"Girls!"

 

Miracle of the week is this 17 year old girl who is a 100% ray of sunshine. We ran into her while walking to an appointment a couple of weeks ago. As soon as I saw her it was like my lungs filled up with happiness. I couldn't even talk to her because I was a little breathless. After I stumbled out some words and she gave me kind of a weird look she was like, "Okay...well....see you girls!" and walked off. And I was a little sad, but thought, "we'll see her again. Something big is going to happen with that girl." Then I heard her yelling, "Wait! Girls!" And we turned to see her running towards us. She asked us if we were in high school and explained that she just moved here and was wondering what the best high schools were. We immediately started chatting and talking about all the young women we know and how we could ask and get back to her and she started to get so excited, which I later found out is just how she is. She is constantly giggling and clapping her hands. So when we went to her apartment a few days later to "chat" some more, we ended up talking about our purpose as missionaries (who planned that?) and she talked about how she would really like to serve God one day and get closer to Him. We explained that that is pretty much what we do everyday; help people get closer to God. So she became really excited to receive the lessons.

Restoration went pretty great. She was excited, thought it was cool, LOVED the idea of praying to God even though she did it with a nervous giggle. After the lesson she opened up to us as she started to weep while spilling over about all she hopes from life and how her mother passed away when she was 5 and how she didn't know why she was telling us all of this.

The next time we saw her was one of the sweetest experiences of my life. We have this visual that my companion has been working on forever of the Plan of Salvation. We had an appointment set with a lady that day to teach The Plan, so in the morning we both took time to hurry and finish up the visual. When we got to her door, of course she didn't open it. Hermana Durham said, "Dang it. All that time I spent! I wanted to use it today!" But just like Carolyn said, when the Lord closes a door, he knocks out a wall. We decided to just drop by our new friends place and ended up teaching her the Plan of Happiness. She soaked it up. She said, "Ooohh this is like a bedtime story! I am at the edge of my seat! What is next?" She had a million questions.

When we got to the Spirit World, she asked, "So what happens to the people who never have the chance to learn or be baptized on the earth?" we felt prompted to go into more depth about temples and temple work and preaching the gospel to the dead. Usually when we first teach the plan we don't talk so much about being baptized for dead people in a special building that they aren't allowed to go into yet. It can scare people off. But her eyes got really big and she said, "Oooohh!! What information do you need to do it for them? Let me give you my mother's name!" Then she ripped off a magazine scrap and scribbled on it and thrust it at me. I said, " I would love to, but I think this is something you are going to do." Then she squealed and giggled and clapped her hands and exclaimed, "OK! How?? What do I have to do?" Then it was like she already knew the answer and she said,  "How soon can I be baptized??"

So she has a baptismal date set for 3 weeks. She came to church with us yesterday. When we met up after Young Womens (the lesson of course was on temples.) she was hugging them all and giggling and saying "Guess what?? I am going to go in 3 weeks! I'm going to get baptized!" And everyone was giggling and hugging in a big circle. It was like it was out of a movie.

The funniest part was that that morning at District meeting we practiced giving the baptismal invitation and resolving people's concerns about being baptized. So we went through all these awkward role plays with missionaries who were trying to be really difficult investigators. Then we all committed to extend the commitment to someone that day. In our lesson with Sandra I was just laughing to myself because she practically committed us to prepare her to be baptized within 3 weeks time. Best part: she has 6 older sisters with families of their own who are all very close and very mindful of her decisions. So I pray they all get sealed in the temple one day soon.

Sitting next to her in Sacrament was so wonderful. I felt so much at home and so happy. We were giggling to each other as a Hermana spoke for literally 50 minutes (which is very typical of Latino women) and the bishopric shifted uncomfortably while looking at the clock and finally gave her a note that must have told her to stop talking. When her husband got up to speak I thought he would shorten his talk, but I think instead he just sped up his Spanish. It was like listening to the little clip at the end of a TVcommercial. "Wearenotresponsibleforsideeffects....limitedtimeonly,restrictionsapply."

I love our sweet investigator. Man she is great. She always calls us "Girls!" and never stops smiling. She is happier than us, and we are the ones trying to bring her more happiness!

I love my area! It is the best! I am afraid I will have to leave it one day, which helps me to put my all into every day.