5/12/15 Week 61

Something like this

TORNADO IN LEWISVILLE...but it was really small and happened at 5am so nobody even knew about it except us and Blanca's family because their tree was like the only thing it hit.  Sorry for getting your hopes up...but after a whole week of sirens and rumors it did finally happen!

Alrighty, so this week started out with one of the most fantastic zone councils eva!  Normally when setting our baptism goal for the month it goes something like this "ok so last month we set 8 and we got 2.  So how does everybody feel about setting 9 and having more faith?"  And then who can say no to more faith, so we agree and then everyone just kind of forgets about the goal until the next month when they tell us that we didn't reach it.  - Not always super productive.  But this time, we all talked about everybody that we were working with and all of the possibilities we had, and set a freakin awesome goal of 19 baptisms this month!  Woot woot!  It's so happening!!  That means that Hna Ford and I need to get 3...deep breathe...we can do ALL things!

Oh how I will miss the Mariachi at ward parties!

The next day our stake held a conference for all the women on how to overcome addictions.  We went to get some good ideas for Tanya, but it was kind of hard to focus cuz like every 10 minutes there was a loud siren accompanied with "tornado warning, tornado warning".  It was a little distracting, but I did get some good stuff out of it.  Fav quote: "I always knew you would mess up, that's why I sent a Savior."   

The next day I went on an exchange with our STL about an hour north.  We got to fill orders at a food bank for like 4 hours which was awesome!  Haha - there was that awkward moment when an investigator who dropped the missionaries comes to pick up their order… Sister Tuna's face was pretty priceless! Then later this little curly haired suburban mom tried Bible bashing us.  It was cute. I'll give her credit for her efforts haha.    Then that night we went with Sonya (our investigator from Honduras) and Roman (recent convert) and his non-member mom to the ward's Mothers Day dinner.  Members really make a HUGE difference!  It was so good to see them making friends :)

Then...sigh...are you ready for the sad part?   So we were talking with Hna Castro afterwards and she told us that our investigator Tanya called her and told her that she's been really stressed and she doesn't want to keep taking the lessons, but that she loves us and doesn't want to tell us.  I was crushed.  Tanya was progressing sooo much!  I know she had felt the spirit.  It's always when people get to that point that Satan targets them and tells them that it's too hard to actually change their lives.  And guess what?  It is hard, that’s true. This is a huge thing I've learned on my mission:  To be a Disciple of Jesus Christ is never easy.  People just don't understand that the sacrifice is so worth it! I can't even describe my feelings.  Its somewhere between getting dumped through a text message and watching someone throw away fifty $100 bills.  It's awful. You just love these people with all your heart, and they have such hard lives, but ultimately it's their decision if they want to truly be happy or not.  I think every missionary will agree with me when I say that agency can be a killer. 

Sonya and Hna Soto - love em

Well now on to happier things...Sunday of course was fantastic! It's amazing the things you take for granted before the mission.  I have the best family evvveeeerrrr!  It was sooo fun talking to them!    Now I can't even remember what we talked about, but I definitely felt all warm and fuzzy after:) It's weird afterwards for us missionaries cuz we feel like we are ourselves again J You have NO idea how refreshing it is to talk to people who actually KNOW you!  I do love meeting new people of course but nothing can replace my family:)

After our nice little chat we baked cookies and took them to Fabiola, Blanca, Hermana Castro and taught them a mini lesson and thanked them for being awesome moms for us:)  Hermana Ford is so good at thinking of service opportunities! I love it! Then we wrote a super intense letter to Tanya a dropped it off....sigh....I don't know if it will make a difference now but hopefully in the future she will value what she learned and felt.   We were also thinking about it, and we've both been praying hard so that Heavenly Father will help us know where we need to focus our efforts so that we really can help the zone reach the baptism goal.  So I guess this was his way of telling us that Tanya's time isn't now, so that way we can use our time better.  ....That still doesn't make it any less sad though...well maybe a little:) 

Well, despite the tough times I know that this is the work of God that is happening here in Texas Fort Worth.  The spirit never lies and we get to feel it every single day!  "No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing!"  I love this work and I love yall!

<3 Hermana Bonny