Monday, we went to dinner and then were going to go have family home evening with a less-active family. It was pouring rain! Pouring! There were huge puddles on the sides of the streets and puddles in the grass. We ran to the car after dinner, and Sis. Hassell, in an attempt to step over the giant puddle on the street, she did a little hop into the car, and slipped and ended up biffing it into the car. Slamming into the side and then falling into the seat. It was hilarious! We died laughing! And now she has a big bruise on her arm. Anyway, we went to family home evening with this less-active family. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how ridiculously important it is to read it and to read the scriptures everyday. The lesson started out a little slow, but it ended up going really well. The Spirit was so strong, and I think it hit them that they need to read the Book of Mormon. One of the things we talked about is if Christ came tomorrow or next week, how embarrassed and disappointed would we be, if we hadn't done those things we know we need to be doing -- reading the scriptures every. day; praying every. day; going to church every. week. And what would our excuse be when He asked us why we didn't read the Book of Mormon yesterday. I don't think any excuse we could come up with would be a good enough excuse. Christ suffered everything for us. Can't we sacrifice at least a little bit of time everyday for Him? To do what He has asked us to do.
We had a lot of really powerful lessons this week. Started teaching girl named Katie, who is a friend of a former investigator.
Thursday morning we had interviews with President Mortensen. We were excited for them. And then we were at our gym Thursday morning, and one of the hermanas who lives in our complex, and who I love (we decided we are the same person and therefore "besties"), said that another hermana called her last night and said that President Mortensen was going to rip your soul out during interviews. Well isn't that comforting. So then we were pretty nervous. My poor companion was a wreck. So we pulled into to interviews at 8:15. They were supposed to start at 8:30. The other missionaries were all there, sitting in the parking lot because the building was locked and nobody had a key. Pres. Mortensen pulled up and didn't have a key either. It was at our church building, but Sis. Hassell and I were not with our district, but with a spanish district. So it was up to us to get a key. We called our elders at least a million times as we were driving to their apartments, but they never answered. We ended up borrowing the Relief Society president's. Anyway, we were going as fast as we possibly could. Sis. Hassell was so stressed. Then we were heading back to the church with the key, and the assistants, texted us asking where we were. They had found the key, and didn't tell us. It was quite the adventure. But, it was all better once we had our interviews with President. He is so awesome. I'm really excited to be able to serve with him over the next little bit. He challenged each of us in our interviews to extend 25 invitations to learn (ITL's) everyday for the rest of our missions. It has not been easy, but we've been doing well so far. We pretty much run around everyday trying to get the 25 and visit everybody we need to. Eventually we will get the hang of it. But we have definitely seen blessings coming from it and we are grateful for this challenge.
One more thing quickly. So on Friday night we got a text message from the Sam Houston 2nd YSA ward sisters saying that they were having a baptism at our church building on Saturday night, if any of us had investigators that we wanted to bring. I served in that ward for 6 months last summer, so I momentarily entertained the thought of going so I could see everybody, but quickly decided it wasn't a good idea. Then Friday night, those sisters called us and asked us to come because they were going to have a potential investigator in our area, there. Their ward mission leader, James, who I served with when he was first called and who is awesome, ran into a lady, Jennifer, in our area while he was selling pest control. The two of them had a long talk about the church and gospel, particularly the Plan of Salvation - that wonderful plan that God has created for each of us that maps out our eternal life. They were both crying the whole time, and Jennifer finally felt like she was home. Anyway she came to the baptism and we went to meet her. She is amazing and so prepared! She couldn't come to church yesterday because she had a previous commitment, but she is coming next Sunday. She loves everything she has learned and the Spirit she has felt so far. She felt the Spirit very strongly at the baptism. Sis. Hassell was the one mainly talking to her because I was talking to all of the old friends from the YSA ward. But Sis. Hassell told me about their conversation, and the whole thing was excellent. Anyway, we are extremely excited to start teaching her. And it was great to be able to see some people from my old area. They are awesome.
And actually one more quick thing. I don't know how many of you have heard about the family of 7 that was murdered in Spring, Texas. The family were members of our church. Only one of them survived -- the 15 year old daughter. As members of our church their family has been sealed -- or "glued -- together by somebody holding the priesthood authority of God. Because of that, they are an eternal family and will live together forever. This situation is a good example of the strength and hope that the doctrine of eternal families can give to us. Although what the daughter is going through the unimaginable, she takes strength and hope from the knowledge and testimony that she has that she will one day, not only see, but live with her family again -- and they will remain a family for all of eternity. I am so grateful for the knowledge and testimony that I have of eternal families. I know that they are real, and I am eternally grateful for that blessing that God has given us. Just another testament of His everlasting love for each of us, His children.
Love,
Sister Sylvester
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