#westsidebestside
Welp this week was kind of strange! All the missionaries have been getting sick and this week it hit me. I had the flu and was stuck inside for 2 days. I'm still not feeling 100% but I'm getting there so that's a blessing! This email might be kind of sucky since we weren't able to go out much and there's not a whole ton to report on...but I'll do my best haha!
Sister Esquerra turns 21 tomorrow so we are for sure going to party hard by sharing the good word. I love her so much!! This week we met this awesome guy named Alan! He was a former and we called him a few weeks ago and set up an appointment. When we went to see him he said he had been reading his Book of Mormon ever since we called him last week and he really wants to come to church! He was having a lot of health problems the last time he was meeting with the missionaries but he's doing much better now and we are super excited to keep meeting with him!
Throwback to LAST YEAR. My daughter/trainee/bb hits her year mark this which which blows my mind and makes me feel super old. I LOVE YOU SISTER GOELLER <33Our church building in is right on Blanding which is the busiest road in Orange Park. It's location makes it so lots of random people just walk in and join us for services on Sunday (which is AWESOME) and last week like 5 or 6 people just showed up. 2 of those people were Tanya and Simmy. They stayed all three hours last week and they loved it! We were talking with them after and we found out they are both pastors for a different faith. They just moved here from Tampa and are staying across the street from the church. They just googled the closet church and decided to come. They loved it so much they came back again yesterday and stayed the whole time! They asked for more copies of the Book of Mormon because they love it so much and want to give some copies to their friends haha! They are so great but also kind of kooky. We were talking with them after church and when we were leaving Tayna said "Bye sweet babies. Have a good day and be awesome in Jesus!" Hahaha I love her!
Matching with Sister Watchman at mission prep. Her husband came up with this awesome acronym for the prospective missionaries 😒 hahahLast week we set a goal to use the Book of Mormon more in our teaching and so during companionship study every morning we would pick a scripture and try to use it throughout the day. We went to deliver a Bible to this guy named Travis and we asked if we could talk to him for a few minutes about Jesus Christ and give him a copy of the Book of Mormon as well. He hadn't heard anything about the BoM before and was super interested. We asked him about his religious background and his relationship with God and he opened up a ton. He shared some trials he has been experiencing lately and he said that he feels like God is there and Jesus is real but that they don't really know him or care about what happens in his life. We were able to talk about God's love for us and share our testimony of Christ with him. That morning the scripture we had planned to share was from Alma 7:11-12 which says
"And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities."
As we read this scripture and taught Travis about Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us I felt the spirit so strong. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us so much!! They know us personally and are aware of our struggles. God wants us to find lasting joy in this life and He is there to help us. I am so thankful I get to share this message with people all day. Being a missionary is the best thing ever!
I love y'all! Have a blessed week <33
-Weekly Moss Moment-
our district shirts 💥Our first week in OP we went and did service at the Clothes Closet. We got stuck in the toy room and the elders were going through bags of clothes and hanging stuff up. We didn't know this but the elders found all these funny shirts that someone had donated that and there was just enough for all of us to have one. At our last district meeting on Tuesday they gave them to us and we were dying. They were all from some kind of camp and each year they had a different phrase on the front. For example there was X-treme faith, Giddy up with God(with a cowboy hat), and my favorite one said Jesus has my heart on the front God has my back on the other side. They are corny and awesome and my favorite shirts ever hahaha definitely some moss involved somewhere idk
