FAMILY
so the most stressful hour of my life was definitely my email time last week. i had so many people to respond to and soooo much that i wanted to say it was ridiculous. i literarlly was completely red in the face. which reminds me, those that remember how red my face got in high school or whenever i was embarrassed, i have learned that i get completely red in the face when i feel the spirit strongly. which is almost all the time. i break out in this heat rash and i get flushed and overheated i mean whats that all about!! whenever i focus on anything for a long time, same thing. omg mom thank you for all the packages and letters and such. OH MY DUKES LETTER. no joke i bawled. but that was so gross. the dog hair you put in the envelope was sticking out and i did not want to open it. i dont know why thinking about him makes me so sad!!! i was sobbing when i saw his cute little picture!!! the other hermanas thought it was a joke and i just really dont know what happened to me hahaha but thanks for the pictures of him. sho cute. also aunt jackie sent me disney princess tattoos. SO classic. im planning to respond to letters today.
so last wednesday after i emailed, i had some major experiences. we are allowed to walk to different places nearby on preparation day, so we were about to cross a street with some other sisters and elders including our zone leaders, and we hear this loud crash up on the next intersection. we were walking towards it RIGHT after it had happened, and there was a lexus upside down on its windshield, and a young mom in shock and tears holding a baby with a torn up van. our elders ran up to see what was happening and i was trying to console the girl who had apparently run a red light and was just freaking out. another hermana from my district asked if she wanted a blessing (pretty sure she has to ask first, but it was too late cuz she was prompted) and the girl said yes she would. so our 18 year old scrawny 6´4 adorbable zone leader was about to perform his first priesthood blessing of comfort. so the 5 elders walked a little ways away into the nearby parking lot and gave her a blessing. all 18 years old just out of high school. i am constantly amazed at the faith and abilities of them. we could feel the spirit so strong even from a distance. what a blessing that we got there right in time to console her without witnessing the crash for ourselves. OH then after the blessing a man ran up to us and said the driver of the upside down car was an 83 year old man, he had been thrown into the passenger seat, yet walked away with just a scratch on his head. if thats not a miracles i dont know what is. major experience for us, and the Lord was able to use us in the correct time.
okay so I GOT TO SEE BRETT. we were both searching for each other on sunday night (west campus only goes up to main on tuesday nights and every other sunday for devotionals) and he ended up walking right by me and shook my hand. how sad. he said i was the first familiar face he had seen and it gave him comfort and i just wanted to hear all about his first few days!!!!! im so proud of him and his decision to be here!! then last night at devo we got to sit next to each other!!!! how crazy right, and katie sundberg sat in front of us. i just wanted to send out a picture to everyone right then and there haha.
today we are supposed to get 6 new sisters and 8 new elders in our zone, basically doubling it completely. im so excited to meet them all!!! ALSO i like the food here. i eat a lotttt. people say they dont like it but it doewsnt bother me haha. i feel like we are always eating and i am ALWAYS so full. my companion and i are getting along really well. her spanish is progressing so quickly! i just keep praying that she will have increased faith in herself and faith in the abilities of the Lord to help her in the time she will need it. once a week we go to TRC, which basically is where people volunteer to be mock investigators that we have to teach. we were sooo nervous. the trainers say that it doesnt matter if its a fake investigator or not, EVERYONE needs to be invited to come unto Christ, even the missionaries. so basically our decision was to get to know the people and then ask them if there was anything we could help them with or ways that we could help them increase their faith. oh, by the way, entirely in spanish. so first we taught this little old couple who have served tons of missions in mexico. the husband kept speaking in english cuz he felt bad we couldnt understand him (my companion) and his wife would get all frustrated it was adorable haha. she´d say ¨mi amor, espanol por favor, obediencia es muy importante.¨ and then he´d apologize, in english. so funny. hermana riedelbach was able to say so much in spanish i actually got emotional because i was so proud of her. but in the second lesson that night we asked this little old funny lady if there was anything she was looking for, but she wanted to hear why we decided to serve a mission. i went first and luckily she told us she could understand spanglish bc my explanation was so broken. but when hermana riedelbach told hers she started to get so emotional we both ended up sobbing because the spirit in the room was so. strong. then it wasnt until that point that i realized our stories are so similar. her dad served a mission, but hasnt gone to church because he was offended or something a few years ago, which makes me so sad, so hna. riedelbach felt like it was up to her to be an example to all of her siblings. PLUS she was hoping that her decision would touch her dad and that maybe someday he would be able to go back to the temple with her siblings. she is the first of her siblings to serve a mission as well. i am the first on either side of my family so we both are doing our best to succeed. we KNOW with all of our hearts that this is exactly where we need to be no matter what. she is facing all of her greatest fears by being here, but her answer from Heavenly Father was that this was the path she needed to take. p.s. crying with someone brings you a lot closer to them haha.
one thing i have been working on is forgetting myself. even though i thought i had done that, ive realized that its very difficult. even dwelling on my own weaknesses is something i shouldnt do. i need to study for other people and learn the lessons for other people, without focusing on things i cant too. instead i need to focus on what i CAN do, and trust that the Lord will turn all my cants into cans. we are here to focus on the needs of our investigators, not talk at them about the gospel. but rather find out what they are struggling with or uncertain about, and tell them exactly which aspect of this gospel can hep them. this church is for EVERYONE on the earth. people on earth chose to come here, rather than live in darkness and despair. they just need to be reminded of the plan that our Heavenly Father has created for them. i am so dissapointed in myself for not telling every single one of my friends about the greatness of this church and the greatness of the Book of Mormon. how selfish of me. my teacher was talking about how someday we will be so sad if we didnt have the chance to tell people we love about the glory and love they can experience, theyll say ´you knew about this!! and you didnt tell me!!¨ so tell people about what you know. tell them why you are so happy and hopeful about things. you already know where you are headed and what path you wish to take, so help someone else along! ill share my journal entry from last night
´Today i got agitated alot, not sure why persay. But at least i know i can overcome that. thank goodness my companion and i are getting along. i think it makes me a lot happier slash feel closer to her when we are open with each other. but 19 year old girls can get annoying. (((((sorry just realizing this))))) tonight we had a devotional at main campus and it was all about the plan of salvation and how if we decide which degree of glory we want to spend eternity in, all the rest of our decisions will be a lot easier. NOTHING should ever stop us from achieving that degree of paradise and happiness, i know that i will NEVER allow myself to fall away from this church and this gospel and i cant ever turn my back on the Savior after all that He has done for me. I was thinking earlier tonight that this is my religion. and my entire life is made to fit around this chruch, and i couldnt be happier. its my life and my pride, everything that i am and everything i want to be is a result of this gospel. i will NEVER turn my back on it and always will stand up for it. tonight we taught gabriella, and athiest bio student. i think we did alright. hermana riedelbachs testimony is so strong. she always says such profound things with the little spanish that she knows, but i can only imagine what sort of things she could bring to the lesson when she gets further along. she has come so far and im so proud of her. i really do love her. she is so nice to everyone and she is striving to be the best example she can for her family and expecially her inactive father. we are so similar in that way, kind of serving to help others along and hoping someone else can benefit from our testimony. i am grateful for Brett and his example to me of diligence and strength in his decision to be here. i am grateful for honesty. without it there is so much tension! in all things. i am grateful for my branch presidency. i always luck out with my bishoprics. they are golden people with such great experiences and advice. i am so lucky.´
so theres my week in a nutshell. theres SO much i have left out but i am out of time. i love you all so much and my testimony grows immensely every single day. i got letters from jenny donahoo! and brother hobson. so sweet. i hope everyone is good at home and staying warm. utah is so cold but so pretty. till next week!!!!! te amo much
con amor,
hermana zimmerman
p.s. i was doing sealings today and there was a brother warren in the same room with us that looked just like uncle matthew. i was proxy for a daughter being sealed to her parents. i asked if he had slc relatives but he didnt. yet it was still REALLY cool to see that and be able to have my thoughts focused on uncle matthew. love the temple. love this church. love you all
These four Elders all just left for Argentina
Running in to Brett Barbour
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