Sister Stephani Rodriguez: Carol Ling

Well, another great week here in Hammy Town! Saturday was awesome because Catherine got baptized!!! It was really neat to be able to see her dad be the one to baptize her. Well, since it was baptism week, of course it was a stressful week! It's so crazy how we can really see the adversary working hard to stop the baptisms from happening. He works so hard to get to us on baptism weeks and we really can see it. Sister Maughan and I have both been really sick this week and very stressed! But, the work must go on and luckily, despite the stressful week, the baptism happened and it went very well!! After she was confirmed on Sunday, Catherine couldn't stop smiling. And this coming from one of the quietest girls I've ever met, was a huge miracle! She got up and bore simple testimony after he baptism and just simply stated how she really felt the Spirit with her when she was in the water. Ahh that was awesome! I LOVE Catherine!!! She is so sweet and her faith has just sky rocketed since we've been meeting with her! I love being able to see the change that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can bring into our lives.

On Thursday we had Zone Conference in Utica which was awesome! I've said it a million times, but I love Zone meetings! Any meeting with other missionaries is such a blessing and a privilege! I LOVE the NYUM!!! After Zone Conference, Maughany and I went to Friendly's! It was my first time there but it was awesome! It's a little restaurant that has the best ice cream!

Also on Thursday we had the COOLEST lesson with the Pumilia's. John owns a pizza company named Giovanni's and they fed us dinner and it was AMAZING! We had NY pizza, chicken riggies, salad, 'greens', and cannoli's. And they gave us all the leftovers! It was sweet. But our lesson with them was awesome. We brought the Smith's with us (The Pumilia's and the Smiths are really good friends) so we were sitting at the table talking with Kristen (She's been meeting with missionaries for about 2 years now) and we were asking her questions and she was telling us how she believes Joseph Smith was a prophet, she believes the Book of Mormon is true, she loves the church, etc. But she feels like she's betraying her family (they're all Italian and hardcore Catholic). But during the lesson, John sat at the table with us. Normally John sits in another room and just listens, he doesn't participate. But this time, he sat at the table next to me and he starts asking me some questions. He asked me why we're here on Earth and a few other questions. So I start explaining and testifying about the Plan of Salvation and he still had questions so I was like "here, one second." and i got up and got out my Plan of Salvation cut outs (I use those to explain the Plan just cause it's easier for people to follow along) and I start sharing with him this amazing plan that Heavenly Father has created for us and why we're here on Earth. At the end of me teaching to him he asked me "Well, how do you KNOW? I mean like how do you ACTUALLY know it's true?" So I told him it's because of a lot of things. Prayer, faith, and the Book of Mormon. I told him how the Book of Mormon teaches everything we believe and it teaches us about this Plan and how we know it's from God. I asked him if he would read the BOM if I gave him a copy and he said YES! So I was able to give him one and invite him to read it. We got back in the car and the Smith's were freaking out! They said that was the first time in 2 years that John has sat in and listened. That's the first time that he's wanted to learn and been interested. It was soooo cool!!!! Ahhhh that was the best lesson with the Pumilia's. One thing I've definitely noticed is that the Lord has His timing for His children. Every set of missionaries that have come in have helped plant seeds in John's head and that night I was able to actually teach him. It seriously shows how as missionaries you never know how much good you're doing. One small seed planted can help missionaries SO MUCH in the future! I am so grateful for the missionaries that have served in Hamilton before me and done so much hard work to prepare the people.

Yesterday in Relief Society we read the coolest poem. I thought I'd include it for everyone to read cause it really helped put things in perspective for me. A lot of times as misisonaries we want recognition. We want praise. We want baptisms to prove that we're working hard. This poem shows us that it doesn't matter if we get those praises. What matters is that we're serving our Heavenly Father. He will see our good works and He will be the one that rewards us openly. No matter how small our acts of service, they will never go unnoticed by Heavenly Father. Don't forget to serve and Light the World this season! I love you all so much and hope to hear from you soon!

“Father, where shall I work today?”

And my love flowed warm and free.

Then He pointed out a tiny spot

And said, “Tend that for me.”

I answered quickly, “Oh no; not that!

Why, no one would ever see,

No matter how well my work was done;

Not that little place for me.”

And the word He spoke, it was not stern;

He answered me tenderly:

“Ah, little one, search that heart of thine.

Art thou working for them or for me?