The week of Change

It´s been quite the week of non-stop craziness. .Saying goodbye to Syster Jacobs and then hello to Syster Schneiber. This is only the second time that I have been the companion who has stayed in an area and a new companion comes in. It feels really strange. But, I think the strangest part is thinking that I only have one more month left. So, everything I am doing here is to help Syster Schneiber feel ready to take over this wonderful area. My heart will be here forever.

 

My new companion is wonderful! I really don´t know why I have been so blessed with such amazing companions most of my mission. She is very little and from Connecticut and goes to BYU Idaho. She actually will be going home in four months and this area will be her last area as well. It is really neat being with an older missionary - we have become the testifying machines. Once I leave she will be training here. Lovely. It is the same situation that happened to me with Syster Jenson. I can tell that we are going to have a great month together. She is a ball full of energy. I love her.

 

This past week we have seen so many miracles.. when I think about everything that happened this past week I am amazed that I still have energy to keep moving. On Monday we had an amazing goodbye FHE party at the Jacobssons for Syster Jacobs and we had six of our investigators show up, some less-actives, our new converts, and some members there. It was such a sweet night full of love for one another. The best part of the night came when Syster Jacobs and I were going to give our final lesson together. Lately, we have been going around to members homes and talking about having your foundation be in Christ. We always read Helaman 5:12 and we get an egg and ask if anyone thinks that they can break the egg. It is impossible to break an egg in your hand if it's held a certain way. You just can´t break it, no matter how hard you press. That´s what we thought. We asked who was the strongest in the room and our African male investigator was chosen. He took the egg and squeezed as hard as he could and the next thing we knew Syster Jacobs was covered in egg!!! Haha. The egg popped so easily and it really surprised Syster Jacobs. The entire room burst into laughter. So, she went and cleaned herself up and then we came back and talked about not being like the egg and making sure that you have that foundation in Christ so you will never pop! Haha. It was very memorable and a great last lesson together. I love that girl!

 

The next morning we took Syster Jacobs to the train station Hadi and the Correas came to say goodbye. After that I went and got breakfast with the Correa girls and Hadi. It felt super strange being without a companion. The Correa girls became my companion for the morning. Then at 12:30 I picked up my new companion. We went straight to work. I want her to get familiar with this area as soon as possible because I really don´t have that much time to help her. Syster Schneiber is an amazing teacher and a great contactor! What a good example to me. We had a 34 teach week! By the end of the week I was exhausted. And 12 of the those teaches were to an investigator with a member present! The highest I have had on my mission thus far. I can already tell that my last month is going to fly by.

 

We had some amazing teaches with our investigators who are working towards baptism. On Thursday night we had a great teach on the law of chastity with two of our investigators and the man looked at us after we had asked him if he had read the pamphlet and he said, "Up until I read that pamphlet, I had been living in sin." The room went dead silent. And we said "okay, well what are you going to do to change that?" Together we came up with the idea of a small marriage in a couple of weeks here in the church and then their baptism the same day!! September 8th is the big day. They even sent in the papers for marriage the next day! They are very prepared and I love them so much! They said that they would just have two weddings... one now and one for everyone else next summer. Lovely.

 

We currently have six baptismal dates and I would really like to see at least 3 more baptisms before I go home. So, we are going to work our hardest and see what miracles we can see before I go home. Wow. This really was an amazing week. We even got five new investigators! We met most of the standards of excellence for our mission! Life is good.

 

Prayer works. A scripture that I really enjoyed this past week was 2 Nephi 9:52. "Behold, my beloved brethren, remember the words of your God; pray unto Him continually by day, and give thanks unto His holy name by night. Let your hearts REJOICE."  

I love the scriptures and I am looking forward to taking some really good institute classes when I get home. Maybe with Serina at UVU. ... I would love that. Start getting everything ready for Talisa to be home.. ! I would like my room to be yellow. Yes, that´s a great bright color. 

I love you all! And I am getting really excited to be home again! Rock and Roll hard until I get home.

 

Love, Talisa!

AKA: Syster Vistaunet