Hey everybody! How's it goin? This week was fantastic as usual, and I just have so much to be grateful for! (As usual.)
Monday we spent most of the day trying to get our cameras fixed. Having a grand total of zero working cameras in a companionship is no bueno. But that's alright haha. We spent the evening with a family of investigators. We had a movie night and watched the Joseph Smith movie and had popcorn... it was so spiritual! It doesn't matter how many times I watch the First Vision, every time I watch it it's like I'm watching it for the first time and I just get witness after witness that Joseph Smith really was a prophet!!
Tuesday we had a really powerful lesson with a lady named Adonia. She's the one that told us last week that she had no intentions of leaving her church to be baptized. So we went over and taught her about the priesthood... and it was one of the most (if not the most) powerful lessons I've taught on the priesthood in my entire mission. Remember how I said we were working on being challenging and testifying missionaries? Well, we pretty much did just that. We walked in, told her this church was the only true church and it was the only church with the authority to perform baptisms that counted both on earth and in heaven, explained why, and committed her to baptism. Just like that. Well, I mean there were a few more words in there but that was essentially the lesson .The Spirit was so strong... I don't know how anyone could deny that. It was wonderful :)
I also learned how to cook plantain (finally) on Tuesday... and I think that's all I will be eating for the next 13 months. Super cheap, super yummy food? Sure sounds good to me!
Wednesday we had zone meeting. Which was amazing. I learned so much. I love the plan of salvation.
We were walking to an appointment on Wednesday and we saw the biggest rats I have ever seen in my entire life. They were seriously the size of a housecat. I kid you not. It was disgusting but also strangely awesome haha... I wish my camera would have been working so I could have shown ya'll. But you'll just have to take my word for it. Nasty.
Thursday, I spent a lot of time thinking about how much I have to be grateful for. I spent all day humming "How Great Thou Art" because really... we have so much to be thankful for! Heavenly Father gave us everything we have, and I think I personally don't always realize that. I've really been trying to recondition my way of thinking. Like if I see a really pretty sunset, instead of thinking "wow, that's a really pretty sunset," I've been trying to just say a little prayer of gratitude for the sunset. It's been helping me see how much I really have been given! I'm so blessed!! We taught English class on Thursday night, and during the course of the class we were talking about the difference between their, they're, and there. We were having everyone use the words in a sentence. One of the guys there said "There are two beautiful missionaries over there." And Getro slapped his arm and was like come on man, you can't talk about them like that! They're missionaries! Hahahahaha we've trained him well. It cracked us up :)
Friday we had another really good lesson with Getro, and we were able to commit him to baptism! Finally! We asked him if he knew the church was true, and his answer was so simple. He just said, "Of course it is. I wouldn't keep coming back if it wasn't." I thought about that for a while. For such a simple statement, it's just so powerful. Of course the church is true! Why would so many people keep coming back if it wasn't? I don't think I really recognized how true the gospel is until my mission- and while I am still so far from even coming close to understanding even half of the gospel, I do know a few things for myself now. I know that there is no where I want to go if it's not to the Celestial Kingdom. I know that I'm far from perfect and I'll never make it there on my own, but that's okay because I also know my Savior Jesus Christ. I know He's there and I know He loves me. I know that no matter how inadequate I feel at times, I don't have to rely on myself-- in fact, I'm not supposed to! I know that as I learn more fully every day how to rely on the Savior, I can do anything... because I know that my Redeemer lives :)
Saturday, we had some sweet machete adventures. (Which involved taking a lot of pictures and hiding in a bush haha). I'm getting to be a boss with those things. They're so useful! We did a lot of things to prep for our baptism on Sunday, and we got to go to the general women's meeting! We had our curfew extended because of the time difference... which meant we got to stay out until ten o'clock at night. Ooooh it's so late. Hahah but seriously. I haven't been out that late in almost six months. It felt weird. But anyways... President Uchtorf's talk. Man! That talk was written just for me. The last five minutes of his talk were just answers upon answers to questions I've been asking for months. Such a testimony builder! I know without a doubt that that man is an apostle and he truly has been called of God!
Sunday, we had my first official baptism! Woohoo I'm a real live missionary now :) Haha. But anyways... Linda is amazing. Let me just take a few minutes and tell you all her story. About three weeks ago, we were sitting in the car wondering what to do because all of our appointments fell through for the afternoon. We decided to say a prayer, and we both had a prompting to go see someone who we then called Norcilia, although it turns out her name is actually Dasilia. So we show up at her house, had a lesson with her, and got a return appointment. We came back a few days later for the appointment, and she wasn't there but her daughter Linda was sitting on the porch. Linda started asking us a ton of questions, so we asked her if she wanted us to come teach her. She said yes, so we gave her a Restoration pamphlet and told her we'd come back the next day. We came back and asked her if she'd read the pamphlet. She had, and said she had a lot of questions. We had an amazing lesson with her, and by the time we came back to her next appointment she'd already read the first five chapters of the Book of Mormon. She fasted to know if it was true, like I told you about last week. She got her answer! This Saturday, we were talking to her and she told us that she knows the church is true because whenever she's upset and reads the Book of Mormon, she feels better. How awesome is that? So yeah, she committed to baptism last week after learning about the church for two weeks, and she was baptized and confirmed yesterday in church! Her little sister, who is also an investigator, gave the opening prayer and her cousin (who is eleven by the way) gave a talk, and it was amazing. The spirit was so strong! Andrew baptized her, and it was so cool because I was at his baptism just a few months ago and then there he was in the water baptizing someone else! It was an amazing experience, and definitely worth waiting for :)
In other news, I finished Alma this week! Woohoo 63 chapters ain't got nothin on me :)
Okay that's all for this week I think haha. Sorry this email was so random... I didn't actually do a very good job planning it out so it's just a bunch of things that came to my mind as I typed. Oops. Oh well.
Everyone watch President Uchtorf's talk if you missed it, and even if you didn't miss it, you should probably watch it again. It was just that good :) (Even if you're not a girl... I would still highly recommend watching it.)
The church is true! I love you all! Talk to you next week!
xoxoxoxoxo,
Sister Oman
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| I'm a very good pancake maker! |
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Please ignore the fact that my plantain looks burned. It
wasn't, it's just bad lighting. But you guys, this stuff is amazing. I love
it.
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| i have a machete. it's whatevs. |
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