Dear family and friends,
Hi from Vallejo! This week was full of FRUIT! Again! Our one and only ward missionary, Kristen, gives us so much fruit! I'm not complaining, though. Fruit is so tasty, especially here in northern California. Oh man, especially watermelon. She figured out I absolutely love watermelon and now she always makes sure if she feeds us or drops off food for us or comes out with us that I am freshly supplied with watermelon.
I am trying to be creative and think of ways we can serve her - she is just so good and kind to us and helps us with our work so much!
As for the week, things went really well! Sister Harmer and I got along very well and we did our best. We picked up an amazing new investigator named Eliana Barriga - she is Kristen Parker's good friend and housemate. She accepted a date for baptism as well for October 11th, so we're stoked! :)
RQ is doing awesome as well - we only have obey and honor the law to teach him and we are going over the baptismal interview questions with him this week as well. He is super excited for his baptism and will definitely make his date as long as he keeps the Word of Wisdom. He can do it! Please keep him in your prayers these next 2 weeks that he will not drink coffee. That would be the only thing holding him back. He has the most sincere desire to change and be better, and wants to do his best.
He gained a strong testimony of prayer this week. He did something wrong last week that affected his parents, and he told us he was scared to tell them. He kneeled down and asked Heavenly Father what he should do to fix the mistake he made. RQ told us that God put into his mind the thought, "Tell your parents. It will be alright." He said he felt at peace, so he told his parents and his parents weren't upset, just grateful that RQ confided in them.
He was afraid to tell his parents that he was getting baptized (they are very Catholic) but he prayed and felt at peace with the decision to tell his parents as well, and when he told them, his parents were just fine with him getting baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! :) His smile when he told us that story was so sweet. He just gets it. He knows God loves him and that God answers prayers.
It was Sister Harmer's birthday yesterday and it was a good one! She went to bed early, so I had the opportunity to decorate the apartment with streamers and little sticky notes and signs. I bought brownie mix earlier in the week on exchanges so we made those together last night as well! Our ward mission leader, Austin, invited us over for a birthday dinner. Kristen gave Sis. Harmer her own pink bottle of pepper spray haha AND decorated our car with balloons and that wash-off paint saying "Happy birthday!" I gave some elders in our zone a few balloons to tape onto our door as well while we were gone during the day in Napa, so when we got home for the night at 9, there were pink balloons all over the front door as well!
Funny story about the balloons:
Sister Anderson and I went to the store really quickly during lunch on exchanges so I could pick up a few items for Sis. Harmer's birthday and not have her know about it, so when I picked balloons I just grabbed the first bunch I found. Little did I know that I had chosen balloons with the phrase, "It's a Girl!" On them. Whoops. Haha our neighbor saw the balloons taped to our door and thought one of us was having a baby! We had to explain to her that no, it was just her birthday. She looked kind of confused, but hopefully we explained it clearly enough. Side note on our neighbor: she was really hostile to us at first when we got there, but she's really warmed up and loves talking to us. Hopefully we can start teaching her soon :)
Overall, it was a fun day :)
The night before Sister Harmer's birthday, on Saturday, Kristen and a recent convert in the Vallejo 2nd ward, Marguerite, and Elder and Sister Barney had us over for dinner. We ate the most delicious salad ever - spinach, almonds, blueberries, strawberries, and poppyseed dressing. Not only that, but of course: watermelon. And the tastiest chicken and steak and Louisiana potato salad. Oh man.
The longer I'm out here, the more I love food. Whew. I just love good food. I feel like that's all I talk about now...sorry if my e-mails are turning into me describing my favorite meals from the last week haha. I'll try to cut the food details short.
I went to my first MLC (Missionary Leader Coordination) on Friday - all the zone leaders and STL's go once/month to be instructed on how to be better leaders and missionaries. It was such a privilege to be taught by them all day long (from 9am-4pm) and to feel the sweet spirit they brought. I loved being in that room with all the leaders of my mission and had this profound thought come into my head: these are not only leaders in mymission, but future leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have confidence in the rising generation :)
I also noticed an ongoing theme in all the leaders there: humility. The longer I'm out here, the more I realize that a great leader has quiet dignity - knows why they are here but does not have to be loud about it. It remind me of a scripture in the New Testament:
"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong" (2 Cornithians 12:10).
I can't believe 11 months are gone already. Time keeps moving and I want it to at least slow down - but I feel good about what I have accomplished and who I have become in these past 11 months and can't wait for what the next 7 will bring.
Choose the Sprite this week when a Coke is placed before you! (Lol sorry had to put that in there)
Haha anyway, love y'all! Remember: You are magnificent!
Have a stellar week!
Love,
Sister Kolee Decker
Picture: Us with our favorite member, Kristen Parker :) She is the BEST.
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