From One Washington to the Other: February 23, 2015

This week was full of miracles!!!

Monday we went to the temple! And that was amazing, of course, but after Preparation day was over, we were on our way out to work for the rest of the evening and the snow started to stick really bad. So all of our appointments cancelled on us because they didn't want us driving. We then got a text from the mission office saying that we weren't allowed to drive for the rest of the night. Sweet. We almost just stayed inside to organize our records or color code our area's map, but then I had a thought, "No way! I'm going home soon and I need to get out there and find who God needs me to find!" So, we bundled up and went to work. It was the most fun I've had with Sister Savage so far! We decided to find by the Spirit and take turns deciding if we should turn down a certain road or if we should knock on a door. A miracle in and of itself was just the fact that everyone we talked to seemed to be a lot more open than usual. I know that we were lead to them because we decided to sacrifice our comfort by working in the freezing cold. As we walked, Sister Savage and I took turns sharing cool/funny stories from our missions. It was the best companionship bonding ever!

The best moment of that night happened right before we went home at 9pm. We were cutting through an apartment complex across the street from where we live and Sister Savage stops and says, "Can I write mormon.org on this car?" It was a pretty big SUV and the snow had fallen so perfectly and she just couldn't help herself. So I waited for her while he had her fun and a looked over at the first floor apartment next to us to see that there was a woman frantically trying to open her sliding glass door. She looked rather peeved, and I was sure that Sis Savage had just written on her car..... Sis Savage looks up and follows my gaze, sees the woman, and says, "Oh she looks nice, let's go talk to her!" and immediately walks toward her front door. Of course I had to follow her.............. Right before Sis Savage could lift her hand to knock on the door, the woman rips the door open, steps outside and closes the door behind her. I thought that was rather odd, considering that it was freezing cold outside and most people only crack their door open to keep warm. The first thing that came to my mind was that this woman must be a gypsie. I've never seen a real gypsie before, but she's the image of what I imagine one to look like. She had at least five gold hoops decorating each ear and gold studs in her nose, tongue, lip....pretty much everywhere. Her hair was shaved on the sides, but on top it was in cornrows and pulled back into a long, thick pony tail with a scarf. She was FUMING.

She scared Sis Savage, so to try to lighten things I said, "Hey, I like all your earrings!" hahahahhahahaha.

She responded, "What did you do to my car?!!!!!"

Sis Savage, "I just wrote mormon.org on it in the snow! Here's a card for the same webisite!"

Gypsie woman, "Why are you going around messing with my car?"
Sis Sav, "Oh, I'm so sorry!!! I won't do it again!"

Gyspie, (her eyes bugging out of her face) "What kind of animal are you? HUH?"

ME, "Hm... I think I'm like a golden retriever!"

Gypsie, "Don't you know that I"M a BULL? You're a little lamb. Or a sheep. I will EAT YOU."

Me, "uhhhh okay! So do you want this card?"

Gypsie- takes the card from Sis Sav with two fingers and examines it as far away from her face as she could as if it was going to explode or something... "What's your address? HUH? Where do you live?"

Me, "We live across the way!"

Gypsie, "I said, what's your address?"

Me, "I ain't telling you my address!"

Gypsie, "Well, you wrote on my car, I deserve to know where you live!"

Me, "Nope, I don't think so. We have to go! Bye!"

I start to move away, hoping that Sis Savage will follow. She catches on and basically books it. As we're leaving, the lady is making strange noises that sounded like the purple evil minions off of despicable me 2. it was so funny that I couldn't help but start to giggle.

She called after me, "Well, why did you just do it to my car? HUH? Why don't you do it to the other cars around here?"

I said, "Okay! I'll write it on another car!" And I turned and wrote mormon.org on the car next to hers and said, "There you go! Thanks for talking to us! I hope you have a wonderful night!" and just turned and walked away.

As soon as we couldn't see her any more, we cut through the complex and BOOKED it out of there. Sis Savage was really creeped out, and I couldn't stop laughing... Some people are so funny!!! We ran the rest of the way home. What a night!

Tuesday we had a miracle lesson with our investigator Hodalo. We took a woman from the ward to also speaks French and taught about what the spirit feels like. In past lessons, Hodalo has said that she expects to get an answer from God through a dream, because that's how she's received answers before. We taught her what the spirit feels like and how that's how God will answer her about if she should be baptized or not. We got to the end of the lesson and Hodalo said that she thought about it all week and had read 2 Nephi 31. She said, "I know I need to get baptized!" The spirit was so strong. This lesson was so amazing. But after she said that, she let out her two biggest concerns. She's from Togo which is in West Africa right next to Ghana. She said that she's afraid to get baptized here and then have to go back to Togo in a few years and not have a Mormon church to go to. She said, "I'll have to start up the Mormon church there all by myself!" AH She's so cute. She really wants this and is thinking about it so seriously. We told her that there are 16-18 churches in Togo, and there's a temple in Ghana! Her other concern was a lot deeper. Her husband has never come in a participated when we've come over because he is really solid in the Catholic church. Hodalo told us that if she gets baptized, he would kick her out and she's afraid. We shared 3 Nephi 13:30-33 with her about putting God first and letting him take care of the rest. I'll NEVER EVER forget what she said after that. She said, "I'll talk to my husband tonight when he gets home from work. If I get kicked out, I'll do it. I'll do anything for Jesus." It was such a tender moment, that I will never be able to put into words what it was like. The spirit was so strong. We were all crying and just sat there while her words sunk in. She has so much faith. This was only our fourth lesson with her, and she has already come so far. I want my faith to be that strong. Poor Hodalo. It was such a bitter sweet moment. Sweet because she KNOWS this is where God wants her to be, but bitter because it feels like it's our fault that we're tearing a family apart. I know that God will work everything out in the end, but it's still so hard. Please pray for Hodalo. And please pray that her husband's heart will soften. I really wish he would just listen to us! Then their family could progress toward becoming an eternal family, sealed together forever.

We've had lots of other miracles this week. A lot of them have come from me opening my mouth and just going for it. There was a guy in the elevator that I started talking to while my companion was deep in conversation with other missionaries. He said that he just moved into the area, so right as he got off the elevator, I invited him to come to church! He then stopped and talked with us for a while. He said taht his 8 year old son needs friends and that he works with Mormons! We gave him a Book of Mormon and got his number. Pretty cool.

There have been so many little miracles just like that one and everyone that the Lord has placed in our path has been open in some way. It's amazing. I know we're seeing miracles because Sis Savage and I decided to "BE ALL IN", which is our mission's theme of the year. We recommitted ourselves to be completely consecrated, and we're already seeing the blessings that come from it. God is so good!!!

Well. I love you all! I hope you have a wonderful week!

I love you so much!
Sister Anderson