I don't even know where to start. This has been the CRAZIEST week.
So Patti, we met her last Thursday and taught her on Tuesday. We taught her the entire Restoration and she just ate it up. Sister Hansen and I were such a great duo and her cousins were backing us up left and right. We told her an analogy about the restored gospel being the yeast that we add to our knowledge of Christ from the Bible. Then Sister Brost says "but if you just add yeast, nothing will happen, you have to knead the dough and act on what you're learning." Then Patti says "and once you make the bread, you need to share it!" It just clicked so well for her. All these misconceptions of Mormons were melting away. She said when she went to the Relief Society broadcast she was kind of looking for something that would turn her away but she said everything they said felt so right. When we asked her if she would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized, she said YES! Without ANY hesitation! So we extended to her a date of November 9th to pray about and prepare for. She said that couldn't be a more perfect day. She's been "witnessing" as she calls it to her daughter and sister and telling them all about our message. IT WAS THE BEST FEELING EVER. Afterward when we were saying goodbye I had a profound feeling that I had promised this family before that I would come and find them. And I did.
The next day we taught Colleen's family. The girls are getting baptized this Saturday! We knew at least one of us would get transferred so we had to say goodbye. It was so hard. I love this family so much. We wanted to hug the kids so bad but we couldn't. I had another moment at their house where I was just so grateful to have met them and to be a part of their journey for a short time.
And then came the call. We got to the car and the phone showed a missed call from one of the assistants. The first thing that came to my mind was "they're taking our car again." But instead he said my visa came and I'd be leaving. I think he expected excited squeals but he didn't get that from me. I was just mostly sad. I love this place and it felt like my heart was breaking. When I got off the phone I just cried. Telling people has been hard. And I'm so sad I won't be here for Julia, Maddy or Patti's baptism. But as the days went on, the more excited I was to go to ARGENTINA. I had to go get more finger prints at the police station but Carmel City was nice and considered me a resident and didn't make me pay. I had to sign a bunch more papers too. Originally they said I'd leave Tuesday but then a couple days later they told me Monday. Last night I couldn't sleep and it felt like Christmas. I'M MOVING TO SOUTH AMERICA TODAY! In about an hour I'll go to lunch with President and Sister Cleveland (I'll sure miss them) and the other Salta missionaries. Then we're flying to Miami at 6 and from Miami to Buenos Aires. Altogether that's only 12 hours on the plane. Then in Buenos Aires, we'll get more information on how we're getting to Salta. Cause that's like flying to California and needing to go to Indiana.
The saddest part of it all is that Sister Hansen's getting transferred so she won't be here for the baptisms either. We're so sad! She doesn't want to leave but whether we're in Westfield or Salta, South Bend or JuyJuy (or however it's spelled), we'll do what needs to be done and do it how God wants it done.
At the Zone Meeting they had the missionaries leaving give departing testimonies and I was surprised that they announced my name too. The first Elder got up and mentioned how he's dying (the weird missionary term meaning they're leaving the mission field) Anyway when I got up I said " I guess if he's dying, I'm being reincarnated!" So there it is. I'm off to a new life.
Hasta Estoy en el Sur,
Hermana Pearson
PS Conference was great, didn't y'all think?
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