Well. Let's just say this was the most amazing week EVER!! I will try my best to give a play by play.
I'll start with the title of the email. In case you were wondering, Nicholas M. is getting baptized on that date! Him, being the logical man that he is, decided that 10.12.13 would be a great date because there are 10 commandments, 12 apostles, and 13 articles of faith. So that's what we're rollin' with. Also, mark your calendars for October 15, 2014 because the M's are going to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity with their family on their ANNIVERSARY! I cannot wait for that day :) The dress is already picked out and it's going to be amazing!!!
On tuesday, we had interviews with President Hanks. I love that man! We had a great time talking and it was just all around good! We also went to stop by the Southern Museum of Flight to see if there were any service opportunities for us. Not only do they need a lot of help, but the guy was really friendly (in a businesslike manner) and gave us all the information we could ever ask for and even gave us a free tour of the museum! The whole time we were just wondering what we got ourselves into but we are super excited to help each week and hopefully have some good gospel conversations with the employees there.
On wednesday we taught Alejandro more about the priesthood since he will be receiving it next week! We also started to teach him english with the elders. He. is. a. PRO! Seriously, he picked up on it so fast and his accent is awesome. Pretty much Alejandro is the best!
We also had the way sweet lesson with a lady named Tavia. We were waiting at the library for a computer to do media and she comes in and then starts to get impatient and then says that she needs help with a job application but she doesn't have time to wait. So she asked if we could follow her to her house to help her. She said she was harmless and before I could really comprehend what was going on, we were out the door and in the car on our way to her house. Totally spir the moment! So I sat at the computer and tried to figure out the whole thing. Seriously took me forever. Meanwhile, we're having this great gospel discussion and let me tell you. Miracles do happen. Because she has this crazy religious family and she said that normally if she would have found out that we are mormons she would have kicked us out of her house. But we ended up having this great discussion about her being a daughter of her Heavenly Father and how she can use her talents to bless others and about the difference between our church and other churches and I think that in some way, we really did help her out that day.
Thursday was pretty much the bomb.com. Hermana Wong is amazing and wrote me the sweetest card and decorated my door with sticky notes. They were hilarious! We rode our bikes for exercise that morning to a doughnut shop that was SO good! And she even made me wear a party hat. It was embarrassing. Then we got ready and did all of our studies and weekly planning and then we went out and taught for 3 hours. We saw Deantra and worked out her schedule so she could come to the temple with us. We also went to see Lawrence. That boy is GOLDEN! The first thing he says to us is, "I'm so glad you came today!" Yes! Made our day :) He was going to New Orleans for the weekend and was planning on reading the book of mormon in the car with his cousin.
Then we came back and Sister C. picked us up for the temple! We could not even contain our joy because we were beyond excited all.day.long. We had been waiting for this day for weeks! The spirit was so strong as soon as we walked into the temple and the smile couldn't get wiped off my face when I saw Alexsia, Martha, Emily, and Deantra sitting in the waiting room. Our dreams are coming true! Our converts are making it to the temple!!! I was one happy missionary :) The temple president was talking right to them and said how they'll always remember the day they first went to the temple kind of like they always remember when their birthday is (kind of ironic, right?) Well, the whole night was fabulous and I just never wanted to leave. It was so peaceful! It was also so special to be able to do a family name while I was there. Bishop was the one doing the baptisms and being the jokester that he is...on the last name I did he held me under for a good 10 seconds and then whipped me back up! Unbelievable. He then proceeded to wish me a happy birthday! I think everyone was so surprised that he actually did it and we were all laughing. But trying to be reverent too of course! It's a Birmingham Ward tradition to go to Chick-Fil-A afterwards so that's what we did! Bishop spoiled us and it was a great night! When we got home, pretty much all the missionaries in our zone called and wished me a Happy Birthday! I got sung to many, many times. It was fantastic! And it was so nice of all of them to remember! I can't even begin to describe how I felt that day. Besides the fact that I didn't get to talk to my family, it was definitely one of the best birthdays I've had. And now I'm 21! Still can't get over that one, but I guess it's exciting to be getting older, so I will just embrace it :)
And then conference was the icing on the cake! The week just got progressively better and better! For the first time, I felt like I was fully engaged and had prepared myself and had questions and didn't have any distractions and didn't fall asleep and really it was just all around great. It was so awesome to watch it from a missionary perspective and to get insight on how to really help the people we're teaching. And there are so many things I want to go back over and read. It really does work! Your questions can be answered and I am so grateful for that testimony builder that I got this weekend.
We watched the first session at Carol's and it felt like every talk was speaking right to her needs! Seriously, it was all being handed to her on a silver platter and then when we talked to her about it after, she still rejected it all. It put quite the damper on the day, but it's ok. She still has a lot of faith and has a really strong testimony, just isn't willing to make the commitment.
The second session we watched at the church and an investigator family that just moved from another area came! They are so awesome and even though we had only known them for one day, it felt like forever! We can't wait to teach them more and help them on their road to conversion!
Sunday was fabulous as well and it was pretty much just us and the Elders chillin' at the church haha! We saw Deantra at work that night and she said that she just felt the spirit telling her that she was for sure going to Utah! We were like jumping up and down for joy! And she even picked a date that she is going to go out there. Her mom told her to pick out a wedding dress here because she's probably going to end up getting married out there hahaha! And she is just so rock solid and is really good at listening to the promptings of the spirit. I am so grateful for her example!
It was an exciting week and I am one happy, happy girl! It's going to be another busy week, but I am so pumped about everything that we have in store. It could be the last week that Hermana Wong and I are together so we're gonna make it a great one!
~Hermana Blackner
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