This week has been...interesting to say the least. Thank you Abby and Chris Hall for my letters! I loved reading them this morning, you two are great! We had a zone goal this month and it was based off of march madness so the point system was related to a free throw, a lay up, etc. And....WE WON! :) Sister Morgan and I only lost once or twice and we just dominated all the way through. Yeah! We get a reward this week so I'm stoked. Good thing she's as competitive as me. This week was a little slow because, well, the Elders all needed rides this week whether their tires popped or their car broke down...so we were practically the girl version of zone leaders this week haha. Plus, it didn't help that I locked the keys in the trunk on Friday...so embarrassing. We were getting our wallets and stuff for subway after district meeting and subconsciously, I put the keys in my backpack pocket but all I grab out to go out to lunch is my wallet. I close the trunk and realized that the phone was still in the car (Sister Morgan ALWAYS forgets the phone...) and when I went to reach for the keys, I realized I didn't have my backpack and that they were in the trunk...along with 4 other backpacks that belonged to the other elders. I felt sooooo bad because not only did I waste my time but their time as well. They all laughed at me and teased me about it. When the other sisters got the spare key for us, we had to go BACK to the VC (which is a 30ish minute drive) and return the spare key and then drive ALLLLLL the way back home...it sucked haha. We were driving from 2:30-6ish because the elders car then broke down and we had to help them. It's been a hard week but...it'll get better this week!
Monday was horrible. I don't know why but I just didn't want to work anymore. I was kind of tossing in the towel in a way. P-day was done and all I wanted to do was just have me time. It's been hard for me to accept the fact that I can never be a perfect missionary. I try to be my very best and I just exhaust myself. It's hard for me to accept failure but I have patience for others when they fail or make mistakes. I think it also had to do with the fact that now that I'm back in the field again, I forget how tiring it is just being busy every single second of every day. I love the VC, don't get me wrong, but it's much more tiring to be a full field sister then a VC sister! Everything just came trampling down and I just needed to vent. Sister Morgan was patience with me and tried to encourage me but, nothing was really working. I was determined to work hard the next day. Tuesday morning I had a great run and just released everything. We were able to have 3 great lessons, a new investigator with a baptismal date, a new referral and met with a recent convert. It was seriously SUCH a good day. I needed it. We taught a referral named Von and his girlfriend happened to be there as well. He has a daughter who has recently joined the church and he wants to support her and learn more about what she believes in. I told him that he reminded me of my daddy, how he called me downstairs the week before junior prom and told me that he wanted to support me in what I believed in and promised that he would go to church with me every single Sunday but would "never" join the church...right daddy ;) It was a great lesson and we are taking them to the VC this Thursday!! And our member present will be a new recent convert who was just baptized the same day as Ernie so we are pumped! We set a baptismal date with Donna but Von was too hesitant to actually set a date. I hope it all goes well!!
The rest of the days went okay, it was just a hard, kind of slow week. On Friday I gave a training about how to recognize the promptings of the spirit and how to rely on the spirit. As I was preparing for my training that morning, the thought came to me, "What DISTRACTS us from recognizing the promptings of the spirit or from relying on the spirit?" The first thing that came to my mind was inviting members to turn off the TV and music/radio when we enter into their homes. I've never had too bad of an issue with it until I came to this area and haha I ALWAYS feel like the bad guy when I awkwardly ask them to turn it off. I figured I wasn't the only one and that others had to be dealing with the same problems. So, to start off my training I had two elders help teach in a role play and then another elder pretend to be an investigator. Right when the began the lesson, I had Sister Morgan play a Babylon song...Hey There Delilah :) We had JUST heard it at a grocery store and I knew she had the sheet music and figured it was a song that everyone knows. She starts to play it and the elders stop and started to smile. The elders had such a hard time teaching the investigator and were getting so distracted. The investigator was also distracted. When the song was finished, I asked them how they felt and they said that they were focused on singing the song in their head rather then paying attention to what was going on in the lesson. I told them that I want to focus my training on how to recognize promptings of the spirit and how we can avoid distractions. It went great! The elders really liked it and sadly...I got the song stuck in their head for a little while :) oopsie!!
Okay, none of you probably remember this BUT, my first transfer I gave a tour to this family that gave me a referral to call the mother of mom in the family (grandma). I called her, had a great conversation, but she just wasn't interested. The mom of the family came back to the VC to find me and to thank me for calling her mom because they had a wonderful conversation over the phone and she was asking questions about the gospel and everything! Well, that family apparently came BACK to the VC last week and these sisters were able to take them on the tour...but this time, the grandma came! I got a note telling me all about it from Sister Bell. The grandma loved her VC experience, especially watching God's Plan. When the sisters asked them for a referral, that was when the mom said how she had given a sister a referral to call her mom and even though at the time she wasn't interested, how that conversation changed everything. The grandma has just recently started meeting with missionaries!!! How cool is that? The grandma had told her daughter that she just adored me and loved our conversation and how it just softened her heart to learn more. It made my day to read that note. It's amazing how no work is truly ever wasted! That was a tour that changed my WHOLE outlook on the VC and especially in the teaching center. It's crazy how that little experience made a significant change in both of our lives. I really hope I can meet her again...if not in this life, I know I will after this life.
I love my mission so much. Yes, there are days where it just feels like the sun is going to stay up all day long but, I would NEVER trade it for anything. It's something so sacred to me and has helped me realize what my full potential as a daughter of God is. It has showed me a lot of my weaknesses that I'm still trying to change into strengths but, I know that the Savior, Jesus Christ, is with me every step of the way. This weekend we have the wonderful opportunity of watching General Conference. On Saturday, I made a list of 10 questions that I hope to receive answers to. I know that I will if I pray about them and truly try to seek them through the words of our living prophets and apostles today. I want to invite each of you to make a list of questions, not to just "see" if there is a God but to see how much trust and faith you have in Him that you can and will receive an answer. I promise you that God literally knows you, more then you even know yourself. That He loves you so much and wants the best for you. I hope you can each feel that for yourself as you watch conference this weekend. The church is true. It is again restored on the Earth because God really wants to see us again. I hope you all have a wonderful week. I love you all so, so much!
Love,
Sister Baeza
1. the elders said that they had a surprise for us and had these eggs with confetti on them and smashed them on our heads....haha!
2. the cute note that Aaron wrote in my planner a few weeks back!
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