Dear Family,
Where do I even begin? I have had the most amazing week and I just want to tell you everything that has happened but I know that isn't possible but I will try.
First of all I feel like I am still on a spiritual high from conference the last two days. Let me say that it was well worth the wait. It was absolutely incredible. Every talk was so inspired. I feel like I am ready to take on the world. If you haven't had a chance to watch all four sessions then make time now because it is so worth it. It was funny to when in the Sunday afternoon session when Elder Terence M. Vinson started talking because everyone in the congregation recognized his accent and they all sat up and listened harder. I also had a proud moment when he mentioned the miracles being performed in the South Pacific namely New Zealand.
Elder Terence M. Vinson is right, there are miracles happening everywhere here. We had so many this week it is incredible. The first one happened last Monday when I was done emailing. We were walking into the grocery store and the phone rang and it was a member calling to say that she had been talking to her neighbor about the gospel and now she wants to get baptised. Seriously. So we set up a lesson for the following day and it was so cool. The lady we taught is about 25 and she has three small children and she is really ready to make a change in her life. She wants to join the church and have the happiness she has seen in her member friend's life. We started teaching her the restoration and then we found out that she and her friend had watched the hour long Joseph Smith movie the day before and so she already knew everything and she said she knew it was true. We just sat there in awe it was so cool. So now we are working with her and hopefully she will be ready for baptism in the coming weeks.
Like I mentioned last week we had a baptism scheduled for Friday night and we had been really good about seeing our investigator daily to help her combat temptation and everything seemed to be going really well and we were looking forward to Friday night. So Friday during the day we had a few appointments we were really excited about but sadly they all fell through. We didn't know what to do and then I had the thought "Well we might as well stop by Trina's and see if she needs help with anything else for tonight." So we walked over to her house and she let us in and I asked "So are you excited for tonight?" and she said "Nope!" and I was shocked. She then said that her and her boyfriend had a massive fight that morning and that he had left and she didn't know where he had gone. I about had a heart attack. We decided to kneel and have a prayer and we prayed that his heart would be softened and that everything would work out. It occurred to me that Satan was doing everything he could to prevent the baptism from happening. We just sat there and waited with her for what seemed like forever. We didn't talk much except to assure her that everything would be okay. I think we were all praying as hard as we could in our hearts. Finally after an hour and a half he showed up with his family so that they all could go and finish setting up the wedding. I was so grateful. As we were leaving, Trina said "I am happy you showed up because I was about to have a smoke. I figured we weren't getting married and I wasn't going to get baptised I might as well feel better by smoking. I don't know what I would have done had I smoked and then he came back and still wanted to get married. Thank you for coming." I couldn't believe it. We were led by the spirit and we didn't even know it. I guess sometimes our plan A isn't the Lord's plan A because He knows everything and He knew we needed to be there with Trina to help her through the temptation that could have ruined everything.
Friday night Trina and her boyfriend Percy were married by the Bishop in the cultural hall of the church building. It was supposed to be a small wedding in the Bishop's office but they invited all of their family and so it turned into quite the ordeal. The relief society even had table decorations. It was really pretty actually. Immediately after the marriage we had the baptism service. All three of us got to speak and then we got to watch Trina enter the waters of baptism and make that sacred covenant with her Heavenly Father. I almost cried I was so happy. I haven't felt joy like that before. It was like I was allowed to feel a little bit of what Heavenly Father was feeling as one of His daughters took the first step towards returning to live with Him. It was incredible. When she came out of the water she was so happy. She jumped up and down in the bathroom just crying because she was so happy. It was an amazing experience.
I want to just say again that I have the two greatest companions ever. I cannot tell you how much I love these two sisters. We have so much fun together. It seems like every minute that isn't spent in a lesson or other serious situation we are laughing. I haven't laughed this hard this consistently in my life. Sister Vea has this standing joke with one of the elders and its that when they finish their missions at the same time they are going to fly home together and get married. She says things like "Elder Ipson, when we get married I want you to buy me a house like that" or something along those lines and he always turns bright red. Sister Vea doesn't really like him (we are missionaries remember) but she is always teasing him. The other night we got a text from Elder Ipson's companion Elder Krull who is our district leader. He was trying to be spiritual and teach us something and so he said "What is the greatest gift you could give someone? It would have to be eternal." and so I responded by saying "Sister Vea wants to give Elder Ipson and eternal marriage. Does that count?" and Elder Krull texted back and said "hahahahahaha the best part of that was his reaction." Apparently he turned more red then he ever has. We are just always having a good time.
Now the three of us are the only sisters in our zone and somehow this competition has started between all of the other elders as to who we like more. They are always having competitions to be our favorite. They always make/bring us food (which is bad because its really good) and they argue over who gets to give us rides. Its awesome. If we need a ride somewhere we just call one of the elders and they are happy to come get us and take us wherever we need to be. I would like to say that we are not taking advantage of this but in all reality we are but it makes our lives so much more enjoyable. We are blessed though because our zone has some of the best elders in the mission.
So this is the highlights of my week. I can't say enough how great it was. I am so happy in this area because I have amazing companions, an amazing ward, and amazing elders that we get to serve with.
I hope that everyone at home has a great week and that everything goes well for all! I love and miss all of you!
Love,
Maquel
This is a picture of Percy and Trina and the three of us right before she was baptised.
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