HERE I COME!!! :D

HEY EVERYBODY!!! Oh man! This past week was JAM-PACKED full of all sorts of miracles!!! I just LOVE being an instrument in the Lord's hands and knowing that I'm exactly where He wants and needs me to be, and exactly when He needs me there! It really is an amazing work - the Lord's. I am SOOOO incredibly thankful to be exactly where I am, right here, right now in the D.C. South! There is NO WHERE ELSE I would rather be right at this moment in time! I LOVE my mission SOOOO much, and I especially LOVE all of the amazing people - God's children - who I have the wonderful opportunity of teaching and being a part of their lives, even if it's for just a brief moment; I am SO blessed to be where I am right now! :) Monday was a really good P-day. We were able to chill for a bit, but also get a lot done, which I'm grateful for. That night, we had a wonderful lesson with Carol and started teaching her the Plan of Salvation; however, we only got through the Pre-Mortal Life part before a couple of her friends came over - Oscar and his wife (who's name I cannot remember at this moment) and their dog, Shofar. I love them all! They are all so sweet and their dog is adorable!!! We were able to visit with them for a bit and get to know them a bit (we had already met Oscar and their dog before), which was really nice. We also went over a very brief description of the Plan of Salvation and the jist of what it is and gave them a pamphlet about it. I don't know if anything more will come out of that, but if nothing else, we planted a good seed for them for the future! :) Tuesday was NEW YEAR'S EVE!!! We started it out with District Meeting, and, of course, Zone Portion of District Meeting right before that. I LOVE District Meeting SOOOO much!!! And especially Zone Portion - mostly cause Sister Lochridge (yes, my MTC companion!!!) is in my zone, and Elder Oberhansley (my first District Leader) is my new Zone Leader, and Sister Billman, who I was in the MTC with at the same time, but in a different District, is also in my zone, and my new Sister Training Leader! But I'm the most excited about Sister Lochridge being in my zone! I wish so badly that she was in my district, but that's ok. I'm excited enough that she's in my zone, so it's ok! :D It was SO much fun seeing her again! We were talking and laughing together just like we did in the MTC! I love her SO much!!! :) After District Meeting, we had lunch, and in the middle of lunch, Sister Clouse called and asked us to come over, so we did. We visited with them for a bit, then we went and had a lesson with a wonderful referral from Ghana who we met at church on Sunday named Nana Yaa! I love her SOOOO much! I think I already mentioned this before, but she's about seven months pregnant, came here from Ghana about a month ago, and is just the sweetest, most humble woman I have ever met in my life! I love her SO much!!! :) Sister Clouse came to the lesson with us, and it was AMAZING!!! We taught the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it was AMAZING!!! Seriously, the spirit was SOOOO strong, I was about to cry (and did shed a few tears) through most of the lesson, it was CRAZY!!! (I know, Mom, I'm becoming more emotional now since I've been on my mission, it's WEIRD. These weird crying emotions are SO foreign to me, but my mission is slowly but surely breaking me and causing these emotions to be more previlent, which I don't love, but I'm slowly beginning to accept. Haha). Oh! And on top of the lesson being SUUUPER insanely packed full of the spirit, we also put Nana on date for baptism for January 18th!!! She had already told us on Sunday that she wanted to join our church, so it was really just a matter of popping the question with her, but it was still AMAZING and felt SOOOO incredible!!! This is the very first person who I've put on date for baptism in my whole mission who I will have actually taught from the beginning! It's awesome!!! :D After Nana, we went over to Bobbi's house and had dinner with her and visited with her. I love her SOOOO much!!! She really is SUCH a wonderful, sweet woman and is always willing to serve us! It was truly a wonderful New Year's Eve!!! :) Oh, and one last thing about New Year's - I don't know if I mentioned this in my e-mail last week, but President Riggs told us that we couldn't watch any movies on New Years Eve and to just go about it like a normal day - but we HAD to be in by 8:00. I'm not gonna lie, at first I was slightly bummed about this, but as time went on, and especially the day of, I actually didn't mind. In fact, I actually liked it better that way because we had some real miracles happen, and it kept me a lot more focused on the work, which helped me to not be so homesick over the holiday. :) Wednesday - HAPPY NEW YEAR'S!!! Today was truly a day of miracles - even more so than the night before! We started the New Year off by having a WONDERFUL lesson with Carol and almost finished teaching her the Plan of Salvation, and most importantly, PUT HER ON DATE FOR BAPTISM!!! That's right! Carol is getting baptized on January 18th - the same day that we put Nana on date for! I am SOOOO unbelievably exstatic!!! Especially since we had to end up passing Nana off to the Fort Belvior Elders (she moved out of our area on Sunday night - literally right after church), I am SOOOO excited about Carol!!! Because Carol will be the first one who I will have taught from the very beginning and all the way to the end to baptism (for the most part - Sister Schramm and Sister Hills did service for her and read out of the Book of Mormon with her a little bit before, and Sister Schramm taught her the Book of Mormon lesson)!!! I really DO love Carol SO much! She is SUCH a wonderful, sweet woman! And she loves me SO much, too! In fact, she told me that she wants to get baptized before I leave, and since the end of the transfer will be the first week of February, she wanted to make sure she got dunked QUICK!!! :) It really feels amazing to know that I have SO much influence over somebody and that I'm truly making so much of a difference in somebody's life! THIS is what this work is truly about! THIS is why I am SO excited about Carol getting baptized! It is NOT about the number, or about me being able to say that "I got a baptism". NO. It is NEVER about that. It is ALWAYS about the person - about God's child coming closer to Christ. THIS is where my pure joy comes from. :) After Carol, we had lunch, then we had a lesson with Wondifraw for the first time in several weeks. Wondifraw's... Wondifraw... Haha. I love him, I really do, but he's jut still stuck on the same issues as always and won't allow himself to move forward. But it's ok. He says that he doesn't go to his Penticostal church anymore, he said, "As soon as I start Mormon, I no go to my church anymore. I love Mormon." ...and yet, he refuses to be baptized. But that's ok. We still love him, which is why we desire baptism for him so much. But I have faith that he'll get baptized eventually. It may not be for 20 years from now, but it'll happen. :) After wondifraw, we did some online proselyting, which was wonderful! I got to chat with some really amazing people, as always! :) That night, we had our last dinner with the Shengs... they just moved back to California on Friday, so it was a last farewell dinner with them. I love them SOOOOOO much! They really are one of my favorite families out here EVER!!! But it's ok. I KNOW that I'll stay in contact with them forever! And Brother Sheng still has some stuff that he's finishing up here (I think it's his work), so he'll still be here for another month or so, so he said that he'll take us out to dinner one more time before he leaves! They really are SO wonderful! :) After the Shengs, we visited Sister K. and it was really good! I really love her SO much! :) After Sister K, we finished the night off by having a quick lesson with Desmond, and he said that he'll think about a baptism date!!! WOO HOO!!! 2014 is really starting out with a BANG!!! :D Thursday we started the day out by doing service at Koinonia, which was good as always. After that, we had lunch at Baja Fresh with Sister Owens and her two adorable daughters in the ward! I love them SO much! :) Then later that day, Sister Clouse called us and chatted with us for a bit, then asked us if we had a dinner appointment, and we said no. Then she asked us if we wanted a dinner appointment, and we said, "We would ALWAYS LOVE a dinner appointment!" So they invited us over for dinner. I love them SOOOO much!!! They really are amazing!!! :) After dinner, we visited Bishop Payne and his family. It was SO good! I love the Paynes! :) After the Paynes, we had a really good pass-off lesson with Nana and the Fort Belvoir Elders. I was SO sad to have to say goodbye to her, but at the same time, I heard that the Fort Belvoir ward has a REALLY tight-knit Ghanaian community, so she'll fit right in and be SUPER welcomed in that ward, which is exactly what she needs! :) Friday we spent most of the morning and afternoon weekly planning, as usual. Then we did some online proselyting on facebook, which was really good. :) After that we had dinner, then we visited the Taylors, which was really good! I love the Taylors! They are SO sweet and adorable! :) After the Taylors, we had a really good lesson with Carol and finished teaching her the Plan of Salvation, but mostly talked all about her baptism and how all of that's gonna work out. She is SO excited, which just makes me SO much happier and that much more excited about everything! :) Saturday we had a good visit and did some service for Sister K. and she ended up giving us a lot of stuff - such as several scarves to Sister McKenna, some three-ring binders to me, and lots more. We didn't ask for any of this, of course, but she just wanted to give it to us. :) I love it when people just so happen to want to give us things that we actually really are in need of! It's wonderful! :) That night we had dinner with Sister Field, and it was SO good! She made an amazing stir-fry, and then a really good fruit salad for desert! I LOVE her! :) After dinner, we visited the Ormes, which was wonderful! I really love the Ormes! And their little boy is SO cute! I am SO grateful to be in a family ward where I can see and interact with kids on a basically daily basis! It's wonderful! :) Sunday - we now have church at 9:00 AM! HALLELUJAH!!! ...except for that means that now twice a month we have meetings early before church at 7:30... yay... Haha. It's ok. It actually surprisingly wasn't too bad. But anyways, we had a REALLY wonderful visit with Sister K. after church, and we watched a couple of General Conference talks with her, and then watched a Mormon Message. The spirit was SO strong, and by the end of it, you could see that she was really starting to understand some of these things. That's the moment when you know that you're doing your job right as a missionary - when you can see that change in others; whether it be in less-active members, in investigators, non-members, or even members. When you can see the difference that you're making in someone's life, that is when being a missionary is all more than worth it. It's a blessing. :) After Sister K., we did personal and companionship study, then that night we had dinner with the Grigg family. I love them SO much! They really are SO wonderful! They're always looking out for us! :) After the Griggs, we finished the night off by visiting a sweet less-active woman who we met recently named Betty. I love her SO much!!! And she works at Mt. Vernon, so she told us last night that she would get us tickets to go into Mt. Vernon tomorrow! So we're going there today with the Clouses! I am SOOOO excited!!! :) Anyways, I gotta run, but I love you all SOOOO much!!! LOVE ALWAYS, Sister Aubrie Orrock