Just kidding, I'm not having any nightmares. But I will be TRAINING this transfer!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bahhh! What the heck?! I don't know what I'm doing well enough to TRAIN someone else!! Everyone was predicting it, and I sort of had the feeling but kept denying it... but after President Doll called Saturday night and said that he would like me to train, there was no more chance for denial. It's kind of like everything else has been with new big changes for my mission: I feel like I should feel more scared than I do about this. There are 3 or 4 new English Sisters coming in, so I don't who I'll be training yet. President Doll will decide tonight after he meets and interviews them all, and then tomorrow I will go to a short "training" on training and then I will meet her and bring her back to my area! I've never even been Senior companion so this will be quite a change for me. I'm excited though to meet her and to embark on this new phase of my mission. Sister Sorensen is leaving tomorrow, and that is sad because we've had a lot of fun together, but new adventures await with my new greenie!
Thanks to Shar and the girls for their WONDERFUL package! It was super fun. The lights, the cupcakes with their cute little paper wrapper things... it was all perfect. And I LOVE the notes and pictures!
Thank you for you letter last week Danny. It was just what I needed. Your letters always come at the perfect time.
Mom - I got a card from Brother and Sister Williams. Will you tell them "Thank you!" for me?
Now that I am finally back in full health and don't have crazy other things to report on, I might actually have time to tell you about a few of the people we are working with here in Naperville! A lot of the work we are doing is with a couple of recent converts and a less active family. Lee is married to a member (Tiffani) and he got baptized in January and Courtney lives next door to a member (our current ward mission leader) and he got married in December. They are both AWESOME! Courtney is this big man who used to be in the military - a navy seal and sniper. INTENSE, right? Well the gospel has completely changed his life, and now he is this big teddy bear and one of the sweetest, kindest, most gentle people you will ever meet. His wife and daughter have not been baptized, but we're hoping that they will continue to be more interested as they continue to watch the changes and improvements it has made in Courtney's life. Every time we go over there, either Sister Sorensen or I end up crying because the things he says are so sweet and the spirit that is there is so strong. Yes I know that crying is not the only sign of the Spirit being present, but that's the best way I can express how truly wonderful he is. I wish you could all meet him!
The less active family we are working with are the B.....s. Andrew B is 8 and will be getting baptized on April 27th. Both the parents are converts, and they have been less active for a long time and the dad is totally inactive. When the two older kids, Aaron and Amanda, were 8 they met with the missionaries to be ready for baptism, because the mom wanted them to be baptized, but then soon after, they would go inactive again (the dad never coming during any of this...) But now that Andrew is getting ready to be baptized, the whole family (excluding the dad) is really getting into church. Aaron and Amanda LOVE mutual and Aaron was just asked to be in the Teacher's Quorum presidency. Sister Sorensen and I got to teach him about the Priesthood because he didn't really know anything about it, and it was really cool. When we visit with Andrew to go through the lessons - now we have finished them and are just going through Book of Mormon stories with him - his mom, Amanda, and younger sister Allie sit in too, and Aaron joins if he's home. It's really great to see how well Sister B has taught her children in the gospel even though her husband isn't helping her and they were less active for so many years. We are really hoping that this time they will stick with it and that with Aaron soon receiving the Priesthood that the dad's heart will be softened and he will come back too. They are a really fun family and I'm excited for Andrew to get baptized.
We have a new investigator!!!! His name is Rick. One day a couple of weeks ago, we had less than 10 minutes before dinner to tract this street. We realized we obviously couldn't get much done in that time, so we decided to each choose three houses and then compare. We each said our own little prayer and then chose our three houses. We ended up picking ALL THREE of the same houses! Super cool, right? Then we had to decide which one to start with, and we both felt like we should try the blue house first. We knocked, and there we met Rick. He had heard of the church before because he knew a few members in college and they had given him a Book of Mormon. He had also recently heard something on the radio about the destruction in America at the time of Christ's death and visitation to the Nephites and so that sparked some questions. We told him where to read and then had to run off to dinner.
The next week (last week) we decided we wanted to finish tracting Waupaca, and after having literally NO ONE talk to us, Sister Sorensen suggested we go see if Rick was home. We knocked again, and he came right outside. He grabbed some chairs and we ended up having a really great lesson on his front porch. He was asking us questions that covered pretty much all of the lessons, which generally we like to stay a little more focused and not discuss baptisms for the dead and such in the first lesson, but we let his questions be our guide and it turned out really great. He said we could come back this Friday so now he is considered a new investigator! We are hoping to take a member with us and that we can get him to watch General Conference at their house with us this weekend. We are really excited to start teaching him more. He has a few quirky ideas - some of which remind me of Don - but also a lot of really good ideas.
Vermell sadly is moving out of our area this week :(
Have I told you about Marsha? Tell me if I haven't and I tell you about her next week. She's awesome. I love that family.
I love, love, LOVE you!
Sister Ali
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