What a week. And what a way to end my first transfer in the campo! We only get 12 transfers as hermanas (not counting the CCM) and my first one is already over. Time goes way too fast out here.
Throw back to last Monday después de cartas.... DART. WARS. That was the best pday ever, haha! They put Elder Gill's iPad by the mic in the chapel and set a timer for ten minutes so the countdown music would play through the church and then when the game was up the buzzer would go off. This chapel has three levels: basement, main floor, upstairs. So we played a million ten-minute games of "capture the flag" --or tie on a stick-- where instead of tagging, you were shooting darts through a little pvc pipe. It was awesome. We changed teams around a bunch of times and adjusted the rules here and there when some elders, in specific, not mentioning any names *cough cough* Elder Mari! would take the liberty of bending them. It was so fun. (PS Elder Gill is a pretty good sniper. He killed me probably 20 times. )
We took an intermission for lunch and lost a few of the zone who needed to go back to do various things. After the final game we took some pictures together and a few videos, then all headed out. (Did you get those by the way?) We got back right before six so we all sent off our emails we'd been composing on the trains, changed, and were off to our various appointments.
We had dinner and a lesson with the family we have been teaching, but it was really just the mom and daughter that were a part of it. But I think that was perfect. We taught about the gospel of Christ and went through 2 Nephi 31 with them. They have a rough relationship, so them being able to be with us and share some personal things with each other was great. We left them the talk "The Sabbath Is A Delight". We'll be talking about that tonight with them. (Hopefully they read it!)
Tuesday was our last district meeting under district leader Elder Spencer. My compañera gave the workshop on finding. We made a goal as a companionship and as a district to make our finding more meaningful, and our seed planting more meaningful. The next day I talked to a mother and daughter from Honduras. They will be joining our English class now. :)
Service is the best part of Wednesdays. We went to Prospect Park and served in all of these pretty gardens by the zoo. It was such a perfect day, we were loving it. Afterwards, we took a picture together to commemorate our last service activity with Elder Gill (#homebound) and whoever was going to be transferred (only around five people from our zone are moving, not sure about the rest). We also tried to get together for a few more lessons that afternoon/evening, but all of those attempts failed. Hopefully we will be able to get with them this week
Thursday: MISSION TOUR! This was awesome. Well, other than the hour and a half on the subway to get there (we left at 6:45 to be there by 8:30 in order to be early...early for the instruction we had received to be in our seats at nine...which was to be early for the meeting that started at ten haha). I felt the Spirit so strongly during that meeting, it was amazing. I cannot say it enough: I. LOVE. THIS. GOSPEL. My entire being is just...happy when I talk about it, think about it, study and pray about it... I just love it so much. We had Elder C. Scott Grow and his wife come, and it was fabulous. He spoke during the majority of the time, but President and their wives also addressed us. I learned so much. We were focusing on "teach repentance. baptize converts." It was great. He talked a lot about teaching the gospel from the scriptures. Which he taught us by using scriptures. It was so cool.
A few other things he mentioned that stood out to me:
- we should use the word "inspiration" rather than "motivation" cause he says "motivation" is a worldly word and "inspiration" is godly. I'm gonna look into that a little bit more :)
- the difference between being cleansed and being healed --the role of the Atonement and Christ in both. "Continual repentance is being cleansed, being converted is being healed"
- we can't lift others if we aren't already on higher ground. We can't invite others to come unto Christ if we are not already with Him
We had the ward party Friday evening. It was very fun. The children though. There are so many of them, it's awesome. We played soccer --yes, in our skirts-- with a few of the little kids for a bit before dinner. This ward is amazing. Oh and dad, the bishopric did a lip sync to Bon Jovi, "livin on a prayer" and I was so happy, I cannot put it into words haha!!
To be totally honest, I remember little from the last two days. Saturday we did deep cleaning and weekly planning (cause we couldn't do it Thursday because of the mission tour). We also had correlation with our new ward mission leader. He will be good :) There was a broadcast from Manhattan for all the sisters Saturday night as well, but I could not focus for the life of me. I know I felt the Spirit and learned a bit, but I couldn't even muster up the energy to take notes. I guess it was just one of those days.
As for the randomness that is this week's subject, I have a very loud voice. I am a high soprano. That doesn't go well when you have a district that doesn't like to sing haha! So, naturally they chose the two songs I know of that are in the hymn book that fit my range best: 54, Paz, Cálmense and 89, Para Siempre Dios Este Con Vos. The elders in my district did not know voices could go that high (those songs don't even go that high though...), nor that a thing called vibrato (...I don't know how to spell anymore...autocorrect says this is it...) exists. So that was a fun time haha! I'm going to miss those leaving this transfer, but I'll still see them around, and now I get the opportunity to meet some more people. It'll be good.
Anyway, I've had many spiritual experiences and received much revelation for myself this week but perhaps the most prominent to me was when I read Elder Andersen's talk from 2008, "You Know Enough". I'd invite you all to read it. I loved it. At the very end of that talk, the last three or four short paragraphs hit me so hard. I remember the Spirit was so strong right when I read the simple testimony of that little girl in his talk. The gospel is simple. It is true. And we know enough. It's the simple testimonies that are the most powerful. I'd invite you to share yours :)
I love this gospel and I love the opportunity I have to serve my God and these people in Brooklyn. I love you all!! Have an amazing week!
Tanto amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley
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