Saturday, September 24, 2011

September 11th So Sorry I'm in a Hurrrrrrry ;)





Momma!!! My sweet Family and Friends :)
This week has been a good, good week. On Tuesday Sister Martinez and I went to the chapel to practice the song we would sing for our zone conference on Thursday. (We sang "Because I have Been Given Much" with an added verse written by Kenneth Cope about missionary work. We sang with the elders. Zone Conference was wonderful. We talked about what five things make a Preach My Gospel missionary: 1. They understand that they serve and represent Jesus Christ. 2. They are worthy. 3. They treasure up the words of eternal life. 4. They understand that the Holy Ghost is the ultimate teacher. and 5. They understand that teaching is much more than talking and telling. It was such a spirtual conference, full of spiritual promptings and musical numbers and love from President and Sister Carlos. I love them so much. They are such good people. Brother Pete made us scalloped potatoes and baked ziti for lunch. President and Sister Carlos sat down and ate with Sister Martinez and I at our table. President asked us how it was in our apartment with four girls. Then said...you know...I'm losing a lot of my sister missionaries (they're going home) so I'm going to have to do a lot of switching around of apartments and areas. He then told us that we will be moved TOGETHER to a different area to reopen! Cool huh?? I've never heard of a companionship being transferred together. But president just really feels we are good together.
And you know what? We are. We work so well with one another. We are so in sync. We have detailed companionship study every day, and we plan out lessons to a T. Sometimes we get out late because of all of the preparations, but our lessons are so wonderful. I read in D&C section 50 about how you can tell if the Spirit is with you--if both parties are edified. I've had moments this week in my teaching, where I've said things that I never thought of before, that just came out. We are doing all we can. I can honestly say that. To help our Savior and Heavenly Father in their work, and I know people are feeling it.
Lately in my personal study, aside from the Book of Mormon, I've been studying the teachings of the prophet Brigham Young. Oh my goodness. It has been so eye-opening for me. I more clearly see the nature of our Heavenly Father--that he is not some huge being everywhere, but he is a man with a body and dwells in a kingdom somewhere out there, and communicates to us through His Holy Spirit. The Holy Ghost can actually enter into us, because it does not have a body, to communicate with us what our Heavenly Father would want us to hear. I've heard of these things before, but there’s something about the power and language of Brigham Young that has brought them so clearly into my understanding.
I love this: "We are under obligation to trust in our God; and this is the ground-work of all we can do ourselves." FAITH. Everything we do is based on faith.
We have an investigator named Cecilio who is having a tough time quitting his cigarettes. And we feel that because of that, his desire to come to church and commit to baptism has dwindled. He's lost hope. We made him a calendar that he can stick smiles on every day that he feels like he's worked hard or tried to reduce his intake. He has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith. He shared a beautiful, simple experience he had with the Book of Mormon at his school that testified to him it was true. He read from it in a spare moment he had, and the Spirit helped him to feel peace and warmth as he read.

We are teaching the Laylay family. They said that one day they talked about a lesson we had shared to them, after we had left. Our lesson was on Saviors Earthly Ministry and Apostasy. When they talked about the lesson they said, "Why else would they be here (talking about us), so far from their families, working in storms and the heat, walking all day to far places, if what they were sharing wasn't true." They know the church is true. They know Joseph Smith was a prophet. They know everything we share with them is right and good. They are currently praying to know if they should be baptized. We are trying to help them realize they're received an answer. Satan is working hard on them too. Yesterday, they had said they would come to church, but they couldn't because the Jehovah’s Witness missionaries came to their home right at 8:30 and stayed late. (Church starts at 9) Can you believe it? Sighhh. Our opposition is so obvious and strong.
But we are doing all we can.

I got your packages!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH! The pictures from Kiliana made me cry. Gabriella is SO BEAUTIFUL. She's gorgeous. And Joshy is so tall! You all look wonderful and so skinny! And my brothers are so handsome.

People tell me I am fluent, and I feel fluent. My words just come and they come fast. I thank Heavenly Father for this beautiful gift every day. Now that I can speak, I can actually teach and say what I want to say.
This week I thought I got a bot fly on my ankle. I took a picture. YUK !!! It was just a bad infection from an insect :(
I love you so much momma. I miss you. I really do. Thank you for your emails. They brighten my week. I miss all of you so very much.
Love, love, love, I LOVE you all. Thank you for everything.
Sister Fort

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