Well, here starts the many adventures of Bambas and Rolfson. This was possibly the most random eventful week ever.
Last Monday, I got to meet Jodi, President Orgill's daughter. I wish I had time to tell you all about it, but I recorded it and sent it home so maybe my mom will be so kind as to type at least some of it up for you. :) But if you've never read it, you should definitely read her book, "The Sun Still Shines." It's about her story of having a brain tumor that caused more than 6 surgeries over the next several years. But it's incredible because she is one of the wisest and most hopeful and faithful people I've ever met... just like her dad. She takes it all in stride and her family stays centered on Jesus Christ and she finds hope to keep pushing through for her family. It's a beautiful story that really meant a lot to me.
Wednesday I got to help an investigator from another ward in our stake to learn about her family history. It was really fun, and she really felt the spirit of it!! Afterwards, Sis Rolfson and I decided we needed to do a training on family history for our sisters in our zone, because it's not as hard as it sounds! Really! I created a powerpoint explaining the basics that I'll try to send home :) We also got to help Tosh to start her own this morning.
Wednesday night was super exciting. We were hoping Breezy, a 15-year-old girl we are working with, would come to mutual, but she didn't show up, so we had a feeling we should go see her at her house. On the way, we found out that Breezy had been missing for a few hours!! It was pretty insane, but her dad, Mario, and a friend of theirs in the ward were out looking for her. Luckily, they found her at a friends' house, she just hadn't answered the phone and had forgotten to tell anyone where she was. But in the meantime, we visited with Karen, her stepmom, and it was so cool because the first thing Karen said when we got there was, "You girls always show up at the right times - when we're in the middle of a family crisis!" It was so heartwarming to hear another little confirmation that God is leading us to where we need to be. :) We had a great discussion with Karen, and she opened up a lot to us. Their family is still trying to adjust because Breezy was living with her mom full time and didn't know her dad very well when all the sudden her mom sent her here to live with Mario only 3 months ago. What a huge shock their little family is trying to get through. But Mario and Karen love her so much and we are all trying to reach out in love to help Breezy with the changes!! Anyway, while we were talking, I went to share a scripture with Karen to explain to her what the feeling was she had described to us. She said whenever we came she just felt like she didn't have to worry as much and she could think better and felt calmer. So I was about to share a scripture about the Holy Ghost, when all the sudden 2 Timothy 1:7 popped into my head ("For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."). I couldn't quite remember the reference, I mixed the numbers up, but I quoted it to her word-for-word. It was exactly what she needed to hear, and she really loved it - so much she wrote it down to hang on her mirror! (We found the reference) It was a really great moment for me because I know I couldn't have quoted it like that without His help... once again the Spirit knew what to say when I didn't. Karen and Breezy even showed up for church on Sunday for the first time!! We hadn't even remembered to invite them - they just told us and a member they are friends with they wanted to come! It was so special. :) we can't wait to see them again this week.
Saturday night we visited a family who moved here in January, but we hadn't met them yet (the S family). They opened the door and we got to talk to them for probably 15 minutes and get to know them. They were from Park City, UT and had recently joined the church. They were so excited to see us and we really had a great time talking and laughing with them! We invited them to church, and some of them came although not all. But I am sure we will get to see them again soon and I'll tell you all about it! It was a great end to our night... especially because a lot of things Saturday didn't go as planned, so it was a real pick-me-up for someone to open their door and actually be happy to talk to us :)
Sunday was a nightmare. But also a miracle. It was a big day - whether good or bad, everything that happened was huge.We had two investigators come to church just because they wanted to! A lady in Sacrament gave a really long inappropriate testimony that took away the spirit and made huge drama.We almost blew up at temple tours. We gave a cute little family a temple tour and taught their little boy, Scott, about the temple :) We had a great lesson with the "A's" about the temple :) We were late getting home...It was a REALLY long day... let me give you more detail.
It was fast and testimony Sunday (meaning there would be an open time in the meeting for members of the congregation to bear their testimonies of the Savior). After ward council we got a text from Karen saying that she and breezy were coming to church for the very first time! We were sooooo happy and excited and we introduced them to a lot of the members. The testimony meeting was going great and after a couple of speakers Sister Rolfson felt prompted to get up and share her testimony. She had to wait a couple minutes for a few people to go first. A lady who came right before started to talk and just immediately it was like the Spirit was just sucked up out of the chapel. She started talking about her home owners association and how she got evicted and how no one in the church was helping her. She went on and on about how she needed help and that the ward wasn't helping her and everyone was so uncomfortable because you could just tell nothing she was saying was sincere at all. We were so nervous about what Karen and breezy would think and if they would feel the spirit, because this was their first time. I almost felt fear in my stomach it was just so obvious inside me that the Spirit WAS NOT there. But she finally finished and thank goodness Sister Rolfson was next. She gave a simple testimony about how we have a loving Heavenly Father. It was simple, but I felt the spirit come back into the room immediately! I was praying so hard for her and it was like as soon as she started talking you could feel the love and sincerity in her words and you could just feel the warmth and love of the Spirit trickle back into the room to testify that what she shared was true. It was really cool because afterwards, I went to talk to Karen and explained what a testimony meeting was and how you could feel the sincerity and Spirit from the speakers, and I didn't mention the lady at all, but Karen seemed like she hadn't been bothered at all! She told me she had been crying and really felt the spirit! I was so grateful.
Ok now if that wasn't exciting enough for one day, we had temple tours right after church, and it was super windy so we went inside to get the little propane tank space heater. Well we were sitting at the tent, and I started screwing the heater onto the tank - we hadn't done anything else yet, just screwing it on - and it LITERALLY BURST INTO FLAMES IN MY HANDS. not kidding. in my hands. I freaked out and knew I needed to get it out of the tent and away from us so I ran it to the concrete and dropped it on the pavement in the parking lot. Luckily, I let go of it fast enough it didn't burn me at all. So we ran away from it and grabbed the phone and we had to stop a guy from driving close and I called 9-1-1 and they sent a firetruck. But right as I was about to hang up it popped and started spewing gas and flames into the air!!! He said to keep everyone 300 feet away because it could explode and they were on their way! So we were running around in circles keeping everyone on the grounds from getting close while we waited - we had to stop a guy from throwing a bucket of water on it. Anyway, the fire department got there pretty fast and it was still spewing gas but the flames had gone down a bit, luckily they said the spewing was because the pressure valve was doing its job keeping it from exploding. They sprayed it down and waited for a good ten minutes to make sure it was out of gas. Then they pried the melted plastic heater off the tank and the tank was frozen because they had sprayed it while it was under such enormous pressure!! The firemen were really nice and they even told us it was definitely not our fault and we hadn't done anything wrong. They said something was wrong with the heater. Thank goodness for guardian angels! No one was hurt and all that was lost was the space heater. I will never touch one again.
Ok so I have to go now but I LOVE Y'ALL!! Have an awesome (less eventful) week!!! :D
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Sister Heather Bambas
California Irvine Mission
heather.bambas@myldsmail.net