It's been an awesome week with so many spiritual dubs (dubs as in double-U or wins)!
Here's the rundown!
- Xavier got baptized on Sunday!!
- Zone conference!!
- Family history booth @ farmers market!
- Transfer interviews with president
- Milagro moments
Well, first off and most important, Xavier got baptized yesterday!!!🌊🫧
It was awesome to see him take his faith to the next level! Sister Pennington and I taught Xavier back in Walnut Creek and since we taught him a lot of the lessons, I got to take a trip back to my romping ground and romp once more. I got to see all my old ward buddies and Sister P, it was super fun.
If you saw Xavier when we first met him and then you saw him sitting still and quietly (most of the time) at his baptism, you would be amazed. He's come such a long way and I'm so proud of him!
It was definitely a "chaotic" service to say the least, but at the end of the day, he got dunked and I couldn't be more happy!
We had zone conference this week and it was soooo good and uplifting as always. We went to Chino for it, where there's supposedly cows. I saw no cows. But that's ok :(
We received trainings on making our finding efforts more creative than just knocking and parks. PLEASE let me know if you have any old tricks or fun ideas we should try!
We also talked about the power of the Atonement and how we can continue to consecrate our lives after the mission. It was a bit sad because all of my companions (Sister Pennington, Whitlock, and Goss) will be going home in 3 weeks and I saw 2/3 give their departing testimonies.
When I shook President's hand on our way out, I told him, while laughing with a tear-stained face, "Can I please have a companion who stays next time?"
He thought that was pretty funny. Oh well, I tried.
In Upland, we started a weekly family history booth at the farmer's market! It's crazy, I literally just walk up to people and ask if they want to know where their family comes from. We're hoping to see lots of fruit come of it (literally and metaphorically)!!
This isn't as important but made me giggle. We each interview with President once a transfer. Well, I sat down for mine and the first thing he said was, "Sister Kline, why are you still here?"
"That's funny President, I thought you were supposed to know that!"
No news on the visa, I'm mentally preparing for transfer #4 woohoo!😐
Here's some high points from the week.
We went to see our friend Val, he was cranky because it was too late (apparently 7pm is 11pm in 65 year old time) but his sister came to the door and yelled, "THE MORMONS ARE HERE!!" and we had such a spirit led lesson with her instead. She cried (thanks Holy Ghost) and was so sweet and wants to meet again.
I decided to be bold with our friend Gregory, who I've only talked to over the phone once😗. We talked for almost an hour and I extended the most straightforward invite on reading the Book of Mormon I ever have. I felt the Spirit so strongly when I testified of the truth of the Book of Mormon. When I finished he said, "Deal. Oh wait that sounds bad. Yes, I promise I will do that." So hopefully he gets his answer!! Prayers for Gregory!!
The cops in this mission love to hang out in our church parking lot. They're normally working so we leave them alone, but one night, we stopped to do something really quick at the stake center. A policeman was sitting there and we felt like we should talk to him, so we gave him a picture of Jesus and talked for a bit. He texted us maybe 10 minutes after. For all my non-missionaries, people never text you first. Like ever. So this was a big deal.
He said: "Thank you for chatting! Made my day!" That made my heart so happy!❤️
We plant a lot of seeds here, but it's so cool when we see the results of those seeds every once in awhile.
Which leads me to my spiritual thought this week: No effort is wasted. Every smile, every wave, every Hello, makes some difference in someone's life. Charity doesn't need to be grand to be charity. But when we look outside of ourself, we begin to see others the way the Savior did, and that changes everything!
Don't forget to do the small things this week because "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise." (Alma 37:6)
Love you all!!!