Hola todos!
Esta ultima semana fue loca!!! With the temple open house and everything going on we continue to be incredibly busy, but I have to say that this time is AWESOME. I never thought that on my mission I would experience people coming up to me and asking how they could become a part of our church. People do this at the temple open house. The temple sparks within them that divinity that they received from their Creator, the understanding that their real purpose for being here on earth is to progress and eventually return to live with our Father in Heaven. We were told before the open house started that we would be seeing more members than non-members at the open house, but I have found that to not be true. Most of the people I talk to are not members and they usually have questions for me. Our shifts at the open house are usually either from 7:00am to 12:00 pm or from 5:00pm to 9:00pm so we end up standing for most of the day because we are at the VC for the other half of our day giving people presentations. Before the temple open house started we usually had time to sit down and rest at the VC but people are coming like crazy and we almost have no time to even eat our meals! It's awesome! The other day we have over 900 people come and visit us here and over 1400 people visit Historic Liberty Jail! Needless to say I am utterly pooped but I have been praying fervently for the Lord to not only give me strength to be able to stand up and greet all of these people, but to give my very best and to use the personality that the Lord blessed me with to help touch the lives of some of these people. It is a more of a struggle some days and this last Thursday started out to be one of those days where it was hard to even smile because I was so tired. We had the early morning shift at the temple open house and I was wondering how I was going to make it all the way to noon without either having a massive freak out or dropping to the floor(both are a bit dramatic, I know:D). Well I said a prayer and trusted that just like the Lord has helped me through every other moment of my mission that He would do so now, and of course He did. I prayed that I could have people come in that I could teach about the gospel so that I could be fulfilling my purpose(at the temple open house our purpose is to ask people how they liked the temple open house, and not necessarily try to teach them right away). Well my prayer was answered and shortly after I prayed I met this couple with a teenage son who had many questions and I was able to go sit down on the couches with them and answer all of their questions and actually teach them the first lesson and parts of others. They were Lutheran and one of the questions that the woman most wanted to ask me was what our church believes about children who die before baptism. I told her what we know from the scriptures, that children under the age of accountability(age 8) will automatically go to the celestial kingdom(I was able to teach them about the plan of salvation!). She was very happy to hear this because she said that she did not agree with the beliefs of some of the people in her church which are that those children will go to hell. They were not ready for missionaries to come to their home but we talked about how they can chat with the missionaries on mormon.org and they were all really excited about that and as they left they seemed to leave lighter. It was incredible! I cannot even imagine how I could deserve to be in this place and this time, with these AMAZING people. The Lord is so good to me and I feel incredibly humbled by all of these experiences.
Well as you can probably see my p-day is on Monday for the rest of this transfer so you all will be getting my email at the beginning of the week for awhile. Last p-day, which was on Wednesday, I told the other sisters that we should go to a museum(I. LOVE. MUSEUMS!!!!) for p-day because it was the last p-day of our dear p-day buddy Sister Sawyer. They said that they were game so I asked the senior missionary couple that was on p-day that day too and also the Director of the Visitors' Centers and his wife if they wanted to come. They all were excited to join us and so we headed to the heart of our area, down town KC,MO. The dear senior couple were nice enough to give us sisters a ride and we seriously had a BLAST! They museum is called the Nelson-Atkins museum and it is one of the top art museums in the world. We got to see original van Gogh's! I have never seen so much beautiful and historic art in my entire life. It was the most fun p-day that I have yet experienced on my mission. I am including a few pictures from this day because it was just plain amazing and such a refresher for my soul. I love history.
Our investigator, Kathy, went to the temple open house this last Thursday night and we were on shift so we got to see her as she came out. Wow. She absolutely LOVED it! She said that when she was in the Celestial room she could not have spoken even if it were allowed. She also said that she felt like she was floating through the temple, and that she felt like the Lord approves of this house that was built for Him. I told her that in a year from the day that she is baptized she can go back into the temple and she said "Yeah! I am so excited to go back, I don't care if I have to wait, it's worth it!" Yesterday at church in gospel principles we were talking about family history work and she asked a ton of questions about the subject and then told us all that she will be making sure that her parents work gets done. How cool is this?!!!! She is so excited for her baptism, and man....I can hardly wait myself!!!!
I also have a bit of sad news this week. We ended up having to drop our investigator Keith because he is not progressing at all. It started to turn into more of a social visit than him coming closer to Jesus Christ. We have been teaching him since Hermana Méndez and I first became companions so I was pretty emotional about it(I bawled my eyes out when we got to the car) but I know that it was what we needed to do, and I totally still have faith that Keith will find his way and that he will be okay. I will continue to pray for him.
Wow, life is great yet it is so crazy to think that back home you all are continuing to live your lives. Don't you all know that you are supposed to put your life on pause until I get home from my mission?! I guess you didn't get the memo...well I say this because within three days I learned that one of my close friends, Royden, is getting married on May 5th, then I saw my cousin Todd and his wife Laura(Hey guys you are in my email!!!), and then I got to see my aunt Kathy May and her two kids Sarah and Adam. It was so crazy and also a reality check that things will not be the same when I get home...they will be better. Sometimes change feels hard, but as a missionary I am learning that change is the lifeblood of progression. We NEED change and it's nothing to fear. Okay so I am embracing it. I AM EMBRACING CHANGE!!! I know that it is what the Lord would have me do, and I know that you all can do it to, because change will always come but we choose how to respond. I know that if we choose to respond by looking to the Savior to help us through, the only one who really understands, we will become new creatures in Christ.
I love you all with my whole heart! para siempre.
con amor,
