Sister Stephani Rodriguez: Instant Mormon

Hello everyone! Wow, what a week. Week 6 is always the biggest struggle for me, and this week was no exception! Last Tuesday was probably the worst day of my life. I had to say goodbye to my best friend Lacey. We went over to her house and we talked and when I had to leave we hugged really tight and she started crying. We left the apartment and as soon as I got in the car, I just started sobbing. Everything hit me all at once. Everyone/everything I was leaving in Hamilton. I've cried a lot this past week because being a missionary is really hard sometimes! I think the worst part was leaving Lacey and Sister Maughan. Oh boy. I miss those two soooooo much! Sister Maughan and I were sooo close that it has been really hard to be away from her.

But now that my sob story is over we can move on to MANCHESTER!!! WOOT WOOT! Sister Folkman is seriously AWESOME!!! She is the best missionary I have ever seen. I have learned so much from her the past few days. Like if there was a sister Assistant to the President, it would be Sister Folkman. She's so dedicated and so focused. I love it.

So Manchester is a bit of a struggle. It was closed for a while and opened about 7 months ago so the work is reeaallyyy slow. Which is a huge change from Hamilton. I have done more OYMing the past few days here than I have my whole mission. We tract for about 30-60 minutes a day (which is pretty normal) but we also OYM for like an hour every night. I have learned so much from Sister Folkmans example that I have grown a huge love for OYMing! We have met some really cool people from it! A lot of the work that we do is planting seeds. We talk to people at gas stations a lot and place TONS of copies of the Book of Mormon which is cool. It's just hard cause a lot of those people we will never see again.

It's also a bit frustrating because since the area is pretty new, a lot of the work has been done. All the sisters that have been here in the past 7 months have been SO dedicated and diligent. Almost the whole area has been tracted multiple times (not like that stops us from doing it more it's just hard cause sometimes people get mad when we come around so often) And the area book has been gone through SO MUCH. Like ALL of the potentials and formers in the book have been tried recently. So it's a huge struggle to find people to teach. But alas, we will find the people that are ready!

We have a few people that we teach pretty regularly (oh also this week was really weird because the past 2 weeks Sister Folkman spent most of the time in Greenwhich because a sister there had to go home early so Sister DeGoyler got ET'd and Folkman and Anderson were working both Greenwich and Manchester so it's been a bit messy trying to get appointments set up and things like that) I haven't met too many of our investigators yet but from what I've heard from Sister Folkman, they're awesome! We have a high goal of getting 3 baptisms this transfer! We keep that goal in our thoughts and in our prayers constantly so we are going to make it happen!

Funny stories:

Nikki: "when you're older and think about getting married and having kids.. just remember: 'Nikki's house. Nikki's house. Nikki's house'"

Keith: "Ya know what the worst part about transfers is?"

Me: "when we leave?"

Keith: "...yeah."

Brother Morgan: "Before I was baptized they called me an 'instant Mormon... just add water'" HAHAHA

Katie C: "if your new companion is crazy, I'll send you a Costco supply of Cookies 'n' Cream bars!" (Katie is another HUGE reason I miss Hamilton.

)

Also this week, we were at a formers house and found a nice little surprise of weed.. ON SOME TEMPLE PASS ALONG CARDS. SOMEONE WAS USING THOSE TO SMOKE THEIR WEED. Sister Folkman and I were just like "well. At least it wasn't a Jesus card." Haha yay Vermont!

BUT I just want you all to know that I know I am where I need to be. The first few days I was really "Hamilton home sick" but there have been multiple times this week when I've been reading the scriptures and have just felt this OVERWHELMING love and knowing that Heavenly Father lives and He loves me, He knows me, and He needs me here. I am so excited to continue to learn and grow more into the person that He needs me to be.

P.S. VERMONT IS BEAUTIFUL HOLY COW. IT IS CALLED THE GREEN MOUNTAIN STATE FOR A REASON. THE MOUNTAINS ARE SOOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, I love you all and hope you have a great week!

P.S.S. ONLY 75 MORE DAYS UNTIL GENERAL CONFERENCE BUT WHO'S COUNTING

Pics:

1. My dear friend Katie C