I sure appreciate all of the love and prayers! You're a great support to me!
What a crazy week! I love being a missionary! Hermana Pfeil and I are whitewashing Van Nuys 5to! There are luckily 4 companionships of missionaries in the ward and we're all plenty busy! We've been able to get important information from the other companionships.
Deep pondering on Christ being in the Father and the Father in Him: If my friends happened to come home from their missions this summer and find my little sister hanging with their little siblings, they might observe that she looks just like me, and that she acts just like me, and that she says the things that I used to say. If all this hypothetically happened, my friends might say "I can see Carmen in you." This doesn't mean that I am literally inside my sister nor that my sister and I are the same being. I simply means that if I were there, I would do the same thing she was doing. When I think about this in terms of Christ and Heavenly Father, I realize that Christ perfectly represented Heavenly Father. Everything he did and said was exactly what His Father would have done and said. His teachings are God's teachings. I may just be making up doctrine here, but this is the way I understand the scriptures right now, and I thought I'd share. Maybe it will help you understand it too.
Stories!! Let's see, we were on the way to knock out, but there was no way we could get to where we planned anytime soon, so we went to the next apartment complex and started pushing buttons hoping someone would let us in. The manager came and let us in, then told us he'd been praying for someone like us. That's how we met Josue. He's had a member present lesson and a church tour since then. BUT wait there's more! At that moment we asked for a referral, and he sent us down the gold hallway, where we met the referral and set up a return appointment plus 3 new investigators and a referral for the missionaries in the other valley!! That's the story of my first full day in Van Nuys.
I've heard so much about Alondra from the hermanas that used to work in this area and she's a YSA investigator now that I'm not, but we're trying to teach her family. The best part of the lesson with her and her mom was when her Dad walked in to the house and while he was cleaning up so he could come join us, she looked us in the eye and told us "You're going to like him. He's a good Dad." with all sincerity. I love hearing that. I love that families are a part of God's wonderful plan.
One time we were trying to find a family on the ward list that we hoped was part member, but then the address didn't exist, so we tried the complexes on either side both had the right apartment number. At the first one, we knocked and no one answered, but we knocked on both sides and found 1 potential and 1 new investigator! What a life! God always takes us to the elect. We just have to stick around long enough/get there soon enough to find them! Be brave, missionaries! Be brave, member missionaries!
Okay, I love you so much, have a great week!
Love,
Hermana Sleight
Hermana Pfeil blowing up balloons for Obispo's kids
Carmen and her new companion, Hermana Pfeil, whom Carmen says is a very happy person
and gives lots of pep talks!
and gives lots of pep talks!
Obispo (Bishop) of Van Nuys ward
