It’s 19 Degrees Outside, And I’m Knocking On Your Door Anyway

And this transfer I will be going to… Nowhere 🙂 Ephrata, round 3. This past week during Zone Meeting, we had interviews with President Ware. He sat me down and told me this: “Okay.. so I hear your spanish is great. There’s an hermana you came out of the CCM with who’s really struggling with hers. Would you 1: be comfortable taking over this area and 2: be willing to take this hermana in and work on her Spanish?”

… aaaaahahah so now I’m taking over Ephrata, which is SUPER scary. And I’m supposed to help my new companion with her Spanish. Hermana Pullens is heading back to Milton Freewater Oregon. It’s a good thing she’s been letting me drive our car for the past 3 weeks!

So I’m a little bit freaking out right now, but I know it’s going to be okay. I keep getting told that this is what happens when president is trying to get someone ready to be a trainer. That is really intimidating to me, especially since I have no idea how I learned spanish! Or how to train another person. I know I haven’t been studying Spanish nearly as hard as I should – I am so undeserving of the gift of tongues. I hear something twice, and I can remember it forever. So this is going to be a learning experience for everyone involved! I might actaully have to learn how to use the subjunctive, now. Yikes.

So pretty much, I’m going to be eating the Christlike Attributes section of Preach My Gospel for breakfast every morning to get through this. This is going to be my first companion as a fully fledged missionary. I can’t rely on her as a crutch, and I have to make sure that I’m doing everything I can to make the companionship work. I know this girl is a super hard worker, though, so that’s a comfort. As jarring as new things are, I know it’s going to be okay.

As far as the highlights of this week, I’ll just go ahead and include what I wrote to the mission president this week:

“This week has been like NO OTHER. It has been so awesome! Because Hermana Pullens and I took down our barriers of excuses, we have been able to prioritize our time, and serve the Lord the best we can! We have seen an abundance of blessings because of our increased efforts to be obedient. These past weeks we’ve been scraping 50 or so OYMs, but this week we have achieved 92! We haven’t been seeing that many lessons, but this week we have seen so many!

And on Sunday, when I was contemplating the probability of progress in this area so many of our inactive memebers showed up to church COMPLETELY out of the blue! It was incredible! 😀 And one of our investigators, Becca, has FINALLY asked to have a lesson with us! :’D President, OBEDIENCE BRINGS MIRACLES!

I am so thankful for the trust that I have built in the Lord. I know that the times when I am struggling the most are the times when I am not focusing on the things that I really should be.

I have to admit, I was a little saddened to not be changing my area this transfer, but I’ve decided that it’s a blessing. I am going to continue to do ALL that I can in this part of the Lord’s vinyard. Hermana Pullens and I have met some amazing potentials these last 7 days, and I intend to see some of these seeds through to blossoming.”

So despite the weather, we have been warmed by our determination to do this thing with 110%. No excuses – it’s time to get to work. And I can’t tell you how good it is to kneel down to pray at night and feel sore and tired from my bones to my soul. This is the best growing pain ever, and the harder I work, the more joy I feel in giving my daily report to my Heavenly Father 🙂

This is the work of salvation, and the power of God is real.

All the best! ❤

Hermana Mrozek

One Heck of a Week

This week has been incredible here in the WKM! Hermana Pullens and I have done some hard work, seen incredible things, and talked to some really, REALLY strange people.

Monday:

Preparation day was so good. We actually used it to prepare for the rest of the week! Our across the hall neighbor is battling us for first rights to the laundry machine, though, and he actually TOOK OUR WHITES out of the dryer not 3 minutes after the load had finished. Our whites D’: #Nooooooo

But later, we were eating dinner at Time Out Pizza on Basin Street and witnessed a huge car wreck happen in the intersection right outside the window of our booth! Everyone lived — that corner is just really tricky 😦

Then we went to the church building to hold our bi-weekly Family Home Evening where we taught the Armor of God 🙂 It was so fun.

Tuesday:

Not the most exiciting day, but at 7pm we had an INCREDIBLE lesson with Adriana Mendoza (an investigator of 6 years) about Priesthood authority. We drew the line of the Priesthood from Exodus 40:12-16 –> John 15:16 –> Ephesians 2:20 –> JSH 1:72. She had really good questions for us, and the member that we brought with us, Sister Lybbert, was able to really help her see how this Gospel has blessed her family, and how she relied on God to get her answer that Joseph Smith really was a prophet. So awesome!

Wedenesday:

We had a lesson with a woman named Margarita in Soap Lake, who’s daughter went into labor early, had surprise twins, but one of them was a still born. She was so anguished and distraught, and we shared Moroni 8:12 with her. Then she came out to us that her son is in jail and she’s having the hardest time because he keeps trying to tell her that there is no God. We shared Mosiah 27:10-16 with her, and she was just so relieved that we came by that day.

Then when we were tracting around later, we found this man who straight up verbally assaulted us in the street about how Jospeh Smith was a con-man and.. oy, that was a bad situation. He kept making jokes about how we were praying on the lower ecomonic class (because we speak and teach specifically in Spanish) and trying to make us mad. I have never felt so much anger from an individual about religion in. my. life. Anyone who claimes there is a God, is “suffering from hallucinations and should be medically evaluated.” Yikes.

But then later, as we kept walking, talked to this one guy who had THE LARGEST pumpkin in the world next to his door. It was as high as my waist! I didn’t get a picture.. but man it was awesome.

All in all, despite the bad experience with that one gentleman, it was a good day 🙂

Thursday:

We taught two really awesome lessons with former investigators – Marisol and Mauricio! We taught Marisol first, and we were able to tell her about how just as God used prophets like Moses, Noah, and Elijah to guide His people in old times, He does the same for us today because He doesn’t change! She was really interested in the Book of Mormon, and we read a lot of scriptures with her.

Then our lesson with Mauricio ended up being about the line of Priesthood, too! It went much the same way as Adriana’s lesson. Hermana Pullens and I usually have to stand outside on his porch to talk to him, because he’s a single male, but we went to the home of Brother Spencer and the Spirit was just so strong. So much love in that room 🙂

Friday:

Halloween! All of the missionaries had a 6pm curfew, but that’s okay. We used our 5 hours of prosyliting time to their fullest, and we were able to teach two awesome lessons. One with the Esquivels (recent convert family) and then with 16 year old Mario and his dad!

Then at 6 pm, we went home, ate pizza, and then did our planning for the next week 🙂

Saturday:

We had a lot of new people to talk to, and we were able to actually take our neighbors to the baptism of 8 year old Ella Adams! It was such an awesome night — we were the only set of missionaries to bring any investigators to the baptism. Mario’s dad even came without anyone bugging him to, and we were able to show him around the church. He says he’s going to come oneSunday when he’s not working because he’s seen the impact that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has had on his son :’) So amazing. I love the Gasper family.

Sunday:

None. Of. Our. Investigators. Were. Home.

We did so much walking. Walking + Fast Sunday = Walking Dead. Hahahaha It was such a struggle. But we made it through.

Right before our dinner appointment, we accidentally knocked on the door of a cult leader, who didn’t want us to leave his house. We got OUT of there. #NoThankYou

And then our last hour of the day was spent helping this drunk 20 year old find her key, which she dropped somewhere on her way home from Shell to buy beer, and then when we couldn’t find her key, we helped her break into her house through her window. She was so wasted, and she spilled pear beer alllllll over my white skirt that was a gift from one of the members of our Spanish Group 😥 Sad day. But yep! When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.

So that was my week! The pictures attatched are of when Hermana Pullens and I went and saw the Soap Lake, and from when we helped two random ladies pick 20 lbs of walnuts, which they then made us carry the 5 miles all the way back to our house 😀 Fun times.

Anyway, I love the mission! Hope everyone’s having a great week!