Hermana Mary DeWitt: First Week in Ft. Morgan!

It's been a crazy week! We had transfers on Wednesday and I had to say goodbye to everyone, which was super bittersweet. I got on the transfer bus and met Hermana Severtson in Ft. Collins, CO! Turns out, Hermana Severtson is from Mesa, AZ so we actually have a lot of mutual friends from back home! We drove from Ft. Collins to Ft. Morgan and then to Wiggins, which is the tiny village where we actually live (it's about 30 minutes away from Ft. Morgan so we drive there and back every day!)

We had District Council on Thursday, which was really fun! This is my first time being in a District with another set of Spanish missionaries, and it's super awesome! It's really nice to be able to talk about the people we're teaching and the struggles we have and to have the other Elders in our District truly understand how we feel!

On Friday, we had a lesson with Carmen, who was someone Hermana Severtson and Davis had a Bible Study with and also accepted a Book of Mormon. We read Mosiah 3:4-13 with her, talked about Christ and how the Book of Mormon testifies of Him (just like the Bible) and invited her to read the Introduction - she said she would! Hopefully, we'll be able to keep meeting with her and help her progress in the Gospel!

We had a mission-wide devotional on Saturday with the mission president and his wife over Zoom and it was really good! I love President and Sister Palmer SO much - they're just amazing! Afterwards, we went and did some contacting and Anayeli answered the door! She said she had asked the missionaries to come back and teach her a while ago, but they never showed up at her door again so she was really sad (later, Hermana Severtson and I looked at Area Book and saw that there was a missed appointment a while back, and then no further contacts, which blew our minds!) but she said she was excited to see us again and that we could come back the next Saturday! I'm so glad the Lord put her in our path and that we could reconnect with her and hopefully we'll be able to teach her in the future!

We also had my first Sunday in Ft. Morgan! My whole District is over 1 English ward, which threw me for a loop for a bit! It was really weird to hear Sacrament Meeting in English again, but it was also really nice. I got to meet Pablo, who is our only active Spanish-speaking member and he's awesome and super funny! After the English ward, we had the Spanish Service, which is basically Sacrament Meeting in Spanish, but without the Sacrament, because we're not authorized to administer the Sacrament in that service yet. (Hopefully someday!) Kelsi, someone that we're teaching, came for the first time and we were super excited!

I'm finally at my favorite part of the Book of Mormon in my personal study - the part where Jesus Christ comes to the Americas and teaches them the Gospel. He gives the Nephites the Sermon on the Mount and this part really stood out to me:

"...ye should do alms unto the poor; but take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them; otherwise ye have no reward of your Father who is in heaven. Therefore, when ye shall do your alms do not sound a trumpet before you, as will hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward." --3 Nephi 13:1-2

When we serve others, we have to make sure we're doing it because we love others and we love God, not because we want public recognition. If we only serve people for public recognition, that will be our only reward; we'll be missing out on a much better blessing from the Lord! When we serve others for the right reason, we will receive amazing blessings! Serve because you Love.

Love you all and have an amazing week!