6-14-10 #1

Hello Family!

How is everyone doing? I sure miss everyone. This week was crazy. As I think about it I feel like nothing special or exciting happened but then I think...HOW COULD YOU FORGET??? THIS WEEK WAS AMAZING!!! It really was, its all about attitude as well. So two weeks ago I said we had an investigator at church. This week we had two but the investigator that was there last week and yesterday is awesome. Her name is C*. She just showed up at church!!! That doesn't seem to happen very much, at least not for me. It taught me many important lessons. One is that when you truly have the desire to teach and are doing all that you can to teach (but we're not outside a lot or at least not proselyting and its really hard to contact people and teach) that Heavenly Father will provide a way. I was extremely humbled. A member had met C* a couple days before last Sunday, not the 13th but the 6th. She invited her to church and SHE CAME! We taught her on Thursday with the member, Hermana R*. The lesson went really well. It wasn't a typical lesson which was good. I know she was taught according to her needs. She has 6 children, 21, 19, 14, 3 & 3 twin boys, and 1 1/2. She came to church again yesterday and we taught her in her home again yesterday as well. We taught about the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ. We used an object lesson which really seemed to hit her hard. We took a clean class of water and talked about when Christ was on the earth he established his church in its purity. After talking about His church and the 12 apostles we talked about the apostasy and how people changed the original church of Christ. They were trying to do good but as they did the church was changed. Then I put iodine into the water, each drop representing something different (baby baptisms, authority, and so forth) We asked her if she would like to drink the water-it looked really bad. She said no. Then as we held the yucky water we talked about Joseph Smith and how he had so many question wanting to know what was correct, which church was true and how he found out it was true. After we taught about the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith I held a Vitamin C. The Vitamin C represented Joseph Smith. We put it into the dirty water and it began to turn clean. With the power of God and Joseph Smith the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored again. After the lesson we asked if she would say the closing prayer. We taught her last week how to pray and reviewed it Sunday again. She prayed and at the end just started crying and could hardly close her prayer. We knew she had felt the spirit. After she apologized for crying and talked about how hard her life is right now. She has no food for her children. She has no family here, her mother passed away and her father lives in Mexico. She just has her children and her husband. She told us she came to church because she was seeking peace and for some way to help her family. I testified of how hard life can be sometimes but that our Father in Heaven loves us very much. We told her to pray every night with a sincere desire and ask God what she can do and needs to do to help her family and that He would answer her prayers. Wow. Celia is amazing. She is understanding the principles taught and feeling the spirit greatly. One of the hardest things is to help our investigators attend church and she LOVES church already. The members have already taken her under their wing. We're teaching her again this Thursday and hopefully again this Sunday as well.

Yesterday for the first time I went fearlessing-contacting with out someone that spoke more Spanish than I. Hermana Carney and I had come back to our apartment for the night at about 6, 3 hours early but...Hermana Carney needed to be inside. She is doing much better. This last week was a little busy so the time inside was needed for her. When we got home the English sisters were home getting ready to go out to contact or FEARLESS :) I was full of energy and they asked if I would like to come with them. After making sure Hermana Carney was taken care of I went out with them. The other set of English sisters were home so Hermana Carney was not left alone. The English sisters talked to everyone in English and I talked to everyone in Spanish. While we were out I realized I didn't have anyone that could speak Spanish around me more than myself. I was humbled. My Spanish is still...lets just say sometimes people just have pity on me and listen because they see me struggling so much. lol. But it made me feel...so loved and blessed that Heavenly Father has allowed me, helped me, loved me so much that even with my thick skull I am able to speak Spanish enough. I couldn't describe how much joy I felt in my heart. Not prideful in anyway, just humbled that I was able to go out and talk to people enough in another language. I was so grateful for Sister De La Mare and Sister Isert for inviting me to go out with them.

Another AWESOME thing about serving in New York. One day this week there were four of us missionaries in our room talking. Sister Kim, Sister Mammon, Hermana Carney, and my self. As we were talking I decided to say something to Hermana Carney in Spanish. Sister Mammon started speaking Russian as a come back and then Sister Kim started speaking Korean. It was so neat! There were four of us in one room and we could speak four different Language; Russian, Spanish, Korean, and English.

How is Youth Conference preparation coming up? I wish I could go this year but instead I am on my own personal 1 1/2 year long youth conference :) I'll be praying that everything will go well. Its this weekend right? I want to hear all about it though ok?

This week was amazing. I saw so many miracles. I see them each and every day. Things are going well here. They are still really hard and I am doing my best to be exactly obedient. I've been learning a lot about love and how to apply the Atonement and help others partake of it through love. I have a picture in my mind, it's by Greg Olsen. Christ is reaching down to a young girl standing on rocks in the water. I see that picture here. I know I am far from being Christlike but I am sure learning a lot about where I need to improve. I am far from perfect.

I can no believe how much our Father in Heaven loves us. He sent His Only begotten son to die for us and live again. Can you believe how much love He has for us. Christ truly understands everything we go through. It is through Him that we can feel relief from our great pains and sorrows. Our trials are specific for our lives. We can learn great lessons as we seek the mighty hand of the Lord to overcome the trials, sorrows, and pains that we must face to learn and grow in this life.

Being a missionary is humbling, amazing, hard, and worth it. I know my time in New York is worth it. I love all of you so much, more than words could describe. I pray that you can feel my love from here and more so feel the love our Father in Heaven has for you.

With Great Love,

Hermana Banaszewski

Ps-This next week will be interesting. I'm looking forward to it. We have Zone Conference this Wed which always lifts as edifies me. I'm excited.