Week 10 Do I have to be Naked?

FRIENDS AND FAMILY, BROTHERS AND SISTERS, CHILDREN OF GOD,

INTRODUCING.....our new companion Sister Schmutz (pronounced Sh moo ts, lol) Sister Schmutz is from right outside of Albuquerque New Mexico. She is adorable and we love her a lot. Me and Sister Bunch were lone missionaries for all of Monday and Tuesday which was very weird, especially for Sister Bunch who has been in a trio her whole mission, but it was very good. We went around and delivered invitations to a Super Saturday Relief Society activity that our ward is throwing to some of the less actives in the ward. It was very nice, some of them were very nice. 

On Wednesday we drove to Santa Rosa to pick up our new trainee! Sister Bunch went into the training meeting and they sent me and 2 other sister who are also in training trios out tracting in Santa Rosa. Very stressful, but honestly the best because those 2 other Sisters were Sister Needham and Sister Huntzinger who if you remember were both bomb sister in my MTC district. It was super fun and we got to find a couple new people for the Santa Rosa missionaries. One of those people is Martha. We went to her door and asked if we could do anything to help her and the first thing she said to us was "if you could fill this hole in my heart that my dad just left..." and then she started to cry. She told us that her dad had passed away only the day before. So I gave her the biggest hug in the world and we told her a little about our belief in life after death and gave her a pamphlet. She was the sweetest lady and I really learned what it means to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort. 

Another experience I had this week where I learned this lesson is at Riverbend Nursing Center. We got a call last week from a member in Sacramento that wanted to know if we would be interested in going to his nursing center and teaching a small lesson to some of the tenants and to visit some of the people. We said absolutely and went to tour and teach a short one on Thursday. However, we did not expect how critical of condition these people were in. Most of those that we taught had lost their ability to speak and only nodded at us occasionally, we sang them songs and read from the Book of Mormon with them, I learned a lot about how we truly are all Gods children and that he is watching out for each of us. These poor people are in such bad shape but they were able to experience the spirit touch them even in just a small way as we took the time to visit them. It was a sweet experience. 

I accomplished my first duty as an STL this week! Teaching district counsel! Me and Sister Bunch prayed and studied like nobody's business and I think we did pretty alright haha. We did our best thats for sure. I do love being an STL already just because I get to serve more people, and I love serving people. 

Sister Schmutz is a natural and she has been doing AMAZING this week! We went to Joses the other day and we set a baptismal date with Jose (#1)! He is preparing to be baptized in September, and we are really excited for him! We had a recent convert at our lesson when we were teaching about baptism and we showed him some of Chris baptism pictures and Jose just says "yeah, im next." CHILLS! I am so so excited. Angleo is also praying about a baptismal date and is going to let us know today which one he picked! April also came to church again yesterday and this time she only missed Sacrament meeting and she stayed for the linger longer!! It was so good bc one of the missionaries that she loved came back to the mission (she has been home for a few months) and visited with her and one of the recent converts that she helped teach which was AWESOME! 

Honestly it was a very busy and amazing week and I could go on and on but I wont. I just gotta express to you all how much I am loving my mission. Serving other people is such a gift that I get to treasure every single day. I feel so much gratitude for my Father in Heaven for knowing me so perfectly and for knowing exactly what I need. I learned a lot about patience and about love this last transfer and I am so excited to see what my second transfer has in store. THIS GOSPEL IS TRUE. IF THERE IS ANYTHING THAT I AM 100% CERTAIN OF ITS THAT THIS GOSPEL IS TRUE AND JESUS CHRIST IS MY SAVIOR. I cannot ever say that enough. I was reading the words to a favorite hymn this week and within it it reads "In my Gethsemane, Savior and friend." I think about that a lot. He suffered individually in our own personal Gethsemane because he loves us, because he is our friend. I love my friend so so much. 

You are all wonderful, I hope that you have been having fantastic weeks and that you have been able to see Gods hand in your life, and if you dont see His hand you aren't looking hard enough. 

Other/Funny stuff:

-We extended the baptismal invitation to Jose and the first thing he said is "As long as I dont have to be naked..." I died, no worries we explained more in depth that infant baptism is very different and that no, he would not be naked. 

-BIRTHDAY SHOUTOUT: HAPPY 22ND BIRTHDAY (on Thursday) TO MY MAIN BIG SIS ANNALOU YVONNE TAMS, LOVE YOU LONG TIME LITTLE LADY. 

-When we were at the nursing center this lady in a wheelchair typed on her computer thing (she also cannot speak) that she couldn't breathe. So all the sudden in the middle of our reading like 4 doctors and nurses came in and fixed her up...we just sat there for a minute not knowing what to do until one of them told us to keep going, so we read in the Book of Mormon to the other peeps while this lady was in a life or death moment. Pretty intense stuff honestly. 

-I got Chick-Fil-A when we went to Santa Rosa and I was so so so grateful....I missed it so much.

-Sister Schmutz is a total natural, doesn't even need to be trained honestly 

-Our Stake President loves different older renditions to church songs so yesterday we did a meet and greet at his house and we just sang a whole bunch of hymns with weird music, it was very interesting but man is that guy passionate about that music.  

-Sister Schmutz thinks I am funny so we LOVE that. 

Mucho love, 

Sister Tams