Snow and Saints

COLUMBIA, Md. — Happy day for Hermana Newman!  I woke up Sunday morning to white stuff all over the ground... yep- SNOW! :) WAHOOOOOOOO 

I have missed it so much. It is stinkin' cold here, but the snow makes it worth it, indeed. Funny story about Maryland: they freak out when it snows. Seriously, I about died laughing. The mission grounded our cars for the day (which was understandable), so we were on foot the whole day, which was interesting considering I cover the entire stake. But hey, what an adventure. Out of 21 years, I can only remember church being canceled once and that is because the bishopric got stuck in the snow driving to church. Well, we got to church yesterday. Sang a song, prayed, took the sacrament and then went home. Yep... they canceled church, and we woke up this morning to find out school was canceled and most of the libraries didn’t open until noon. In the words of my branch mission leader, "Yeah Hermanas, it's the end of the world when it snows here."

Yesterday was quite the adventure. I wish I could send videos home but they are too big. We were told we needed to still proselyte, but no cars. Which is just fine by me but definitely interesting because my area is HUGE and we live near the freeway. Missionaries crossing the freeway is probably not the best idea, so we started our journey walking to the nearest area with members and investigators. What we thought would take us about 30 minutes ended up taking 2 hours in the snow to walk. I was just laughing and grinning the whole way. Life is good! 

I was thinking about the pioneers a lot as I was walking and how amazing they are. They had it WAY worse then having to walk a couple hours in a snowy day. They are amazing! It made me think of the hymn of course:
 

Come, come, ye saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell -
All is well! All is well!

Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
'Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we'll have this tale to tell-
All is well! All is well!

We'll find the place which God for us prepared,
Far away, in the West,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the saints, will be blessed.
We'll make the air, with music ring,
Shout praises to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we'll tell -
All is well! All is well!

And should we die before our journey's through,
Happy day! All is well!
We then are free from toil and sorrow, too;
With the just we shall dwell!
But if our lives are spared again
To see the Saints their rest obtain,
Oh, how we'll make this chorus swell-
All is well! All is well!

All is well! All is well! How true that is! We are SO very blessed :) I am thankful for the pioneers and all they did for what they knew to be true. I hope we can be a little more like them and stand up for what we know to be true. Stand up for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The pioneers had it hard, but they endured the trials they had and made the best of it all. I definitely look up to those pioneers!

On another note, we had another great week here in Maryland. The snow has got my attention, so I am having a hard time thinking about what else went on this week. 

Oh! Soila! We had a great experience this week with her. We went over to her house to visit and see how she was doing. We planned on watching The Restoration video with her and reading the scriptures. This woman absolutely LOVES The Book of Mormon. It is quite the humbling experience to me because she only has a 3rd grade education from Honduras, yet she loves to read The Book of Mormon and has a big smile on her face every time she reads. She is amazing to say the least! A

During the video, she kept looking back at me and smiling. At the end she had a big grin and the first words that came out of her mouth was, "Que Bonita." (Beautiful) My favorite part of the night was when we gave her a card and invited her to the temple lights. She looked at the building and asked if she could go inside. I told her that she wasn’t able to right now but that she could someday. She looked at me and said, "Hermana Newman, I want to go there. I will go there after I am baptized." 

Yes! Yes Yes! Slowly but surely she will get there. She knows this is what she wants and needs in her life and I absolutely love watching her makes changes and use the Gospel. I have the best calling in the world: full time missionary! :)

The work is great and moving forward every day. Thanks for letting me be part of this great work and supporting me. I know you all are being great missionaries back at home too! Keep up the work and keep praying for those opportunities! I love you all!

Con Amor,

Hermana Newman :)