Monday, April 7, 2014

This week has been absolutely fantastic. I have loved going around the Mission with so many different Sisters! Well, let me first say, it was hard to leave Sister Woods and Rexburg. I loved it so much, and I can safely say that Sister Woods is the best companion I will every have. She is amazing, and just what I needed! We finished off our last two days together with a bang by setting two baptismal dates in that Area.
 
On Wednesday was Transfers, and so in Rexburg I got into the car with President and Sister Brinkerhoff. Sometimes it cracks me up when missionaries say that they never saw their Mission President; it feels like I see him every day! Really it is about once or twice a week, and I absolutely love it! It will be so hard to leave them :( On the way down to Idaho Falls President asked me to train a new Sister Training Leader, Hermana Pennock on what our job was! It was a great start to our wonderful two days together with Hermana Henao.
 
One of the things I have noticed is that a Traveling Sister Training Leader is a significant help to the Sister Training Leaders. So often Sister Training Leaders lose themselves in the service of others, and do not receive the same service that other Missionaries receive. I have gained a lot of satisfaction from helping and serving these Sisters during this past week. So far I have cooked the Sisters I stay with at least one meal a day, and over this week I have given four hand massages, four cuticle treatments, and helped to heal many, many emotional and physical pain. I have a deep love of what I am doing, and it feels like a sleepover every night! It is the best! I love my fellow sisters so much, and I am truly happy.
 
 I also have loved seeing the changes that have happened in the Mission since as a Ward Mission Council we decided to help all of our Missionaries accomplish the Standard of Excellence in April. Collectively the Sisters have a goal and a focus to achieve, and it is helping to strengthen a lot of missionaries. I have full confidence in this Mission achieving our goals!
On Thursday I spent the day with some Spanish Sisters re-vamping their Area to make it more successful. A problem they were encountering is that their slow hours of the day are entirely spent knocking on doors of Spanish speaking people that they know do not get home till 7 pm. We were able to come up with a game plan to use that time to correlate, increase awareness, and to train their Spanish Branch and English Wards Leadership. This use of their time will be very productive because with the English Ward's increased knowledge of how to help the Spanish Sisters, they will get more referrals for Spanish Speakers and be able to use that as their finding tools. We set other goals and made more gameplans to help their Area be more productive and to utilize their time to the best of their abilities.
On Thursday night we drove up to Driggs and spent the night there in their "apartment", aka mansion. Gotta love the members! It was a lot of fun, and I have discovered an unused talent I had no idea of: diagnosing hair and make-up problems! It seems like in every new companionship I meet, at least one of them complains about their hair or make-up. I just offer a very common sense solution to their problem, and voila! Fantastic hair and they look great! You know me, just helping the world be more beautiful one Sister Missionary at a time ;) haha! The next morning we held a Companionship Study with these wonderful Sisters and focused on Inspired Questions and how they can better rely on the Spirit. We gave them assignments to focus on practicing Inspired Questions for one Companionship Study one day per week to help improve their teaching skills.
A common theme I have noticed this week is that Heavenly Father is wanting these sisters to recognize their potential, and all the things they have to offer. I have set a lot of goals with multiple companionships in Iona, Ammon, and Idaho Falls to recognize and further develop the Christlike attributes they already have.

I am so thankful for this opportunity to be able to travel and see so many Sisters and help them in any way I can. With every new set of Sisters that I meet, the greater is my respect and trust with the caliber of missionaries the Idaho Pocatello Mission. I love being here and being a missionary!
 
 
Now for the highlight of the week: Jacob got baptized!!!!!! I got permission to drive up to Rexburg on Saturday and see it. We got lost on the way out of IF..... but we still made it there :)The Spirit was so strong! Jacob wanted myself and Sister Woods to talk during the little spiel we give about Jesus Christ and His Gospel while he was getting changed. I have never cried during a baptism before, but man- this time I was like Niagra Falls! Jacob is just so wonderful and has so much potential. He has come such a long way, and I was so happy to see him take this first step towards Jesus Christ! He is amazing! After his baptism I was able to talk with him and then he started to tear up too :( it practically broke my heart! I just love my investigators so much, and I love being a missionary and being able to help people be happy.
 
That's all for now! Love you all!

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