Sunday, July 30, 2017

All Day Baptism and Bedbugs!

July 24, 2017
Dear Family and Friends

This week has been CRAZY!!! First it was super hot like 107 plus humidity so it felt like we were swimming in a hot tub of stickiness….eww! I mentioned a few weeks ago a miracle about an investigator named Mark. Well, he is getting baptized this Saturday!!!  He is so amazing and has such a strong testimony of the church. He has been investigating on and off for about 6yrs and his daughter was baptized 2yrs ago. We have spent the past 3 weeks going over every other day teaching him all the lessons over again... He teaches us hahaha!!! We go over with a new pamphlet and he tells us all he knows about it and testifies of it and then we discuss questions that he has. He is just so AMAZING.
 
July Zone Conference
Mark wanted to be baptized at 11am on the 29th so our ward mission leader went to schedule the building. Unfortunately, that slot had been taken so we asked Mark again what time he wanted his baptism. He then said, “Well how about 1pm?” So, we were like, “Ok” and told our ward mission leader.  To our surprise, he texted back and said that all of the time slots had been taken and that someone had booked the building from 11am-7pm for ONE baptism! We were so confused! We went back and told Mark about it and the first thing he said was "sounds like someone is having a pool party in the font!" Hahaha! We were dying laughing. We had to call around to figure out why someone had booked the building for 8hrs for a baptism. We finally figured out that the Maize 2nd sisters and the Zone leader's ward mission leader didn't know how long it took to fill the font nor how to book a building. Because of this, they booked the font  for the whole day for their baptism at 2pm! After switching Mark’s baptism to Friday, then Saturday, back to Friday, and then back to Saturday, we finally got everything settled and his baptism is again back for this Saturday at 11am. Whew!
Sister Magda got to see her former companion, Sister Nail!

This week we had an unpleasant surprise but before I say what it is, I need to go back a few months... like to May. So, when Sister Lee and I moved into our new apartment (which used to be an elders’ apartment) we had to clean a lot because... elders are gross. Anyway, it was coming to the close of May and getting really hot and the mosquitos and all types of gross bugs coming out. Well, all through May, June and July I kept getting all these itchy bites that would just drive me CRAZY and they were all over my body. The bites were down my arms and legs even on my feet and the bottoms of my feet. For a long time, we couldn't figure out where they were coming from and I just thought they were chiggers or mosquitoes.

One day we were at zone conference when our mission nurse told us to beware of the bed bugs and she showed a picture of bed bug bites and they look EXACTLY LIKE MINE! I freaked out and as soon as I got home I checked my mattress and let out a sigh of relief because there was nothing there.... or so I thought. A week went by and I was still getting eaten up badly and the nurse couldn't figure it out either because I told I checked for bed bugs. But late one night I was trying to fall asleep when I felt something crawl across my hand! My eyes shot open and I immediately slapped it and ran to the bathroom to see what it was.... IT WAS A BIG BROWN BED BUG!!!!! I called the housing people and told them I thought I had bed bugs and they told me that they would call our apartment people and they would send someone over the next day. Well that night I flipped my mattress over and again there was nothing. I even checked in the creases and still found nothing. I was so puzzled. That was until the thought came to me to check under the box spring. So very hesitantly, I pulled my box spring up and.... my stomach turned because as sure as God made little green apples there was a mass of nasty blood sucking bed bugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so appalled that I yelled and ran out of the room and called the housing people to tell them that I for sure had bed bugs and couldn't sleep in that room! I was almost in a panic because it grossed me out so badly. They said that they would bring air mattresses for us to sleep on until the exterminators came. That whole night I was fearing that the nasty little bugs would come find me and eat me so let’s just say that sleep wasn't happening for me that night. The exterminators came that afternoon and pretty much just held a flash light to my mattress and said "yep you've got bed bugs alright" I just thought to myself, "no duh Sherlock what gave that away?" and then they walked out of the room and said, " we can't treat it today but we will treat it on July 31st. In the meantime, your gonna have to sleep on your bed so they don't spread to other parts of the apartment." I thought I might pass out! There was no way that I was going to sleep with those blood suckers!


It was completely unfair because I was the only one who was being eaten by them Sister Lee wasn't even touched! She had bugs on her box spring but I guess they were just chilling and then climbing to my bed to eat me. I was so upset. I called the mission housing people and they said they would see what they could do. The next day they called and said that they had a guy in the Glenn Hills ward that would call our apartments corporate to see if he could do it instead. And he did!!! So, the next day he came and treated our apartment!!! We were so relieved!!! Now we are bed bug free!!! What an answer to our prayer. It was kind of awkward though because we had to pack our car to the max with black trash bags and go out and work. A lot of people thought we were living out of our car hahaha!!!! 

Transfers is this week and we just found out what's happening! For my last Transfer I will be..... wait for it....... drum roll please.... louder drum roll...... Staying in Maize 1st YEAH! Sister Lee is..... drum roll again.... louder...... Going to Kaw Valley Topeka! She is going to love it there!!! My new companion is Sister Lomu and I don't know anything about her other than she's coming from Lamar Colorado and that she's been out for about 5 months. 


I am so excited for this new transfer and to continue to be a representative of Jesus Christ, to teach the gospel that has blessed my life and brought so much happiness ere is no better calling! 

Love,

Sister Magda 


Miracles in July

July 10, 2017
Dear friends and family,


We had a wonderful miracle this week! We had another lesson this week with Mark and he had asked us about who the Holy Ghost was. After we explained who he was and answered some more of his questions, he
became concerned and then told us that he hasn't received a witness that the Book of Mormon is true yet... but then he bore his testimony of the truthfulness of The Restoration and of Joseph Smith and how there is no way that he's not a prophet and so on. We looked at him and said, "Mark you know the Book of Mormon is true you know that the church is true and you just bore a beautiful testimony."  He then expressed  to us that he knows it's all true and that he wanted to be baptized. So, we went through the BIQs (Baptism Interview Questions) and then invited him to set a specific date. We gave him several dates to choose from, but he wouldn't except one. Then, at church, we walked into the chapel and as we walk up to Mark the first thing he said was, "The 29th! I want to be baptized on the 29th!"  We are so excited! It was such an amazing experience to be able to see how the gospel has changed his life and how he looks so much happier and brighter!  His countenance shines! It's such a testimony builder to me that the gospel truly changes and blesses lives.

So, for the 4th of July, we didn't do anything other than missionary work and then had dinner... but I almost ran over a firework while trying to find a house. Luckily, it blew up after I was already past it. Kansans like to blow fireworks off from 1pm -2am... crazy people.

Well sorry for short weekly but I hope you have a good not too hot week 😄

Love,
Sister Magda