Storms, Impersonations And MIRACLES!

So y'all heard about the storm Bill? Yeah, Bill never came. Our mission leaders told us that we had to stay inside all day because they were worried the storm would hit and when it did it would hit bad. We were inside the church building all day and it never came ... they finally let us go out to work around 6 and we were so grateful. Staying in sounds fun, but for missionaries who want to work, it was really boring ... but despite that ...

This week has been SO great. My new companion is amazing. Her name is Sister Andersen and she's from right here in Houston. She's a mini-missionary, so I'll only have her for 6 weeks or one transfer. I'm so grateful for her. She's SO FUNNY. I haven't laughed this hard ever on my mission. I'm just so happy and loving every second with her. She's an incredible teacher, I'm not training her, she's training me!

I picked up Sister Andersen from the mission office on Wednesday at transfer meeting and then we drove home and started up with the normal routine. She loves the missionary lifestyle and her attitude about everything is so amazing. I have been so blessed to be her companion. She's teaching me a lot. The day I brought her back to Friendswood, we got a media referral on our phone of a lady who requested a Bible. We went to go visit her and this lady is SO PREPARED. I've never met anyone so prepared in my life! We taught her the Restoration and she loved it so much. It was really cool. We set up a follow-up appointment and we visited her again on Saturday. We went into the lesson prepared to teach the Plan of Salvation. She really grasped everything we taught her and in middle of the lesson, I felt the Spirit so strongly tell us to invite her to be baptized. I did! And ... she said YES! Like not even a hesitation, just a strong YES! She's so ready! Sister Andersen started crying because it was her first ever REAL experience as a missionary and she was so touched. It was incredible. We got in the car and gave God a prayer of thanks. We're so happy. We also talked to Fern's neighbor and set up a follow-up appointment with him! God is doing great things here!

Saturday was probably the best day of my life. I got to see Darci. She's my best friend whom I haven't seen since April of 2013! On Friday night, Sister Andersen and I got a call that was from an unknown number and we answered a little confused and a voice said, "Is Sister Sanchez there?" I was like, "Yes, who is this?" and the voice said, "This is Darci. I got permission to come take you and your companion to lunch tomorrow." I FREAKED OUT. I started crying so hard that Sister Andersen had to take over. She scheduled the lunch for 12 and I was so excited and nervous but so excited. The next day came and we were reunited. I've never been that happy ever. We both cried so hard hugging for the first time in 2 years. I love her so much. I honestly can't thank Heavenly Father enough for Darci. She has helped me though so much in my life and I know she really cares. We had lunch, talked about everything and then she had to leave. I'm so excited to see her again in 9 months. I'm so happy that she's happy. It was such a great surprise.

Also, JOHN is getting baptized this Thursday. Biggest miracle of my mission. We met with him last Sunday and he's ready. He passed his baptismal interview and he's so ready. We're so excited for him. When Darci came, I took her, her mom and her sister (both returned missionaries) to come and visit him with me! They loved him and he definitely loved them and expressed to them how ready he's for baptism. God is so good.

I love this work. So many miracles this week. On Thursday of this upcoming week, we'll  be getting another mini-missionary with us for 4 days! Trio! I'm excited, although it's a lot of responsibility, but they're amazing missionaries. 

Have a great week y'all,

Sister Sanchez

Darci Hallmark, my best friend, came to visit me!