WOW! So much to say this week... I will try to cover all the important stuff. Oh! And we did get our car back on Tuesday :) Thank goodness.
Friday was Casten's 9th Birthday :) So of course we brought him a birthday present! We stopped by Thursday night and presented him with our super cheesy poster. It was a candy message and he LOVED it :D it said, "To Casten - our mini (mini snickers) superhero! You are a way (milky way) fun guy! When you pop (ring pop) tricks on your scooter, you are fierce (hot tamales)! Getting to know you has been such a treat (rice krispie treat). Hi-five (hi-chews, five gum)! You are nine! We love (Hershey's heart-shaped chocolate) you!" Ok, so yeah. I warned you it was cheesy lol. But we had so much fun, and then we prepared them for their baptismal interviews by explaining what would happen, going through the baptism program, and talking about each of the interview questions. They are so excited! The interviews are tonight! :)
Ok so back up to Friday. Friday I found out that Sis Brown is leaving for Newport zone tomorrow :( I am so sad!! I love her so much and she will be missed! She has done amazing things here in Laguna Beach, and everyone loves her - you can just see her excitement and love shine! But I am getting a wonderful new companion, Sis Rolfson. She will also be an STL so we won't have to exchange for our meetings :)
SATURDAY!!!! It was the coolest day ever!! :D we got to attend Sam & Tosh's wedding at Bishop Galland's house. It was incredible, especially because they recognized it as the first big step towards them being baptized this next Saturday! The ceremony was beautiful, and the whole family was glowing. Everyone was so thrilled to be involved! A woman in the ward, Linda, was assigned to be Tosh's visiting teacher last week, and she helped Tosh get a dress, get her nails and makeup done, and find a dress for Addison. Shawn Graf made a cake, and other relief society sisters brought refreshments. Our ward has really stepped up to the task this week - Ieva brought Tosh to a RS activity last Tuesday that we didn't even know about! All of us are just so happy to see the "A family" so happy and growing so much. Everyone wants to be a part of the journey. One of the funniest moments of the wedding was just before the ceremony... Sister Brown turned to me and pointed out, "Someone needs to tell Sam to spit out his gum!" (haha that's Sam for you) So I volunteered. I told Sam to spit it out and he replies, "Ok.... where??!" lol. So I had to bring him to the kitchen to find a garbage can.I have so many more pictures I will have to send later because I forgot my camera at home today!
Sunday we had a big stake mission correlation meeting in the morning. It was all the bishops, ward mission leaders, and relief society presidents in the stake along with the stake presidency, our zone leaders, STLs, and Pres Lutz and Pres Ellis from our mission. It was so cool because normally the RS presidents aren't there but they were invited because the meeting was focused on how they could be involved in the work, and how we could be involved in their work! I was asked to share a brief testimony about my experiences working with Sis Nielson (Mama Nielson), our RS president, and I just started crying. She has been such an inspiration to me. She makes me want to be a better missionary - all the time!At church we got a new ward mission leader - his name is Brother Lund. Then last night we got to bring Tosh, Addison, and Casten to a primary activity, "8 is Great." It was really for the 7-year-olds turning 8 this year and their parents, but it's all about what baptism is and an introduction to the scouting and activity days programs, so they invited Casten and Addison, too! It was wonderful, and the elders and we got to help with some object lessons explaining baptism and the Holy Ghost. It worked out perfectly, because Jasmine, a little girl Addison's age, and Rohan, a boy Casten's age, were both there with their younger siblings, so they each had a friend to sit with! I think it was really good for them to be able to learn right along with the other primary kids :)
One other miracle - each and every Sunday since Tosh has been here, the Sunday school lessons have directly correlated with the principles we were teaching to the A's this week. It has been so inspired! There was Word of Wisdom, Sacrifice/Tithing, Joseph Smith/prophets and apostles, Fasting, and several others!! Just another reminder that God is aware of every person's needs :)
Last thing - I had a cool experience the last couple weeks. Our stake high councilman over missionary work likes to have correlation meetings with us every couple weeks, and at the last one he felt impressed to share with us the importance of journaling. Being my silly self, I brushed it off and didn't think about it again. But during comp inventory this last week I realized that I really needed to find a way to organize my thoughts and process all this information to be less stressed. So I thought about it and realized I had forgotten for a couple months to write in my journal - and I missed it! This week I missed a couple days, but I have been writing consistently again and I know it has really blessed me! I feel so much more on top of things. I know it's important to stop and think about our blessings and record them. Remember this week how the Lord has blessed you - each and every day!
Love y'all,
Sister Bambas
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Sister Heather Bambas
California Irvine Mission
heather.bambas@myldsmail.net