A Golden Week!

Hola mi familia!

This week was full of huge ups and downs! It still shocks me how missionary work seriously is like a roller coaster... The good news is that I am a HUGE fan of crazy roller coasters! Haha. President told us one time that we come to love things more when we experience both the extreme ups and extreme downs. It reminds me of Adam and Eve while they were in the Garden of Eden. Things were good, and they were content, but they couldn't feel the stress from working extremely hard, and then the joy that comes from succeeding in that challenge. We work so hard here in the Bronx, experience devastating hardships, but also see huge successes. I LOVE THE BRONX! I'm such a ghetto girl now... Hahaha. It's going to be hard to leave this place! I think I have given it literally my all. Luckily though, I think I will be here for a while longer. Transfers are next Wednesday, and shot calls are on Saturday! I am pretty sure I will stay and finish training, but we will see!

You guys need to stop teasing me about the attention I seem to attract : )  It's actually a little sad and hilarious how many boyfriends I have here.... ; ) No i'm kidding.  But it is funny.  (see last week's post) We are getting cat called more now because it's warm, and poor Sister Ramirez is so confused.  She is like "Why do people keep doing that?"  And then I have to explain that we are two cute girls, we have the Spirit, and I am white. Haha….  

This is them with their "street cart" they use to transport laundry, groceries, etc.  She says everyone has them!  They are going to do their laundry.

As far as ups go, we had another good week at church and a REALLY good teaching week! The standard of excellence for the mission is a set of goals as far as numbers go that The Lord has revealed we should be aiming for. The standard of excellence here is 21 lessons. Last week after having a consecration talk, we were feeling really motivated and set goals for 21 lessons (7 active, 7 less active, and 7 investigator lessons), 4 new investigators, and 5 lessons with member presents.  Usually we are at about 15-17 lessons total, 2 new investigators, and 1 or 2 member present lessons. We worked really hard last week, prayed A TON and ended up teaching 23 LESSONS!!!! We also taught 5 member present lessons, and have 4 new investigators!! Things are crazy here!  We currently have about 14 investigators! It is a testimony to me that as we give our all, are exactly obedient, and really try to enjoy ourselves, that we will be blessed. I love it.

As far as downs go, last Sunday we tried to call one of my favorite active members ever, Marta, to set up an appointment. She was supposed to start temple prep class two weeks ago, but hasn't come to church for a few weeks now. She is old and scared to leave the house with ice, so we thought maybe that was why she hasn't been coming. But when we called her, she said "yo leí en la Biblia y algo no me cayo bien" (a phrase that means it didn't fall well with her, basically that she didn't agree with it) and "yo no quiero". I was hoping it was just a crazy misunderstanding and that she really was reading the Bible and literally fell out of her chair or something! She is an AMAZING old lady who was baptized over a year ago, and just loves like nobody else. She ended the conversation by saying thank you, and she loved us, so I was still confused if it was a miscommunication or not. We called her back a week later, after another week without church, and she totally turned down my suspicions. She said she doesn't want to talk about why, but she will never be coming back to the church, and it would not be possible for us to ever visit her. She said she loves the people, but some doctrine did not go well with her. I was heart broken!!! I was definitely on the verge of tears for a few days because of that.  It was a reminder that Satan is working just as hard as we are! But luckily for us, we are on the Lord's side, so like it says in 1 Nephi 7:8, we are going to kick his butt (that was not a direct quote, by the way... Hahaha)! ;)

Next Sunday my favorite family, the one with all the little girls (whose mom, Yahaira, got baptized with Luis--see post from January 30th) is having a special day!! The two oldest girls, Ashely and Annie, are getting baptized!!!!! And GUESS WHO IS GOING TO BAPTIZE THEM?! Their dad!!! I am she excited!!!! I will probably cry... Their journey has been amazing to watch and they are so special. On Sunday Ashely hugged me and said, "you're never leaving us, right?" I almost died inside!

Happy to be a missionary!

I love being here! Missionary work rocks! I feel so blessed to have your support and the blessings and the opportunities that for 2000 years were not available to anybody! I thank my Heavenly Father for the restoration of His Son's divine and true gospel here upon the earth.

Love you!!

Sister Dodson