September 4th, 2013 - Mundelein, IL

Goodness gracious, I hate these holiday weekends......throwing off P-day and everything else! This is gonna be a scattered one- I'm gonna throw out some 'randoms' from the week. 

1. McDonalds drive thru lady that we met two, almost 3, weeks ago. Never called us, right? Welp. If ya'll remember from the previous story with her- it was a little more interesting because Hmna Kenedy forgot her name badge, and the lady recognized me, by mine. Right? Anyway. Hmna Escobar (my new "child") had forgotten hers...so what do we do? Stop by McDonalds. Ha, of course she was there! Did I recognize her? No. But she remembered me! Good lessons for my "babies" all around! Ha. Anyway, we got her number and gave her a call. Turns out she lives in the area of the other Elders in our branch.......BUT(!) she wants us to come visit her :) Sigh....sometimes it's good to be an Hermana. People just love us! ....Elders are good too though :)

2. Taught Antonio's roommate, Jaime, again on Saturday- and he came to church....again....on Sunday. Bless his heart. I invited him to be baptized on Saturday. He didn't want to commit to a date, but he said he loves what he's heard so far and just wants to keep learning. I can take that. I shared this with our ward mission leader, Hmno Lugo..and he mentioned how cool it would be if eventually, Antonio could baptize Jaime. Real talk. Ah. Doesn't get better than that!

3. Hmna Flores asked last Sunday when transfers were coming up..after informing her that it's in 2 weeks, she made plans to have us over.......for what?......PAM BAZOS!!!! Is it bad I get this excited for her food? Ehhhhhh. Maybe. Anyway. Finished my one, she had a second one ready for me...and then sent me home with a third. 

Hermana Flores and pam bazos

4. Went to the temple on Monday with all the sisters/hermanas in our zone. WOW. If you adults haven't been recently........GO!!!! It'll rock your world. Promise. 

5. Met with Hmna Vasquez on Monday...you know, the sweet less active lady, we eat with every Monday? Welp. We were finishing up our lesson...and I don't know what happened...but I bust out in tears and told her the only thing I wanted was for her to come to church and sit next to me...and with there being like a 80% chance I'll be transferred out in two weeks- she needs to get a move on it. Ha. She was in tears at this point, the "children" too, and her and her non-member husband told me they'd be there. I'm pretty used to disappointment at this point...you kinda adjust, seeing it happens all the time......but I'm praying she pulls thru on this one. 

6. Went on 24-hour exchanges, from yesterday afternoon to today. Ah. So much fun! I went to "The Loop" (the coveted area that's covers downtown Chicago)with Hmna Williams. Love this girl! She's going home in 2 weeks- which makes me crazy sad inside, but it's defs her time to shine out in the real world. Side note. They don't actually live in the city...too expensive, and there aren't any Hispanics out there. They're in a area called Logan Square. Oh Man. Talk about Hipster's Paradise. I feel like T-town would fit nicely out there. 

Hermana Williams

6.1 Highlights from exchanges. First night. Taught the COOLEST family. Wife is Mexican. Husband is Polish. Not sure how that happens.....but it does. Anyway. She's a less-active, and he's got a LOT of questions about the church. Get this though. 3 weeks ago (when Hmna Escobar came) a sister came from Poland. Yes, native from Poland learning English. Sister Antcoviack (probably butchered that) and her comp came and team taught with Hmna Williams and I. Also. They live in this 4-story town home that looks like a museum on the inside. Made me think of Alexa the whole time. Know you would have died, it was so cool. It was an interesting time trying to teach with 3 other missionaries (it was all in English, btw..besides the random polish conversation the Man and Sister A. had). He doesn't have any solid ground when it comes to beliefs and it was crazy trying to figure out where to start. I made the comment at the end though that I could tell in the 45 mins that we were there, that he's a very analytical thinker...and that although he wants proof, numbers, data, etc to back up everything we have to teach...he'd have to ask the Man who knows all, and if he was sincere about it, he'd be able to feel so. He agreed to do so. Also. He admitted after my comment that he's some fancy scientist.

6.2  Riding public transportation. Rocks my world.

6.3  Went to visit/teach this former investigator, Isabel. We taught for about 20 mins ..we're about to say a closing prayer...when her husband barged in and kicked us out, slamming the door behind us, and then proceeding to say some really mean/harsh things to the poor lady...we may have eves-dropped a little from the staircase below. Anyway. We walked outside the door, when a man yells, "hey, sisters!". Random. We talked to him for a few minutes. Come to find out, he used to be member - served a mission, married in the temple...........and then his wife cheated on him............three different times. Yeahhhh, he gave up on the Church after that. Breaks my heart, really. I don't know why we needed 2 harsh situations within a total of 5 minutes like that - but who knows, maybe the man needed a bump in with the missionaries? Defs wasn't a coincidence though. 

Also at our zone meeting on Tuesday.........Pres made me stand up and share my Mcdonalds' experience............he then said that he forwarded my email to him, about the experience, to our Area 70 and it made him and his wife tear up.  #doingbigthings #simpleobedience

Man. Rereading over all of that......what a week! Nothing better than this. That's the truth. Hope everyone is doing well! Love you all! 

Hmna Mortensen's random thought before I send this bad boy off. I was studying in Jesus the Christ this morning about the Great Apostasy and then the Restoration thru the Prophet Joseph Smith. After reading about how terrible it truly was without the Gospel in its perfectness, and how corrupted it had all become....I feel like I gained a stronger appreciation for obviously the Prophet Joseph Smith but also for some of the early reformers and definitely the inspired men of the reformation time, and Columbus. Point is. After reading all that, and then the account given from Joseph Smith- all I could think about was Heavenly Father and Christ (and all the concourses of Angels) watching down on Joseph Smith, studying Santiago 1:5 and then praying in the Sacred Grove. Man. I like to think they all threw a HUGE party up there. Can you imagine? No gospel, priesthood, or anything for a VERY long time...and then knowing what was to come because of that simple 15-year old's actions? Nuts. Study it. Ponder it. Love it :)