Christmas is Coming!

Things are goin'!  Mission life just does not slow down.  One thing that was really encouraging this week though was that the member we had dinner with on Wednesday said that a certain area (which is about half of the mission now) was all one stake a few years ago.  I thought, maybe we can eventually get all of Sumner to have it's own stake.  Right now it's part of the Puyallup Stake.  I just thought that was a cool insight for my week.

One sad thing though that happened just last night/this morning was that our investigator, Sister Lemke, who was supposed to get baptized this coming Saturday probably won't be able to because she had to get surgery.   We were going to meet with her last night, but she cancelled because she was going to the ER.  She's had problems with her gallbladder in the past and was in a lot of pain last night.  We told her to keep us updated and she texted us at 2:30 this morning saying that they were keeping her there and she was going to have surgery in the morning.  So they did the surgery and she's home now, but she can't do anything for six weeks.  She's the one who was going to get baptized on Nov. 29th, but had troubles with quitting smoking, so we moved the date to Dec. 20th.  But now it seems that we will be moving the date again.  It's a good thing our ward is awesome, though.  We were going to have a family night with the Lemkes at Brother Feller's home, but they decided that, given the circumstances, the Fellers will make dinner for the Lemkes and take it to them tonight instead.  Brother Feller is the Sumner ward mission leader.  He and his wife are FANTASTIC!

It's pretty interesting though that this would happen now.  Sister Simmons told me today that she was praying that if Sister Lemke wasn't ready for baptism that God would let us know.  And then this happened.  So perhaps this is a blessing in disguise, so that we can really make sure that Michelle is ready to be baptized.

Christmas is coming! 

I love you all so much!

Love, Sister Rebekah Joy

 

This is one of the huge cupcakes that we helped Sister Lemke make for the ward Christmas party on Saturday.
 I was happy to use my cupcake skills :)

This is our first snowfall a couple of weeks ago.  We haven't had any since...

 

 

Goodbye, Sis Muir--Hello, Sis Simmons

Hola familia!

Yesterday I went with the Hermanas because we live together and both of us had a comp. go home.  They were in a trio so there's two of them with me.  So I got to sit in on two lessons in Spanish!  Hermana Killingsworth even had me bear my testimony about the Book of Mormon and she translated it.  It was cool.

Yeah, so Sister Muir went home yesterday, and so did Hermana Clark.  Hmna Killingsworth y Singer were the ones with me yesterday.  Their area is closing this transfer (just the Spanish-speaking sisters area), and I get to stay here in Sumner/Puyallup, so I'll be the only one staying in the apartment.  It's so weird to go from 5 to 2.

 

My new companion is Sister Simmons.  She's from Overton, Nevada and she's been out about a year.  She is a lot like me.  Quiet.  Haha, but she's still been out longer, so I think she talks more for that reason.  We get along really well.  I have actually been learning how to insert my thoughts more into lessons, but it's something I feel like I will always be working on.

It is just Sister Simmons and me in our apartment.  It was really weird at first.  Super quiet.  But I've gotten more used to it.  On the bright side, we haven't had to buy any food so far this transfer.  The Hermanas left a lot for us to eat.

 I got to go on two exchanges this week!  The first one I stayed in Sumner with Sis. Ballard (Sister Training Leader) and the other one I went to Auburn with Sis. Jin (another STL).  Sis. Jin is AMAZING!  She is from China and actually is called to Temple Square, but she got to be up here for a couple of transfers.  She goes back to Temple Square on Wednesday, so y'all should go up and try to find her!  (Just ask about the Chinese sister who served in Federal Way Mission for a while, all the other sisters probably know her.  You can probably even ask for her by name.)  She taught me so much about planning and about consecration and study and was just such a big help to me!  I don't have a lot of time to write everything I want to, but it was a way cool experience!  You should ask her about her meeting with Elder Hamula, she can tell you a ton! 

We are meeting with a sister in the Puyallup ward who's a fairly recent convert.  Her name is Kamitra.  She loves church so much and every time we mention the temple, her eyes just light up!  She wants to go so badly to be baptized for her mom and other family members!  She was in an accident about 15 years ago that put her in a coma while she was 6 months pregnant.  She has a little bit of brain damage and a lot of other injuries, but she is pretty high functioning.  It is a true miracle to be able to see her right in front of me.  Her baby was even born normal and healthy.  She knows that she is still alive for a reason, and I believe that a lot of that reason has to do with her desire to go to the temple.  I love her so much--she is the sweetest lady!  The only problem she has with going to church is that she notices that she's the only black lady there.  She also has a hard time with quitting smoking, especially since she lives in a home with a bunch of other ladies and they smoke.  She's trying to find another place to live right now.  Please pray for her.  I know it would help her so much!

Also, BROTHER JOHNSON SAID YES TO BAPTISM!!!!!  His actual words were, "I believe the answer to that is, yes I will eventually."  We hope to set a date with him soon!

Well, I love you all!  Have a GREAT week!

 

Love, Sister Rebekah Joy!

Pictures!

My first Zone in the mission field.

Sis. Muir made German Pancakes. Yumm!

"He Is the Gift"

 

What?!  It's December already!  Sweet!  December is awesome!  I just wanna tell y'all about the "He Is The Gift" Christmas Initiative that is going on.  It's pretty intense.  We're using it as a finding tool that's really great about Jesus Christ and how He is the gift of Christmas.  Next Sunday, Dec. 7th, is the "YouTube takeover" where the Church will be the only advertiser on the YouTube homepage.  It's pretty sweet.  With the December Ensign, there will be nine pass-along cards that you can give away to people and share the Gospel!  Put one or two of them in your pocket or your wallet or your purse and pray about who you should give them to.  This can be friends at school, people in line at the grocery store--anyone!  They're all our brothers and sisters!

Anyway, on a more personal note, I am doing extremely well!  This week was really hard with talking to people in the street, but it's all good.  We talked to an Atheist guy who was really nice at first but as the conversation went on he started to get really mad and called us wackos and stuff.  He also ripped our Christmas pass-along card in half and dropped it on the ground in our faces.  I only wanted to cry because I felt bad for him.  As we were talking to him, I could feel a little of God's love for him.  I'm alright, but I wish he could see that his house was on fire (metaphorically speaking). 

 

Also, this one lady yesterday was not happy to talk to us at all.  She was sitting in her car and we came up and said hello.  After she said hello back we asked if we could share something with her and she said, "Nope.  I'm just drinking my beer and my cigarette and I'm not interested."  So we walked away, but then I said to Sister Muir that her house is on fire (this is a metaphor that Pres. Eaton used at the new missionary follow-up training meeting, that's why I keep using it).  So we went back and said we had a message about Jesus Christ, but she swore at us telling us to leave her alone.  She said, "I don't believe in God.  I wanna burn your eyes out."  So... we left.   I just wish people would all understand.  But I feel fine.  We just laughed it off later.  I just feel bad that people who don't believe in God are not nearly as happy in their lives.

On the bright side, we talked to a lady we saw at an apartment complex and were totally led by the Spirit to talk to her.  She said she doesn't believe in God either, but we had a much better conversation with her than with the other two people.  And then we ran into her mom right after we talked to her, and then we talked to a boy who happened to be her son.  So we basically met the whole family.  Good stuff.

Thanksgiving was awesome!  And delicious!

Well, I hope y'all are having a good life!  I love you!

 

Love,

Sister Rebekah Joy