 |
| Temple trip this week! |
The session was originally going to be in English (with headset translation to Spanish), but because Spanish-speakers prevailed in the room, we did it in Spanish! Wow. It was amazing. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to properly convey the beauty of that experience. Spanish is a lovely language, and I am blessed to be able to speak and understand it. I was even more blessed to go with a lovely member to help her in her progression towards eternal life. I have never been so impressed by an individual in my entire life. The things she has done for her family, the way she acts, and her very spirit. I wish you all knew her like I know her so you could love her like I love her.
There are no words to express the peace the temple brings. Especially a temple like that of Manhattan, surrounded by city and a crazy atmosphere. And yet, when one enters the Holy Temple of the Lord, all of that noise and rowdiness and excitability is left behind. Peace, joy, and love fill every corner of that beautiful edifice.
As I walked away I wondered. At the mercy of God, at His love, at everything. It reminded me of a hymn, 'Asombro Me Da'. (I stand All Amazed)
"Me cuesta ̮entender que quisiera Jesús bajar
del trono divino para mi ̮alma rescatar;
que Él extendiera perdón a tal pecador
y me redimiera y diera Su gran amor.
Cuán asombroso es que por amarme ̮así
muriera Él por mí. Cuán asombroso es lo que dio por mí."
I am sad to see her leave to go to her country for the next while, but am comforted in knowing I will see her again (on my mission). Her testimony has fortified mine in an incredible degree, and the rama won't be the same without her!
-I also had the opportunity to be a missionary in China this week! We went to Flushing to participate in a Chinese New Year Parade on Saturday. It was stupendous. As with the temple, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We wore bright yellow 'Mormon Helping Hands' vests and we played huge drums as we marched with our LDS banner, and many of us handing out packets with church information and candy. Over half of a million Chinese people attended, which I think is just insane. More watched on TV, theoretically. It was an excellent publicity opportunity for the church and for our Chinese missionaries. Normally we strive for about 100 seeds a week (people to whom we tell the name of the church). That morning alone we probably got upwards of 5,000! I hope our Flushing Chinese missionaries (along with members of my old district) are able to receive investigators and baptize converts from this finding activity.
I learned some excellent vocabulary from my Chinese friends:
"Wan Ja'mae." Sister Voss in Chino according to Elder Lee. I forget the name Elder Brenkman and the Sister Sun gave me. That one translates to 'yellow' or 'golden' sister. The other one given to me was 'house sister' or some sort!
"Mormon Zhing." -Book of Mormon in Chino.
"Zhing yu qui'la!" Happy new year! The way Sister Reynolds had us remember it: "Sing you! Qui la la la la la la la la."
The environment was insane, I felt like a city missionary again! In addition to just using the subways to go to Manhattan, I might as well be a full-time city missionary! Just like the good old days. I even saw a member of my Brooklyn Dyker Heights ward inside of the temple. who knew Sister Voss was actually a Chinese-speaking city missionary?
Also, we have a baptism this week probably! I've never had anyone basically jump into the font water before, but there is a sister of one of our members who has been taught everything, is repentant, and wants to be baptized! So, she will likely be baptized this weekend! (Y'all will hear more next week!)
-Funny Stories of the week:
I couldn't pronounce Sister Fa'ulao's family names correctly so she mispronounced Nicholas which led us to creat new, ghetto-ish, un-pronounceable names for my family. To demonstrate, my siblings are: Nícholas, Audrin, Mc'kinkin, Willíam.
My parents are May'rin and J'amezing. My momma always told me she May'rin my dad because he was so J'amezing. (Get it? Like, she married my dad cause he was so amazing? You can hold the applause, really.)
"No problem, we will be preying for you and your family." - Text to less active turned hunting party by a typo. Now I know why some people don't go to church! They're worried the missionaries will hunt them their families down.
Apparently I asked Sister Fa'ulao to turn on the lights at 3am when she got up to go to the restroom on Sunday. It made sense at the time... It's not any worse than the three straight weeks in Brooklyn when I got up, prayed, and brushed my teeth at 1:30am. Some may call me overzealous, but I just try to do double my best at following the commandments. ;)
The penultimate Monday we ate Mac and Cheese, which I had decided to buy. We then went over to Ana's home. And she had prepared us food, and it looked beautiful, so naturally we just had to eat it. (Her food is SO good. And she always makes us these herbal teas with pancito). Then we went directly to the Perez home, where we were fed *yet another* dinner. Friends, family, I almost held my own funeral that night. The grinch's heart may have grown three sizes that one day, but my stomach grew four or five. My stretchy-band skirt was so tight I had to slyly hold it away from my body the entire lesson with the Perez family. (Have I mentioned how darling Ana Perez is yet?) It was awful. Food is the struggle of my mission!
Lastly, I talk about my Temple Ana and my Perez Ana so often Sister Fa'ulao would never have any idea which I was referring to - so we came up with a system. Background: In the Book of Mormon there is an Alma the Elder and Alma the younger so we assigned the same terminology to our Anas. Temple Ana is 'Ana the Elder' and Ana Perez is 'Ana the Younger'. :)
My week was incredible and I wish you all success and happiness wherever you may be! A special shoutout to my brother Cole who is employee of the month, and my cousin Emma who just got married! Love you bunches. Honest, truly, I do.
Amor,
Hermanita Ally Voss
There are no words to express the peace the temple brings. Especially a temple like that of Manhattan, surrounded by city and a crazy atmosphere. And yet, when one enters the Holy Temple of the Lord, all of that noise and rowdiness and excitability is left behind. Peace, joy, and love fill every corner of that beautiful edifice.
As I walked away I wondered. At the mercy of God, at His love, at everything. It reminded me of a hymn, 'Asombro Me Da'. (I stand All Amazed)
"Me cuesta ̮entender que quisiera Jesús bajar
del trono divino para mi ̮alma rescatar;
que Él extendiera perdón a tal pecador
y me redimiera y diera Su gran amor.
Cuán asombroso es que por amarme ̮así
muriera Él por mí. Cuán asombroso es lo que dio por mí."
I am sad to see her leave to go to her country for the next while, but am comforted in knowing I will see her again (on my mission). Her testimony has fortified mine in an incredible degree, and the rama won't be the same without her!
-I also had the opportunity to be a missionary in China this week! We went to Flushing to participate in a Chinese New Year Parade on Saturday. It was stupendous. As with the temple, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We wore bright yellow 'Mormon Helping Hands' vests and we played huge drums as we marched with our LDS banner, and many of us handing out packets with church information and candy. Over half of a million Chinese people attended, which I think is just insane. More watched on TV, theoretically. It was an excellent publicity opportunity for the church and for our Chinese missionaries. Normally we strive for about 100 seeds a week (people to whom we tell the name of the church). That morning alone we probably got upwards of 5,000! I hope our Flushing Chinese missionaries (along with members of my old district) are able to receive investigators and baptize converts from this finding activity.
 |
The Mormons are the ones in the funky yellow vests. :)
|
I learned some excellent vocabulary from my Chinese friends:
"Wan Ja'mae." Sister Voss in Chino according to Elder Lee. I forget the name Elder Brenkman and the Sister Sun gave me. That one translates to 'yellow' or 'golden' sister. The other one given to me was 'house sister' or some sort!
"Mormon Zhing." -Book of Mormon in Chino.
"Zhing yu qui'la!" Happy new year! The way Sister Reynolds had us remember it: "Sing you! Qui la la la la la la la la."
The environment was insane, I felt like a city missionary again! In addition to just using the subways to go to Manhattan, I might as well be a full-time city missionary! Just like the good old days. I even saw a member of my Brooklyn Dyker Heights ward inside of the temple. who knew Sister Voss was actually a Chinese-speaking city missionary?
Also, we have a baptism this week probably! I've never had anyone basically jump into the font water before, but there is a sister of one of our members who has been taught everything, is repentant, and wants to be baptized! So, she will likely be baptized this weekend! (Y'all will hear more next week!)
-Funny Stories of the week:
I couldn't pronounce Sister Fa'ulao's family names correctly so she mispronounced Nicholas which led us to creat new, ghetto-ish, un-pronounceable names for my family. To demonstrate, my siblings are: Nícholas, Audrin, Mc'kinkin, Willíam.
My parents are May'rin and J'amezing. My momma always told me she May'rin my dad because he was so J'amezing. (Get it? Like, she married my dad cause he was so amazing? You can hold the applause, really.)
"No problem, we will be preying for you and your family." - Text to less active turned hunting party by a typo. Now I know why some people don't go to church! They're worried the missionaries will hunt them their families down.
Apparently I asked Sister Fa'ulao to turn on the lights at 3am when she got up to go to the restroom on Sunday. It made sense at the time... It's not any worse than the three straight weeks in Brooklyn when I got up, prayed, and brushed my teeth at 1:30am. Some may call me overzealous, but I just try to do double my best at following the commandments. ;)
The penultimate Monday we ate Mac and Cheese, which I had decided to buy. We then went over to Ana's home. And she had prepared us food, and it looked beautiful, so naturally we just had to eat it. (Her food is SO good. And she always makes us these herbal teas with pancito). Then we went directly to the Perez home, where we were fed *yet another* dinner. Friends, family, I almost held my own funeral that night. The grinch's heart may have grown three sizes that one day, but my stomach grew four or five. My stretchy-band skirt was so tight I had to slyly hold it away from my body the entire lesson with the Perez family. (Have I mentioned how darling Ana Perez is yet?) It was awful. Food is the struggle of my mission!
 |
Best. Week. Ever. Ana is the one with the yellow necklace, I'm the one
with the big smile and light-colored hair. ;)
|
Lastly, I talk about my Temple Ana and my Perez Ana so often Sister Fa'ulao would never have any idea which I was referring to - so we came up with a system. Background: In the Book of Mormon there is an Alma the Elder and Alma the younger so we assigned the same terminology to our Anas. Temple Ana is 'Ana the Elder' and Ana Perez is 'Ana the Younger'. :)
My week was incredible and I wish you all success and happiness wherever you may be! A special shoutout to my brother Cole who is employee of the month, and my cousin Emma who just got married! Love you bunches. Honest, truly, I do.
Amor,
Hermanita Ally Voss
No comments:
Post a Comment