Another Week!

So this week was actually super great!   We got a lot done!!!   So we had changes in our area, so we went to part of our new area.  It’s like 20 miles out of town and it’s just desert and trailers.  But just in our one visit we saw 3 people!   And the Elders who gave us that part said it was useless....  silly Elders missionary work is for Sisters.

We have also been just driving around a lot trying to find people who used to get taught by the missionaries.  It’s called formers work and it’s just crazy because we drive and drive and find the house, then when we find out that they don’t live there we cross them off.  Nothing to exciting but hey it’s something to do and sometimes we find people who speak spanish.

At church on Sunday was crazy awkward.  We had a high council man speak (someone not from our congregation)  and he told a story of his working for border patrol.....   not the thing to bring up in a Spanish branch.  So he talked about finding people about to die and how giving them water is like how we need the Living water of Jesus Christ.  The message was great but the chapel was DEAD silent and I could just tell that everyone was like ummm bad choice of story topic!   But hey it made for a good story.

Then last night while trying to go to bed our upstairs neighbors were well being very noisy with something rather inappropriate - baby making....    and so my companion and I stayed up just singing hymns until they stopped....   o the fun of being a missionary!

Hermana Grove

So this is how Old feels

So all this week the theme has been "Wow you only have a little bit left".   I have heard that from like every new missionary in our zone as well as our members.   It’s so weird to think that ya that is true and yet I feel like I really still do have a long time.   

But this week was great!  We got so much done it was crazy!   We have had some boundary changes for our area so we now doubled our size but lost part - which happened to be the part that we had been working the entire time I’ve been here.  So we are going to have some fun.  So with that we still have this one little corner that has a little Mexico trailer park that we have spent just about everyday in this week.   We will go for an appointment and just walk around the entire park and talk to anyone we see - we are really good at that.  This week I even talked to this one guy while he was fixing his car.  It was kind of awkward but hey that’s what happens when you talk to everyone!

Here is a quote that I loved from our mission president today:   In other words, one day the Lord won't ask what did you DO in life, but he will ask what did you BECOME.  When your mission is ended, no one will really care what you DID on your mission, but they will see what you were able to BECOME.  Choose to Become.

Hermana Grove

With my last zone

Transfer time!

Yep it was transfers again.   So I now have a new companion.  It’s awesome because we served around the same area as each other in New Mexico.  Also everyone keeps telling us how much we will be getting along. 

So yesterday we got to go biking for a little while cuz one of the Elders biffed it and scraped up his hands really bad, so we gave them the car.   But we had may flaws in our plan: #1  I don't really know how to ride a bike to well....   #2 it was dark and the bikes had no lights on them   #3 we had to take a really busy street   #4 the member we went to see wasn’t home.....   #5  I had to use the bathroom really bad.....  But hey we made it and I’m still alive.  We just took back roads in neighborhoods as much as possible and the Elders followed us with the lights of the car.  Then on the main road we just took the sidewalk (we really debated this cuz it was risk getting hit by a car because they couldn't really see us or risk the ticket of riding on the sidewalk.  We decided the ticket would be better than dying)   But I was so scared I just held on to the handle bars sooooo tight!   The elders asked me how I felt after and my answer was just I don't know.  All I felt was scared and just prayed the entire way that I would make it safe.

Also this week was the Gilbert Temple Dedication.  That’s something so special to be able to go see the dedication of a house of the Lord.  One thing that really stood out to me was that just because there are problems to overcome doesn’t mean that great things aren't going to happen - President Eyring shared from when they were building the San Diego temple and how there were so many problems they had with it that he wasn't even sure if the Lord would accept that temple.  But He did and it’s now one of the most beautiful and recognizable temples around.

Have a great week everyone!

Hermana Grove

One Year!

That’s right a year ago I was in the MTC freaking out about learning Spanish (Spanish has only gotten a little better since then).  But with that year mark came the stomach flu - but hey I got exactly what any missionary would want (a day in bed), so I guess it was worth it in a way.  Also on that day was when a girl I taught in New Mexico got baptized (she is the first person I have taught on my mission to get baptized) and then I found out that the next day a guy I taught back in New Mexico also got baptized.  But the best part was Saturday (the next day).  We had a baptism of our own in this area.  It was the first time that I have found, taught, and been there for the baptism of someone. Ok, also the first time I have been there for a baptism of my own anyway. It came with a crazy day of our car door breaking and us having to run around everywhere but it ended well.   It was so funny though.  I have spent the past year of my mission feeling well not so great just because I didn’t have a baptism and now that I have, I feel exactly the same - it doesn't matter!   Baptisms don’t make a missionary successful.  All that matters is that we try our best and we do what the Lord needs us to do.

Hermana Grove

Valentine’s Day!

So we learned that Valentine’s Day sucks as a missionary.  Sooooo for Valentine's Day we went around and heartattacked (cut out cute little hearts and wrote on them and taped them to their doors)  our members and some of our investigators.  They all loved it so much and it was a great thing to keep us busy and distracted from the holiday for the day.  We would prepare all the hearts we had cut out and decorated and get tape on the back of them then sneak quietly to the door and put them on real fast (the tape was super loud) and then we would knock loud and run as fast as we could to our car parked around the corner.  It was so fun.  We only got caught once but the member was so cute.  She looked out the window (she heard the tape) and we were just like "shhhhh" so she went   O ok   and closed the blinds and then let us finish.  It was just a fun day to make others feel special.

Other than that there hasn't been anything else to exciting going on out here.   It’s been super warm so we have been working on our tan lines.

But we did have an awesome experience yesterday of being prompted by the Spirit.  We both felt the need to knock on a door that we knew there was no point in knocking on.  But we felt we should so when we did we knocked - no answer.  So we knocked again a bit louder - no answer and for some reason we both felt to knock again (we rarely ever knock 3 times)  and this time even louder.  And yep we had it confirmed that it was very important that we knocked.  It’s so great to see how Heavenly Father is mindful of all his children and will put someone in their path to help them when they need it.

Hermana Grove

Welcome to the Dirty T

This was what I read in a note for my day of exchange.  It was so true, it was dirty Tucson!   I went down south to the true ghetto of Tucson this week.  And wow was I incredibly thankful for my current area.  If you have ever seen the gangster movies where people get shot at in their apartments, ya that’s what this looked like.  It was crazy!   But the people were so nice and I got to learn a lot.  I really noticed how sometimes we take for granted the fact that we are called to represent Jesus Christ and all we wanna do is see our friends.  But there was one Elder that really helped me remember that during a dinner.  This Elder seriously changed the way I see my entire mission.   So this is what happened.  I was all happy to have dinner and we were having it with the other 4 Elders so it was gonna be a fun time getting to know them and making new friends and all right?   No....  This one Elder made us all talk in Spanish and include the member feeding us (you know like being polite and nice)  and then it was time to share the message since after dinner we always share a spiritual thought of some form.  It usually is just a random nice scripture that we like but this Elder had a whole lesson planned!   Using a bible, video and singing a hymn and everything.  I started that dinner just kinda laughing on the inside about how stuck up this guy was being and left feeling so humbled and seeing how much better I could be.  It’s crazy the twists and turns we take as missionaries and how much it changes us.

Hermana Grove

Another day hiking...

February?!?!

Wow!  That means that it’s been just about a whole year that I have been a missionary!   It’s crazy how fast time has gone by.    

So not to much has happened this week.    

We basically do the same thing everyday, it’s just trying to find people to teach which involves a lot of walking around but it means we are working on our tans and exercising.  I’ve even lost a bit of weight lately!  So exciting.

We apparently have now turned into moms to our elders cuz we are constantly having to find dinner for them and making them desserts.  But we love them so it’s worth it.

Well that’s really about it.  Have a good week everyone!

Hermana Grove