transfer 3 week 6, valentines day miracle!

This week was packed FULL of miracles! And I'm going to start with one of my favorites. I got an email from Amir valentines day morning that said that his wife is finally coming to the United States!!!!!!!!! She got approved and now they are going to live together here in SLC. When I read it, I first cried, then announced it to the whole teaching center, everyone cheered with me! He said that he knows God has been listening to all of our prayers, and that he is excited to grow in the LDS church here in SLC with his wife. He is my eternal investigator that I just couldn't seem to let go, and now I know why. I'm so excited to see what happens in his near future! His wife is scheduled to come in the first weeks on March. What a beautiful miracle. Definitely kept me happy on just a crazy day full of proposals at Temple Square.

Last week we had our zone activity! And holy cow was that fun. We first went bowling at Fat Cats (it's free for missionaries. Why did I JUST find this out?! I know where I'll be for the rest of my P-days) and then we saw Frozen! Which I was super excited about because my sister is absolutely obsessed with it. I do admit, it was very very cute. And reminds me so much of my sister and I! But I am still a Rapunzel fan, all the way.

President also announced this week that he has chosen our new 2nd counselor in our mission presidency! His name is president Loos. We haven't met him yet, but if president approves, I know he's great! President also announced that there were going to be some big changes coming up, and one of those includes not changing companions as often! Normally in this mission we change every transfer, unless training. But president said that doesn't give you enough time to work out the kinks. My new companion this upcoming transfer is probably going to go outbound next though, so I will probably stay at our assignment and train the next person, as well as maybe stay together longer! I have no idea when I'll go outbound, probably not for a while now.

Update on the investigators/recent converts:

Thomas (recent convert), is seriously so golden. He called me on Sunday and told me that he got his meeting all set up to get his Patriarchal blessing and he got his temple recommend, limited use, this week! He took 2 weeks off of work and is planning to go to the Temple this week. He is so great, and his testimony of the gospel is growing every single day. He might be moving soon, I suggested to Utah but he laughed, and is working his way to being the next bishop! He just doesn't know it yet.

Dan (recent convert), everything is going great with him. He is getting a TON of job offers and might be moving to Wisconsin! (I feel like him and Thomas would be great friends, they're so similar.) And he is continuing to work towards the Temple, stead fast in his testimony. He told me on Saturday that he knows that all of the hardships that have been in his life recently is because he knew that he needed to be humbled, so that he could accept the gospel. This is repeated so many times throughout the scriptures, and I know that hardships are meant to draw us closer to our Heavenly Father, I am a result of that!

Logan, SO GREAT! We taught him about the 5 main things in the Gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end), and invited him to be baptized. He said yes and then went on to say that it is kind of upsetting that he doesn't have the gift of the holy ghost now, and that he can't wait to get it! But he said he definitely wants to learn more before he gets baptized. And so we're going to continue to prepare him towards his baptismal date!

Byron, our Spanish investigator. Holy cow I'm going to miss him next transfer! Sister Rodrigues is going to keep him until Sister Gudiel gets back, and I'm totally selfish for wanting to keep him. But I know he's in good hands. He is continuing to pray about a date to get baptized, and we're hoping for March 1st! The local missionaries are being a bit... interesting. They have only seen him at church.. and he wants to be baptized. So we're trying to overcome this little speed bump.

Luiz/Fernanda/Aline/Ana Luisa/Luiz Fernando. A family from Brazil that is so prepared. Luiz is planning to get baptized this Saturday, and baptize his family the following on the 1st! They only get taught by us because the closet church is over an hour away, and the missionaries are unable to visit them. They are possibly going to get disowned by their extended family for joining the church, but they know that this is the right thing to do. Their parents belong to a (crazy) church that they started. They believe that you don't need to read the Bible to gain insights, but literally ponder over it (like meditate) to gain insights. There are many strange things about this religion, but Luiz and Fernanda have always known that there was something missing, and we were so luck to be the ones to introduce them to the Gospel. I love this little family!

Juanita is also doing great! She has been having some major health problems lately, but she is not letting that stop her from getting baptized. Her and her husband should be getting baptized this Saturday! That's the plan.

This week we have been focusing a lot on having member presents, that is something we have been struggling with lately. But we put an extra effort in for them this week! Sister Rodrigues has quite a few recent RM friends that she served with in Portugal, and so they were excited and willing to get right back into the work and be our member presents in our lessons. I don't know if I've explained this before, but obviously we teach over the phone, so we make 3 way phone calls for our member presents. And boy did these RM's pull through. We taught many of our Portuguese, Spanish and English investigators with them this week! They even came to the square on Saturday, so we were able to see them (and meet them on my part) that day. They were able to teach Byron. Luiz, Fernanda, Margaret, Juanita, and Logan with us this week! Member presents are the best.

So for the big news this week... it is transfer week! And boy do I have some exciting/scary news for you. First off, Sister Rodrigues is the new Apartment Coordinator (which is a pretty hectic assignment), Portuguese coordinator, and a district leader! She has a new companion, Sister Talatoga from Fiji. She's a fireball of energy, so she's going to have a great time next transfer. She's also moving to the one of the little houses we call GP. Sister Gee is going outbound to, drum roll please.... LAS VEGAS! She leaves tomorrow and is going for 2 transfers. I am so excited for her! Sister Tiritilli, my other twin, is training this transfer! Sister Gudiel is still outbound, but will be returning (if she doesn't ask to extend) in just 6 weeks! :) My old Zone leader, Sister Rosema, is the new AP! And this leads me to my big announcement...

Well let me start with I am in zone South 1. I will be moving back to DA, which I'm a little upset about, I'm going to miss West Temple. But I have awesome roommates, Sister Richardson and Sister Davis from my class! My P-day is on Friday, which means I get 2 P-days this week. My companion is the adorable Sister Yeung (pronounced Yern) from Hong Kong! So I'll get to teach in Mandarin this transfer :) I'm junior companion and my assignment is Office Assistant (OA)! This means that we are the assistants to the assistants (APs). So as you can imagine, I'm scared out of my mind. I am so young to be having this assignment! We also are the ones who process, organize and analyze the mission's numbers, so that we can discuss with President Poulsen what the trainings for the mission need to be on. We are in the office a lot of the time, so if you come to the square looking for me... good luck! We have our own office downstairs, complete with desks, computers, refrigerator, and a big old white board! Excited for that part. We also have our own car, because we run a lot of errands for the mission. And since my companion is from Hong Kong, I will get to drive :) Thankfully we're the only ones who don't drive a mini van. Phew! But I am feeling very unqualified for this assignment, any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated! Yesterday I was able to take a few hours and analyze the numbers with the OA's. And I definitely have a lot to learn, there is so much more to this assignment than I realized. To be completely honest, I thought I would stay Sport Coordinator, and train one of the new sisters. But the Lord has other things planned for me! And I will put my trust and faith in Him. Tomorrow morning I start bright and early! I get to wake up at 4am and prepare everything for the new sisters. Then greet them and get them set up for their eventful day. Tomorrow is going to be crazy. So I'll give you the update on Friday.

Today my district is spending our last time together before Sister Gee leaves to LV. We are hiking up to Ensign peak and will hopefully go to Cafe Rio after, if I can convince them... hehe. Then it will be back to the room and packing up to move tonight.

Well I love you all, and will talk to you on Friday!! Wish me luck tomorrow.

-Sister Brock

p.s. Sister Torino's line of the week: Me, "Sister Torino, are you excited to meet Sister Cummings?" Torino, "Yes I'm going to eat her!".... what?!

p.s.s. One of my FAVORITE people in the mission is coming back from outbound tomorrow!!!!! YEEE! Sister Takahashi, from Canada!