Go Big or Go Home!

Guys... it's my last transfer. It's actually here. And I'm staying in Chesapeake for another transfer. I'll be in Baltimore for 6 months! AND my next companion, Sister Hale, is super awesome. 

This will be the best transfer of my mission.

AAAAHHHH!! I just want to scream! 

I don't want to make this email too long, but we had so many miracles this week! The biggest being LATEAR GOT BAPTIZED AND CONFIRMED A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS!! She's officially clean and she can officially access the Atonement :) #BDE. It was a beautiful baptism and she invited so many family members! Many of them came and multiple family members came up to us after the baptism and asked us what they needed to do to be baptized! We're hoping to start teaching them soon! And Tykira and Antonio, her two kids, bore their testimony before Latear at her baptism and they were just crying! It was so cute! Antonio told us that he couldn't wait until they could all be a "baptized family" and Tykira, through her tears, said she couldn't wait to "follow the example of [her mom]" and that she was proud of her mom! It was the cutest thing ever. Not gonna lie, a few tears of my own were shed. It was so great :)

We also had the great privilege of finding 3 new investigators this week! First we met Christie. She was a referral from the Elders. She works on Sunday, but is doing everything she can to get off of work so she can come to church! She has such a desire to learn and build a relationship with Christ. Her life is crazy, but it's been so good to get to know her! SO MUCH POTENTIAL! God just leads us right to the prepared people :) Next we found Angie. Now, that's a funny story. Angie was a referral from other elders and we were driving to contact a HQ referral, Kathy, but I accidentally put Angie's address in my GPS.... so we go up to her on her porch and ask for Kathy and she says she's Angie and we have been trying to get a hold of Angie forever now... so we put the two and two together and figured it out! ha-ha... so, basically the Spirit led us to Angie and we taught her about the Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment, then booked it over to Kathy, our 3rd new investigator, for our actual return appointment! Kathy is this sweet 55 year old who's going through a really hard time. She was describing a church to us that she wanted to find (she's been going to Baptist and catholic churches, but doesn't really like them.) and she literally just described our church ha-ha. So we told her she'd love it, got a return appointment, and gave her a Book of Mormon :) YES!

Aside from that great miracle and our 3 new investigators, here are a few bullet points from my week:

-Sis. Hokafonu got her going home outfit.

- Our District Leader bought us pizza for dinner because we hadn't gotten fed all week.

- I had a little trip to the doctors and Sis. Hokafonu took ridiculous pictures (no worries, I'm fine).

- We saw Tykira all dressed up for homecoming- pictures will be attached.

- A man rolled down his window and started calling me "bae" while we were at a stop light; he asked for my name and I just said, "I'm a SISTER!" and drove away laughing. Super funny.

- We went to B-dubbs (Buffalo Wild Wings) for their 60 cent wings during weekly planning. Why not have fun doing the routine stuff?

- We made the Elders come over to our apartment door and kill a spider that was waiting to kill us...

-A Tongan family in the neighboring ward took us out to Olive Garden because my companion's Tongan... so funny. 

- We had a little "farewell" party for Sis. Hokafonu with cake and everything :) 

And that was my amazing week. I seriously can't wait for all that this next transfer holds in store for us. So many miracles have already come and I know there are more just around the corner! 

I hope you continue to see those miracles and keep the faith! I love you all!

Scripture of the Week: Alma 26:12

Quote of the Week: "My dear brothers and sisters, there will be days and nights when you feel overwhelmed, when your hearts are heavy and your heads hang down. Then, please remember, Jesus Christ, The Redeemer, is the head of this church. It is His gospel. He wants you to succeed. He gave His life for just this purpose." -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Love, 

Sister Humphrey

"Our Joy has Little to do with Our Circumstance and Everything to do with Our Focus."

Subject comes from Elder Nelson. One of my favorite quotes from General Conference. Also one of my sisters faves; it's like we're family or something. 

WASN'T GENERAL CONFERENCE FLIPPING AMAZING!!! I remember counting down for GenConf in April and it's already gone now. I wanted to cry when it ended. No more general conferences as a missionary :( If you wanna know everything I liked about conference just watch the entire thing again and I think that'll cover you. Sound good? 

But really, though. Here are some fave takeaways:

- We've all chosen to follow Christ once before, and we risked our entire souls for to follow Him. That just goes to show our initial faith and trust in Him. Let's not let that faith in the Perfect Being dwindle with doubt. That's how Satan got that 1/3 of the hosts of heaven.

-"Every knee shall bow and tongue confess..." Let that day be today! In show gratitude for this amazing gospel by SHARING IT and LIVING IT!

- We cannot pray away another's agency.

- God is only a prayer away :)

- God believes in you even when you don't believe in yourself.

- Our only help and HOPE come from Jesus Christ. But He asks that you try. REALLY try. 

- Missionary work is group work! Seriously, coming from a full-time missionary, God's work would hasten SO MUCH MORE if we had the help from every single member.

- Some things can only be learned by FAITH

- "Be ambitious for Christ!"

- Sharing the gospel is not a burden but a joy! And this is why missionary work is so joyful. Because our focus is on our Savior. It's where it needs to be. But the truth is, our focus can always be on Him. Whether we're a full-time missionary or not and that's how we find true joy ALWAYS!

- Russell M. Nelson's talk was one of my favorites! I won't share too much from him, but simply put: Joy can be ours as we keep the commandments and keep our Savior as our focus! 

- Jesus knows it was worth it to perform the Atonement. All that pain and suffering was worth it. YOU are worth it. 

- All storms obey Christ; this is His church and He will never leave it. Where else would you go? 

- Our cumulative numbers might not be many, but our cumulative light will be great!

- Generations are affected by the decisions you make today

- REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE! And where you gained your testimony in the first place. 

- GOD WILL WIPE AWAY ALL THE TEARS FROM OUR EYES! What an amazing promise...

- All sisters are angels. Couldn't help but throw that one in there :)

- The Atonement bears NO scars. 

- Don't lose sight of eternity for a simple "toy"

There you go ladies and gentlemen. That was basically my week. Pretty fantastic, right?

Quick update on people: LATEAR IS GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY!!!! She's having her interview this week and she's all set! She's even bearing her testimony with her children at her baptism. It's pretty exciting! Such a great way to end this transfer :) 

Monica is also progressing really well! She came to us this last week with her own date to be baptized! She wants to be baptized on December 10th! We're going to see if she'd be willing to get baptized earlier if she's ready, but we're not going to rush anything. She's doing really well! Accepted to live the word of wisdom already and is already sharing the gospel with friends and family! That's how you know if you're really converted :) 

We threw a little birthday party for our dear friend Sandra on Tuesday! Happy birthday! We even had cake and balloons :) She's also found names to take to the temple!!! We're hoping to go with her before Sis. Hokafonu goes home, but we'll see how that goes. 

We had an amazing Zone training this last week as well. The Zone Leaders and us instructed on the fundamental commitments of missionaries: Church, Pray, Read. Super good :) It was the most interesting zone training I've ever been to, let alone instructed it. We made it like a basketball camp :) Super fun. Lily came through this week with dinner and ice cream! 

We also got to go on exchanges with the Jones Falls sisters! I went with Sister Clawson for her first exchange ever! She's so sweet and already a pro missionary! We had a blast and she even jumped out of the car to pick up some litter in the middle of Baltimore. It was hilarious. Oh, and fun fact about Sis. Clawson: She hunts alligators in Alabama. I will definitely be living there one day lol. 

Sister Hokafonu also got her official travel papers. She's now packing and getting ready to go home. I keep teasing her about it, but then she just says, "this'll be you in 6 weeks!" and laughs.... Ouch. 

We also had INTERVIEWS with President! He's just the greatest! It was my last normal interview :( He's super great, though. Always knows what to say and truly cares about the people. I truly love that man! It's super sad, we were talking about transfers and he goes on to tell us that in November, when I go home, about 1/3 of the mission will be going home as well. The transfer before I came out and my transfer were both SUPER big, and most people from my transfer are going home in November for school. Poor president. He joked about going rouge and not allowing any more missionaries to home from here on out haha. I guess that'd take away any school anxieties! 

That was basically my week :) Lots of lessons. I got to pet a cute bunny :) Took a selfie with President. And October is officially here...

Keep up all the good work! Find joy in the little things :) Love you all! 

Scripture of the Week: Matthew 11:28-30

Quote of the Week: "Our joy has little to do with our circumstance and everything to do with our focus." Elder Nelson

P.s. #YouKnowYou'reAMissionary when you get frustrated reading Alma in the Book of Mormon and hearing all of Korihor's anti-Jesus words. I wanted to scream!

Oh, the pictures: that coke bottle was the one Sis. Clawson ran to pick up (the litter) in the road while we were at a stop light. 2. Sis. Clawson and I partying before bed. 3. Bunny named winter. 4. New shirts at Ken's shop. 

Love, 

Sister Humphrey

Sweater Weather

Sweater Weather is definitely here! It was crazy; we walked out of our apartment on Saturday morning and it was FREEZING! Fall just came overnight, literally. And I've heard it's been getting pretty cold in Utah, too! I hope you all don't freeze! 

This week was super great for our investigators! Latear has been on fire reading and studying in the Book of Mormon! She's been recognizing the things she wants to change in her life and she's currently doing it! AND, while I was on exchanges, Latear decided to accept the baptismal date of October 8th!! She's getting baptized on October 8th!!! Woo hoo! That's the last Saturday of this transfer :) She's so rock solid, too! She came to the General Women's broadcast (which was amazing!) and to church the next day :) She's counting down the days until her baptism! Her children still want to be baptized, but she wants to be the example for them, and they still have to come to church before they can make that step. Latear is so good, though :) I'm so grateful for her diligence and love. She's told us quite a bit these last few weeks about how grateful she is that we didn't give up on her. People just need others to cheer them on and be there for them. Everyone needs help fighting and eventually their time comes, but it's only those who fight with them and never give up on them that reap the blessings with them. I find so much joy in seeing her happy and it's crazy how physical the change can be when one decides to follow Christ. I truly truly love her. 

We also went on exchanges with the Hermanas this week! Sister Hokafonu stayed in Chesapeake with Hna Hart and I went to the Alameda with Hna Smith! I can still understand quite a lot of Spanish, but speaking it is another story. Luckily Hna Smith is a champ and we were teaching people who knew English, too, so she'd teach in Spanish, I'd follow along and understand the conversation, then I'd just speak in English and everything worked out! Hna Smith is a champ, though! She's from the Pennsylvania mission and doing super well now. She'll be coming home with me! 

It's definitely been the refiner’s fire these last few weeks, and I'm sure it's not the end of it, but I'm grateful that Heavenly Father trusts me enough to help me grow more and more. I've never felt the need for repentance and prayer as much as I have now, and I'm truly grateful that repentance IS the plan and IS the way back to our Father. He didn't have to provide us with a way back, and a million second chances, but He loves us, so He did anyway and that was through His Son. Our Savior. We all have trials and challenges. We are all so imperfect and I'll be the first to tell you how imperfect I am, but despite our imperfections, He still loves us. And He helps us. And I love Him all the more for it. 

We also had amazing lessons with Monica this last week! She's progressing really well and her understanding of the Gospel is phenomenal! She just up and decided to quit drinking this last week since she met with us because she said God was telling her it was bad and He didn't want her doing it anymore, so she hasn't picked up alcohol since and she said God has made her not even want to taste it anymore :) I love miracles like that! We haven't even taught her about the Word of Wisdom yet! These people are just so prepared! We're truly in the work of the Lord and just trying to keep up with Him! 

The General Women's conference was a highlight for me this week! God always knows what I need to hear! And He gave it to me in the very first talk! I hope you were all able to listen, and if not, it's always on LDS.org for you to watch! It truly was amazing and much needed! And Elder Uchtdorf always knows how to end a meeting lol. Some of my favorite takeaways from the session: CHARITY CHARITY CHARITY! Nuff said about that one; everyone is doing their best; We must have a bedrock understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (that was quoted twice my friends. Must be pretty important); Christ has already taken our pain; We women our refining influences for men; We must be bold in teaching true doctrine to fight off Satan's lies; Faith cannot take away one's agency or change God's will, but it can produce miracles and bring blessings; faith comes to the humble, diligent, and enduring. 

Super great highlights! And there are many many more! 

I hope you have enjoyed this week’s episode of "The Life of Sister Humphrey" tune in for more next week!

I hope and pray you all get the opportunity to listen to general conference. It's seriously the best. No matter what you are struggling with in life, or if you're not struggling at all, General Conference is the place to receive revelation and guidance for what you need in life. I pray you use this opportunity to find God's path for you. It's truly a miraculous experience. And I'd love to hear all that you learn from the sessions! I love you all so very much and pray for you often! XOXO Keep changing lives where you're at! 

Quote of the Week: "What is most important almost always involves the people around us." -President Monson (I can't wait to hear from him this weekend!)

Scripture of the Week: Alma 37:6-7

Pictures: We went to Spirit Halloween last Monday. Enjoy lol. 

Love, 

Sister Humphrey