Hey there fam!!
GUESS WHAT?!?! BIANELA GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!
Sadly I wasn't able to go because we had some investigator lessons here
yesterday afternoon, but the Lynn Sisters let me know that Bianela,
after 4 or 5 years of semi-investigating and lots of procrastinating,
was getting baptized!! Yay!! I am so happy for her! Finally making
that decision to stop putting it off will bless her life so much!
I sure love ya'll! This week was super crazy!! I can't say it
better than Pumba and Timon - our trio's down to two :( That is the
biggest and most shocking news of the week. It all happened Friday
afternoon - we were doing some weekly planning at the stake center after
we'd had a great district meeting and a zone lunch. I grabbed the
phone and there were a bunch of missed calls and a couple messages from
different people. We had a couple voice mails so we listened to the
first one from the AP's giving us a hard time for being late to district
meeting (an all too frequent occurance :) and the other from
President. He said it was urgent and that it was for Sister Williams.
She called him back and after a matter of 20 seconds she was bawling.
Not knowing what was going on we could only offer comfort and support.
Soon after the close of their conversation she managed to tell us that
she was getting moved to Belmont. Apparently another sister has to go
home for health reasons and we are the only trio of sisters.
We were all pretty devastated. I'm not going to lie. We had an
amazing trio and Sister Williams was definitely our better third. Even
though my mind was completely blown and I was pretty scared for all the
changes that would come, looking back I can definitely see that the Lord
was there calming my heard because deep down I knew it would be okay
and I didn't let myself get too out of sorts.
So Friday night became our last night together. We enjoyed some
good food together with our roommates and then headed home to pack.
Sister Khaled is amazing at packing and basically took over. We said
our goodbyes after taking some "family photos" in the morning. Sister
Khaled and I had to rush off to a lesson with Kay at BU campus. I sure
love that tall girl and will miss her. Luckily we're not too far away -
we're in the same zone and we'll get to see her after district meeting
each week and sometimes on P-day if we're lucky :) I learned a lot of
things from Sister Williams. The biggest one being that service is so
important! Sister Williams was constantly looking outside herself to do
things for other people. She is amazing at really digging into the
scriptures to learn new things. The way she shares about what she
learns is very edifying and I will miss having that around.
Now it's just me and Sister Khaled and while I definitely miss
Sister Williams it has been a really neat experience to hear just how
much Sister Khaled has to say. Now we have a lot better balance as we
teach our lessons - for the first time in my mission I have to be the
one making sure I don't talk too much. Sister Khaled has some amazing
experiences to share and is always uplifting and helping those around
her to be happy. I love her!
We have been working really hard this week and we have seen the
blessings begin to abound - we had an amazing lesson yesterday with a
new investigator named Rhea. She has come to church 4 times already
with her friend in the ward and after teaching her about the Restoration
of the Gospel Sister Khaled boldly invited her to be baptized without
really knowing what it was :) But after a turn to the scriptures, an
explanation of the mechanics and testimony of its importance, she was
ready and willing to accept baptism contingent upon her receiving an
answer to her prayers. Her prayer was so sincere and heartfelt - her
desire to truly know for herself was apparent and she said that "this is
possibly the happiest time of my life." The Gospel of Jesus Christ
brings true happiness. As she connects that happiness she feels with
the restored gospel she will be so blessed! The best part is that she
is letting the good feeling she has at church draw her there. She had
told us on Saturday that she was going to be busy at school and wouldn't
be able to come. We expressed our desire to see her at church but
obviously left it up to her and she surprised us by showing up - she had
to move her group study back a couple of hours so she could come to
Sacrament Meeting. Yay!
School is turning out to be a big obstacle in the spiritual
progression of our other Chinese investigators - 3 of them were planning
to come on Sunday, apart from Rhea, and all let us know last minute
that they were too busy with school/projects/papers to come. Lame!!
This week we are definitely going to be stressing the importance of
keeping the Sabbath Day Holy :)
I love being a missionary! A couple of our members who served
missions were talking to us about how the mission is such a great
opportunity to boldly proclaim the gospel. It made me realize what a
great responsibility we have upon our shoulders. Their encouragement
has been really helping me to be more bold and we've been having more
good conversations about the gospel with the people we meet on the
street.
Today we're going to Alewife to play some soccer with our district - should be fun!
It's getting a little chillier here - winter is on its way and I am just praying that it is as uneventful as last year :)
I love you all a lot! Have an amazing spirit-driven week! Keep the faith!!
Love,
Sister Palmer
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