I'm Training

Dear Family,

Well, I have close to no email time today. But this email will still probably be long, knowing me. I can never cut things short for some reason.

We are driving to the airport in Queens... to pick up my new trainee. 

Im training! Finally! I didn't know if I would ever train due to the fact that our mission is downsizing a lot, and the number of sisters coming in is decreasing each transfer. I think when I came in we were at the peak of missionaries! The mission was HUGE, idk how President handled so many missionaries! It's much smaller now :/

ANYWAYS, we had President Interviews on Thursday, and President asked me to train. Didn't see that one coming, but I about fell out of my chair I was so excited. Her name is Sister Hardman- I know nothing about her except she's a Haitian-Creole sister and she's coming to the mission early because she's smart and passed the MTC quicker than expected. 

She's coming in alone, so Sister Ewell and I are picking her up from the airport, and then driving her to presidents for dinner, a fireside, and a sleepover there!! Sisters Peterson&Peiper and APs will be there at presidents tonight too! It's gonna be a partyyyyyy.

Also, I'm training her I'm Bayshore, which means I get to stay here 2 more transfers :))) heck yessss! Bayshore in the summer is going to be heavennnn.

Other than that we had a wonderful wonderful week! It was really just lovely, everything about it, right down to the weather. 

Alright, who did as I requested last week and prayed for us to find and teach some pure in heart families? Whoever did- thank you! It worked! Keep praying for this! 

Remember that lady I shoveled water for-A? We had been having a hard time getting in and teaching her and her family. On Thursday we finally got in and had an AMAZING lesson!  It was great. We taught the plan of salvation and didn't get past the creation hahah. They were both mind blown that we had a pre-mortal existence. It had never even occurred to them! D (the daughter) had so many wonderful questions and it was very evident the spirit was helping us answer questions according to her needs. By the end, D accepted a baptismal date! A didn't, she's not understanding quite everything because she's actually a Haitian-Creole speaker, but it's okay because MY TRAINEE SPEAKS CREOLE. A will be sooo happy to meet her!

Another cool experience: 

Saturday all of our plans fell through. We had literally nothing to do, which is weird because Saturday is usually our busiest day. So we went home and prepared for our teeny tiny studio apartment to become a 3-woman pad. Then we decided to do lookups and clear out the area book... Because like I said before, there was NOTHING left to do!

The second house we looked up was the daughter of a member in Arizona. Her name is J. She spoke to us through the glass door and explained she is catholic, respects our beliefs, has a Book of Mormon but doesn't want to read it, is really really busy blah blah blah. I was thinking "oh great, we are going to get this door slammed in our face any second now." But something pushed me to keep trying, so after an awkward pause I said "well.... can we come in and read the Book of Mormon with your daughter?" She said "oh... Sure, why not! Come on in!"

We didn't end up reading the Book of Mormon with her daughter, but got to know her VERY well and definitely won her trust! I kept feeling that we should offer for the Elders to come give her a Priesthood blessing. Guess what, before I could even say anything about the Priesthood she says "you know, I was meaning to contact your church this week because I want the thing where they put their hands on my head and pray over me." Her father had given her a blessing once before and she wanted another one during this time of need. So we called the Elders right then and there. They came to the rescue and Elder Rogers gave a powerful blessing. The Spirit was strong! She was bawling! I couldn't stop smiling! After the blessing we played some games with her daughter and her daughters friend and have an appointment to go back and visit this family next week :) I'm so grateful the spirit led us there! Please pray for J :)

It's been interesting.... Our district has been seeing so many miracles from the Priesthood lately. I feel like it's really helped us build Zion. MIRACLES ARE HAPPENING. 

I'm going to be very sad when we aren't a district anymore in two weeks. :(  

We picked up a former investigator named M this week. And you know what, I think it might be the right time for her to accept the gospel! We shall see. She's super sweet :) I was pretty happy about that. 

Many other great things happened in the space of the last 7 days... But I gotta go soooo just use your imagination to envision how great it is to be a missionary on Long Island in New York. 

I'm living the dream. 

Spiritual thought of the week: pray with FAITH. and remember you're not praying with faith if you're not working for what you prayed for. On my mission I've noticed a common phrase: "all you can do is pray and do your part. the lord will do the rest." Sometimes I will say "and what do you have to do to fulfill your part?" They will think for a moment, not really sure what their part is. "Do you read the Book of Mormon everyday?" I ask. Most often the answer is "no, not really." I have a testimony that no matter what the situation is, if you are not reading the Book of Mormon everyday, you will never fulfill your part. Do your part, read the Book of Mormon, keep the commandments, and the Lord will do the rest! 

Xoxo

-Sister Layton

Pics:

The Jessen ave one is for cousin Jessen. Just for fun.

Yet another cute district pic. I apologize if I already sent this home.