It's your Valentine. haha 1/14/2011

Feliz dia de amor! Soy tu misionera.. sin un Valentine. jaja. Sooo let's get started ?

 Welll. This week, and every week, ALWAYS has something that I never really expect that happens. Every week is completely different from the last, and it shows ME that you can never ever be too settled, because something new will always be happening. Something to test us, or to try our growth and the faith that we feel we so strongly have. Every day has an opportunity for us to really, truly seek out opportunities that could be in front of our faces all along.
  Sooo that being said. This week has been different! What I'm gonna talk about.. there's this Brother from the English Ward, Brother Gonzales.. or Brother G.. as we all call him. He has made some mistakes, so he couldn't serve a mission, but he has 6 kids and a wife who are the epitamy of a family that centers everything truly on the nothing but the Gospel. They have Family Home Evenings where his oldest son, Ammon, will start balling from feeling the Spirit so much. And he's 8! They are so incredible. And they live for the Lord, and together. :) So! I was having a hard time, and I was with my companion and the 2 other Sisters, Sisters Knight and O'Brien, from our District. So we decided to ask Brother G for a blessing. So we get there. And we start with a prayer, and he gives Hna. O'Brien a blessing first. SUPER powerful. Then he goes to give me a blessing, and

goes to put his hands on my head and just starts crying. And he's all, "Wait, I need a second to gather myself".... .. .. what! That had never EVER happened to me before. So he goes again and puts his hands on my head, and gives me this beautiful blessing. I could repeat the words of it that I remembered, but it wouldn't make nearlyy as much of an impact as the actual experience. I wish I could tell you I had felt the Spirit that strong before. I wish I could tell you in words the kind of feeling that was in that room. But the words I could try to use would never give it exactly what it deserves. So after the blessings, I asked if we could have a prayer, after Brother G's balling with all of us Sisters haha, so he asks me if I would offer it. So. We get down on our knees. And I start praying. And in between all of our tears, we all felt Heavenly Father was RIGHT THERE with us. He was so close, which brought us all. to complete tears. Never before as a amissionary had I EVER felt so close to Heavenly Father and my Savior before that moment. There really are no words.
  Also!

Guess what else happened :) There's this less active, Stephanie. One day Hna. Good and I were looking through the Ward List to visit some less actives. And she told me to say something if a name popped out. So! The Moya's popped out. And we decided to go visit them. And now she's been coming to church, and her DAD came with her yesterday for the first time in forEVER! And she's going for her patriarchal blessing now, so prayers for her would definitely. Be appreciated.
  With the sad news. Lucy. Our absolutely amazing investigator who still has the hearts we heart attacked her house with on her door, dropped us. We're pretty sure. She won't answer our calls, or call us back, or text us, or ANYthing. But you know what? Maybe she just needed to get a good view of the church from us so she could welcome the gospel back later, when the rest of her family is ready. If we're keeping perspective :) She's amazing, she really. REALLY is.
  So after this water tragedy that happened out here, everyone was talking about it yesterday in Relief Society, and the importance of food storage and how these little things, which this only lasted for a handful of days, are what show us how UNprepared we are for when one of these BIG tragedies is going to strike. Family. WE CAN NEVER BE TOO READY! Because think about what we're getting ready for. How can you be too ready for that!! I used to laugh, I'm not gonna lie, at how much water Mom always had me go out and buy, but if this had happened back home, that would be our water for cooking, bathing, drinking, for EVERYthing. We may never realize how prepared we need to be until something happens! One Sister said that a General Authority said that if you don't have your food storage or aren't working on it, it's too late. IT'S TOO LATE ??! So get ready ya'll! For the big earthquake we've been overdue for, or for whatEVER else will happen. Because I believe it will. Another sister said that she heard an Authority say that the importance of food storage is as important as boarding the arc Noah built. THIS WILL SAVE US. We don't know anything, we really don't. But we can be ready for the unknown. ;)
  Entonces, lo siento que mi e-mail no es mas interesante. Pero el Espiritu es lo mismo! Esta mision es la unica cosa mas dificil que yo he hecho. Pero en realidad, he visto que Dios verdaderamente lo mismo cada dia, y le ama cada persona en el mundo. El bien, el mal. Todo. Y todos ustedes, por su puesto. Les comparto estas cosas, con MI amor y oraciones, en el nombre de JesuCristo, amen.


Yo soy. Yo puedo.
La Hermana Batchkoff


.... haha le tome el ultimo parte del Elder Floyd.. memba him!!? :)