Dearest family and friends, It has been a great week but pretty crazy! Transfer day is tomorrow, and luckily, I am staying here with Sister Strasser for another six weeks! Sister Wachlin, the third addition to our little companionship group, :) is going to stay in Timberline Ward and is getting a new companion. Most of our zone is staying the same this transfer, so that is a comfort!
I am moving tomorrow afternoon to a different member's house, though. We will be living with the Hirschi family! They are really great; they have four little kids under the age of eight, so that will be interesting, :) but I am just really grateful for their willingness to take us in! They are such a fun family. :)
So...something super exciting happened this week!!!! We have an investigator with a baptismal date!!!! :) Her name is Sierra Briggs; she's a new mommy and super super sweet! She is really open and accepting of everything we say, and she and her husband are the cutest little parents in the world! He is actually a member (I'm pretty sure I've told you most of this, but just to recap :)), but he has been inactive for several years-since he was a teenager. They both seem ready to jump in and learn more. The Lord's timing is incredible--their baby, Beau, just barely got off of oxygen, so now they are actaully able to come to church! They weren't there yesterday, which was hard for me, but they are definitely making progress and keeping commitments with reading the scriptures. Sister Strasser told me something that helped: They have been living their lives this way without the church for a long time and have established these habits. Often times, it takes a long time for them to establish new habits and get used to a different kind of lifestyle.
We commited her to baptism on Saturday night. That morning when I very first woke up, I felt surprisingly disheartened. Satan was working pretty hard on me by telling me that my being out here was pointless because I wasn't really seeing any fruits from my labors. It was kind of a hard morning for me. Patience has been a Christlike attribute I have really been working to develop, and I guess I just had to remind myself of this. I understood why I had been feeling this way when during the lesson at the Briggs' house, I really felt impressed to ask her to be baptized. I have to admit, I of myself was a little bit nervous to put it out there, but I know that I was able to ask her because of the Holy Ghost and because of God's love for her. It was very easy and natural to bring it up, really, and I am so grateful that it could be because of the friendship that I feel we have with them. It is so important for the people you teach to know that you love them and care for them as individuals. I also learned that though Satan's power is indeed real and it is great, God's is so much greater. It has been a pretty great week for me, and it has gone by super fast, but I still pray for you and love you!
It's crazy--every week goes by faster and faster out here, and the months go by crazy fast! The days and hours...sometimes not so much, but collectively, I am always amazed. :) I wish you all the best during this coming week!
Love, --Sister Budge
I am moving tomorrow afternoon to a different member's house, though. We will be living with the Hirschi family! They are really great; they have four little kids under the age of eight, so that will be interesting, :) but I am just really grateful for their willingness to take us in! They are such a fun family. :)
So...something super exciting happened this week!!!! We have an investigator with a baptismal date!!!! :) Her name is Sierra Briggs; she's a new mommy and super super sweet! She is really open and accepting of everything we say, and she and her husband are the cutest little parents in the world! He is actually a member (I'm pretty sure I've told you most of this, but just to recap :)), but he has been inactive for several years-since he was a teenager. They both seem ready to jump in and learn more. The Lord's timing is incredible--their baby, Beau, just barely got off of oxygen, so now they are actaully able to come to church! They weren't there yesterday, which was hard for me, but they are definitely making progress and keeping commitments with reading the scriptures. Sister Strasser told me something that helped: They have been living their lives this way without the church for a long time and have established these habits. Often times, it takes a long time for them to establish new habits and get used to a different kind of lifestyle.
We commited her to baptism on Saturday night. That morning when I very first woke up, I felt surprisingly disheartened. Satan was working pretty hard on me by telling me that my being out here was pointless because I wasn't really seeing any fruits from my labors. It was kind of a hard morning for me. Patience has been a Christlike attribute I have really been working to develop, and I guess I just had to remind myself of this. I understood why I had been feeling this way when during the lesson at the Briggs' house, I really felt impressed to ask her to be baptized. I have to admit, I of myself was a little bit nervous to put it out there, but I know that I was able to ask her because of the Holy Ghost and because of God's love for her. It was very easy and natural to bring it up, really, and I am so grateful that it could be because of the friendship that I feel we have with them. It is so important for the people you teach to know that you love them and care for them as individuals. I also learned that though Satan's power is indeed real and it is great, God's is so much greater. It has been a pretty great week for me, and it has gone by super fast, but I still pray for you and love you!
It's crazy--every week goes by faster and faster out here, and the months go by crazy fast! The days and hours...sometimes not so much, but collectively, I am always amazed. :) I wish you all the best during this coming week!
Love, --Sister Budge