Wednesday we did exchanges! Oh my gosh, it was so fun. I went to Santee, so Sister Speigner had to stay here and hold down the fort in Poway all by herself. Sis Castellanos (our sister training leader) came to Poway while I went to Santee with our other sister training leader Sister Klopfer. Sister Speigner did pretty good here by herself, and now I know what we really need to work on with her. But when I went to Santee we had such a good time! We started off the day with service at this guy named Kory's house. Apparently for months now missionaries have been helping him build this giant stone wall at his house. Every Wednesday they go over from 10 AM to 3:30 PM. So we got to go do that, where we ate lunch and then went to work. It was so nice to just do some hard physical work! It basically consisted of shoveling dirt and rocks into wheel barrels and then taking the wheel barrels up a ridiculously steep hill and dumping it. I only attempted the wheel barrel once, and had to be rescued by Elders twice, before I tipped over (it was heavy!) but I made it! They said I was the only sister that had ever been able to do it. But needless to say I was very sore afterwards. But anyways, after service we went and contacted a few people. Got rejected pretty solid a few times. But we also met this guy named Jorge who we were able to teach on the street and invite to be baptized right there. I love it when we can do that! And yeah, that was the highlight. But it was just fun to be able to experience a different area and different companion and also be not so stressed for a day.
Friday was long, but also a day full of miracles! We had zone meeting where we learned a bunch of stuff about how to use Facebook more effectively. Then we had to finish weekly planning. Then had dinner with Hermana Wagner. She's so awesome! She was telling us about some problems she had and I felt the Spirit guiding me to be able to not only show her something that could help her but also connect with her on like a personal level. I think her and I will be friends after the mission. :) we then went to try to find an investigator named Esteban, who were not sure is really that interested. But then we went to try to see if we could time it right to see if we could get into these gated apartments and what do you know! The timing was right! So we made it in, and went to work trying to find people because we never get in there because we don't know the code. So we went and knocked on the door of the person we were trying to see, and he said come back in an hour. And on our way out, we met Carmen. She's super old, and she's actually from Honduras. But she was the sweetest thing! She told us that she believed in Christ, and that she was planning on moving this weekend. And after some convincing, she agreed to let us come help her move. So sweet.
Then we met Davíd which was cool, he seemed very nice. He seemed pretty open, but he was leaving on vacation and won't be home until the end of the month. That's okay though, we'll go see him then. He was super impressed with our Spanish and I think it was a testimony to him about how someone would learn Spanish so fast and talk to people just for the purpose of bringing others to Christ. It was cool.
And then we went and visited our less-active member Bonifacio who has been in the hospital for like over a month now. What's cool is that he had been distanced from the Church for like years, then one day I just randomly called him and we went and visited him and now he's saying that after he gets out of the hospital in a few days he's planning to come back to church! But wait, it gets better. In this visit with him, he told us he'd been talking to the guy he shares a room with in therapy. And that one night the guy was in a lot of pain, so Bonifacio asked him if he could pray for him, so he did. And the pain got better! And now Bonifacio has been teaching him how to pray and about the church and asked us for a Book of Mormon that he could give to him. He then proceeded to tell us that his roommate had agreed to have the missionaries come talk to him! He also asked us specifically if we could sing a hymn for him. So we will be going by next week to see him. I was so grateful for Bonifacio and the chance we had to meet him, that God put in him in our path, and now he's helping another one of our brothers get back to Heavenly Father.
Then Saturday we had studies, then did some online proselyting with Facebook. It wasn't hugely successful, but we'll keep trying! We then went and did some visits, which weren't too successful. And we thought we had a pretty full day! But José,got called into work, Rogelia wasn't home, and neither was Sandra. I was super sad and discouraged. Then during dinner José texted us and told us he could meet that evening! So I started stressing to get a member to come with us because we are really struggling with member presence. And so I began to stress again....and none of our members texted us back! So I was like stressed and mad before we left from dinner so I went into the bathroom and knelt down (this was the second time I've done this on my mission) and asked Heavenly Father to help me feel comforted and help me know that things will turn out okay. I told Him how I was feeling and then asked Him to please shape me into the most effective servant that I can be. And after I prayed we didn't miraculously get a text from a member saying they could come or anything like that, I just felt better. And I l love that about the Atonement that we can not just make our problems magically go away, but that things will work out. We have that promise. So we went out after my prayer, and both of our appointments weren't home, but then we went and saw José. And as soon as he answered, I just felt a Christ like love for him that I hadn't felt before and just a peace coming from the Holy Ghost that this lesson was going to be good, and that things were okay. That Heavenly Father was aware of me and He was going to make things happen because I am doing my part. And amazing things did happen! It was one of the most spiritual experiences and lessons I've had on my mission and it was so special! José really is developing faith unto repentance and I'm so happy for him. He just can't come to church because of his job, so please pray for him that he is able to come to church. But he really is so cool and I hope he gets baptized before I leave Poway!
Monday was a normal day, we contacted, did some work on Facebook (maybe you saw my post but you didn't like it so I am very disappointed. haha just kidding ;) Then we had fhe with the branch, which was so fun! We played family feud, hombres against mujeres. Ive never heard to many Hispanic people yelling at each other Book of Mormon prophets or stuf like that.. haha. It's so fun! This branch is awesome. And we also made the cookie mix you sent me Mom, and everyone loved them, so that was good!
And that was pretty much the week. We're going to sunset Cliffs today because its Elder Riley's last pday so we're going to hang out as a zone at the ocean. I'm excited! :)
I did also get to use a jackhammer during some service so that was awesome.
But I do know that God lives. And that He Loves us. :)
Have a wonderful week!
Hermana Fowlks
Exchanges in Poway
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