first of all we met the ward mission leader. turns out he served his mission in anaheim, in the tustin 5th ward and in the tustin ranch branch!!! at one point he said he served in a ward where brad lockhart was the bishop! he said he loved every minute of it and i freaked out saying oh my goodness thats my home those are my péople!!! THEN he asks me if i know Anthony Kuo. i was so surprised and said yes oh my gosh hes one of my really good friends!!! then his eyes filled with tears and he said oh my goodness he was my convert. CRAZY. then i started to get emotional cuz he was so excited and i thought of my wonderful stake. and i told him not to worry, anthony is the strongest member i know and the most involved of the singles ward. ridiculous right, i still cant get over it. it was back in like 2007 he said.
second incredible story. dad especially.
so the Balboa family is a family of 5 brothers, 3 of them live in our ward boundaries and their mom is the ward chorister. one of the brothers lives with her, the other 2 live below her in other little apartments. so we were at her house visiting with them one night and she was telling us about her mission, back when the mission boundaries covered completely different states. sometimes shed go without food, one time for 2 whole days because its hard to get money to the missionaries when theyre all so spread out like that. BUT turns out she was the first sister missionary ever from Tabasco as well as the 5TH MEMBER ever in Tabasco!! she started telling us about her uncle who brought the church from america and i stopped her in her tracks and said "did he learn it in prison!?" and she said yep and he brought it back here and started it up! DAD her uncle was the guy from the article i found before i came out on my mission!!!! i started getting emotional because it was such a huge deal to me!! she said he just barely died a year ago!! man i would have loved to meet him. shes 75 and BOTH her parents are still alive, her dad is 102 and her mom is 96 and theyre perfectly healthy and lively. how crazy! plus shes hilarious. yesterday in church she was waiting for the intro from me to one of the songs and i just hit the last note and she waited a couple seconds longer then looked back at me and said "thats it?" and i looked at her yep thats it and she laughed a hearty laugh like oh you stupid funny girl bless your heart then turned back around and started leading again. it was so funny. dad i want you to meet all these people you would love them and they have the most incredible stories ever.
I cannot even tell you how much i have learned this week. every day!!
a quote i love that perfectly describes everything:
"A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has the power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation. Those who do not make the sacrifice cannot enjoy this faith, because men are dependent upon this sacrifice all in order to obtain this faith." -Jospeh Smith
(you can give Kay Goodman credit for that one. shes a fantastic lady)
okay i cannot believe how fast my time goes. but that quote describes all! sacrifice is the foundation of all things good and worthwhile. also my companion and i have been talking alot about following the spirit with more precision. some people have a really hard time deciphering between whether the spirit is telling them something or whether its from their own minds, but it doesnt matter. the spirit works with our minds and our experiences. every experience and trial we have ever had builds up to a specific moment where the spirit can grab that memory from your mind and use it to help another person or to help´yourself. never ever let a prompting that goes unfollowed haunt you. follow it with courage in the Lord. you dont have to be a missionary to have that opportunity. love you all
hermana zimmerman
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