job. The next day he went to work and it was AWFUL. The poor guy was a little rusty at working a fork lift and all of the co-workers were laughing and making fun of him. He started fasting again and that night he got another call from a member, Brother Pluma. He just got a new job and has so much on his plate that he needed help. The job was exactly what Hiram had worked as years back. Hiram got hired and today had his first day on the job. What a miracle it is. Fasting works; God is real.
- On Wednesday we went to McAllen for a sister's meeting. All the sisters in the Texas McAllen mission came and boy was I so happy to see all of my favorite people in one place. Sister Nail and Diaz are in their last six weeks! Crazy how fast time flies.
- On the way back from McAllen we stopped at a gas station. I was getting tired and so Sister Sainsbury offered to drive. Before we left the parking lot, she looked down at the dash and read "Low Tire Pressure". Our car always says that but I had the strongest prompting that we needed to take care of the problem. We put air in the tires, the first two were at 22 (an average tire is at 32) and the third was at 14. It scared me a bit, but there was nothing we could do but fill em up and keep going.
- Thursday morning we woke up for a service activity we were doing at the veteran's center. The elders took our car and we rode with the other sisters. On our way back to the church, we got a phone call from the elders saying we had a flat tire and they were taking it to the shop. They had to replace THREE tires. Do you guys know how much of a blessing it is that we didn't get a flat coming home from McAllen!? It's a two-way highway for three hours in the middle of nowhere Texas. #miracles.
- Sunday Sister Cano and I gave talks... en la rama espanol. I never have updated 'yall on my Spanish lately. Sister Cano is a saint and has helped me so much. I understand about 95% of everything said and can have a fluent conversation with anyone on the street. The gift of tongues is so real. I couldn't have learned Spanish without the help of my Heavenly Father, or my companion.
- Elmer's baptism is January 25. I am so sad that Cano won't be here, but he will be well taken care of. It's funny, two of the three people I have helped be baptized so far have been puro espanol.. and both from Guatemala. I'm a magnet to "guatematecos".
- Every companionship is changing in Laredo North Zone. It's bitter sweet, these people are my family, but that's how life works I guess. We'll see each other again.
- Elder Oaks will be coming to McAllen on January 23, everyone is SO excited.
As for a spiritual thought for the week, my dad's email was so good, I thought I would just stick a paragraph for everyone to think about.
I started thinking about the significance of the symbolism of how Moses struck the rock and water came forth. As I thought more I remember how the rock is a symbol of the Savior. We are supposed to build on the rock of His foundation. But then I also thought about the water that came forth. It made me think of the woman at the well. He told her that the water from the well would quench her thirst but that if she drank the water that He provided to her, she would never thirst again. It was truly a miracle that Moses struck the rock and water came forth, but how symbolic of the Savior to see that occur. He is our rock and he is the source of water which will make it so we will never thirst again. I really like those images that is created by those scriptures.
As for my thoughts, I gave my talk on Faith, or "La Fe" en Spanish. I looked up faith in the Bible Dictionary and it's synonyms were belief, trust, and obedience. Often times when people ask what faith is, we quote Alma 32:21 "faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."
but really, it's so much more. The first step is believing in our Savior and Heavenly Father, then trusting in their commandments, and obeying them. I related it to the pioneers. What great faith they must of had to leave everything behind for something they had faith in. It was strong. They walked through snow, rivers, and across mountains. Some had no shoes. They left bloody foot prints across the plains. Illnesses were caught, family and friends died. It's my greatest desire to have that amount of faith. Would I go if I was asked? I would like to say I would drop everything and follow, but would I? Would you?
I love you all. Life is so sweet. Disfrute cada minuto!
Les Amo,
Hermana Hemmingsen