Dear family and friends,
I am currently typing on a computer that is in Spanish...so it took me a while to get to this page because everything was in Spanish. But! I made it! I don't know how to fix it to be in English. Doesn't really matter, though. I'm typing in English and everything is all working out just fine haha.
Anyway, just a random fun fact for you!
I hope you had a wonderful week! Sister Harmer and I had an incredible one together :)
Guess what?! I hit my 9-month mark last Wednesday! I am officially over the hump. That means that my mission is more than halfway through. It kind of makes me want to hyperventilate because I just want to do this forever, but it's okay, still have 9 months left!
But really. It has simply blown by! I am a completely different person than when I first came out, and I love it. Family and friends, I have truly lost myself in the work, and I really have found myself, just like the scripture in Luke 9:24 promises: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it." I have such a strong testimony of the Savior and His Atonement - even more so than when I first came out. I know He lives, and that through Him we can be made clean, whole, and perfect.
So. This week was AMAZING!!!
Yesterday was especially awesome:
We received 5 member referrals and they all committed to setting up a time we can meet with their friends in their homes by next week. We have lots of tasks to make sure we follow-up. It was neat! This all came about because Bishop Judd asked us to speak in Sacrament Meeting on missionary work and why we do it. Sister Harmer focused on the how and what and why of missionary work, and my talk focused on how missionary work helps us fulfil our baptismal covenants to Heavenly Father. I used an illustration from The Butterfly Circus (oh man, that video has changed my whole perspective). I felt the Spirit guiding my talk - it was really powerful!
After I sat down, a member in the ward, Megan Terry, leaned over to me and whispered, "I have two friends I want you two to teach. I'll talk to you after church about them." She told us about these two friends and also shared some amazing things from her Patriarchal blessing that our talks brought to her remembrance. She is coming to a lesson with us on Saturday, giving a less-active member a ride next Sunday, and is also feeding us on Wednesday! She is so amazing, and we are very grateful to have such an amazing sister in our ward who is so willing to help. Later at night we had dinner with three members and they each shared someone they want us to teach. SO amazing how when the Spirit is present and they can feel the love of the Savior, they want their friends to learn the Gospel. I know that's true with me, as well.
AND, we were able to get a less-active member to church yesterday - Aja Miller! We taught her on Saturday, and she shared with us that she prayed and feels like she should serve a mission! So we laid it out for her and told her if this is something she wants to do, she needs to be willing to keep her covenants. One of those is coming to church. She said she knows, and she came to church yesterday! The ward did an amazing job fellowshipping her :) She felt so welcome, and our bishop also went up to her and asked her if she would like a calling in the FHE committee.
Little did Bishop Judd know that just 10 minutes earlier, Aja had been saying that if she were to have a calling at church, she wanted to be in something related to family night activities! It was so inspired.
Also, one girl in our ward in particular really stepped up and talked with her - her name is Adrienne. Adrienne offered her a ride to church every week and is coming to her lesson on Saturday with us!
We had an incredible "power hour" with the Alkema's, a couple who fed us last night. We felt really prompted to go by this lady named Estella (a potential investigator), but she had moved. We were surprised, because we felt so prompted to go. So we looked through the people we were going to see tonight, and decided on Humberto, another potential. We had to drive across town for about 25 minutes, but it was really cool because when we got to his house, we were able to set a return appointment for today at 7! We also have a member coming with us to a lesson at 6 tonight, and she is willing to come at 7 as well - her name is Carly.
So, as you can now see, Sunday was awesome!! It was also cool to see how much the members are trusting us. Especially our Bishop. He gave us a list of names of people he wanted to come out with us, people he wanted us to visit, etc. We worked really hard this week visiting those people and it really helped us to gain his trust. We gave him a list back of the people he asked us to see and what happened with them, and then he gave us more people to go see this week! We're excited to continue helping him :)
Sister Harmer and I really broke through some barriers together, as well. We were having a hard time getting along (or at least on my side I was) but during companionship inventory on Friday we really got to know one another and I learned a lot about her that is really helping me understand how she ticks. We are getting along MUCH better now. The only hard thing: we like totally different foods haha. She loves snacks and treats and sweets....and I don't eat them. So that's a difficulty, but we're working on finding compromises!
She has also really grown this week - she is amazing at contacting! She is not afraid to talk to anyone!! She invited 3 people to be baptized! Her goal was 4, and she is bummed about it so she wants to invite 5 people this coming week haha. She's a fire ball and brings such a positive energy and excitement to the work in the Napa 4th YSA ward. I love the greenie fire! I love working with her and being her companion. She is helping me to be better and to be a little bit kinder and a little bit more patient.
Patience...I've been working on it my whole mission, and I still struggle. But bit by bit, I've been getting better!
Well, that's about all I have to share with y'all this week! I hope you have a wonderful Monday and an even better week.
Working hard feels so good! I love it :)
Love you all so much!
Love always,
Sister Nikole Decker
P.S. I forgot my camera again...I'm sorry! I promise I'll remember next week!!
P.P.S. My district leader this transfer is an elder who I came out with - Elder Williams! It's been lots of fun serving around him and his companion, Elder Jeppson. They are awesome missionaries. Oh! And my zone leader is Elder Carrillo, who was my first zone leader when I came into the mission :)
P.P.P.S. Our apartment has so many spiders!! My arachnophobia is slowly lessening though, so that's good!
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