Sister Stephani Rodriguez: The curse of week 6

I don't know what it is, but there's a curse that hits me every time week 6 comes around. It involves: rain, grey skies, no sunshine, snow, cancelled appointments, lots of tracting, and plenty of OYMing. Luckily I am so blessed to have an AMAZING companion, Sister Hall! She is seriously the best. This week has been really long and hard and nothing really has been happening. Every single night, our 8:30 appointment cancelled. We did at least an hour of tracting and half hour of OYMing. I kept on apologizing and telling her it's usually better than this. Well last night she so humbly said, "I know I'm here for a reason. And if that reason is for me to tract and OYM, then I'll do it." So yeah, I have a LOT to learn from Sister Hall. She has the best attitude and is just awesome! LOVE HER.

So one thing I really wanted to talk about today was a talk that I read called "Finding Joy in Life" by Richard G. Scott. Something he said really stuck out to me: "You are here on earth for a divine purpose. It is not to be endlessly entertained or to be constantly in full pursuit of pleasure. You are here to be tried, to prove yourself so that you can receive the additional blessings God has for you... The Lord is intent on your personal growth and development. That progress is accelerated when you willingly allow Him to lead you through every growth experience you encounter, whether initially it be to your individual liking or not." That really put a whole new perspective on trials for me. Of course we're here on Earth to have joy and be happy, but life isn't all about having it easy or being 'endlessly entertained' we're here to experience trials. We're put on this beautiful earth that was created by the Master's hand specifically for us, to be tried and tested, to learn and grow, to do things we couldn't do before but that we can now experience because of the physical bodies that we have! My testimony of the plan of happiness that was created for us has been so strengthened the last couple of months. I've been starting to see things with an eternal perspective which is an incredible gift.

This week we had a very powerful lesson with Ed. Sister Ferrin and I felt impressed to show him a Mormon Message but we really weren't sure which one to show him. We were eating lunch and getting ready to go to our lesson with him (at this point it's now me and Sister Hall) I remembered we wanted to show him a video. A specific one faintly came to my mind but I couldn't remember all of what it was about, so I pulled out my little DVD and watched it. I wasn't sure how helpful it would be but I felt good about it and thought Ed would be able to relate to it a little. Our lesson with him ran a little long but I knew I wanted to watch the video with him so we pulled it out and showed it to him. After, he turned and looked at me and said "how? How do you do it? How do you get inside my head and know exactly what I'm thinking?" I just kind of smiled and said a thank you prayer to Heavenly Father for telling me which video to show him. Well, Ed continues to tell us how much that video really hit home to him and he related to it so well. He shared a really personal experience that was almost exactly what the video had been talking about. I was amazed. I had no idea how much he would relate to the video. But he did. In that moment I got a small glimpse into God's eternal plan for us. I saw how He had been preparing Ed to meet with us, I saw how He had been preparing me to serve a mission and come specifically to Vermont to be here for this experience. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of knowing I was exactly where I needed to be and knowing that God is real, and He is SO aware of us and has a plan for all of us. Needless to say, the tears started flowing. I love being apart of the Lord's incredible work. I feel so so so blessed to be able to be His hands and teach His children, my brothers and sisters, the truths they have forgotten. I truly can testify that I know God lives and that He has a plan for you and me! He loves us so much more than we can comprehend. We may not see it, but His plans are there and He is created something wonderful for you.

xoxo

Sister Rodriguez

P.S. We got hit on so many times this week it was kind of hilarious. The first couple were in Albany. I was working there for the day with Sister Jones and Sister Frank while we waited for our new companions. Sister Frank: "it's a beautiful day!" random guy: "not as beautiful as you ladies!"

hahaha we were also talking to this guy about the Easter Initiative and he randomly goes "are you single?" and we were like "NOPE!" hahah we walked away and we were like "sorry, we're in a relationship with Jesus."

Then later, sister Hall and I were walking around town and this car stopped so we go talk to them and this guy goes "we're in town for the weekend and we're going to get drinks, can we buy you something?" And we were like "no we don't drink, thanks though!" and proceed to share the Easter Initiative with him too. It is seriously my favorite thing ever when we get hit on and then people realize we just want to talk about Jesus. The changes in their faces are priceless

Also, last night we ran into this guy I've met a couple times. We were walking around and saw him and I didn't recognize him at first so we asked if they'd ever talked to missionaries before and they said no and we keep talking and then I realize I knew him and I was like "hey!! Yes you have, I've totally talked to you before!!" and we realize he's totally drunk and getting into his car and I was like "are you drinking and driving?" and he was like "nah I'm just moving my car, i'm parking it. Thanks for being concerned about me though" I was like oh my I'm not an idiot, but we walked away and they drove away with all their beer. I just said a lot of prayers for my crazy friend Pablo that everyone on the roads would be safe. Jamaicans, man.

pics:

Sister Hall!