Bye bye Elder Quilloy!

ALLLLrighty! I feel like there was sooo much that happened this week. I will try to summarize it all in this email. We have had such little time to actually work in our area this week..

Family Home Evening Part 1 - Let's start out with our Family Home Evening with the Basa and Gonzaga Family. These two families are my absolute favorite! The Gonzaga family was baptized in September/October and have made so many changes in their lives. Their son, Jemuel, comes out and helps us teach lessons every single week. Willy and Gloria have come to every single baptism that we have had in order to support the new members. Their light is shining so bright because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Apartment Search - We have been searching for an apartment for the new sisters that will be coming in to the zone. We went to every subdivision looking for a safe house that we could rent and there was nothing! Finally we went to this semi-sketchy building and decided to give it a try. We went to the front area and they said they had rooms for rent so we went to go check it out. They said to go to the 7th floor. With every floor it got more and more sketchy... There was a place constructed for an elevator but they did not have the funds to actually put one in. By the time we got to the 7th floor most of the rooms were not fully constructed, there were rats running around, the lights were flickering, and all the rooms were vacant.. Way not safe. But at least it was within the budget.... haha. We asked if we could just go to the roof top to check it out, and the view was gorgeous! It was all worth the trip.

Mission Tour - Elder Wakolo, the second counselor in the Area Seventy came for our mission tour. I have soooooo many things that I want to do better now I was able to spend some time with this great man. It is hard to summarize all that I learned but here are some phrases that I am going to be applying this next transfer:

- DNA never lies: I want the word of God not only to be written in my heart, but engraved like a "fire in your bones." What's inside bones? Marrow. What is in the marrow? DNA. As we treasure up the word of God and start to live it, it will start to become part of our DNA. What is written in your DNA?  "If we do this then we are on... FIRE!" We yelled "fire" so many times... is that legal? haha 

-Faith so great nothing can restrain me: Just like the Brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon, if our faith is so great, nothing can restrain us. We will go throughout our entire day and share the love of the Gospel to all people in all places.

-High Love, High Expectations

MLC (Missionary Leadership Counsel): This is one of my favorite parts of the transfer when all the Zone Leader and Sister Trainer Leaders come together and discuss how to help the mission. At first at these meetings I was pretty quiet, observing the flow of the meeting. Even though I have been a Zone Leader now for 4 months, I am still the newest in the mission. This was hard at first for me to speak what was on my mind, but now I feel confident that God will give me revelation as well to help this mission reach it's potential. This was a special MLC because we had the opportunity to discuss with Elder Wakolo and hear his advice. This is what they say, "As the MLC goes, so does the Mission." We have to carry this spirit out to all the missionaries in our stewardship.

Zone Training Meeting - As the last meeting of the transfer, we got together as a zone and heard some amazing workshops from our two District Leader about how to Keep the Fire Going, and How to Get Along with People. Then we had a huge discussion on how to improve as a zone and to evaluate how we did. It is amazing to hear all the different perspectives as we get ideas from the new trainees, to the departing missionaries.

Quilloy's Departure - Elder Quilloy has officially left. He has left such a huge impact on this zone and on me. From his corny jokes to his composed personality, he always brings joy to those around him. I have always admired his patience with me and my weaknesses, and he strengthened me every day in the mission. Up until the last day he worked hard and taught with clarity and boldness. I know we will see each other again!

Ward Missionary Home Evening - We had a Christmas Family Home Evening with all the ward missionaries and the bishopric. We played games, had a gift exchange, and we had a farewell for the two missionaries leaving the ward. This ward really knows how to show support to missionaries in every way.

Transfers - My new companion is Elder Moralita! We have been working together for these last three transfers and I am wayyy pumped to work with him.

There is so much that happens every week in the mission and change is happening every day.

Have a great week!