People I love! Hi! I have just got to tell you bout
everything that went down this week, but I almost don't even know where to
start. I just said a prayer that I will be able to remember everything
that I need to tell you, so we should be ok now:)
Sooo since we are over a YSA ward down here, all of our
investigators left when school got out. Our teaching pool was in a very
sad state indeed. Now, I know that I am here in Pittsburgh for a reason,
and it is not to sit around in our apartment when there is work to be
done. So on Sunday I fasted that we would find more people to
teach. Missionary fasts must be supercharged. This week, we spent a
ton of time out street contacting alllll over and guess what? We found
people. God blesses His missionaries. We had 19 new potential
investigators THIS WEEK and they were all very interested in learning more
about our message!
Here is a really cool message. Since we are over a
singles ward, we are only able to teach people under thirty who are
single. Most of the people we found were older than that or married, so
we don't get to keep them. BUT here's why it's cool. The elders
over the family ward have all been on their missions for a long, long time, and
have not seen much success. In fact, they have had 0 investigators for
most of their missions. They are very faithful, but just don't see
results, and that is very difficult! We got to call them last night and
tell them that we found 9 new investigators for them to teach. They were
speechless, and said this was an answer to their prayers. Elder Iwertz
said that they had fasted for 36 hours just to find one person to teach, and
now they had NINE! I heard one of the other elders in the background
going "Nine?! It's a miracle!!" Best feeling ever!
But here's the coolest part! We met a less active
member when we were street contacting the other day and he gave us a referral
for his friend, Bob. I called up Bob the next day and he was way excited
to hear about the church. He said he would be more than happy to attend
church with us this week and felt like this was a really good direction for his
life to go. So we arranged for him to get a ride over because he is
currently staying at a homeless shelter. I thought he was about our
age from the way he sounded on the phone, but when he walked in to church, he
had to be around 60 or so. He loved every bit of the meetings
yesterday. He came to Gospel Principles class with us and I got to
explain a lot of the things we believe in and he was so excited that we had
the Bible and the Book of Mormon and as he left, he said (with tears in
his eyes), "There is something different about this church. There is
a feeling here that I love and I know this is what I need to do. You will
definitely see me next week!" We got to give Bob to the
elders. He has an appointment with them on Tuesday and I think it's safe
to say that his baptism won't be far off.
But the miracles don't stop there! Yesterday we had an
investigator show up to church, and a random guy that just saw it and was
interested! I was freaking out because I was talking in sacrament
meeting, and that is a lot of pressure! But they loved the whole meeting
as well and made friends very quickly with the members. Both of them
loved it and want to hear more, so we have more investigators! God
blessed us so much...I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am and how
much I LOVE being a missionary!
Other than that....this week we went on exchanges with the
Sister Training Leader, Sister Cohen. She is so cool and helped us out a
lot because she used to be in this area for 8 months. She said that she
was worried about it for a while, but after walking around all day with me and
Sister Hill, she said that she knows it is being taken care of and the work
will move quickly.
I really am grateful that the Lord sent me to
Pittsburgh. I have learned so much, and I can't believe that I've only
been here for two weeks. On the mission, every weakness you've ever
thought of having is magnified to the extreme, and sometimes that can be very
discouraging. But the Lord knows what I need to learn and where I will
best learn it, and that has definitely been here. I have the best
companions, and they have been extremely loving and encouraging the entire
time. I didn't know what a flawed individual I was before I came out
here, but the Lord has definitely pointed it out to me now! I'm trying to
be grateful;) My companions help me out with my testimony a lot though,
especially when I am at my low points. I go to bed every day happy, even
when things have been rough. That's just the best feeling:)
Soooo I know that I forgot to send my address last week, and
I'm just gonna assume that's the reason why I haven't gotten ONE SINGLE LETTER
since I've been in Pittsburgh. Well just so you are all aware and have no
excuses, I can be reached at
5806 Ellsworth Ave #10
Pittsburgh, PA 15232No excuses.
Mom- I love you! So So much and thank you for your letter
and I am so very glad that you are a cancer-free, albeit lumpy,
individual! A few things: could you check my visa status? I know
that I should be patient and the Lord will send me to Brazil when he wants me
there, but I reallyyyyy want to go and I just wonder if that will happen
soon! Also, I'm trying my hardest not to get fat, but if you could mail
some workouts you like and print off of Pinterest or something, I would be much
obliged. Thank heavens for walking areas. I love you and thank God
for your example every day. In fact, most of the people that I meet know
how wonderful you are too.
Dad- Keep me updated on things that go on at home! I love
you too and I want to know what is happening in your life! How is the
business? The ward? The fam? Come on now! I love that I will
be able to speak Portuguese with you...if I don't forget it all...so you should
write me letters in Portuguese and I'll call it language study. How's
that? :)
Cooper- Have fun with your last week of school and
have an awesome summer! I hope football goes well and I hope that you like
it a lot. Also, I'm glad that you are reading Harry Potter and I will
trivia challenge you when I come home:) Write me letters and I love you!
I hope you all have an awesome week and I know that this
church is true! I love you!
Love, Sister Dana
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| This is my empty mailbox. Every day...it's empty |
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| Our Apartment building! Again...I look better in real life |
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| I promise I really do pay attention in daily planning |
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| At some diner place that a member took us to. |
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| Diner Menu she says "yeah I don't look this gross in real life, I swear." I have no idea why this one picture won't let me turn it, but I don't have time to play with it anymore - Mom |
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| Oh the joys of being a walking missionary :) |
