Monday, June 27, 2011

Round Three in Bel Air


Yep, transfer number 7 will be spent in Bel Air! My 3rd one, and I am so happy that I stayed. I love the craziness and the people we are teaching way too much to leave. It should be a great couple of months.

Santa came into the Visitors Center! Truly. See attached picture. He is REAL and whoever says he's not, you will be held accountable. I met him. He had rosy cheeks, a belly, and a cute little nose. And his laugh was completely Santa-fied. He was here, I am proof that he is real.

Things are going really well! Skeema is really amazing. She sent us a SUPER nice text this week, telling us how God sent us to her, which is SO unlike Skeema! It is amazing to see someone transform. She has a hard time seeing it in herself, but she truly is evidence of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  A girl in the WW 1st ward and she are buddies. They do everything together, including talking about the Gospel. She  is really good at communicating with Skeema, because she is rather difficult to communicate with because of how smart and logical she is about everything. She is out of town for a couple weeks though, so hopefully she will be baptized the 16th if all goes well. I want to be her and wear her clothes. On my right leg, cause she is TINY

UCLA had another baptism this week! We will call her K-Money. She is incredible. The Elders taught her, but Sis Bodily and I really got to know her well also and we just love her so much. If there is anyone who loves their Savior and SHOWS it, it is K-Money. She really had to sacrifice a lot to be baptized, including family relationships. But she is so faithful and knows that all will be well, that the Book of Mormon is true and so everything else will fall into place. I was able to speak at her baptism, about baptism and I was kind of a spaz to be honest, but what do you expect? I covered her hand in shaving cream and put cookies in it... long story... but I hope it was a memorable experience. I'm sure it can't NOT be haha.

Quadra is doing great! She really wants to be baptized. We are just waiting to make sure all the family is on board. It was great for her to see K-Money's baptism, and she is really excited for hers. Pres White wants to meet her this week, so we need to arrange for that and then we will go from there. We ate at Quiznos together the other day and after I said a little prayer on my food, she was starting to eat and then without me even saying anything (cause really praying at every meal is very much a missionary thing.... like even in restaurants and everything. Not really expected of a civilian) she said "I am going to pray now" and it just made my little heart so happy. She is such an amazing person.

Granny G. is the sweetest thing. She is really lonely, and really wants a social life so we have been trying to introduce her to as many people at church as we can. She set a baptismal date for July 30th which is very exciting because our first couple of lessons she said over and over again "I don't want to be baptized". She is reading and praying, which is the secret ingredient. Surprise surprise! She came to church and during the Gospel Principles class, I was asked to explain fast offerings. So I did, and then Granny G said "do I give you money now?" and started reaching for her money bag. Haha. She is adorable.

We have a couple new/potential investigators too that we will hopefully be able to meet with this week. Things are going well over here in Bel air! Lots of work to do, and we are working our hardest.

One of the things I love about LA is the randomness of it. Yesterday, we were outside waiting for Granny G to come, and this woman looked very lost so I tried to talk to her and soon realized that she didn't speak any English and was from the Ukraine. So I told her the 5 words I know in Russian (thanks, my Russian speaking friends! It's quite handy to know how to count to 10 haha) and then basically dragged her into the church and she came to Gospel Principles. SO in that class we had an Italian, a Ukrainian, a Salvadorian, a German (he had come to the Visitors Center wanting to know where church was. And he left us his info to give to the missionaries there! And wants to be baptized!) and then a bunch of white folk. It was awesome. Me and the Woman from Ukraine drew pictures back and forth to try to communicate. It was hilarious. And then out of nowhere, she just up and left. Haha. Hopefully she felt the spirit though, since she couldn't understand anything. She smiled a lot though. Priceless moments.

Not sure what else to update... things are going so great. Lots to do in Bel Air. You are all wonderful, thank you for everythingggggggggg
Sista Brink

pictures:
1: Elder Tarati who was with us for a week while waiting for the Volcano to clear in Australia. Good luck! And Elder Kenny and Sis Bodily and I. Elder Kenny is the best.
2: SANTA. It really is him, promise.
3: K-Money's baptism
4: WW Zone. LOVE THIS ZONE!
5.  Good-bye Elder Wood.  He was such a trip.  He will be missed.  

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