Week 53... Mandarin 1rst Ward

Hello everybody!!!!

Wow it's been such a great week!! Now I don't have loads of time to tell you all the miracles that we've been experiencing but I do want to talk about a couple. :)

But first a story!

Now Y’all know how much I love people. This story will tell you how much I love old people. (Which is a lot) so sister Toledo and I have been visiting this lady named Dixie and Dixie is so cute! And little! And she has minor Alzheimer's. Anyways.. We come over and she's like "well, I wanted to cut my toenails but I could find my kitchen shears"

.... Kitchen shears?

I look down at her toenails and behold some very ... Very.. Long toenails. I couldn't decide what was more alarming to me. The length of her toenails or the mental picture I had of her attempting to literally cut them with kitchen shears. SO I looked everywhere in her house for a pair of nail clippers which I successfully found. She starts hacking at them with her shaky hands and it's quite terrifying. And then.... My angel companion..... Says "here Dixie.. I'll clip them for you"

Whoa. My companion is the greatest. That's love right there. Kissing is not love. Neither is holding hands or flowers or perfume or chocolates. But clipping 5 inch old lady toe nails is love. Talk about a great example. Well, I found some lotion and some finger nail polish and decided to go the extra mile and run her feet and paint her toe nails! As disgusting as it was (... The long toenails were getting stuck to the lotion on my hands and I had to flick them off.. Haha) I loved it. Afterwards, she felt like she was a queen!!! I love being able to serve people down here. It's one of the most rewarding things I've ever experienced. I live to see Dixie laugh! I love to see anybody laugh. The world is awfully too sad. But something so simple as a laugh is simply so impactful. Seeing the light come in their eyes as they forget the woes of life and relax a bit. Priceless!!!

I had a lot of moments like that this week. With our investigator John.. He broke out his photo album of his family and continued to talk for 2 1/2 hours straight about his family and how much he loves his parents and brothers and sisters. His eyes lit up! The spirit was so strong and we weren't even teaching him!! It was so cool. Suuuuper long... But I could tell he needed someone to talk to. He is quite lonely! But it was cool that we finally gained his trust and he was able to open up about some concerns.

Speaking of John.. He is SOOO close to being baptized!!! He is following almost all the commandments.. He even paid his tithing in Sunday! He quit smoking and is quitting coffee and tea this week. He just doesn't understand that Joseph Smith is sorta an important part of the gospel. We've taught him about a billion versions of the restoration hoping one will stick and I think his last time it did.. I hope.. But he is doing amazing. I've never met anyone quite like him. He is 58. And a Baptist. I'm teaching John the Baptist! Haha.. But I'm very excited to see him baptized. Right now we are shooting for the 25th of Oct. But we shall see. I've never worked so hard for someone in my life. The lord has blessed me with this amazing charity for John. I CRY ABOUT HIM SO MUCH. Holy cow. It's probably not healthy but I really can relate with the sons of Mosiah when they said they couldn't bear that any soul should perish.

Well, that's about all the time I got for this week!!! I love you all so much! Thank you for everything. :) pray for John will ya? Thanks :)

Love,

Sister Chamberlain :)

So this is love... ♪

PS. I cooked a Cornish hen y'all