Now have we not reason to rejoice?

 Helping out at YW New Beginnings

Hello!

This week has been so fantastic! And when I say that, I don't mean we met all of our goals, or that we were 100% successful in all of our efforts, or that every appointment was spiritual and uplifting and no appointments fell through, or that the weather was perfect and we got more than enough sleep and felt full of energy every day. Not in the slightest, actually. In fact, this week was probably the opposite of that. But nonetheless, it was a blessing waking up every morning to a new day, to new experiences. 

We did have an incredible lesson with Magali though. It was definitely the highlight of the week. We always struggle meeting with her because something always comes up when we want to meet with her. But when we do see her, it's so great. So on Thursday, there was a mix-up with our plans and we were apparently supposed to meet Magali at 4pm instead of her coming to a relief society activity at 7pm. She texted us right at 4 and said, "Hey sorry I'm going to be late, can you meet at my house at 4:30?" Luckily, we were just going to knock on some doors at that time, so we of course said we'd meet her. While we drove to her house, we prayed to know what to teach her, and we both felt we needed  to focus on faith with her since she's had some struggles with finding an answer to her prayers, but she hasn't picked up the Book of Mormon yet. She has some issues with believing in a modern day prophet, and she loves how she feels at her church, and doesn't want to leave. But she also feels really good when she meets with us, and she met Michelle last week and loved hearing her experience about how it too was hard for her to leave her church. But look at where she is now! Anyways, these were all some concerns she had previously voiced to us and we felt inspired to focus on faith, specifically the faith cycle. It teaches us that in order for us to receive any witness or answer, it requires faith on our part. It was a very uplifting meeting with her, and we invited her to be baptized for the 4th time since Sister Barrett started meeting with her, and she finally accepted! She's getting baptized on February 21st! I hope I'm still here for it. 

I just cannot comprehend the love and happiness I feel for everyone in this area. It's undeniably the most wonderful feeling being privileged to work with such great people. With the death of both of Sister Barrett's grandfathers, we knew there was something amazing around the corner. We had our District Meeting on Tuesday, and we walked in to a room full of balloons, streamers, and our fellow missionaries with smiles on their faces, shouting "surprise!" and taking pictures. I immediately thought they were surprising Sister Barrett as a means to cheer her up (even though she already knows how to face every situation fearlessly), but then we both realized it was for the both of us. On the chalk board, it said "Lost Mountain Sisters Appreciation Day". I guess this is something they do every once in a while. I later found out that it was Sister Barrett's idea to do it for me, and she arranged the whole thing while we were on exchanges last week. But then the rest of the missionaries decided to make her a part of it as well. 

My heart is just so full. How could I be so lucky to be surrounded by such amazing people? I have been so so blessed. This entire week, I felt just so grateful for.. everything, really. The people I'm surrounded by that truly mend all homesickness, the people we teach that strengthen my faith and assure my understanding of why we need the gospel, the members that take so much time to get to know us and serve us, and really just the gospel in it's entirety. 

There are so many things I wish I could share every single week. If only I had the time and the means to do so. All I've heard about my visa is that the process has been speeding up, and they should be arriving soon. But they didn't give me a specific time frame. We'll see! Also, I left my camera at a member's house so I've been trying to get it back and have been unsuccessful in my efforts, so I apologize for not having pictures this week. But I'll send them next week!

Sister Hendricks