There Can Be Miracles - Week 49

Dear family,

This week was filled with miracles but it was also a very interesting
week and ended with a pretty frustrating night last night. I'm so glad
today is P day haha.

First off: Festival of Lights! It's over! It definitely went out with
a bang. Tuesday night we were on shift after having a two day break. I
was put with a member for my companion which, to be honest, wasn't
what I wanted and I wasn't very happy. However, this lady was great
and we ended getting four referrals that night. One of them is from
California originally and we really connected. He's probably in his
40s and has that California demeanor and he reminded me a bit of dad
so we got along super well. After he filled out the referral card he
told me not to be afraid when I come to his house. I sadly thought
that he's going to be disappointed when it's not me coming to his
door. However when I was entering in our referrals into the computer
at the end of the night, I discovered that he is in fact just barely
in my area! So I get to teach this awesome guy after all. Miracle.

Wednesday we were at the VC all day long. From 9:45am to 10:15pm. I
was able to teach quite a few Chinese people that day.

Thursday was New Year's Day! And a HUGE miracle!!! So before Festival
began, we set the goal of having 800 referrals from Festival. Last
year they only got 299. It was a daunting task but we were determined.
By the time New Year's Day, the last day of festival, rolled around,
we had 730. We were short 70 and we only had one night left. The
highest we had ever gotten in a night was 50 on Christmas Eve. We had
so much faith and determination and went out there to teach, resolved
to get those 70 referrals. Everyone said so many prayers together and
by themselves and our faith could've moved mountains. Sister
Huddleston and I were able to get three referrals by ourselves which
was ok but not as many as we had hoped for. We ushered the first
performance of the night and there were tons of technical difficulties
all over the place to the point that the show started 30 minutes late.
During those 30 minutes, there were sisters all up and down the line
of people, teaching and offering to have missionaries visit and having
them fill out referral cards. When the final performance got out at
around 9:30, we all divided and conquered and went to work teaching
everyone that we saw. Finally, the VC had to close and we all went and
wrote down our numbers and put in our referrals into the computers. I
didn't think we made it. Not as many people came that night as other
nights and sisters who were usually very successful at getting
referrals barely got any. Basically it would take a miracle for us to
actually reach our goal that night.

After putting in our three referrals, I went into the back office to
talk to Sister Eyring about something. I was talking to her for a
couple minutes when I heard a bunch of screaming coming from the main
floor and a roar of, "we did it!" With complete shock and disbelief, I
and the other sisters back there ran onto the floor to see what was
happening. All of the sisters were jumping up and down and hugging
each other and screaming and crying. I and the others joined in the
celebration as word got to us that we had reached our goal. We
celebrated and hugged as we tried to comprehend the fact that we had
done the seemingly impossible. We then all gathered in a circle on the
floor and knelt down as Elder Eyring offered a prayer of gratitude.
After that we all bunched together into a big group hug and started
chanting "DC VC!" Next we called President Cooke and put him on
speaker and put a microphone next to the speaker so that it amplified.
Elder Eyring told him that we had reached our goal and then us sisters
all started screaming. President Cooke became very choked up and was
so happy and proud of us. After more celebration, Elder White, a
senior elder (who's not a senior but in his late 40s or 50s) texted
some sisters who had returned home to let them know the good news and
also texted a sister to find out Sister Johnson's number. Together and
with Elder and Sister Eyring joining us, we called Sister Johnson, the
VC leader who had helped set the goal and prepare us for Festival and
who trained me, and told her that we had reached the goal.

We ended up getting 80 referrals that night for a total of 810
referrals for Festival this year! And at least half of them are in
this mission. 810 people are receiving missionaries because of the
Festival of Lights! What a miracle. First, we had never gotten more
than 50 referrals a night the whole month and yet the last day we
exceeded it by 30! Second, that's more than double the amount last
year! Third, we all learned that faith can move mountains or help 80
people to accept the missionaries in one night. I believe we got a ton
of those during the thirty minute technical difficulty delay which I
have no doubt God had a hand in. I will forever remember Festival of
Lights 2014 and the incredible miracle that happened on New Year's
Day. What an incredible way to start off a new year. THERE CAN BE
MIRACLES WHEN YOU BELIEVE.

Next item of business. President Eyring is coming to the VC this week!
But don't broadcast it because no one except the missionaries know. On
Saturday he is going to have a meeting with the missionaries in the
afternoon and then in the evening he is going to unveil our new big
cut out of the temple that they've been working on for 9 months. The
sisters are going to be at that and there will be a press conference.
And they've asked the sisters to sing for it so all the sisters are
singing a beautiful arrangement of "Where Can I Turn for Peace"
accompanied by me. So I will be playing the piano for President
Eyring. Never thought that would happen haha. I'm very excited but
nervous since its a tricky piece and during one of the verses I'm
playing a bunch of very fast 16th notes which needs to be perfect or
it will sound bad. Wish me luck and pray for me.

I'm also playing "Through Heaven's Eyes" accompanied by Sister Eyring
and being sung by Elder Fuller the next night at Night of Music and
Inspiration. I played that nine months ago for Night of Music and
Inspiration as well. Last Saturday while I was on shift at the VC, I
spent about three hours straight practicing these songs because they
are tricky and I have a week to get them down. After a while, I became
extremely exhausted and the notes on the page started swimming and I
was completely drained for the rest of the night and my fingers and
wrists ached. I haven't practiced this hard in so long and I've never
had that happen before. I'm worried I might be killing my wrists which
my piano teacher used to warn me about. If you know any wrist
exercises let me know. I'm so excited to perform these pieces.

We have a ton of referrals from Festival in our area. We have received
almost 30. We've been trying our best to contact and teach all of
them.

The craziest thing happened with one referral. Her name is Lisa and I
gave her a call and she talked to me for twenty minutes about how she
had been waiting for us to call and she is so stressed out and she
wants Jesus and she's a single mom of a nine year old boy. She is so
golden and we were so excited to teach her and so we set an
appointment for the next day. The next day we went to the appointment
and the lady answered and she was Lisa so we went inside and taught
her a lesson and she was a single mom of a little boy like she said.
However, she wasn't as golden as she sounded on the phone and she
didn't remember talking to us on the phone. It was kind of weird but
we later figured she must've been drunk or something because we had
called on New Year's Day. The next day, we got a call from our Ward
mission leader saying that a Lisa called him and said that she had
missed an appointment with us and wanted to meet with us. We then
realized that we have TWO referrals named Lisa and we accidentally
went to the other ones house and they are both single moms of nine
year old boys. I felt sick to my stomach so I called her Saturday
night but she didn't answer. She called me back at 10pm and usually
you're not supposed to answer after 10 but I did and I explained the
whole situation to her and she was very kind and understanding and we
talked on the phone for an hour and I ended up teaching her the whole
first lesson. She was going to get a ride with our Ward mission leader
the next day to go to church for an hour and I was super excited to
meet her.

The next day was Sunday and Lisa texted us in the morning saying she
can't make it to church so we asked if we could come by at 6pm and she
said ok. Before church we taught a referral who is cool but is leaving
to Mississippi for a month today. Great. Then we went to church and
only 2 of our 11 "progressing"(not anymore) investigators showed up.
Then the rest of the day went downhill. We went to an appointment with
a referral but he wasn't there. Then we went home and had dinner then
planned for a couple lessons. Then we went to Lisa's at 6 and we were
so super excited to see her. When we got there, her son answered and
said she was next door. He knocked on the door and she came out and
looked super ticked and said she had told us hours ago that she can't
meet. Confused, I looked through the phone and realized that she had
texted us three hours ago but for some reason it didn't pop up as a
notification so I never saw it. She was really annoyed and not very
friendly. Sadly, we walked back to the car. The three of us felt sick
to our stomachs. Sister Sundwall was feeling so bad that she asked me
to drive instead. Then Alba who is golden yet hasn't shown up to
church since I've been here texted us and cancelled her 7:30pm
appointment. We then spent the next 2 hours checking on every since
referral we got and either they didn't answer the door or told us to
come back some other time. All in all, it was a really bad night and
we were all so sad. I usually write in my journal at night before bed
but I was so sad that I didn't and I couldn't even eat and all I did
was sketch for 20 minutes to relieve stress and then I went to bed
early. The three of us were so grateful that today was P day. On a
mission you can't have the ups without the downs and we had had such
an amazing past few days and this week is going to be amazing so there
had to be a bad day in there somewhere. Last night I was so happy that
I had two companions with me who felt the same way and we just loved
and supported and understood one another.

Another cool miracle happened Sunday morning. I have a super hard time
getting up in the morning and on Sunday I was especially tired because
I had stayed up later talking to Lisa the night before. I was
struggling getting up out of bed and while I was half-awake and had no
energy, I sent out a plead to God to help me get out of bed.
Immediately, I felt this surge of energy come over me and I right away
sat up and then jumped in the shower. It was super cool. God is
waiting for us to ask for help.

That was my week. Very interesting and filled with miracles but also a
pretty bad day. But it's ok. God lives and loves us and this is His
work and we are happy to do it even when we aren't happy.

"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not
afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee
whithersoever thou goest"(Joshua 1:9).

Love you all.

Sister Black

Long, Crazy, Fun, Exhauting, Miraclulous Week - Week 48

Dear family,

This might end up being a novel. This was a long, crazy, fun,
exhausting, miraculous week.

The VC is crazy. Every day we had at least a few thousand people
coming in. We talked to tons of people and were able to get a lot of
referrals. Sister Huddleston and I have gotten a lot better at
teaching and testifying quickly and then getting a referral. Also, a
lot of sisters are getting sick so every day there are at least three
sisters sleeping on the sofa or the floor on the lounge downstairs. I
started to get a bit sick but nothing major thank goodness.

Christmas Eve was the best one ever. Before we went on shift that
night, Sister Sundwall and I opened all of our presents since we
wouldn't have time that night or the next morning. Thank you so much
everyone for the presents! Thanks Dad, Cari, Mom, Ashley, Hannah, and
Emma!!! We then went to the VC to rehearse for our Christmas Day
performance and then shift started.

Shift on Christmas Eve was the best. I was on fire. Why? Because it
was Chinese night! A Chinese choir came and sang and tons of Chinese
people came in. My companion was sick so they stuck me with someone
else for a while. However, I ended up having to sit in the nativity
room for 40 minutes instead of being able to teach the hundreds of
Chinese people that were out on the floor so I went to the sister
trainers and requested to not be on a schedule so I could just teach.
My wish was granted and for the rest of the night and I ran around
solo and talked to as many Chinese people as I could. I also said the
opening prayer for each performance in Chinese and got applauded each
time which was funny. I have never spoken Chinese so comfortably and
so much. Usually I have a super hard time understanding what they are
saying but I had no problem. My Chinese was still limited and they
could sense that so our conversations were simple and they were all
pretty much the same. In Chinese I'd say hi and ask if they are
Chinese, they say yes, I say I can speak a little Chinese, they tell
me my Chinese is great, they ask where I studied and how long, I tell
them at school in Utah for four years, they say my Chinese is great,
they ask of I've ever been to China, I say no, they say my Chinese is
great, I ask them if this is their first time here, they say yes, I
ask if they have any questions, they say no, they say my Chinese is
great, I tell them that I'm a missionary so I teach people more, I ask
if they've heard of they Book of Mormon, they say no, I ask if they've
heard of the Bible, they say yes, I explain the Book of Mormon and how
it testifies of Jesus Christ and was written by ancient prophets, I
ask if they'd like a free copy, they say yes, they fill out the
referral card, I say thank you and nice to meet you, and they tell me
my Chinese is great. I talked to tons of Chinese people and I just ran
all over the VC finding Chinese people to talk to for the rest of the
night. Usually I'm tired after being on floor teaching for an hour but
the time flew and I was having so much fun. I ended up getting six
referrals by myself tonight which was awesome. Collectively we got 50!
It was such a good night, I was super happy.

After the VC closed that night and we kicked everyone out, we went
into a room and played some games then the senior couples read a
story, Elder Eyring played his guitar and sang, we had snacks, and we
received presents from the VC senior couples and temple couples. It
was so sweet.

The next day was Christmas!! It was such a good Christmas! At 9am we
went to the VC as a mission. Santa was there for a bit so I got my
picture with Santa but idk where the picture went, sorry. We all went
into the main theater and the Cookes talked to us about Christmas and
showed us the nativity video and their kids each spoke to us for a few
minutes about Christmas. After that, we got to watch a movie. We got
to watch "How To Train Your Dragon 2"!!!!!!!!! When they announced
that I started tearing up a bit haha. I was so incredibly happy. The
first HTTYD was amazing and whenever I watch it I think about how I'm
going to be an animator one day and I learned the play the songs from
it on the piano when it first came out. So now I got to see the second
one and it was amazing! I loved it. The animation and visual effects
were incredible! The quality was a ton better than the first. I
thoroughly enjoyed myself.

After we watched the movie we walked to the stake center next door. We
all enjoyed a nice lunch and then we had a talent show! It was really
good. The Chinese elders did a lion dance which was funny and cool.
One elder is super good at tap dancing. We had some groups songs and
dances and skits and beat boxing and rapping. Finally I was last.
Elder Stevenson and I got up there and announced that we had made a
cartoon for the mission. I drew all the background with some help from
Sister Liu, Elder Stevenson did all the characters, and Elder Guerrero
put it together into a movie and made it animated. It's super cool.
It's on my Facebook so go watch it! Everyone loved it. It has a lot of
inside jokes and it was 11 minutes of pure genius. I didn't write the
script or put it together so I can say that and not be full of it.

That night we had shift at 3:30. All of the sisters were performing
for the concerts that night. We had concerts at 7 and 8 and
surprisingly a lot of people came. First we all came together and
sang, "Go, Tell It On the Mountain." Then I accompanied four sisters
who sang, "He Sent His Son" while Sister Eyring played the violin.
Then I sang with seven other sisters, "Baby, What You Goin' to Be?"
Then Sister Eyring did a violin solo, three sisters sang a song while
Elder Eyring played the guitar, Sister Sundwall sang a solo since
she's profesh, and then we all came together to sing "Oh Come, All Ye
Faithful." After that, we all went on the floor and worked. Even
though we were only teaching on the floor for two hours, we still got
48 referrals. Boom.

Friday was interesting. The performance that night was "Feliz Navidad"
and there were tons of Hispanics there. We thought we would get a ton
of referrals but it was hard. The Hispanics were just there to party
and they were all standing and dancing in the theater and the spirit
wasn't there. People were more rude and didn't want to talk and we all
struggled and got around 30 referrals which was good but 20 less than
the nights before. I didn't really enjoy that night.

On Saturday, four sisters went home. One of them was Sister Taggart
who I was companions with back from May to June and who I was in
Kensington with for two weeks with the other two sisters. It's so
weird that they're gone. I'm really going to miss them. Now we are in
a trio. I wasn't feeling too hot Saturday night at shift so I spent
about half of it downstairs.

Sunday was a struggle at church haha. The night before we got home
late from festival and got to bed at midnight and then we had to be at
Ward council at 7am the next morning. We were all fighting to stay
awake in sacrament meeting.

Thankfully, we weren't on shift last night and we aren't tonight. I am
so relieved, I am dead tired. Last night was miraculous. We were on
shift after church until 4 then we came home and had dinner. We then
planned for our lesson that we were gonna teach our investigators that
evening. We have received about 25 referrals in the past few weeks and
we were feeling very overwhelmed since we are at the VC almost every
night and don't have time to check on them. We started calling them
before leaving to our appointment. 5 minutes before we were gonna
leave, our investigator texted us and told us she can't meet anymore
and wanted to reschedule. We were pretty upset. But then two minutes
later, our referral who didn't answer called us back. I asked when we
could meet him and he asked if we could come over tonight. Yes, our
other appointment just cancelled! So we quickly went out the door and
went to his house. He's Hindu and from India and we were able to teach
him and his 11 year old daughter. They are so nice and have really
great questions and are really open and prepared. It was super cool.
We are meeting with them again Thursday morning so now we have two new
investigators! Yay! It truly was a miracle. We almost stopped by his
house the other day but couldn't and then our investigator cancelled
right before he called so we could meet with him and he is so ready.
He was a referral from festival. Amazing!

Aaaand that was my week! So crazy. I love Christmas here! I am so
super tired from festival but it's amazing and we have already gotten
three new investigators from it. The last day of festival is this
Thursday. I just have three more days. I can do it! And then I have a
ton of people to go teach! I am so excited.

It was really great talking to my family this week! I'm glad I was
able to call dad on the phone and then Skype the rest of the family!
President Cooke was so kind for letting us do that. I love and miss
all of you. I hope you all have a fun New Years celebration. I'll talk
to you next year but more importantly I'll see you all next year!

The scripture today is 3 Nephi 18:25, 32:
"And ye see that I have commanded that none of you should go away, but
rather have commanded that ye should come unto me, that ye might feel
and see; even so shall ye do unto the world; and whosoever breaketh
this commandment suffereth himself to be led into temptation.
"Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your
places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye
know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with
full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the
means of bringing salvation unto them."

Jesus right here commands us to not turn away anyone. Everyone is
invited to come unto Him. Everyone should be allowed at church. Those
who think that they are better than others or discourage those whose
sins are more visible than their to come to church are in the wrong
and are the real sinners.

Hope you all have a fabulous week and new year!

Love, Sister Black

Christmas pjs (: