I was worried that I might get a tad homesick on my birthday last week, but honestly the ward didn’t even give me time to think about home!! It was a day full of wonderful events :) First we did the usual, studied and whatnot. Then went to District Meeting! I LOVE being with a group of missionaries so that was deff a treat!
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| My District |
Then one of my favorite, Sister Arnold took us for lunch,
then we did some good ole’ missionary work,
then we did some good ole’ missionary work,
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| Sister Arnold |
then had dinner at the Christ home (another one of my favs!) She let me pick the whole menu for the night so you knooooow we had Thanksgiving dinner and then chocolate chip pecan pie for desert :)
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| Christ Family |
literally 10 mins after leaving there we had to go to the Kilburns because THEY had made me a cake too!!!! I thought I would explode!! Then the Jordans had made me brownies…it just never ended! It was awesome. Everyone made me feel so loved and at home. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
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| Kilburn's chocolate cake |
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| Tradition to stick your finger in the cake on your birthday...lol |
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| Birthday shirt! |
Needless to say, I’m currently on a diet.
The cutest part about my birthday was that the FIRST people to text me happy birthday was our investigators! The dad of the family we are teaching sent: “HAPPY B-DAY TO THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ANGEL MY EYES HAVE EVER SEEN…hope you have a wonderful b-day and I will pray to our heavenly father for you well being…thank you for bringing so much joy to me and my family!” UHM. So darn sweet. See, this is what it’s all about. Then to add to the cuteness we go over to their house on Saturday for dinner and they ended up throwing me a little party and had even had me a present! It was such a fun time that I’ll never be able to forget.
Having Elder Neil L Anderson speak to mine and the Redlands mission was amazing! Getting to shake the hand of an apostle of the Lord was even more amazing. There were 400 missionaries there and he shook every one of our hands. A few of the points he made that really stood out to me were:
· There are 1200 people a WEEK sending in their mission papers.
· He explained to us that a lot of people get bummed when they find out that they are being sent state side for their mission, but that they save their best missionaries for the states. The states are the breadbasket of the church and if the church quits growing here we will be in trouble. I am, and always have been, so blessed to be in California right now.
· We missionaries are prayed for more than any other group in the church.
· We are all so different. It’s okay that we aren’t all the same. The Lord TREASURES those differences. We all grow at different paces. As a wise friend of mine told me recently “Run your own race at your own pace.” (thanks joe!!!) Inch by inch, foot by foot, yard by yard we become more like the Savior. We need to be patient with ourselves.
· Sometimes when we repent and say we are sorry we expect instant forgiveness. The Lord, to some extents wants us to remember those sins so we don’t make the same mistake over again. So you aren’t NOT forgiven just because you remember your mess ups. He still gives us peace.
· If we are stressed out or down we should pray to invite the spirit back in..Christ doesn’t want us discouraged! Satan does. If we are dependent on Him, we will have the strength to do what we need to do.
· 50% of the people who join and stay active in the church say they knew it was true the instant they saw and got to know the full-time missionaries. Our countenance says it all and is so important. That’s why we have such high standards to live up to as missionaries.
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| I saw Hermana (Sister speaking Spanish) Clark - my preschool buddy! |
Alright since I’ve been living at the same place for a while I’ve gotten to know a lot of the people who stay there as well. Well this week we were walking in for the night and saw that a man had left the light on in his car …so we go knock on his door and he asks through the door who it is and before I can finish the sentence “it’s the Sisters, we just wanted to tell you your lights are on!” he swung open the door and is standing in nothing but little boxer briefs!!!! My face was priceless. I just kept saying “focus, Katie, focus. Don’t laugh. Just look him straight in the eyes!!!” to make things even more awkward he just kept carrying on the conversation! He said “so what all have you ladies been up to today?? What all do you do every day?” So yeah, wonderful missionary opportunity. Horrible timing. Sister Hansen and I DIED laughing when we were walking away…like seriously?? Did that just happen? Oh, the stories I’ll be able to share with you all someday :p People never cease to amaze me.
You know Snoop Dog lives here in Diamond bar, right? I think I already told yall this? But if not, pretty cool huh?
Yesterday at church a miracle took place. One of the less active members we have been working with is married to a man who hasn’t been to church but a few times since he got baptized..like 20 years ago or something?!?! Well every time we go over to visit her he never sits in on the lessons or anything, but the door is always open ..so he deffff hears us. Anywho, I go to hug her at church and realize HE is standing right behind her and had come!!!! MY FACE WAS LIKE WHHHAAA?!?!? IS THIS REAL LIFE?!?! I tell you this only because it proves that we are always being watched. People hear the conversations we have, the things we say, they see how we act and how we treat people. This could be a really good thing OR a really bad thing. Lol. We should probably be reevaluating ourselves. 24/7. We are being examples to people we don’t even realize exists, to people we thought wanted nothing to do with us.
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| Jenna's little boy Bookie |
Sister Hansen and I got so very giggly this week! That’s the good part about staying with a companion for more than one transfer..you get to know each other and it becomes SUCH a good time. You find the dumbest things hilarious because of inside jokes and such. Oh man :)
Good things are happenin’ here in Diamond Bar. I am so thankful to be a part of it all.
-hugs-
Sister Toolan
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