This transfer is almost over! We get news tomorrow and then we move on Wednesday, so I guess we'll see if I stay here or go somewhere else. I love my area and my comp right now so maybe nothing will change!!
Nothing crazy happened this week but there were a lot of great moments! I had the besssst exchanges ever! The first one was with Sister Parr and she's AMAZING!!! We had an excuse to go out to eat twice because she's gluten free and we didn't have very many options at our house to eat haha. We had a great lesson with our friend Reina that day, and she speaks a lot of Mixteco so it was really nice to get to use some Mixteco again, especially since we haven't been teaching lots of Mixteco-speakers lately.
I also got to have an exchange with Hermana Van Brocklin, which was NOSTALGIC because we were just barely companions before this! She goes home this Wednesday! I'm so proud of all she's done and it's so crazy to see her leaving! We had a great day and we taught a super good but chaotic lesson to our friends Guadalupe and Franklin. One of the kids came over and handed us 2 parakeets mid-lesson and then left, so we were trying to have a spiritual experience while we held these birds on our fingers hahaha
Also our new member Santiago wanted to surprise Hermana Van Brocklin with tacos for lunch since she's about to leave, so I drove us to the church so he could meet us there. I thought I knew where I was driving but actually got so lost. Hermana Van Brocklin just thought I was driving (basically) in circles because I was trying to throw her off track from the surprise, but in reality I'm just the most directionally-challenged person you'll ever meet.
On Saturday, we had a really good lesson with our new members Cornelia and Pascual and their son, Luis. They are amazing but are going through some really hard things, so please pray hard for them!
On Sunday, I lost our car and apartment keys. Not my brightest moment. I'll spare you all the details but long story short, the keys have not been found, and both my pride and my bank account are suffering haha
SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:
This week, something that really caught my attention was the word agency and what it means.
God gave each of us each agency because He wants us to CHOOSE Him. He'll never force us to do anything. But He will do everything in His power to bring us back to Him.
"We may be inclined to impose our will on others for what we think is their best good. If we love enough, we will not do that-- even at the risk of pain, even in matters of consequence.
"If we truly love, we will never seek to to impose our will and deprive others of their agency. That is, after all, Satan's plan."
On my mission, I'm learning that agency is the greatest gift we can receive. It is the highest form of love. God loves us enough to let us choose, because He knows it will ultimately help us change & become.
Sometimes I wish I could just get the friends we teach to accept my message! I wish I could get them to come to church, because I know it will bless their lives! But sometimes they don't choose that. And all I can do is love, and pray, and hope that they will decide to change on their own. Because I love them, and because God loves them.
My invitation for you all is to listen to the talk "Things to Act and Things to Be Acted Upon" by Elder David A. Bednar. (It's a seminar for new mission leaders and it's SO good!!)
I love all of you!
-Hermana DeMordaunt
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