Heather Rose of Texas: Week 15: Looking for Rainbows

September 12, 2016

Sis. Overson, Sis. Kynaston,
Ariana, Pres. McArthur

Dearest Family and Friends and others who may read this missionary email ;)

This week has been AMAZING! Ariana was baptized on Saturday and confirmed yesterday!!! She was so incredibly gorgeous and beautiful and I just love her so so so much!

The baptismal service did not go exactly as planned, but it was a little crazy this week because we were preparing for the baptism, so when you look at how the rest of our week went, the baptism was normal. Earlier this week, we had a lesson with Ariana at a less active member's home, but she didn't tell us she is allergic to cats! This member had two cats in the house! Not only did she not tell us that she was allergic, but she also forgot to mention HOW allergic she is: she has an EPIPEN for how allergic she is to cats!! I noticed she started rubbing her nose as soon as we got in the house, but it just got progressively worse and finally we took her home after the lesson and she was all congested! Two days later, we came to get her for her baptismal interview at the church and she looked so so sick! And it was all from that darn cat! We felt so terrible. And so did she. She had gone to the doctor the day before we got her for the interview

Me with the kitty named Topaz.
I love him so much!!

and he gave her some medicine to recover from this immense reaction and she had just taken it, so she was all drowsy. Luckily, there were multiple Elders who met us at the church for the interview and they were able to give her her very first priesthood blessing! They blessed her that she would be well and able to attend her baptism and it totally worked! I love blessings so much! I love that those Elders were there so they could use the priesthood they have been given to bless Ariana and give her the help she needed from her Father in Heaven! Even though I don't have the authority to exercise it, I still get to witness the power of the priesthood, and I still get to benefit from it and participate fully in it's blessings, and I was really grateful Ariana was able to see that as well.

We have a sweet, sweet family in the branch that has us come over just about every Monday to have dinner with them and do Family Home Evening in their home. The mother, Sister Stone, she is an AMAZING seamstress and I guess she makes baptism dresses for every person that is baptized in the branch! So, she made Ariana a beautiful baptism dress! It was so pretty - it had long lace sleeves and a lacy thing at the top and it was just so pretty and white and gorgeous. Sister Stone even made her a slip she could wear underneath because we discovered the fabric was a little bit too sheer! Side note: Ariana's parents are progressing so much! They just need to get married before they are baptized. I made her mother Veronica a ring (I sent pictures last week) and Sister Stone offered to make her a wedding dress!!! How incredible is that?! The members in the branch here are just so amazing and are very good at fellow-shipping the investigators we bring to church, and they invite them into their homes and over for dinner, and they're just really great.

Well, the day of the baptism came. Saturday. Ariana decided to wear her white baptism dress almost all day Saturday (which is actually quite adorable), but her mom made her "papas con chorizo" for lunch and it spilled on her beautiful white dress and got a huge, nasty, ugly grease stain on it! They tried and tried and tried to get it out, but to no avail. She texted us and told us she had a big problem, so we called and she related the tale of woe. We told her that it was all going to be okay and that the most important thing was that she was there for her baptism to be baptized. We told her that Satan was trying to get her to back out, but that it wasn't going to work on this girl! She agreed and ended up wearing a different white dress that was just as pretty, but I don't think it would have mattered what she wore because you couldn't even focus on anything but her face! Her face was glowing so brightly and she just was so

Ariana on her birthday, getting fer face shoved in cake :)

smiley! She and her family ended up being a HALF AN HOUR to the baptism, but it proceeded as planned and she was baptized by our Stake President, Pres. McArthur. We immediately met Ariana in the girl's bathroom and we both gave her huge wet hugs! I will never forget what she said when we first went in there, though. She was soaking wet from head to toe and her jumpsuit was WAAAAY too big for her tiny body, she was freezing from the water being so cold, and she was waddling over to the stall to change when we came in and she turned around and had the biggest smile I've ever seen on her face and she just said quietly, "I feel so good right now!" The Spirit filled that tiny bathroom and we just enjoyed the moment while hugging her :) By far, the best moment ever on my mission :) Afterwards, when Ariana was ready, two families got up

and sang the baptism song "I Like to Look for Rainbows" and that made her cry so hard and it was just such a special moment, I can hardly describe it. The little kids who were singing had such bright smiles on their faces when they saw she was crying, and the Spirit was so so so SO strong in the room. We ended the program and Veronica brought out brisket (which I discovered is just roast, I thought it was this weird thing I'd never had before), homemade tamales made by Albert's Mom (they were spicy, but SUPER delicious), and we had a big dinner with chips and dip and sodas and all manner of yumminess. It was a very stressful, but very VERY, VERY good day :)

A ring I made for Ariana for her birthday
that says CPR: Church Pray Read.

Satan has just been working really hard on that family as they progress towards the truth. They were just about kicked out of their house after they gave the month's notice they were going to move, the lady flipped out and basically told them if they wanted out, they were going to be out in 5 days! So, they were having to pack all day Sunday. So, the family came for sacrament meeting, but Veronica and Albert and his little boy left to go finish packing, but Ariana wanted to stay for the rest of church! So, she did! We were so proud of her!

Also, we had transfer calls that night to see if we were staying in Andrews for another 6 weeks or leaving or what. We ended up waiting for the call to come until about 10:20 PM! Finally we got a call from President Heap and he told us we were both going to stay in Andrews and . . . . WE"RE TRAINING A BRAND NEW MISSIONARY!! Her name is Sister Snell and she arrives tomorrow. We don't know anything about her except her first name is Kirsten and her last name is Snell and she is brand new :) We're super excited, but it's going to be a tight fit in our teeny apartment. This will be fuuun!

I am so so so grateful to be on a mission right now. I wouldn't ask to be

Sis. K and all the different
pecans in Texas

anywhere else. I know the work is progressing and I know I'm meant to stay in Andrews for another transfer at least! I love it here and I love the people and I'm starting to get to know they more and more and I'm just so so grateful I listened to Heavenly Father because He definitely knows what is best for me - and this is what it is right now! I can't wait to see how Andrews is going to grow over the next 6 weeks and what Heavenly Father has in store for me!

Thank you so much for everything everyone does for me at home, even if it's just a simple prayer - I really appreciate all the support I get from home and it strengthens me!

I love y'all so much!

Love,
Sister Heather Overson