Hermana Burnham, Hermana Koch and Hermana Parry
Hiiiii :)))))
SOOOO this week was great. I feel like it was just Monday though! The days go by like weeks but the weeks go by like days!!! This week was so great!!! Not as fast paced as last time!! UMMm I have two stories to tell.... and then AN AMAZING DAY OF MIRACLES!!! but I'll have to send a picture of my journal entry next week because I dont have my journal but the day is way too long to write about ahha but I can probably do a brief sum up.
Ok so I am still absolutely loving it :) I am having a hard time with energy, when I eat Gluten it really sucks the energy out of me and I was having an awful time sleeping as well. I did great the first while, I would just sleep like a rock. But then Satan got to me.... Everynight I would go to sleep I would lay in my bed so terrified. It wasn't even logical, it was just awful feelings Satan created and put in my head. I would jump at every single noise I heard, I would see things, it was awful, no matter how hard I tried to go to bed, my heart would just pound and by the time I fell asleep I would keep waking up throughout the night. I'd wake up in the morning just as tired as I went to bed and it was horrible. We don't exactly live in a safe area, and scarey things have happened at our apartment haha and ya. But I knew I needed to do something about it because when I was that tired I would fall asleep during my studies and I was tired when I was teaching. It was awful. Anyways, I decided that I needed a blessing. In the blessing it said some cool things :) Elder Cobabe, in my district, was happy to give it and told me to never be afraid to ask for one because the priesthood is under used and its offensive to the Lord if we don't ask. So he gave me a blessing of paz :) Then the night came and I was still terrified, but I did much much better. The next night Hermana Parry is an angel and switched me spots so I am in the corner far away from the door and I now sleep like a baby. most of the time :) anyways I am rambling and you probably dont care about it hahaha. anyways.... ok so I chose 2 experiences I want to tell you about :)
1. I dont think I told you but last week we taught a woman who had cancer. We found her because a few weeks earlier my comps had tracted into her husband! so they came back and she was really rude to them and then we came back again last week! and she let us in, there house was really dark and just felt sad. We had a lesson about the Book of Mormon with her and her sister and they argued a little and talked about the bible and I was impressed to say to her, how can you say and know it is fake if you dont read it? So she said we were right and long story short we invited her and her sister to read some passages I can't remember which. This woman is fiesty! She softened though when she told us about her daughter because she said he daughter doesn't know what to do with her life and just other stuff and gave us her number. She also told us that her husband doesn't believe in God or really anything mainly I think because of her cancer. She has had breast cancer for five years now. Well we set a return appointment for the next week, or the one we just had, but we tried to stop by and see her daughter throughout the week but she wasn't ever there and there was a lot of miscommunication, so we stopped by the same time we had seen Juana the week before because thats when her appointment was. We knocked on the door and a tiny girl opened and it was her daughter Christina who is 21. We asked how she was and talked to her and within seconds we found out her mom, the woman we had talked to a week earlier, died 4 days after we taught her. My heart broke. My eyes filled up with tears as we offered her our condolences. I was seriously heart broken I felt so sad and wanted to comfort her and then leave so that she could cope.
However, we knew we needed to teach her. So we went in and sat at her table. It was so much cleaner. The room was so much lighter. It was amazing how peaceful it felt. It was solemn, but so peaceful, hermana Parry said she could feel Juana's peaceful presence. Christina sat down and then her dad, who they first tracted, came in and we breifly talked to him, we asked him if he wanted to listen and he said no because he was working, he just needed to work. We asked him if there was ANYTHING we could do for him and he said no, he just needed to work, he looked into our eyes and held his heart and said I have a strong heart. But as he said it his eyes filled up with tears and he choked up and then went out the door to do his work. My heart broke. I almost started sobbing right then. That was one of the hardest things to hear. That was the jist of what he said, it was in spanish and I didn't understand some of it. It hurt so bad to watch him be in so much pain while trying to be strong, he loves his wife so much. We wanted to hug him so badly.
We then turned and talked to Christina, she told us a lot of what was going on and she told us a little bit about her work, the table was clean and on it was an envelope where she pulled out a program to show us, and then the El Libro de Mormon. This was the most AMAZING miracle. We told her we wanted to read a message of comfort with her in the book that was lying on the table, she lifted it up and told us that her mom had given it to her. We found out that Juana had taken the book of mormon with her to the hospital. That when Christina came to be with her as she was lying in the hospital, her mom told her that she had given us her number, and initially she was like what?? why?? you cant just be giving people my number! and her mom gave her the Book of Mormon. And said, this is your book now. How amazing. I just gasped and felt the spirit so strong when I heard that. Juana a non-member, who faught with us about the Book of Mormon, took it with her to the hospital and was reading for the last 4 days that she lived and gave it to her daughter on her death bed as her gift to her.
I just can't even believe it. We left a message with Christina Alma 40:11, Sarah ( the Bishops daughter who came out with us) gave the closing prayer and then we left. We walked quietly back to the car and drove back to the apartment before our meal with the Bishop. Hermana B and I cried for a while ha. But we all talked about how amazing that was Hermana Parry was saying how amazing it is that we can feel and know that Juana is accepting the gospel in the spirit world. It broke my heart that we have such a beautiful message of peace and consolation to share with her husband but he is so closed off and hurt. I don't think that I could live with one of my family members passing and not having the knowledge that I have, and not knowing the Plan of Salvation. I know that we can live with our families forever, that only through fulfilling God's plan is this possible. I know that one of the greatest gifts God gave me is my family. I know that everyone can live with their family forever in God's presence if we follow his plan. I know this because of the feeling I have felt and knowledge I have gained as I have felt the Holy Spirit testify of the Plan of Salvation.
2. We met a woman named Ana Ruiz!! She is amazing and so is her little boy Eddenilson!! We met them because we kept trying to meet with her husband Jose but he was never home and finally she was just like well does he have to be here? Oh my gosh of course not!! We can teach you!! haha so we taught her and Eddenilson about eternal families and just followed the spririt and then at the end Hermana B helped Eddenilson say the closing prayer. It was darling and I felt the spirit SO strong. We gave them a childrens Book of Mormon and as we were leaving Eddenilson was like I'm gonna teach you! to his mom haha. So we came back later in the week, on Saturday and she was the only one home so we taught her about the Book of Mormon and read 3 Nephi 11 about Christ coming to the America's. We gave her the Book of Mormon with out the pictures and stuff, not like the kid one haha. She was so sweet and has the sweetest countenance about her. She told us that Eddenilson reads the book every night and the other night he told her that he wants to be just like us. Mormon. Best part is.... GUESS HOW OLD HE IS!?!! 8! he can get baptized :) Anyway we said the closing prayer and as she got up to get us water I said to Hna P I kept feeling like I needed to ask her to be baptized and she was like ahhhh me too! I'm sure hna B felt the same but she was on the other side of me ahha. Anyways when she came back and hna Parry asked her what she wanted from our lessons and she said she loves to learn and wants to know more and then all the sudden I got so nervous and was like AHHHH I NEED TO ASK HER!!! so i just did it. I said if you know these things are true, will you follow the example of Christ and be baptized and she paused... and I wanted to break eye contact but i didnt! and then she said si! ahhhhh I about died I was so happy!! and then we left :)
So anyways all is well in the Gulfbank ghetto! Im lovin' life! already gettin chubs. Eatin tons, sweating more. Just lovin it :) missing you all is the worst but life goes on! peace and blessings <3
xoxo
Hermana Koch
A little blurb I pulled out of Hermana Parry's email she sent to her mom....her mom passed it on to me because we have a mutual friend...Liz Lattin...who also sent it on to me...
"Our baby was due on Thursday and her name is Hermana Koch. She is from Laguna and is SO cute. Seriously, so adorable and funny. We are always laughing! But don’t worry we are extremely focused. You just have to have fun while doing the work. We are working bien duro aqui."
#lizziesleeps!
Lizzie's bishop is Bishop Marin. The girls were over at the bishop's house on Sunday and he sent a few pictures to each of their parents. It sounds like they are close to the bishops family. He has a daughter Sarah who I guess she has done some splits with them and is close to them.
Miss you baby bop!
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