Okay it´s not what you think, but technically the subject didn´t lie. Our house flooded three times this week. Want to know how? Well. Apparently one day the sink was clogged in the kitchen and the water wouldn´t drain. So the other Hermanas decided it would be a good idea to take out all the tubes below to clean it out. Turns out that was pretty easy. What proved to be a bit harder, though, was putting everything back together. This means that the Hermanas left it as is and left. When all four of us returned to the house that night, there was water all over the floor that reeked pretty bad. We cleaned it up and put a bucket underneath in hopes it wouldn´t happen again. Well it happened again. Two more times. Finally we stuffed some plastic bags in the hole in the wall and the plumber came. He put the tubes back together but the sink is still completely clogged and reeking water occasionally rises up into it. It´s been an interesting adventure. Luckily we take advantage of our challenges and sing hymns as we dance around with the mops. I´m grateful for Hermanas with good attitudes. We made two miracle contacts this week from referrals we received. Each one was so prepared for the gospel, with either friends or family who are already members. One even already is reading the Book of Mormon, has a testimony, and told us he wants to get baptized the 14th of February. Unfortunately, these miracle contacts turned out to be just out of our area. Both of them. They are in other missionaries´ hands now and we are grateful to have met those two people, even though we wish we could see their progress more closely. People like them just strengthen our testimony that there are people waiting and ready to receive this gospel. Apolinar Cubilite is planning to get baptized the 20th of February!! The only reason why it´s out so late is because he´s not going to be in town for the Noche Blanca this Saturday, or the 31, or the 6th, or the 7th... until the 20th. But he said he wants to get baptized, even if his wife doesn´t get baptized with him. This really is an answer to many of our prayers and fasts. That man is amazing. I am secretly hoping I stay in Nuevo Amanecer one more transfer so I can see his baptism service. He is very close to my heart and will be a great leader in the church. Isaias is still excited for his baptism this Saturday and we are too! He is the only non-member in his family and has been prepared for 20 years to receive the lessons. I can´t wait to see the family take one step closer to being an eternal family. One thing I find interesting is how both obedience and attitude influence our ability to feel the Spirit. We can be completely obedient and still not feel the Spirit if we´re too grumpy to notice it. Laman and Lemuel obeyed and followed their family everywhere. They even returned for the gold plates and risked their lives to obtain them. Yet the whole time they complained and were impatient. I think being obedient doesn´t entitle you to the Spirit. Rather it is being obedient with a good attitude that will bring you blessings and allow Him to enter into your heart. I love you all, Smile at someone today, Hermana Shaw Today we had a Zone Activity and got a bunch of flour thrown in our faces. It was pretty fun actually. The other picture is my daughter, Hermana Barreda, and I. She gave me a pretty flower we found in the street and I put it in my hair. Some pretty plants are starting to grow here!
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Heads up. This will be short.
Well this week was great. We had interviews with President Corbitt, who is basically the most awesome man on the entire planet and is filled with an infinite amount of wisdom and love, had an activity in the church where we watched Meet the Mormons, made some popcorn at Ana Belkis¨ house and watched The Restoration, went to clean a less active´s house, got in the middle of an intense mom daughter fight while trying to teach a lesson, found out that Ana Belkis isn´t going to move after all, learned a bunch about how to be better missionaries in two meetings we had, saw Maykey (yay!), saw 5 investigators in church, laughed a lot with Hermana Barreda, OH and Isaias is planning to get baptized the 30th of January! It has been a week full of miracles and adventures. Recently I had been starting to doubt everyone´s word because we had a lot of investigators that would agree to things or say they´d do things like read or go to church but never did. They agree with such enthusiasm that I soon began to feel I couldn´t trust in anyone. It got me thinking about the importance of honesty and fulfilling one´s word. It´s such a small thing but it so important. Why lie, anyway? It´s always better to be honest. Luckily this week picked up my spirits and we have found people that are actually keeping their word, going to church, reading, etc. I love you all, sorry this couldn´t be any longer or better formatted. Just be honest people, Hermana Shaw This week has been full of work fasting, loved ones moving, and miracles.
This week we went to visit Ana Belkis and we received some good and bad news that´s more good than bad. She told us she´s moving super far away, which made me so sad when I first heard. However, by moving she will be able to be baptized, as it was only her living situation that was holding her back from being able to enter into that covenant. She already informed us that she found the church over there. Hermana Maykey also has moved. She technically just moved across the street but she´s in a whole other area and stake now. And guess what that means? We can´t go and visit her anymore :( We are trying to find a way to still see her by inviting her to go to lessons with us but it´s been hard to stay in contact as her phone´s been dead practically the entire week. I love her so much and I miss that lady already. It´s been a week since Ï´ve seen her but I feel like it´s been 1000 years. Apolinar and Ana still seem to be the same. We had a super powerful testimony meeting with some members in their house. We were fasting and praying for that to be of some help, especially for Ana. Yet the next day, she still didn´t go to church and her husband says she´s still at the same point in her decision aka she hasn´t made one. I am always asking myself what else we can do for them. I think trusting in the Lord´s timing is something I need to work on when it comes to those two. I love them so much and they are so ready. So our Zone is having a Noche Blanca at the end of the month which is a Saturday where all the missionaries try to have their baptisms for the same day. We have been going frantic trying to have a baptism that night, especially since our progressing investigators either are going to move, like Ana Belkis, or are having troubles making decisions, like Ana and Apolinar, or feel like they´re not ready, like Deomaris. We have been working so hard to find people prepared for the message this week. So on Sunday we got to church and I was pretty sad because almost every investigator that said they´d come to church didn´t go. After feeling kind of down after Sacrament Meeting, a member came up to us all frantic and let us know there was someone there that wanted to get baptized as soon as possible. He´s the husband of a sister in our ward and apparently he wants to start the lessons and he wants to get baptized. That was a huge miracle and we of course gladly set an appointment with them for this week. I can´t wait to get to know them more! One thing Hermana Barreda is great at is helping me laugh all through the mission, even in stressful times. We went out with a member one day and all our appointments fell through and all our back up plans ran out as well. We continued on, contacting with her and chasing after a reference, and throughout it all we were laughing and having such a good time. I am so grateful for the positive attitude that we all maintained, because that experience could have been a lot different with any other attitude. Never stop looking for the good in life. I love you all, Hermana Shaw So much happened this week and there is not enough time to write it all! Tuesday I picked up my daughter, Hermana Barreda, from the offices. She´s awesome. She´s from Guatemala and speaks quite a bit of English. We still basically always speak Spanish but it´s nice when I don´t know a word or two. This week was full of crazy days. One day nearly every single appointment fell through and not a single member could go with us and I got pretty discouraged. Another day we were full and practically running to get from one place to another with members in every single lesson. We are working so hard and that makes me incredibly happy. One day a man stopped us in the street to ask us where the church is. He said he´d been studying with other missionaries before he moved and wanted to start again. That was awesome. We haven´t seen him since but we are praying we can find the direction he gave us and get a hold of him since his number always goes straight to voicemail. Familia Cubilite is amazing as ever, just Ana needs to ACT. I can´t count the number of times that family has brought tears to my eyes. They are BEYOND ready to take this step. Apolinar wants to so badly, he just wants to do it with Ana, and for some reason she´s resisting. We have put our all into helping them out. Just a little more. Just a little more. Oh man I´ve run out of time. Wish I could write more. LOVE YOU ALL. The picture are of my daughter and I and my original mom. My new daughter, Hermana Barreda.
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Letters: Sophia Shaw Santo Domingo East MIssion SDQ 4102, 2250 NW 114th Ave. Miami, FL 33172-3652 Packages: Sophia Shaw AP-000914 8540 NW 66th St. Miami, FL 33195 - 2698 lds.org mormon.org Dominican Republic Santo Domingo East MissionArchives
February 2017
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