This week was basically amazing. We added 3 new Deaf investigators, two of which are a married couple who dont use ASL, but rather, Spanish sign. Its going to be interesting to teach them! We had 2 days last week in the 100's but now its cooled down much to around 75-80, which is sooo much better. I love it.
In the spirit of Halloween, I have a scary story: We were
sitting during companionship study when our doorbell rang. I heard men's
voices and we were confused who was at our door. We live across from a
kind of freaky park, so we are cautious who we open the door for and who
watches us. Sister Sellers looked through the peephole and she whispered
"they covered the peephole!" uhhh....NOT. ANSWERING. So,
a few seconds later, they knock on the door again. Sister Estrada ran to
another room to see if she could see who it was out her bedroom window, but she
couldnt see. Then, the knocking turned into POUNDING on the door!!
My heart was racing and I was so scared I just kept saying "dont open the
door! Dont open it!" Sister Sellers opened the door.
There, we see 3 elders standing innocently with a stack of ASL cards for
us. I was so mad. I yelled at them. "DONT YOU EVER DO
THAT TO SISTER MISSIONARIES IN STOCKTON!!" augheaghh.
Elders. They laughed and appologized, apparently they didnt mean to scare
us, they were just teasing by covering the peephole because they thought it
would be funny. We all had a good laugh.
I have another halloween story. We went to see some
Deaf people who live in Galt, CA. (Galt is the very tip top of my area,
about 30 minutes in the car) It was the first time I've ever been to
Galt, and Ive been here for 4 transfers. Come to find out, Galt is all
farmland. There is nothin out there, and its so dark and far from the
city lights. So we went one night to find these two deaf
people. They first one was a confused hearing lady, not sure why
we had her name because shes not deaf, and the second one was a struggle
to find. There was a road where we were supposed to find the 2nd Deafie,
but we had to drive by again and again because there were literally NO houses
on the road. The GPS took us to a random place in a field with
nothing. We drove up to a dirt road thinking that maybe it would take us
to the house if we followed it, but it dead-ended at a field of hay. Upon
driving back to the paved road, we realized that we drove OVER the foundation
of a used-to-exist house. There it was, a cement slab where a house was
long before. Weird. Needless to say, we assumed that the Deafie had
moved and we took the name off our map. That night was a waste of time,
but it reminded me of Halloween because there were creepy fields and it was
pitch black. Then, there was a random mystery house that
disappeared. hmmm....
I got chased by dogs for the first time on Friday. I
got out of the car to knock a specific door, and there were these two scroungy
dogs waiting for me, growling. One of them had a limp and they were
probably filled with immense amounts of disease. They barked and barked
and I was sure to keep my face to them. When we walked down the sidewalk,
they started chasing us and I didnt know what else to do other than RUN!
(which, I later realized, is the dumbest possible thing to do) Good thing
they were both little tiny, so I outran them and made it to the door. I
guess I needed to have this happen at least once on my mission, right?
;)
This email is all super random...oh, and I saw my first-ever
real live prostitute.
Kathy is doing well. She watched conference on
Saturday morning with us and cried. I think she'll be baptized.
Still waiting for Lynda, she needs about a month to recover from some personal
stuff, but she does want to be baptized as well! Dan has to wait until
January, he's been in and out of the hospital. We are so overdue on a
baptism its rediculous!! I will see baptisms happen soon!!!
This
morning I had a struggle. We woke up early to go grocery shopping and as
I stood at the ATM to withdraw money, a homeless lady approached me and asked
if I'd watched the news the night before. I answered that no, I
hadn't. She seemed bothered because Im sure that was her usual opening
line to her explain how she needs money. I told her I dont watch the
news, then I told her it was depressing. "Dont you care about
starving children? Do you donate money??" she asked. I
explained that I donate through my church, yes. She then made a bad
decision to then offend me and say a few blankity-blanks about church. I
would like to now make a comment to all the homeless people who read my
blog: IF YOU WANT SOMEONE TO GIVE YOU MONEY, DONT OFFEND THEM BEFORE YOU
ASK. I just started ignoring her as she asked me more questions and I
simply didn't answer. She continued "Do I have to go to church
to get money?!" I thought for a moment, realizing that only those
who obey commandments will get the blessings. She obviously isnt obeying
the commandments. So, I told her "yes. you need to come to church to
get money." She just yelled at me. "GO TO CHURCH!!!"
Then she left. Thanks, I think I will. Church makes me a lot
more happy than you are, right now.
I was quite offended by that woman and it was at the
beginning of my day. Sister sellers was confused at what happened, but I
didnt want to talk about it, I was so frustrated and offended. I prayed
in my heart to Heavenly Father for peace and comfort. He whispered to me
"Its okay, she's just mad at Me." Then, I read D&C 95:6 and
12. Its funny, because D&C 95 is basically a boring yet necessary section
about how to build the churches and what dimensions they need to be. Yet,
the spirit spoke to me as I read the verses. "They who are not
chosen have sinned a very greivous sin, in that they are walking in darkness at
noon-day" Verse 12: "If you keep not my commandments, the love
of the Father shall not continue with you, therefore you shall walk in
darkness." Its sad that the woman was walking in darkness. And
though I was troubled for a time, Heavenly Father gave me peace and joy again
soon thereafter. I love the gospel. I was a bit afraid to leave the
store for fear she would be waiting for me outside but she was gone.
I love you all. I love conference. I love my
Savior.
Sister Wilson
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