Hello All!
Sorry this email is so long..I have been writing it throughout the
week which is why it is but nonetheless here it is! Make sure you read
it all cause I'm getting transferred....
Monday: Monday was a pretty chill day. For pday we spent it at Sister
Nickles house.We used to live with her so it was pretty fun to just
hangout and chill with her there while we emailed. We had dinner with
the Manleys. Guess where we went?!?! My favorite restaurant here so
far. I swear everything is delicious at the Edge of Town grill! It was
a nice little time getting to know Sister Manley and answering all of
her missionary questions since her son is about to turn in his papers!
After dinner we went out for the rest of the evening and made some
less active visits. We didn't get in to anybody really except we did
talk to Brother Ogle and made a return appointment so that was good.
He is a funny guy. After we went there we stopped by a potential
investigator that used to be taught. She yelled through the door that
she didn't want us over or anything, so we left and sat in our car to
see what to do next. Then all the sudden her garage opens and put she
comes with some random guy. Haha go figures. We decided to go visit
the Hasselfeld. They are fairly active in the church. It was sister
Hasselfeld and her daughter Celeigh. Celeigh has special needs and is
seriously the sweetest and funniest person. She has such a special
spirit about her. She kept bringing down her monkeys. I kid you not
they look and felt like real babies. It was super cool and super
weird. We were there for a long time because they both can talk
I think sister Hasselfeld just really needed someone to talk too. We
listened and talked here and there. Then she turns to me and says
"have you had someone die in your family recently" I was like uhhh not
that I know of is three years recently and then she goes on to ask if
I was okay with the death. I was like no it hit me pretty hard but now
I know I will absolutely see her again. Then she started talking about
herself. It was a little weird. We got out of there after curfew and
it was a nice little chat with her.
Tuesday: We had zone training for two hours. This training is from our
Zone Leaders. They gave a really good training on our missionary
purpose and how to gain a testimony. I really needed to have a better
understanding of my missionary purpose. I have been having really hard
time separating in my head the difference between Lauren and Sister
Camilleri. It really hit me when I realized that the name that I wear
on me everyday is the name of the savior. I'm doing his work. I
wouldn't be in Vegas if I wasn't doing his will. Sister Camilleri is a
different person set apart from the world and working really hard to
being focused on being in service of our Heavenly Father. I'm amazed
that I have the ability to have the authority of God with me to
proclaim his word. It truly is a beautiful work.
Later in the evening we had a lesson with a less active member named
Mike. We talked to him about studying the scriptures and about the 1
chapter of the Book of Mormon. It is one of my favorite lessons to
teach. I love bringing the Book of Mormon to life and watching people
learn and understand. It was a very spiritual lesson. I'm really
grateful for the scriptures. It brings a lot of strength and
conviction to my life as I work to overcome myself. One thing that I
heard this week was that this life is not that of a physical war but
that it is a spiritual war. How true is that? We are consistently
fighting our own personal spiritual war. How are we going to win? Read
the scriptures! 😀
Wednesday: it didn't start out to be the best day ever. I wasn't
feeling that great since this whole head cold thing has been going on
and I did not want to go out and do missionary work. However I decided
to just get up, pray for strength and go forth. OHMYGOODNESS IT
WORKED. There is no way that I was going to make it through the day
without divine help. It turned out to be the best most spiritual day.
We had three set lessons that day. We first met with Kiana and read
from the Book of Mormon. It was a powerful lesson. I could feel the
spirit testifying to her that the Book of Mormon is true. It was
amazing. I'm so proud of her and how I have seen her grow as she
continues to grow in the gospel and in her relationship with God. Then
we met with Victoria. Victoria hasn't been to church since she was 12.
She however has a strong desire to come unto the gospel and go back to
church. She has really been struggling with strength to talk to her
mother about it though. She received a priesthood blessing and we
shared with her a video about Ester and her courage to stand up for
herself. It was again very powerful and she felt strength from meeting
with us. This made my missionary purpose very clear. I could feel
Heavenly Father working through me to give her strength. It happens
people. Heavenly Father works through people.
Later we had a lesson with Ruth. Our new investigator. She is golden
and seriously already has a testimony of the gospel. It is a beautiful
thing to witness. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon as well.
She agreed with and knew everything that we talked about. I was
baffled because I'm not used to people agreeing with or understanding
everything right off the bat! She is set with a baptismal date and I
am so proud of her and where she has come. The work really is amazing.
I'm grateful that I am able to be hear and witness Gods miracles. He
prepares his people. Our hearts just really need to be open to his
gospel and his word. I hope that everyone has the chance to at least
pray to know if the church is true. It doesn't matter who you are or
what background you have, if you pray about it you will get an answer.
It is a beautiful thing.
Thursday:Mike got married! The less active guy from Tuesday! He got
married on Thursday to a woman from Hawaii who just got baptized in
Hawaii a week ago! It was super sweet to be there and to watch them
get married. I just love them both! After the wedding we were running
SUPER late to dinner so we had to rush and that pushed some
appointments back. It okay though because in of them didn't answer
there door even though we could see them watching tv! Haha people and
their agency! What a gift! We then went over to the Giles home for our
lesson with our investigator named Mike. We had a pretty solid lesson
with him about faith. There was a line that I read from Preach My
Gospel that really stuck out to him and to me. "Heavenly Father
blesses those who have faith to obey His Son." We were talking about
the things that his son has told us to do. Even in those times of
don't wannas we have to read or pray or get up for church, that is how
we show our faith and then we will be blessed!
Friday: It was quite the day. We started out with our two hours of
studies and then started weekly planning. We went to our favorite
restaurant for lunch with Kiana. It was really nice. I loved having
lunch with her and just talking like we are all the best of friends. I
just love her so much! After lunch we finished weekly planning and
then headed out to our evening of back to back appointments. We met
with Eryka and she was in a crazy 13 year hyper mood so that was an
interesting lesson. We went from there to dinner (nap time). Then we
went from dinner to probably the awkwardest visit I have ever had so
far on my mission. It was with a brother in the ward. Let's just say
he is one the nutty side. He did serve a mission in Seattle though so
that was pretty cool. Then we went to a part member family who has a
son on a mission in Montana right now. That was nice to sit and talk
and have a normal lesson. Then we had a lesson with Cherry..that
wasn't the greatest lesson. She isn't really progressing😢 After our
lesson with Cherry we received transfer calls and to my surprise I am
getting transferred! I will be serving in Elkhorn Springs in the
Centennial Hills Young Single Adult Ward with Sister Kurtz. I've
talked about her before cause we went on exchanges. I'm getting more
excited even though at first I was super sad because I wanted to have
one more transfer with Sister Huni but all is well and the YSA Ward
will be so awesome! I'm looking forward to it. Saying goodbye to some
people in our wards now though is going to be sad especially Kiana but
the will of the Lord must go on. It was a pretty good day but I have
been so tired lately.
Saturday: I didn't get much sleep on Friday night because my mind was
racing so I was super sluggish but Saturday was full of food
basically. We had lunch with a Sister Jakcubzak who is from another
Ward that Sister Huni was in. She is the sweetest lady and has such a
powerful testimony of the gospel. I am really grateful that she took
us out for lunch because when she was dropping us off at our apartment
she bore her testimony of the gospel and of missionary work. It was so
powerful and served as a much needed reminder to why I am here serving
a mission. I'm so grateful for her! I just love her! After lunch we
made a visit to a family in the Ward who was super awesome and serves
as a church service missionary for recovery addiction. I think it is
just so cool that they have a recovery program. I never was so clear
about it but it is one of the best things to be apart off ever. Sister
Bleazard also shared with us about love and why it is important in
everything that we do. It was also very powerful. I just felt full of
love for all those around me. After her visit we went to dinner. That
was pretty fun they were a funny family.
Sunday: it was kind of a sad day! It was my last day in the area and
when the Falefitus (Kianas mom and her) found out that I was leaving
Sister Falefitu starting crying. Oh man that was hard. We did the
normal Sunday stuff. 6 hours of church, then we had dinner with the
Lasikes and then went to our ward mission leaders house to say
goodbye. I have really loved this area and the people I have met here.
It is so sad to leave but really I'm only going like 10 minutes away
so it's not horrible.
Sister Lauren Camilleri
No comments:
Post a Comment