Week 59 - San Rafael

Hola todos, qué tal? 

This week has been a pretty filled one! We were able to do another really intense service. We went to rodeo beach and they geared us up with heavy duty rain boots and we went and cleared the irrigation river they had going. There was grass all up in it everywhere so we were like knee high in water with huge rain boots digging away at grass and it was surprisingly really fun.

Then we swept a thing called the Mobil mat and it's this mat that goes out into the beach so people with wheelchairs can access the beach too so that was awesome.   It was quite tiring as there was sand EVERYWHERE, it’s like glitter.

We did go on a hike last Monday where we hiked to a little waterfall in the redwoods and it was so beautiful!  Check out our amazingly creative pictures.

I hope you all had an awesome Valentine's Day as well, happy heart day. We heart attacked some people's doors and had zone meeting! Two of the many highlights from the meeting:

• ·      We have been called by Christ just as his apostles were called to serve him, there is no difference in the call we have received to follow him. But the difference is how we choose to respond to the call.
• ·      Christ's purpose makes our purpose possible. Without Christ everything would be nothing he makes everything possible. The center of everything is the love of Christ.

That hit me really hard this week. Centered in the atonement was Christ's love for us, he did all he did because he loved us and because he loves us all things are possible. The charity or pure love Christ has for us is immeasurable and amazing I need to work more on having Christlike love for all. How convenient to learn about the love the week of heart day! :)

A special moment happened this week. A little boy named Liam had his baptism, he is in the English ward. Now let me tell you about Liam he is special needs and he warms my heart SO much. We were able to go and Yadira and Mitchin came as well!! The spirit was so strong for me and it was something I needed so much. Liam was the cutest thing ever and it was just amazing.

We all talked with him after and my heart was so warm and happy. He reminded me so much of Riley and I just sat and held his hands while he talked to me and I was so grateful it was the Lord saying he knew, he knew it was so hard for me to miss Keagan and Riley's baptism but that because I did that for him he made sure I was there for that moment.

Liam looked at me at one point and he said oh you're crying and I wasn't crying but I realized he could sense what I was thinking and I was overwhelmed so I did cry and he sat down and he hugged me. He patted my arms and kept saying oh it will all be ok in his little Liam voice and it was the sweetest thing ever.

Some amazing things happened this week though! We were able to visit with Jennifer and let's talk about love, I LOVE her so much. We shared the restoration with her and she was just kind of amazed at the idea of everything we had shared. She truly hadn't heard anything like it and that goes to show why we need to be sharing the gospel with everyone because so many are looking for it but they just don't know what it is or where to find it.

As we were walking around a house popped into my head so we went there. We knocked the door and this cute couple let us in, they are very much involved in their own religion but said that they talk with everyone because it's never bad to talk about God and Christ. So we chatted and we left them with a Book of Mormon they were so nice and sweet and they had been watching mission impossible when we walked in haha. But that was good to visit with them. It reminded me of something of saw the other day it was a sign on another church’s sign not of our faith. But their sign said "don't read the Book of Mormon, that's how they get you" it made me smile :) 

We went to a lesson with the Elder’s investigators, Yadira and Mitchin. They have a baptismal date set and are so ridiculously cool and are progressing so much. The lesson with them was so fun and Yadira has two little kids that are adorable that I was playing with. Sayne and Jared!

We also visited with Brenda and Jonathan and it was amazing we also talked about the restoration there. So we can also talk about love and happiness with them because Brenda announced that she had quit her job so that she could now attend church on Sundays and we were all so excited. Her example and dedication is amazing. She prayed and felt that's what she needed to do and the Lord blessed her, she said not minutes after she quit did she get a call from a friend asking about someone to nanny her child, which so conveniently happens to be what she wants to do now. But to make our lesson even greater they had invited friends over to hear it with them! Let me tell you how great this is ok? Ok! I invite you all to do this times 10.

The apostles have testified that everybody knows someone who could use the gospel so I invite you to find the missionaries and set up a family home evening with them and then bring a friend to it! This is how people really come into the church. As missionaries we can only do so much and we NEED your help in finding. Tracting is something I very much despise and it's the most ineffective thing ever but we do it because we have nothing else. So I invite you all to do that and to give the missionaries the names of people they could try to see. We feed off of the people we receive from members.  The people who truly become converted and love the church are those who are brought by you, not the missionaries. The missionaries teach and they love and pray more than you know but you bring and then they have a friend and a rock to hold onto in their entire conversion process. 

So it was a good week here in Novato we have been getting quite a bit of rain which is always so fun to work in but the Lords work continues rain or shine!

On a side note Hermana Mendez wanted the elders to come bless our house so we asked the zone leaders to come over. Yea so we definitely aren't all allowed to be in the house at the same time so we were supposed to wait outside while they blessed our apartment but we all got to our apartment at the same time. So I asked them to wait while we put our stuff down but when I turned around they were in our kitchen!!

My jaw just kinda dropped, they were super chill and just in our house and then one of them told us our apartment smelled like old people and I was like wow thanks just so you know it was worse before I cleaned up the bacteria house on our window last week. And also you are the zone leaders and what are you doing in our house. But they said a nice blessing and it was grand and very strange to be in a house with dudes my age, so there was that! 

I love you all so much and thank you for all the prayers. I testify and PROMISE the Lord loves you each individually SO much and knows you inside and out. Go to him. Everyday. All day. How grateful I am for my testimony that continues to grow and for a beginning of understanding of what it means to be a child of god. The gospel is amazing.

Les quiero muchísimo! Que tengan un buen semana.

Con amor,

Hermana Foster 

P.S: We get the amazing privilege to go to the temple next week so I will be emailing out in Wednesday!!! LOVE YOU!

Another little friend named Chris!