Well this week has been a pretty great 'last week' as a trio!

Well this week has been a pretty great 'last week' as a trio! And I did better about writing things down so I could remember them to tell you :)

A couple weeks ago, I was struggling with really feeling like I was being lovingly bold-- it has been one of my strengths as a missionary, and something I've worked on a lot. But I was getting worried that maybe I wasn't good at it anymore because I haven't had many moments recently where I've done that.

BUT Monday night, we had kind of a surprise lesson with a family that was at each other's throats. I was very lovingly bold in that situation, and it made me really happy to realize that the only reason I hadn't been bold in the weeks previous to it was because that's not what The Lord needed. But I'm glad to see and know in myself that I am still lovingly bold, and I'm good at it when The Lord needs it :)

Zone Day at the Chicago Temple

On Thursday, we went to the temple as a zone to do a session, then went to the Woodburys house afterwards for a lunch and testimony meeting. It was so great! I loved it :) the temple is such an amazing place to be. And I loved the testimony meeting afterwards where we talked about the Atonement  and the  Book of Mormon together. Then president and sister Woodbury taught us a little bit- I'm so grateful for them and their example... They are the best!!

I love black people, and I love when they talk and when they talk to each other. It's the best, they are so awesome. It's a culture all it's own!

We ended up having kind of my surprise baptism this Saturday! About nine days ago, the elders told us that they were giving us an investigator who's been taught everything, and is looking forward to her baptism the following Saturday. She came to church on sundAy at the branch, and ended up loving it.  She was baptized this past Saturday. Ha it was a little weird from a missionary perspective- the elders taught her everything before we even knew about her, so they just kind of came to us like, "oh here's someone ready to be baptized this week!"... It's a cool miracle when that happens :) but Maria is so awesome. I've never seen a recent convert with that strong of a testimony.

She just knows it's true, and she knows because she's put it to the test and asked god. She says that she has changed so much in the past month since learning about the gospel, and she is so grateful for it.

I truly am humbled for people like her.

She actually loved the whole thing so much that she asked to bear her testimony in sacrament meeting and it was so awesome and wonderful.

Then after she bore her testimony, Steven bore his! He is a recent convert of maybe two months who joined us in YSA like two weeks after his baptism. He's so awesome, and when he bore his testimony, I almost cried, it was so wonderful. And he said something like, "I know the Book of Mormon is true because when I opened it and started reading, it was talking about my life".. He talked about how much he loved and related to Nephi in his own life, and it was such a sweet experience

:)

 Oh and in a lesson with Lawson (one of our new investigators in Morgan park-- he's from Nigeria!), we asked him to pray and he told me to pray, and I told him to pray and it went back and forth for a

minute- then sister Bradley said "play rock-paper-scissors for it!"

And in his thick Nigerian accent, Lawson said "I do not understand."

So we taught him rock-paper-scissors. And he won! So he prayed :) it was so funny explaining it to him. He thought it was so dumb, but he showed it to the member he was sitting next to the next day at church.

Haha YES.

Sister Bradley and I were asked to give talks in Morgan park yesterday. Ha we hardly had any time to practice or prepare this week.

I felt prepared enough, but was a little worried. Especially because I was the last speaker, and the talks before me were under. I had like

25 minutes... But I prayed before and just gave my talk, bore my testimony, shared my experiences, and did my best! I was so excited how it all went, and i felt really good about it all. And I finished at just the right time! I was happy that my public speaking skills came back- I've been feeling like they've left me, but they haven't :) and I just bore testimony about the topic that I loved so much! I was so grateful it went well and even more grateful and humbled by people's comments afterwards. I'm glad I could help people at least a little bit. Haha one brother also commented that it was "an uncommonly good meeting". Ha I'm glad :) I'm just grateful The Lord helped me to be an instrument- that's all I ever wanted.

Well, transfers are tomorrow and our beloved sister hone will be leaving us- she's going back to her area in Morgan park, and will be with hermana Toney there (remember her?? My companion of three transfers? She's going English now). Were excited that sister hone can spend more time in her area because truly that's what she and that area need and deserve.  

Me in my Area:)

And I didn't realize until yesterday just how excited I was to be with sister Bradley just to focus on our branch, our area, and our sisters, and to be able to BREATHE!! It'll be so nice, and mi really excited.

But I'll miss Morgan park and all the people I've been able to meet there. But I'll definitely go back for Lawson's baptism here in the next few weeks :)

Life's going well over here, I'm loving the mission and every minute of it!

Love you all,

Hermana Walton