Hola mi familia!

Hola mi familia!

Yay for p-days!! This week I took Sister Ramirez to the city for the very first time in her whole entire life!! I wish I could have filmed her expressions.  Haha.  I took her Times Square, and I swear her eyeballs were about to pop out of her face.  It was adorable.  She just keep shaking her head and saying that she felt like she was dreaming.  I think she is going to sleep well tonight ;)

Holy cannoli, this week I have learned A TON!  It truly has been a huge blessing, but also a big pain since almost everything I learned this week had to do with how I need to change myself!  Haha.  Training has been stressful and awesome, and has oddly enough exposed all my terrible qualities!  I have learned so much about how I still need to change into the person that Heavenly Father wants me to be.  I couldn't be more excited or nervous about the opportunity to change.

This week something was brought to my mind by our district leader, Elder Porter, and it has completely changed my perspective on the Bronx, my area, and  my mission.  He talked to members, random people, and other missionaries about what our district could do to help out the Bronx more.  Multiple people told him that there is a big depressing black could that ALWAYS hangs over the Bronx.  I sort of believed it, since really I have seen people struggling here, I have seen more depression here, and I have seen a real dirtiness here.  But I didn't think it was that bad, and I thought people were just exaggerating.  Then on Tuesday we stopped in Harlem to catch a certain train upstate.  I felt such a drastic change even though we were outside for literally five minutes.  There was a lightness in the air- like there was hope or something.  It kind of shocked me!  How can a borough only 30 minutes away have such a thick dark cloud constantly?!  It has flipped around everything for me!  We have been discussion light and the Holy Ghost, and have concluded that all the Bronx needs is light.  A whole heck of it, but still.  We are focusing on shining our lights more- finding the positive here in a negative place, and spreading that positivity.  I believe that with hard work and our uplifting message, we will truly change the Bronx. Millions of missionaries through the years have been working on this goal, and I am proud to join with them to hopefully accomplish it! Jesus Christ suffered the infirmities and depressions of every single person, and that includes the million or so that live in the Bronx.  We will teach and live the Atonement of Jesus Christ so powerfully that everything will change.  So this dark cloud best be watching it's back, cause we're about to chase it away.  Haha.

Funny stories from the week!

1. Sister Ramirez has been learning English, and I, Spanish.  Preach my Gospel says to try learning English in the home and Spanish on the street, so we have been trying to do that.  Anyways, so in learning at home, I have been teaching Sister Ramirez all these sayings that Americans say.  What's funny is that in reality, after teaching her what to say, I realize that I am probably the only person on the whole planet that says that phrase.  Who else says "Holy cannoli", "that's chill", "those are wrecked", "Oh my goodness, I am going to pee my pants", or "you wanna hear a funny story?"?? By the time we're done I don't know if she will be fluent in English, or in Sadie-ese. (I made that up too.  Haha.)

2.  While also learning English, Sister Ramirez has learned regular American/English phrases.  She has been trying to say "Sweet dreams" and other things like that before bed each night in English, and the other night she got confused with her phrases.  So as I was climbing into bed, she says, "Rest in Peace!" Hahaha.  Basically I've been telling her to Rest in Peace every night since then.  ; )

3.  No exciting Valentines Day stories!! Sorry!  After being called a vixen by Dad and other such things by family members this week (last week, not in her normal weekly letter, she had told us about an investigator who came to church, only wanted to sit by Sadie and after church asked her if she was going to the ward Valentines Party--and if she could go with him), I am proud to say that nothing happened Valentines Day! We went to the party, but it started super late and we had to leave early to get home, so I didn't even see our investigator. (Whew!)

4.  Funny thing about our investigator though!  So the first Sunday he came to church, we had no piano player.  Bishop always chooses the songs, but nobody can play the songs he chooses (as we have a limited repertoire of songs which we can actually play).  So we did everything a cappella... hahaha.  Oh goodness.  That was a little scary.  Anyway, our investigator who asked me on a date, Fernando, says, "Hey, I can play the piano."  So this week the bishopric hooked him up with a hymn book to practice with, and now hopefully we'll have an investigator playing the piano!!  I only pray that that will help him to find a testimony of the Savior and His true Restored Church upon the earth!

I LOVE you guys!!

Love,

Sister Dodson