Thanks for the moisture

It is raining today and it makes my heart happy! It has rained only a handful of times while I have been here on my mission. Something that I have learned is that California Mormons are similar to Utah Mormons in that when they pray and thank God for the rain, they don't actually call it rain. They call it moisture. "...and thank you so much for the moisture that we are receiving outside today..." It's called rain. You can call it rain.

Sister Gallacher and I had a pretty good first week together. We met two new people who we are going to start teaching. The story of how we met the one lady was pretty cool. A couple weeks ago we had dinner with some members, and we asked them if they knew of anyone that might be interested in meeting with us. They told us that we could try their neighbor Dina, since she's nice and always seems to be home. So this week, we had some extra time because an appointment got rescheduled, and I thought, "We need to go see Dina! They gave us that referral to us a while ago and we really need to go contact her!" So off we went to Dina's house. When she answered the door she told us that she was busy and couldn't talk to us. But we kept talking to her anyway. It turns out that she has been going through a really rough time recently. We shared a scripture with her that we had read together that morning in companionship study. Mosiah 24:13-14 "And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage. And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon their shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." She was really touched and said that it really helped her. She told us that God sent us there to her. It was really amazing to hear her say that! On a less spiritual note, it was also kind of weird because after we left, the member who lives next door to her (they live in apartments, so there is only a thin wall between them) texted us and said "Sisters, I was home and just overheard your conversation with Dina! Great job!" Kind of creepy, but that thank you?

Hong and Mike. I have so many feelings about what has been going on with them. With Hong, everything comes down to faith, and believing in things you can't see. She really struggles with this, because she wants proof. But she doesn't realize that she has already received witnesses from the Spirit that the things we are teaching her are true! She has so much faith already and she doesn't recognize it. Any prayers on their behalf would be much appreciated! They are doing good though, Hong just needs a little extra boost of the Spirit.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sister Daelemans