We had exchanges this week, which was such a blessing. I was able to go with Hermana Herrera, who is now the Sister Training Leader over us. I really needed that to be able to feel confident again as a trainer, in what I do as a missionary, and in the person I am, being called of God for this specific time and place. We also got a slurpee together. So good :)
Right after the exchange my companion and I walked into the chapel for the funeral of Hermana Viveros. Her husband spoke, and he could only say about 5 words. It is sad to see such a wonderful man with a broken heart. We were so glad to see him at church on Sunday though. Really, the gospel is what will mend hearts, so we knew that as he began coming again (he hadn't been able to come in years due to his wife's sickness) he would be able to deal even better with the loss of his wife.
Thursday was probably the best day of my life, because we got to celebrate the Fourth of July! Who knew that missionaries got to do that?! We got to go see a fireworks show, and being that the show was in Denville it lasted all of about 20 minutes. So that was a little disappointing. But we played football beforehand with our zone and just laughed and took pictures. I love our new zone, this transfer. We have a lot of fun together, but we all work hard. That's the best combination. I've been in zones when it's all work and spiritual. That's great, but Sista Millward's gonna get bored real fast if you know what I'm sayin.
We also worked out at Liberty Island on Friday. Imagine that, I got to spend the whole day underneath Lady Liberty's backside! IT WAS THE BEST THING EVER. People from all over the world came up and spoke to us. We weren't allowed to speak about our religion, but we were helping with family history. And I met some people straight from Alcala de Henares, my little village in Spain! I met lots of others from Spain too, and I melted everytime I heard their accents. I miss the Spanish from Spain. People here ask me if I'm a Spaniard because I picked up the accent while I was there. Anyways, we also got to meet people from all over Asia, the Carribean, Northern Europe, Africa. I loved it. People all coming to see the great monument that marks the entrance to the Land of the Free.
Saturday morning Neena picked us up to go to the temple. Let's just say, we made the 1 hour long drive to New York City, performed baptisms, and drove all the way back by 8:20 in the morning. In other words, we got to leave at 4:45 am. We were exhausted Saturday! Luckily we were both tired enough that we thought we were also the funniest people ever and made up our own language known as "Shriek" spoken in the country of "Shriek Lanka." You can only imagine how hard we were laughing!
Saturday we also had the opportunity to teach a man named Alonso, the son of an inactive man who wants him to be baptized. All of Alonso's siblings did not keep the commitment to read out of the Book of Mormon. But Alonso did. He began to thank us for coming and bringing the word of God to him. And for the Spirit that he feels when we are there. He spoke about always having an open door for us. And as he spoke, the spirit bore witness that this man would soon be baptized. We invited him to be baptized, and he accepted. We are aiming for the 28 of July. I have the faith that though his father seems to not want to go to church, which in turn affects him, Alonso will understand the importance of attendance and follow through independently in order to take the first step toward salvation.
I know my purpose- it is to invite others to come unto Christ through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism by immersion, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. And this week, I felt that although I knew it before, the purpose began to really enter my heart. It is not just a purpose I should fulfill. It is becoming the purpose I want to fulfill- the only thing I want to do. I am a representative of Jesus Christ, and I will bring his gospel to all the world, here in Morristown New Jersey.
The Church is true.
Love
Hermana Millward
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| On the boat to Liberty Island |
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