What type are you?

Now, the headliner may be interpreted in many ways. So, which way am I
going to go? Spiritual? Economical? Physical? Wrong. Sangral. I would
like to revisit a moment we had this morning because I don´t want to
forget it. And it´s funny.

So this morning, we were talking about donating blood. I forget how
the conversation came up, but we were. OH! Hermana Renteria said she
liked my freckles. Which I know, in the beginning doesn´t make sense.
But it does, I told her "yes, that´s what got me all the boys before
the mission (sarcasm)" and then I had to tell a story about a
phlebotomist who told me that he really liked my vein, and ended his
sentence with "oh, but I bet the boys tell you that all the time"
".....yes, every date I´ve been on...." Anyways, so that´s the
connection. The point is, we then go into a discussion about donating
blood, and more importantly, the cookies that we eat afterwards (as
missionaries we are always hungry, and it was close to lunch). So we
are sitting there talking about cookies, and Hermana Bray turns to me
and says "Hey, what type are you?" "Chocolate chocolate chip....."
Now, I would like to make it clear, that I actually knew that she was
asking what blood type I was. But we were talking about cookies. So I
chose to interpret the question how I wanted.

There are two spiritual things you can learn from this story. First:
If you want a specific answer, ask a specific question. God can only
answer questions that we ask, so get specific and you will see
specific results (i.e. peace for a test, the gift of discernment for a
wedding, getting into a good college program, a baptism, etc.) The
Second is that we are all different. And even though we interpret the
same question in different ways, we always get a truthful answer.
Especially when we ask God. It reminds me of when President Hinckley
went on Larry King, and Larry asked him a question, and President
Hinckley didn´t actually answer it, he answered the question that
should have been asked. I obviously was very touched by this
experience and remember all the details. The point is it happened, and
President Hinckley was a good example. That very random story actually
turned out pretty good. I guess I´m getting pretty good at being a
missionary. I´m letting God mold me into the instrument He needs me to
be. That´s uplifting.

Now, on to the spiritual side of my week. We had a training meeting
this week for all of the district leaders, zone leaders and trainers,
which meant our entire district was at this meeting (kind of cool) and
we talked a lot about being bold, and the vision of the mission. Truly
understanding that if these people do not accept the Gospel in their
lives they can not return to the Kingdom of God. Sí o sí. We can not
fully and truly repent without being baptized by someone who holds the
true authority of God, by His order. And we talked about how important
this was, and how we will change our missions if we better understand
this vision. It was a very good meeting. Anyways, so we get home from
the meeting and we had plans to go visit this investigator named
Daniel de Ballester. That´s what we call him anyways. He works in our
area, but lives in Ballester. Anyways, the Elders from Ballester had
asked us if we had talked to this Daniel in a while, because he was
golden, but then one day he got super mad at the Elders and they
didn´t know why. And during nightly planning I felt it was really
important to make sure we pass for Daniel even though he is
technically not our investigator. So, with this new vision, we go to
visit Daniel. Turns out that one day the Elders called him one to many
times and he got upset. He said they called him 10 times in one day,
but I think he was exaggerating. And that´s not the point. The point
is, he got upset, whatever the reason, and now doesn´t want to talk to
them anymore. So, Hermana Alvey and I got to play medic. And we
explained to Daniel that all of us missionaries are just so happy for
this opportunity to help Daniel, because he is looking for peace and
tranquility and he felt it in the church, and he wants to get
baptized, and the Elders are just so excited for him that they want to
help all the time. We then pointed out, that they are 19 years old, so
they may not be able to hold back their excitement at times, and maybe
they got a little carried away. But what is important is that Daniel
can feel the truth, and the Elders are the ones that are going to help
him find it.

In the end, Daniel understands a little bit better (thank you Holy
Ghost for confirming the truth and helping us smooth things over. We
received a lot of inspired words to help with that). So we ask him,
"So, when can you meet with the Elders?" In the end we end up setting
up an appointment with him right there. And we had him call the Elders
in Ballester. Now, we didn´t have their phone number, so we had to
call our district leader, ask for the phone number. And then when
Daniel didn´t have credit (i.e. minutes) we let him use our phone.
That´s called taking the initiative, being persistent and
understanding the vision. Daniel will be meeting with the Elders
tomorrow. He´s going to get baptized.

It was a great experience. And, usually I´m not very pushy. I´m still
not. But I was able to share my testimony with him. And I was able to
see him feel the truthfulness of my words as the Holy Ghost confirmed
to him what I had said. And it was a great experience. I don´t do that
every time, but I´m getting better and more consistent.

Other experience of the week.
So, we had a good district meeting, where we prayed individually as
companions as to five families in the ward that we should visit this
week to ask for references. One family name we received was the Family
Roig. They are awesome. Anyways, so we are working in this area and we
have a bit of time before our next appointment and we pass the Roig´s
house and are about 2 blocks away when I just get the idea that we
should go back. The thought process really was "...meh, sure, why not,
let´s go visit them now. We are in the area." So we go back and knock
on the door and Hermana Roig answers the door in tears. "Hermana!
What´s wrong!?" We go in and start talking to her. And it´s nothing
super big, just whenever she´s on her period she gets a little
depressed, but never really this bad. She´s sitting there crying, not
uncontrollable shaking tears, but she is obviously not a very happy
woman. And so we ask her what we can do for her. And we talk for a
bit, and I decide, well Hermana, we´re going to read in the scriptures
with you, and then we wanted to practice with you the Introduccion to
the Book of Mormon, something we do everymorning, it´s how we set
baptismal dates. mmkay? Okay.

So, we start reading in Alma 13. Which we had read with President
Gulbrandsen, which basically states that we have been saved for these
latter days, and the Plan that God has for each and every one of us is
specific enough that He has planned the very day that we would be
here. For instance, we have been called as missionaries here to the
Buenos Aires Norte mission because we have people we need to teach,
who would only accept the Gospel from us and no one else (maybe we
made a pact up in Heaven I don´t know, I just know it´s true). And it
says we were saved for the last days because of our great faith. It is
an amazing chapter, everyone should read it, because it applies to
everyone, It´s just awesome to read it as a missionary because I´m all
like "Whoopah, I´m so a servant of the Lord right now. Rock it."

Anyways, so we have a little testimony meeting, and then do the
practice with her. And she ends up sharing with us that this severity
of depression has only happened twice in her life. Now, and we´re
here. And the other time, when she was in her house crying, there was
a knock on the door, and the Elders were standing there. God knows us
individually and by name. And He sends His angels to answer the
prayers of His children. I´m grateful for this opportunity to be an
angel of the Lord. And I know that every friend I have and every
member of my family has been an angel for me at some point in my life.
Thank you for being my angels. I hope I have been able to be one for
you.

Anyways, it was a good week. Very successful, lots of experiences. I
got chastised again for not being super awesome about writing in my
journal. I do want to do that more, hopefully it will be easier as
Hermana Alvey and I are moving in to a separate apartment. Less
distractions.

I love you, keep being you. That´s how God made you, and God doesn´t
make mistakes.

Hermana Reed