Week 68: Sweet is the Work
Transfers are today, but we won't know until we get emails on Monday whether Sister Fairbanks or Sister Sessions will have to move. I would be REALLY surprised if either of them did, but stranger things have happened. Since we get to video chat with her every week now, there are times when we run out of things to say, but this week I felt like we needed two more hours! There are little, Becca-like mannerisms that I saw in her this week that I haven't seen for a while, and it just made my momma heart all warm and fuzzy to see her back to her joyful self. Seasons of joy are worth savoring, and I am loving every bit of this one. 💗💗💗
Hi Mom!!!
...My week was fantastic!! President Vest said I sound like I am finding a lot of joy in the work right now, and I truly am. My mission honestly just gets better and better. Still plenty hard! But so amazing.
Monday evening we had miracle after miracle happen. We were freaking out because so many wonderful things were happening seemingly out of the blue! They were little things like people getting back in contact with us, someone commenting about their excitement to keep learning, taught a spontaneous lesson... But these all mean so much to us! In the span of three hours, I counted 8 miracles. Those were the obvious ones, but I know that God works behind the scenes too. We were pretty excited that night.
Tuesday we got stuck in a rain storm again, but this time a member let us borrow their giant umbrella. So the only thing that got wet was my poor sandals! That's the second time. It takes them about three days to dry out, but they haven't been ruined yet. Another miracle!
This week our zone had a goal of making 70 street contacts per area this week. That's pretty hard! But we made some good goals for each day and planned in specific time to make it happen. On Saturday, we planned to go to Stewart Park, right on the edge of the lake. It's a huge park, so our goal of 22 that evening was probably attainable. We talked to 32 people!!! Okay, we said hi to more than that, but a street contact counts if you try and share the gospel. 32 times in the span of two hours is a ton!! We worked so hard and had so many awkward situations, but we made it work and met some pretty cool people. And by the end of Sunday night, right before we had to report numbers for the week, we reached 70!!! I've never done that my entire mission and we were so happy. We ended up giving away a lot of copies of the Book of Mormon and just felt so good to work so hard.
We had some great lessons this week. We started teaching this young mom named Liliana. She is from Colombia and speaks Spanish, so we brought a memeber with us that also speaks Spanish on Friday. It was fantastic!! She could finally express herself and we could understand what her thoughts were and she better understood what we were trying to teach. It was fantastic! She has started the Book of Mormon and loves the pamphlets. We had another lesson with her yesterday and it was awesome. She basically invited herself to church and said she would like to practice this religion if she continues to like what she is learning. She even said she would be open to baptism, even after we explained that she would need to be rebaptized. She is so awesome!
...Eric went to Palmyra on Saturday to see the sites and the pageant. He loved it all. We invited him to pray about his baptismal date while he was in the Sacred Grove and he said afterwards that he felt like he prayed in the same spot where Joseph prayed. He felt the Spirit so strongly and got a little emotional telling us about it. He loved the pageant too and we were able to hook him up with a member to sit with, which was good becuase he had questions at the end. Eric is SO close. We nicely asked him to make his final decision about being baptized on August 10 by Thursday so that we can get this show on the road! I'm excited for Eric. He has come so far.
Trasfers are this week, and like always, we have no idea what will happen. But it wouldn't surprise me if we both stay. And I really, really hope we do. We have tons of fun together and I would be sad if she left. Or I left. We are also working with SO many awesome people right now! I love Ithaca.
...I love you so much!! Can't wait to talk to you later!!
😘😘😘😘❤❤❤❤❤😘😘😘😘😘❤❤❤❤❤
❤❤❤ Sister Fairbanks
1 - sunset selfie
2 - we found Penny Lane
3 - Cayuga Lake
Hi Mom!!!
...My week was fantastic!! President Vest said I sound like I am finding a lot of joy in the work right now, and I truly am. My mission honestly just gets better and better. Still plenty hard! But so amazing.
Monday evening we had miracle after miracle happen. We were freaking out because so many wonderful things were happening seemingly out of the blue! They were little things like people getting back in contact with us, someone commenting about their excitement to keep learning, taught a spontaneous lesson... But these all mean so much to us! In the span of three hours, I counted 8 miracles. Those were the obvious ones, but I know that God works behind the scenes too. We were pretty excited that night.
Tuesday we got stuck in a rain storm again, but this time a member let us borrow their giant umbrella. So the only thing that got wet was my poor sandals! That's the second time. It takes them about three days to dry out, but they haven't been ruined yet. Another miracle!
This week our zone had a goal of making 70 street contacts per area this week. That's pretty hard! But we made some good goals for each day and planned in specific time to make it happen. On Saturday, we planned to go to Stewart Park, right on the edge of the lake. It's a huge park, so our goal of 22 that evening was probably attainable. We talked to 32 people!!! Okay, we said hi to more than that, but a street contact counts if you try and share the gospel. 32 times in the span of two hours is a ton!! We worked so hard and had so many awkward situations, but we made it work and met some pretty cool people. And by the end of Sunday night, right before we had to report numbers for the week, we reached 70!!! I've never done that my entire mission and we were so happy. We ended up giving away a lot of copies of the Book of Mormon and just felt so good to work so hard.
We had some great lessons this week. We started teaching this young mom named Liliana. She is from Colombia and speaks Spanish, so we brought a memeber with us that also speaks Spanish on Friday. It was fantastic!! She could finally express herself and we could understand what her thoughts were and she better understood what we were trying to teach. It was fantastic! She has started the Book of Mormon and loves the pamphlets. We had another lesson with her yesterday and it was awesome. She basically invited herself to church and said she would like to practice this religion if she continues to like what she is learning. She even said she would be open to baptism, even after we explained that she would need to be rebaptized. She is so awesome!
...Eric went to Palmyra on Saturday to see the sites and the pageant. He loved it all. We invited him to pray about his baptismal date while he was in the Sacred Grove and he said afterwards that he felt like he prayed in the same spot where Joseph prayed. He felt the Spirit so strongly and got a little emotional telling us about it. He loved the pageant too and we were able to hook him up with a member to sit with, which was good becuase he had questions at the end. Eric is SO close. We nicely asked him to make his final decision about being baptized on August 10 by Thursday so that we can get this show on the road! I'm excited for Eric. He has come so far.
Trasfers are this week, and like always, we have no idea what will happen. But it wouldn't surprise me if we both stay. And I really, really hope we do. We have tons of fun together and I would be sad if she left. Or I left. We are also working with SO many awesome people right now! I love Ithaca.
...I love you so much!! Can't wait to talk to you later!!
😘😘😘😘❤❤❤❤❤😘😘😘😘😘❤❤❤❤❤
❤❤❤ Sister Fairbanks
1 - sunset selfie
2 - we found Penny Lane
3 - Cayuga Lake
Good Morning!
It's a beautiful, rainy morning in Ithaca. It's really nice actually because the heat index got up to 106° twice this week! So it was super duper hot, but we survived and still had some amazing miracles happen! We talked to A TON of people this week and had some incredible lessons.
We had a member that speaks Spanish come to a couple of lessons with Liliana, and she helped so much! Liliana is learning English, but when it comes to learning something as details and spiritual as the gospel, it helped to have our teaching and her feelings expressed in ways that we can all understand now. She loves this gospel and it is so in line with what she already believes. She even invited herself to church and talked about possibly being baptized. We're very excited for her!
We found so much joy in the work this week. I really can't explain it all, but it's been incredible to see the hand of the Lord in it all. We got to teach quite a few people about the restoration of the gospel this week and everytime I teach it, my own testimony grows. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that continues to reach out to His children here on earth. He gives us prophets who hold power and authority from Him and scriptures and families to guide us in this life. All of these truths and more were restored through Joseph Smith and are taught in the Book of Mormon, evidence that we can hold in our hands and read for ourselves. I love the Book of Mormon and cherish the teachings of Christ. I couldn't be happier with where I am right now and it's all becuase of the gospel. I love it.
Have a great week!!
Sister Fairbanks
2 - sunset over Cayuga Lake
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