This week has been SOO crazy. With the area just exploding and the work taking off, we have been incredibly busy. First some updates on people:
1. Paulina. Oh my dear Paulina. We had such a stellar lesson with her this week. ALL week long I had been freaking out about her being baptized this Saturday, thinking "is she really ready to make this commitment?" and "Is she really going to leave her church to join ours?" SO nervous. As we prepared the lesson, we decided to share Alma 32 with her, about the fruits of the church, and taking Alma's quiz if the gospel has: enlarged her soul, enlightened her understanding, and begins to be delicious. We go into the lesson, and the spirit was SOO strong. She bore such a powerful testimony of how the Book of Mormon and knowledge of the gospel has blessed her life. And then as we asked her about why she wants to be baptized she said, "I don't know everything about why I need to be baptized again, but I know that I need to be a part of this church, there is more I want to learn. I want to go to the temple." ahh isn't she amazing? Unfortunately, we are postponing the baptism due to immigration stuff that she is dealing with. But I am SO incredibly happy that she is confident in her decision and that sometime soon she'll be a member. Tears. I cried like a baby in that lesson. She is such a special lady!
2. I could not even TELL you how many hours I have spent in the hospital the past few months! All of our recent converts in this area have the worst health problems, you would not even believe! This week, we went and visited Sister L'herault, and not 50 minutes after our lesson we get a call from her that she's in the emergency room, and has an infection in her toe. So we brought the elders over to give her a blessing, And then the next day she was still in there and pretty down. We decided to bring her dog along to visit her (the nurses gave permission) Oh she was so elated! haha people and their dogs. Minnesota is famous for it. She's still in the hospital, trying to fight of the infection, but it has certainly been an adventure! I'm just glad that Sister Sperry is studying to become a nurse, she understands all the medical terms that they use and then has to translate it for me :)
3. So to top it off that I need to prepare to go home, Bishop's daughter Ellen just returned home from her mission. Her homecoming was this week, and we got to go to the bishop's youth discussion at his house as she shared stories from her mission. So surreal. I'm totally not ready for IT! But it's been fun to take her teaching with us, and learn a little bit about her experiences in the Philippians. She even cooked us some really good Filipino food!
4. Speaking of food. So I don't usually share much about the weird food that we eat. But this week was beyond crazy in the variety of everything! We had SO much Asian food, it was insane. From lettuce wraps, to spicy green bean salad. Our poor stomachs have been stretched to their capacity. One thing I LOVE about Minnesota is all the variety of people! We got some Laotian food, some Micronesian food, some Chinese food, and of course African food :) I could not even pronounce most of the stuff we ate. and sometimes we didn't even want to know what was in it. It was heaven sent when we had a dinner with a member and they fed us some chili. haha good ol merica!
5. And then a story to end all stories. Last night it snowed over 6 inches. I joke you not. We were driving home from bishop's, and it was quite a treacherous journey. We decided not to test our luck, and just drive home and we can walk from there. We took a picture at 8:00 when we started our journey. And then at 9:00. we were COVERED. We tried to visit with a less active, but he wasn't home. So we knocked around on some of his neighbors' doors. One Chinese man answered the door and said, "woah. what you guys doing?" We literally almost peed our pants laughing. I'm sure we were quite a sight. But God's work be done, in whatever weather!
We saw tons of miracles this week! as we have been trying to work in unity with our ward council better ( our ward mission leader moved about a month ago, and we haven't gotten a new one yet) we got to take a lot of the leaders out teaching with us! One of the coolest appointments that we had was when we took a lady from the primary presidency out with us. She set up an appointment with a part member family that she is friends with. And we got to go over there and share a message with them. We talked about scouting and participating in the activities and the boys were SO excited! And at the end we talked about meeting with them a few times a month and getting to read scriptures with them. The family loved the visit and were stoked about us coming back! God is so good.
Funny story: It was actually really warm this week (we've been biking!) and the kids are on spring break. So we had a lesson outside with the part member Micronesian family that we have been working with, and their neighbors who are also a part member family. ANYWAYS, as we had the lesson outside, this little Asian boy about 4 years old started running around with a stick shouting "I am booty warrior!" and he comes up to us and explains that his super power is that he runs around and pokes people in the butt with this stick. We were dying laughing. It was outta control, but so funny. At the very end of the lesson he gave me the stick, and said I can be the next booty warrior. haha I politely declined, and said I prefer just being a missionary.
It has been such a fantastic last few months. I love being a missionary so much. God has been so good to me, and I have been so blessed to participate in the journey of God's children coming closer to him. I am so incredibly blessed. And I love the people of Minnesota. This is the best place ever, and I will never forget the lives that have made such a big impact on me!
On the very first day of my mission, my mission president's wife read a scripture from Mosiah 18. and then she said, " This is how we read it here in Minnesota:
And now it came to pass that all this was done in Minnesota, yea, by the waters of Minnesota, in the forest that was near the waters of Minnesota; yea the place of Minnesota, the waters of Minnesota, the forest of Minnesota, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them that came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever.”
So true. I will never forget my time here in Minnesota. It has been beyond incredible. And rewarding. I will forever praise the Lord forever for trusting me enough to serve him, and teach my brother's and sisters.
Ahh there is just tooo much to share in just one email. Sorry I haven't been updating much on our adventures. I was hoping if I didn't write much I could pretend that time wasn't passing by so quickly and I wouldn't ever have to leave. Since that didn't work out so well..... here is my essay for the past week. Hope you enjoyed it!
Love, Sister Sidney Terry
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| March 22, 2015 8:00 pm |
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| March 22, 2015 9:00 pm |
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| March 22, 2015 Their poor car covered in snow |
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| Taking a doggie for a visit |
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| so true (according to Sister Terry) |
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