Greetings from Fresno where time is moving too fast! We find out about transfers this Saturday and Sister To'a and I can't believe how this has zoomed by!
Lots of miracles again this week. One of our investigators got a marriage license on Monday and so that means we're one step closer to getting him ready for baptism! Sister Gonzalez keeps calling us to make sure that he's on track for baptism and it's so fun to see her personal involvement with our investigator!
The Zone Leaders came and inspected our apartment this week and learned just how bad this bug problem was that we had been speaking of. They graciously left ten large cockroaches (that they killed with copious amounts of Raid) on our kitchen counters and then proceeded to call our Housing Coordinator. So, the exterminator has one last turn to get the bugs out of our microwave, dishwasher, oven, kitchen, and bathroom, or we're moving out! We also got a courtesy carpet clean out of the deal so we're rather excited. :) We seriously never eat in our kitchen and I only eat prepackaged foods or things that I keep in two ziplocs in our cupboard. Haha. No bueno at all.
One evening after planning I convinced Sister To'a that she was a master haircutter and she cut me bangs! They look super awesome (even if I do say so myself) and it's pretty fun having a different hairstyle after eight years or so of having the same thing. They're the swoopy to the side kind and look exactly like Sister To'a's. Hahah. My hair looks even redder these days and I keep getting asked if I'm from Ireland. I guess the pasty skin, red hair, and stubborn attitude make it seem like I'm Irish? haha. Hey, but if that menas I'm entitled to the luck o' the Irish...I'm totally okay with that!
We had a miracle with an investigator this week. Keiha is the girlfriend of an investigator that the Elders in the Young Single Adult ward are teaching. We go over to the house as well for the rest of the family, and we really got to talking with Keiha. Last night one of the wards had a baptism, and we just felt like we needed to text her and invite her to the baptism. To our surprise she came and it was AMAZING! One of the missionaries gave a presentation after the baptism, while the baptizee and baptizer were getting changed. All of a sudden I looked at Keiha, who was sitting next to me, a cute twenty-year-old student at Fresno State, and I saw tears. Then, she started sobbing. Sister To'a got her some kleenex and she continued to just cry. This made us cry, because we knew that the spirit was so strong in the room and that she was reallyy feeling it. After the baptism, I asked her what she thought. She said it was just beautiful and began to ask us what she needed to do to be baptized. We told her that the feeling she had was the holy ghost and that she could have that peace and calm with her all the time. She began to cry again and said this is what she had been looking for and that she had never felt such an overwhelming feeling of love in her entire life. :) It was awesome! She asked to have Sisters teach her, so she'll continue to go to the YSA ward, but we'll be the missionaries that get to teach this insanely prepared young lady! We taught her to pray last week and she asked even before the baptism started if she could pray again at our next lesson. Hahah. Yeah. Seriously. She texted us again last night and told us that she has been praying for something and feels this is Heavenly Father's answer to her!!
We continue to have the most random dinner schedule. Some days our dinners cancel and then other days we are double booked---so you know what that means! Two dinners! Hahah. That's actually happening today. Sister To'a and I are getting pretty skilled at packing food away. :)
We also have been asked to spend two hours a week on www.mormon.org exploring and looking at the wonderful resource that it is! We just love watching the little clips of people's lives and reading, in great simplicity, about our beliefs! There are new pass-along cards that we use and it simply directs people to this website to be able to see how normal Mormons really are! Haha.
We were able to have a Regional Conference this last Sunday for all of Northern California. It was a broadcast and we were able to be blessed to have many many investigators there! A huge family came that we've been teaching and it was amazing as we heard President Eyring speak of the importance of a modern-day prophet. It was amazing as this was the answer to many of the questions that we'd been asked by this particular family and the spirit was doing some wonderful teaching!
We went on splits (for the first time in my mission) and have set them up for every Thursday night with different sisters in the ward. I had severe companion separation anxiety and I got severely lost, but we still had a wonderful time!
Random subject change. Sister To'a and I call each other "Toko." In Tongan, "sister" is "tokoua". And "Tokoua" shortened is "Toko"! We've been having a grand time and are just generally being ridiculous in the most quietly dignified manner. Haha. We're both super nervous about this next transfer because we both think this might be the calm before the storm--but we'll have to see what Saturday brings us!
Peace be the Journey,
Sister Katalin Bolliger
Wow! Fruit Basket Upset!!! Lol. Visalia Stake is now divided north to south and it is going to be awesome! 3rd ward is now the smallest ward in the stake and we will be going to the Caldwell building. Needless to say, I'm ecstatic! We make the official change on the 13th. It is going to be great. Reports have already started on the new members and I thing all will transition smoothly. Hope you are doing well in Fresno. We still love you!
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