Hey there! Big news for the week! I'll be getting a new companion! I'm really bummed to see Sister Conor go, we've become really good friends, but we were sort of expecting it since she's been serving in Bayview for so long. She'll be heading off to whitewash into London Mandarin with my previous companion, Sister Willoughby. They are going to rock it! (my heart breaks that Sister Willoughby has to whitewash into another elders apartment, no one should have that experience once, let alone twice) Their area goes all the way to the western border of the mission, aka WINDSOR! So yes, they will get to see Detroit (from a distance). They are blessed :) My new companion will be Sister Leung. She's from Hong Kong and is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. I've only met her briefly, but she seems awesome! She'll be heading here from Kitchener, so it will be nice to get to hear about how KW is doing.
We had such a cool experience this week. We were out contacting, talking to people on the street, as usual and I decided to go up and talk to this one girl. At first she wasn't super interested, but then when I gave her our card she said she had some friends named "Elder" back in Vancouver who were from our church! She gave us her number and told us she'd come to church. She made the (rather long) bus/subway ride to the chapel and then stayed for all three hours, plus a munch and mingle and baptism afterwards! It was so great! And she's bringing a friend with her to church next week! I'm really excited, she's so sweet and I can't wait to keep working with her.
In other news, it's been requested that I put some more personal insight into my posts. I was recently asked what I have become good at that I wasn't good at before. I'm a lot more patient. I used to be in the stubborn/opinionated category, but honestly wouldn't really put myself there now. I'm a lot more...meek? Basically, the mission has squashed any pride out of me, and pummeled humility into me. (and by saying such, I'm just asking to be humbled again lol) They joke that English speaking missionaries go on a mission and become fluent in the Gospel, Spanish speaking missionaries become fluent in the Gospel and in a foreign language. And then the Chinese missionaries become fluent in humility. It's what they need, and it's what they get. Chinese isn't the only thing that's humbled me though. Just realizing that as a missionary everything you do, every bit of success is dependent on the Lord is incredibly humbling. And realizing how you have to root out every weakness, every ounce of pride just to get the Spirit, it's not an easy or comfortable process. Praying for humility has led to some of the toughest times on my mission. But it is so worth it. And it really makes you realize how much you rely upon Christ. A better understanding of Christ's importance brings about a good dose of humility.
Hope you all are having a good week! Take care and stay awesome!
Love,
Sister Makena Bauss
包爱蕾姐妹
We had such a cool experience this week. We were out contacting, talking to people on the street, as usual and I decided to go up and talk to this one girl. At first she wasn't super interested, but then when I gave her our card she said she had some friends named "Elder" back in Vancouver who were from our church! She gave us her number and told us she'd come to church. She made the (rather long) bus/subway ride to the chapel and then stayed for all three hours, plus a munch and mingle and baptism afterwards! It was so great! And she's bringing a friend with her to church next week! I'm really excited, she's so sweet and I can't wait to keep working with her.
In other news, it's been requested that I put some more personal insight into my posts. I was recently asked what I have become good at that I wasn't good at before. I'm a lot more patient. I used to be in the stubborn/opinionated category, but honestly wouldn't really put myself there now. I'm a lot more...meek? Basically, the mission has squashed any pride out of me, and pummeled humility into me. (and by saying such, I'm just asking to be humbled again lol) They joke that English speaking missionaries go on a mission and become fluent in the Gospel, Spanish speaking missionaries become fluent in the Gospel and in a foreign language. And then the Chinese missionaries become fluent in humility. It's what they need, and it's what they get. Chinese isn't the only thing that's humbled me though. Just realizing that as a missionary everything you do, every bit of success is dependent on the Lord is incredibly humbling. And realizing how you have to root out every weakness, every ounce of pride just to get the Spirit, it's not an easy or comfortable process. Praying for humility has led to some of the toughest times on my mission. But it is so worth it. And it really makes you realize how much you rely upon Christ. A better understanding of Christ's importance brings about a good dose of humility.
Hope you all are having a good week! Take care and stay awesome!
Love,
Sister Makena Bauss
包爱蕾姐妹