Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Hey Everyone!!
I hope everything is going well for you because it’s
definitely going well for me. =) This last week was the busiest week I've had
on my mission. We were able to teach a lot, to help members be at the Battalion
and just be missionaries and it has been so fun. =) I also was able to figure
out the Battalion schedule to incorporate a 10 companionship Battalion as
opposed to an 11 companionship Battalion since we are a companionship down and
probably will be until July because of extenuating circumstances. That was
really fun and it will work really well and be less stressful- especially in
the summer. =) So that was good news. They'll probably announce it on Thursday
to give all the companionships time to readjust their schedules.
I feel like so much happened this week that it’s hard to
summarize it... We had 4 investigators at church. James is going to get
baptized this Saturday, Teddy is golden and is going to get baptized on May 12th.
I was able to hear prayers in Korean, Mandarin, French, Amharic, Japanese and
English. It’s so funny because this week is just an overall feeling of
happiness. I'll just tell you some miracles
Teddy. Teddy is from Ethiopia, I told you about him last
week. Before we even mentioned anything about the word of wisdom he already
knew that he needed to quite smoking and drinking. Also he knew that he
shouldn't wear his earring to church. Also we'd been trying to get him an
Amharic Book of Mormon and at church, a less active who had just recently been
coming back named Ryan, found out Teddy was from Ethiopia, told him that he'd
been trying to learn Amharic so took a Book of Mormon in Amharic from the
mission office and then gave the Amharic Book of Mormon to Teddy that same day.
What?? Prayers answered. Everyone loves Teddy at church too. He's great. I have
a picture of him, I'll send it to you next week =)
James. James wanted to get baptized in the ocean, which was
really cool for about 12 hours until we realized that our mission president
didn't want it to happen since we had fonts that we could use. But we talked to
him about it and he's fine with getting baptized in the font. His personality
is also really coming out. He called himself a "living cheesecake"
because he loves cheesecake so much, and also he asked us if we were afraid of
dying. He then told us that he wasn't, and that when it was time for him to
leave this earth he wanted his friends surrounding his deathbed and giving him
a round of applause saying "good end, good end" hahahaha. It was so
funny. I now desire that as well.
Ari. Ari is from Japan. He's reading the Book of
Mormon and is in the beginning of 1 Nephi and the first question he asked us at
the meeting was "why did Nephi even take his brothers along to get
the plates if all they were going to do is complain?" We laughed a lot
about that one too, because it was a really good question.
Tom. Tom is a potential, he was dating a less active member
but she broke up with him and moved out. So we went to see her and Tom answered
the door and he looked downtrodden. He told us about him and Britney and I
expressed my condolences and THEN he invited us back to talk again. That was a
miracle- first because Britney now lives really close to the church and second
because Tom wants to learn more from us. Everything happens for a reason. I
just felt so sad for that poor guy though because he looked so sad. He was so
sad. He loves that girl.
It was a week full of miracles. Also a week full of
exchanges. I stayed in La Jolla twice last week but I'll leave La Jolla twice
this week (I already did yesterday) and leaving La Jolla
just makes me sad. Especially because transfers are coming up next
week and since I've been in La Jolla
for 5 transfers now I know there is a good chance that I'll be leaving. I love La Jolla. I love the people, I love my companion, I love
the ward and I will be heartbroken when I leave. But it’s the Lord’s will and
not mine and I just have to keep going because the Lord knows way better than
me what area needs me and what I need.
Sunny goes back on April 26th, two days after transfers, and
she won't get baptized here I don't think. But I was pretty bold with her and I
expect a phone call when she gets baptized in Korea. =) Our other investigators
are doing great! I'm excited about all of them. =D
I hope you enjoyed the stories I told in the family e-mail.
Our investigators are hilarious. =D and it will be weird to teach people
without a language barrier now. Sister Tanner and I were just talking about how
much we've progressed in teaching simply, and yet powerfully for people with
limited understanding. It's been really cool. I feel like this happens every
time as the time I leave an area happens. I look back and I just love the area
so much, and I don't want to leave. But I think it might be my time to go and
experience another area... I might be getting slight separation anxiety though.
I love Sister Tanner a ton and I just want her to be around me all the time
because I think next week we might not be companions anymore. It’s how I show
my love I guess. She thinks it’s kind of funny because I have a super
independent personality until now. Ha-ha.
But yes! I love you all so much! Happy mid April and I hope
that Teri has an amazing graduation. WOOHOOO!!! Congratulations!!!! Yippee!!!
Love you!!
~ Sister Tardiff
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