Celestial Transfer: Week 1

I'm going to start off by addressing the elephant in the room. Today is the start of my last transfer as a full-time missionary. It's super weird if I think about it too long, so I don't let myself. I've been blessed by Heavenly Father to stay focused & driven to being diligent & working hard til the end. The inevitable is bound to come, so why worry about it? I love life right now, but if there's one thing I've learned on my mission it's that there's life after death. So things are good, I'm staying sane & that's all I could ask for.

And I'm SOOO happy to say that I am still in Apple Valley, Mojave Narrows/Ridgecrest YSA with Sister Bergstrom. We are Celestial companions. I guess that's what they call companions that are together for 3 transfers. My first & only 3 transfer companion & I couldn't have asked for a better one!

 

 

In other news, my friend & fellow missionary I came out with, Elder Jensen, is the new Assistant to the President! Wow. Life is crazy, folks.

I take a look at the past couple transfers & realize I've grown & learned so much. Lately Sister Bergstrom & I have been noticing our lack of disappointment/discouragement when we lose baptismal dates, when nobody seems interested, & when investigators aren't progressing & drop us. I know I've mentioned this before, but I'm going to reiterate it. Our purpose is to find the prepared. Those who are ready to listen to & accept the message we have to share. We've been blessed lately to be finding & teaching really prepared people including Jane, Crystal, Genie & Murry. Because we've experienced teaching them, we have a better idea of who's prepared & who's not. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean we judge everyone we come across as whether they are the ELECT or not...we still talk to everyone & invite everyone to learn!

Jane did not get baptized on Saturday--BUT do not fret! She is still amazing & prepared & wanting to get baptized. She just wants her family to be there. Her family lives in Washington state, so she's planning to be baptized there this summer. (& mom, don't worry about me...I'm fine!) It's all in God's timing. I firmly believe also that if she is meant to be baptized down here the Spirit will prompt her & she will obey.

Jane and apples

Update on Genie & Murry: They both got caught up a little bit on 1 Nephi 4 where Nephi is told to slay Laban. Gosh darn it. It's okay, they'll get past it! But they really seem to like the Book of Mormon. We committed Genie to read the first chapter, & when we came back a couple days later she had read all of 1 Nephi! She is an avid reader :) When we came Murry spilled to us that he hasn't read since we were there last & how he lied to us & God, so before we came he started reading. His comprehension is amazing! He was talking all about how Laman & Lemuel were beating Nephi with a rod & how that wasn't nice. He offered to say the opening prayer & apologized for lying to us & God. It was so cute haha.

 

They watched the last session of Conference on Sunday & loved it. Well, Murry fell asleep, but Genie loved it! Murry did love the picture of the dinosaur during Elder Holland's talk haha. Genie said she knew the speakers are servants of God. We taught them the Plan of Salvation & the Gospel of Jesus Christ this week. They came to church on Sunday & LOVED it. In gospel principles Murry said, "we used to go to a fake church! it was a fake church! they didn't talk about God! this is a real church!" Luckily he was comfortable enough to go with someone to 3rd hour, & after church he put his arm around his mom & said "Mom! I loved it. Can we come back next week?! PLEASE? Do you promise?!" Best. Thing. Ever. As of now their baptism is still planned for April 30.

Crystal is doing amazing! She loves everything we teach her & is making soooo many friends in YSA! She's excited for her baptism on April 23 :)

That's about it for this week! Give Jacob, Ali & Evie hugs & kisses from their favorite aunt!!

 

Love you all, 

xoxo Sister Viraldo