Week 14

DIA DEL LIBRO DE MORMON

     Well golly, what a week this has been. It started out kind of rocky, I am not going to lie, I spent some time crying and really missing my home. We had transfers last week and as you know, we stayed in Gilbert. But on Monday night we found out that we were losing the Gilbert 2nd ward. That was a real blow! This seems to happen to us, when things start to move finally we get taken out of the ward. So in losing G2 we lost our investigator Kiersten, the wonderful LA Angela, and the night that we lost G2 found out that a former investigator that we had been trying to teach wanted to take the lessons again. Oh and a referal was called in that night. Ouch! It just was a toughy. But the Lord is taking care of us and I know that there has to be a reason that we stayed in the Silvercreek ward. Silvercreek is a toughy, they have a lot of good people but they are not really excited about missionary work and the leadership seems less than thrilled to have sisters. But Me and Mugar are not letting that get us down. We are going to show them why we are here and do it alone at first if needs be. Please pray for the Silvercreek ward! And we also found out that we get to keep teaching Angela. Because she is a single mom and the elders would always have to find some one to go with them and plus she doesnt really want elders. And I know this is selfish, but I am so glad. I still need her as a safety net as much as she needs us as missionaries! On Wednesday we had transfer meeting and we all had to go, which is strange. But it was so nice because I got to see Hna Escobar and that always makes me happy! It always just feels so nice to hug someone you know and who knows you! Thank heaven for her and for that!
     Then on Friday we had our "DIA DEL LIBRO DE MORMON", ok well that is what I called it. As a mission we all just took the day on Friday and read the Book Of Mormon. From 8:30am to 8:30pm we sat in the church and read. And it was POWERFUL! I knew the Book Of Mormon was true before, but having the whole day to just read and feel the spirit of it was so so cool and something I will never forget. I feel so blessed to have had that opportunity and to be able to say again but with stronger conviction that the Book Of Mormon is the word of God. Every page testifies of Jesus Christ and testifies that he is the Savior and Redemeer of the world. It was incredibly special and I would invite you all to regain that testimony and love for the Libro de Mormon.
     So now for far less spiritual news...I was coming up with a list of things that I think are funny about Gilbert. So I am going to share what I have so far. 1. All of the neighborhoods have names, like finley farms or mirador, and people acutally refer to the names and know where they are. Like "Oh you like at 673 Burk? Is that over in Val Vista Lakes?" It is so odd to me! 2. Gilbert is considered a town. The "town" of Gilbert has 250,000 people. That doesnt feel like a town to me anymore!!! 3. The streets are weird here. If they are on the same longitutinal lines they have the same name. So Pinto goes across the whole town, but breaks up a million times. It starts as pinto ave, then will turn into a park, then there will be a pinto ct and then a pinto circle in the next neighborhood and then it will turn back into pinto ave. It makes finding anything way confusing!
     Also on a Arizona weird list 1. People "flood irragate" here and it is a concept that I dont understand. They literally fill their yard with water! And were I come from, if your lawn is a swimming pool, that means you have a BIG problem. It is weird. 2. Even the rudest people here offer you water. A person could have totally just yelled and told you to go away but as they are yelling at you, they are walking to their fridge to get you a bottle of water. It is loco!
     Oh and a hispanic culture weird 1. Hispanic people are nice, we crash peoples parties, weddings, fight nights, etc. all of the time. And they dont get mad at us. We always end up getting offered food and forced to take water. It is not the way it would happen at a caucasian party. Well I cant think of anything else to exciting but it has been good. Thanks for all of the prayers and letters and such! I appreciate it. Love you all Hermana Parry