Pecks and the Spirit

Hi FAM! We back at it again! Ya miss me? (barf) 

Well quick catch up of the week: 

-We went knocking one night, and at one door this 21-year-old guy named Elvis and his 17-year-old brother answer the door.  We start teaching Elvis, cuz he was super elect, and duh we are going to help out our YSA sisters, but his 17 year old brother is just chillin’ at the door with him, shirt off and all, and just ripped, I’m not even going to beat around the bush here hahaha, but just ripped, and as we are just trying to focus on Elvis, his brother is just literally flickering and flexing his pecks, like "The Rock" status flexing.  I was internally dying inside.  I had no clue if Sister Murdock was noticing so I was just not trying to acknowledge him, and just try and keep whatever Spirit was there, to stay, haha but after that we just walked away and both died. Man, gotta love good ol’ door approaches.  Humans man. They are just my favorite. 

-We have had a huge water leak in our wall and so we have had these giant fans and humidifiers in there and our house just sounds like WW3 is happening.  But we finally got those out (: 

-Sister Bingham and I got to go on an exchange, and we were knocking and started talking to this man drinking in the street.  We began just getting to know him and testified of Jesus Christ and the gospel and by the end we invited him to come to church with us.  He was just blown away, and physically changed when he realized that we still came up to talk to him, and I will quote him, "as he was sinning".  It was very powerful to testify to him that God still loves him.  That he is a son of God.  And that he loves us equally.  There is just a lot of power, I really do think so, in the little seeds that we plant. 

-We had a great week working with our members and having them come out with us to lessons. We have a sweet investigator, Bertha, a woman from Cuba who really has had no religious background whatsoever.  We have really been teaching her from square one.  But we felt so prompted to bring this specific member, Hermana Margarita Valdez to this lesson, but this member lives so far from her, and just has some health issues, and her daughter is in the process of moving, and we just really didn't want to bug her, but we just kept getting this prompting over and over again that we need to bring her, so we called her and she came.  And WOW.  I cannot even begin to express the Spirit that was in that lesson.  First off, the second that they both met each other they were just kissing and hugging and talking 4833153 miles an hour (just Cuban things) and they were just best friends.  We couldn't even get them to stop talking.  But we ended up teaching the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration and just it was beyond powerful.  One of the most powerful lessons I have been able to be apart of.  And my favorite part of it was, just seeing Berthas sweet priceless face as she heard the beautiful message, and then as we taught her how to pray.  I just have taken so much for granted in my life, like just as simple as prayer, just being taught how to pray at such a young age.  This poor woman has gone 70+ years in her life, without knowing how to pray and being able to just communicate for our loving Heavenly Father.  What a special night that was for Sister Murdock and I to get to be apart of. 

Something I did just want to say real quickly, I know you all have had enough lol, was just something that I was pondering this week during my scripture study in Helaman 13.  He speaks in almost every verse that he listened with his heart, that the Lord spoke to his heart, and that he spoke from his heart. I think that there is something so powerful about that.  He didn't listen and act on the thoughts that were in his brain, where our thoughts are stored, but rather from his HEART.  This got me thinking about the difference between these two incredible organs, our brain and our heart.  I think the brain is almost more of our "natural man" organ, the logical side, the part that is just easier to understand, because it makes sense to us, but truly, the heart, is the organ of love and the way in which we hear and communicate with God.  Its something that doesn't logically make sense, as we, with our human understanding, can’t "see" with our heart, but that is truly the Spirit that talks through our heart.  And that I think is why its so hard for us to explain the Spirit, because it is not something that our little human brains can understand with words, it is just something we feel.  Any who, sorry for that rant. (: But I just thought that was beautiful.

Man Satan is just so real though.  Not going to lie, the mission is hard, and it was just a rougher week, which I know is just normal, its just life.  It’s discouraging, and you feel down.  The ways you cope with things before the mission, you don’t have those outlets here.  So just learning to cope with that, but amidst the tough days and the negative feelings of Satan, or the lack of success I feel like I am having and helping, I have just never trusted in the Lord so much in my life.  I am so grateful.  My heart is full. 

Man you think after a year you would get it down by now (: HAHA SIKE! 

Life is great! We have so many reasons to smile! Make it the best week! Remember, if you are not reaping, then SEW (: 

I love you all! 

Hermana Dimond 

The SOLAR ECLIPSE!  That was the gnarliest thing!  I felt like I was in the zombie appocolyse or something! 

This was the chillest of the dresses by the way.  The good ones were all in plastic. 

Just one of the 1531531 quince shops that are here. all we wanted was to just be latin for a day haha and go get our dang quince dress but they defintiely we not buying the fact that we were 15 and only randomly do i pass of like a columbian, so they def didn't let us haha but better luck next time (: 

Sister Murdock has lots of faith I guess.  Just another hair cut in my salon (: 

Sister Bingham and her trainee Sister Beckstrand leaving little surprises on my camera.  Love them 

Daoly, just one of my favorite members ever, took us to a Venezualen bakery for dinner one night this week, and we obviously prayed over the food, like always (: , and this cute cuban woman literally comes up to us and just starts going off how her heart is just so happy to see such young christain girls out in the world, and literally makes us pose as if we were praying, to take a picture.  Hahaha, aw it was the cutest.  Daoly has a pic of it.  I will have to get it from her! (:  But truly just missionary moments everywhere, even when you are not planning on it. 

Also Sister Murdock decided to treat me (instead of her future husband) and use her Olive Garden gift card, and take me there on a date this week, so I could experience Olive Garden for the first time!! it was a treat!  We ate like queens hahaha (: love her!

Just my favorite little latin ladies.  Ah good grief this is just the best ward ever.  They all literally live here at the church.  They are seriously just a family.

I guess sister Murdock liked my work, cuz she asked again for stylist Sister Dimond lol.  Just some major what not to wear transformations going on here in hialeah (: 

We had stake conference this past sunday and since Miramars area is in my Stake I GOT TO SEE MONICA and all my favorite Miramar members!  It was so special!  President and Sister Garns spoke as well! its was great! 

When your DL is the best human in the world. 

"A little fall of rain, can hardly hurt me know" somebody quote it.  Please. haha (: we have been DUMPED ON HERE!  Its been a blessing from the heat tho!  Hallelujah!