This is going to be a short one. I'm unfortunately not feeling well at all. Probably because it's been REALLY cold and wet the last couple days, and I wasn't really dressed for the weather much. Anyway, I think I'm fighting off a sinus infection and it's just no fun. But I'm sure it won't last long.
I'M TRAINING AGAIN!!!!! :D all info is subject to change until tomorrow's transfer, but for now her name is Sister Alexandra Brown, and she is blonde, 5'7", and we could be sisters from her picture. She's from San Antonio, and SUPER musical. That's all I know so far, but I am STOKED. Party in Laguna Beach! New trainers' meeting was really inspiring, and President told me something really cool in our mini interview afterwards when he gave me the info on Sis Brown. He said my bishop had talked to him and asked if he could possibly keep me in Laguna for a while :) That made me feel awesome, especially when President said that was exactly his plan. It's nice to know that the ward council knows how hard we are trying, even if there doesn't always seem to be a lot of change sometimes. By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.
Just a few quick highlights this week:
We had a super cool experience one night (maybe Tuesday? it's all blurred together) when we were just getting in the car to continue our list of "detective work" (trying to find people on the ward list that we don't have much info on), when Sister Siaosi asked if we could go tract a certain street. It was awesome, because I love shaking things up a bit and doing some tracting or contacting in between visits. I was pretty excited, and asked why she wanted to go to that particular street, and she replied that she just kept thinking about it. That was good enough for me, and we set off with happy hearts and faith that good things would happen. After knocking the entire street, we had two houses we got invitations to return to and one contact who was interested!! One gave us a phone number, Tabatha. She invited us back on Saturday (yesterday), and we had a lesson with her. We invited Sis Neff, an awesome sister in our ward, and we had a pretty cool lesson. It was a little all over the place because Tabatha liked to talk a lot, but the Spirit was there. I don't know if she will continue investigating or not, as we didn't set a return appointment and she didn't really seem super receptive. She's one of those people who seems to enjoy searching for answers more than actually finding them. But we will keep trying this week! Maybe she will feel the Spirit as she reads the Book of Mormon. We have faith it will work out!
Kim has pretty much stopped talking to us, but we will try a few more times. We were really hoping she would come to church! It's sad when people don't follow through or don't let us teach, but they have their agency, too.
The other person we met tracting, Ken, we couldn't set an exact time, but we are going to try finding him at home on an evening this week (he works a lot, so it's been tough trying to catch him at home). Hopefully, he will let us teach him!
Sam is out of town this week helping his family move here! It's finally happening! We are super excited for him, and we'll be keeping in touch for a few more days until they get here :) His stepmom, Catherine (she's a recent convert along with his dad Ernest), talked to me at church this week and was really grateful for the influence she's seen us bringing in Sam's life. I got to give her a page from Preach My Gospel about recognizing the Spirit and scriptures about how it can talk to us, because I knew she'd been having a hard time feeling the Spirit in her life, and Sam had told me she was trying to learn more about it. Catherine is a sweetheart, always giving to those around her, and she was so excited to start studying the scriptures I shared with her. I really hope it will help her! It helped me a lot reading it this week. If you want to learn to recognize promptings better, check out
https://www.lds.org/manual/preach-my-gospel-a-guide-to-missionary-service/how-do-i-recognize-and-understand-the-spirit Preach My Gospel chapter 4.
Last thing I'll share: my ponderize scripture this week is John 4:35 "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." (italics are mine) I love this scripture because it goes along with two of my favorite "pump up" songs, The Harvester by Brandon Heath, and We Can Do More (I wish I knew the singer). There is so much work to do, if we just look around for who needs help. The field is white! Let's harvest it - from sun up to sun down! Don't lose hope, don't slow down. He is harvesting with us. We are always in this work together. (see Jacob 5:61-62) "Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead... You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.” (Elder Holland) We can do so much more than we think we can! More than we ever have, if we have the faith to work and trust in God. If we thrust in our sickle, inviting everyone, even those we may have overlooked, then we can harvest this field. The Master has and is preparing people everywhere. He's nourishing his vineyard, and I am so thankful to be able to be a part of His work.
I love y'all!
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Sister Heather Bambas
California Irvine Mission
heather.bambas@myldsmail.net