Hola mi familia!!
I wish I could once again explain how amazing this week was! The Lord is continuing to bless us!! It has been amazing!!! Here is my Top 10 for the week:
10. Today we went bowling with our zone!!! It was so much fun. I love that we can all get together and just have good fun. There are 5 sets of sisters and lots of elders. We are lucky to be in the city so we get to be together to work and play a lot. We are spoiled.
9. We have 3 new investigators! LS, JB, and Amparo. All 3 of them are AWESOME. They will be mentioned later on.
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| Mundongo Soup from her birthday |
8. The other night we were riding the bus to go visit some members in our ward. We were sitting across from a young mother, her friend, and her 4-year-old son. Sister Richardson sees the 4-year-old pointing at me and then whispering to his mom. The mom giggles a little bit. She looks up and catches glances with Sister Richardson. She then says, "He thinks that she (pointing to me) is pretty, but is scared to tell her!" I almost died! It was the most adorable little thing!! We then talked to him and he told me I was pretty, and then we gave him a picture book (a Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet). Don't worry, all the 4 year-old-boys are in love with me. Haha.
7. Another bus experience! The other day we were on the bus and I was standing next to this 35-ish guy sitting down. He looks at me, and then sassily says, "Are you looking for something?" I told him no, I was just looking out the window. He then says, "Are you one of those Jesus people?" I told him yes, then told him I was a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I then asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ. He turned his head and got this really sassy look on his face. He didn't say anything for about a minute. I thought he had heard me say the name Jesus and decided to reject the message. But after a while he turned back at me and replied, "I kind of have my own doctrine." I then ask him what it was--what was he preaching. He replied with some comment that really didn't make sense. I asked him, "How is that working out for you?" He told me it was okay, he guessed. I then testified that the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ betters the quality of people's lives. He looked at me and sternly said, "My stop is next. Do you have a card?" I gladly handed him a card. I told him my name and how to contact me. He then told me his name was Jamal. He said that he would call me after Sunday. (This was Friday.) He then left, and later so did we. About two hours later we get a phone call from a random number. It was Jamal!! He told me that literally that morning he had bought his first ever copy of the Bible!! What are the chances of that?! He then asked me who the picture was on the front of the card I gave him. I told him it was Jesus Christ. He said thank you, told us he would call again after Sunday, and hung up. So far no word from him, but I have hope!!
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| Random Christmas pics |
6. Last week we went to a recent convert's house who is inactive. Her and her 15-year-old son were baptized in April, and neither has come to church in months. Unfortunately, missionaries haven't visited them either for months. We stopped by and introduced ourselves, then had a quick lesson with them. Ronald, the son, is such a sweet spirit. He has such an inward desire to get to know the Savior. It is really beautiful. We asked him to say the closing prayer, and it was one of the sweetest prayers I have ever heard. He thanked God for sending the missionaries to him again and for letting them know that they were not just part of his imagination, and for letting him know that we really hadn't forgotten about him. It is moments like those that make me so happy to be a missionary. We really have the opportunity to share a piece of God's love to people.
5. We are silk worms for lunch on Monday!! We had a competition in the zone to see which district could hand out the most Book of Mormons. My district creamed everybody. When the zone leaders gave us our treat, they handed over frozen cooked silk worms!!! It was SOOO NASTY. Clearly we had to eat them. We popped them like pills, because after disecting one with a pen we discovered it was basically like a Gusher... And we were not going to let bug juice explode in our mouths.... Anyways, they tasted like potatoes... Haha.
6. We went to the Statue of Liberty last week! One of the Elders we went with, Elder Gonzales, was hangry (Dodson speak for hungry to the point of being angry) and cold. He grabbed a hot dog on the Ferry before getting off the boat. After eating about half of it, he declared that it was the best hot dog he had ever eaten. As we are walking along, all of the sudden this seagull floats in from the right side about 1 foot from my face. It then, with perfect tact, manages to steal just the hotdog out of the bun in Elder G's hand!! I almost wet myself laughing.
5. Lesson with Amparo: We had one lesson with Amparo right before Christmas. We haven't been able to meet with her since then. Her daughter is a convert, but inactive and lives in Dallas. She knows like everything about the church already. Last time, we invited Amparo to read about Joseph Smith and then pray to know if the Church is true. In our lesson this week, she told us she was confused because she had a dream after praying. In her dream she saw three beings: Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost (but he looked a little different.). She was confused because Joseph Smith only saw TWO beings. We then were able to testify to her about the nature of the Godhead: Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have bodies of flesh and bones, and the Holy Ghost is a spirit. We also then testified that Joseph Smith physically SAW two beings, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, but then FELT the Holy Ghost testifying that in reality They were there. She then told us she understood and wants to continue learning with us. She wasn't sure why, but she said she felt something. She totally knows it's true!! I am so excited to teach her. She is a sweetheart.
4. We always have AMAZING lessons with Dori. I LOVE TEACHING HER!
3. This week it hit me so hard: I LOVE MY AREA. I have really come to love the people, the weirdness, and the work. The Bronx is so amazing. It is such a good feeling when you realize that you just want the best for this area because you just LOVE it.
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| At White Castle and thinking of her daddy :) |
2. MY PANTS ARE SO LOOSE!!!! Gym is paying off!!
1. THIS IS THE BEST STORY EVER. GET READY. About 12 days ago, we did Former Investigator lookups. We go knock on the door of a former investigator, LS, who was golden back in September. He had a baptismal date and everything. He even media referred HIMSELF to the missionaries (Mormon.org/missionaries), so he was GOLDEN. At his baptismal interview, he said he wasn't ready to get baptized, because he was still having a hard time quitting alcohol. I think this crushed his spirit. After that, he wouldn't answer calls from members or missionaries, and wouldn't answer the door either. Sister Lancaster was devastated, since she had found and taught him, and he had just dropped off the face of the earth. So 12 days ago, we knock on his door. He opens, and says, "Oh, I wasn't expecting you. You can't come right now, I am drinking. But you can come Friday." We were slightly devastated to see he still hadn't given up alcohol, but also extremely excited since we had a return appointment!! So last Friday we went to go see him. He told us that us knocking on his door was a sign from God that he should go back to church. He said he wanted to go back slowly, but he was ready. On Sunday, he came to church. And not only that, he made half the comments in the meetings!! He was more involved in the lessons than our active members!! On Monday, we received a call from him. We were kind of freaking out. This either meant that he wanted to be baptized, or was done forever with the missionaries. To our surprise, and excitement, LS says, "Hola Hermanas, yo quiero bautizarme!!" WHAT?? THAT DOES NOT HAPPEN. PEOPLE JUST DON'T CALL TO SAY THEY WANT TO BE BAPTIZED. We were dying. I was doing a happy dance right in the middle of the sidewalk in the Bronx. It is so exciting. We met with him yesterday, and his smile was so huge. He is so dedicated. He said he is so done with alcohol, so ready for this new life. He just knows it's right. He has a baptism date for the 26th!!!!!
What's even more amazing about this story is the fact that at the beginning of the cycle we had a goal for each companionship in the district to have one baptism. At that point, we had NO ONE. Our ward has been a little dry on baptisms since September…..We had, maybe a few prospects, but meeting someone and getting them ready for baptism in 6 weeks is a scary feat. Sadly, no one was progressing to be able to meet this goal. I had fasted and prayed, and we were working hard, but no baptism prospects. And then Heavenly Father just threw LS into our hands. MIRACLES HAPPEN.
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| She takes so many selfies!! |
I feel so blessed! Thank you for your love and your prayers!!
Love you ALL!!
Sister Dodson
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