To begin, someone paid for my companions' and my groceries.
Normally every other week we buy a lot of food and this week was our
week that we had to buy a little more because we ran out of the stuff
that lasts a little longer. The man behind us told us he wanted to pay
for us! We felt so bad because we had so much! We were so blessed and it
was just SO sweet of him. He has a son on a mission so whenever they
see missionaries at the store, they get in line behind them and pay for
their groceries. What a nice guy! We also went to visit a family
from my last area and hung out with them for part of our P day last
week. We did more energy work and learned a lot of cool things. I just
really love that family :) We also picked oranges with Sister A.
She is also from my other area; she is the older woman that picks us up
to go shopping. She continues to pick us up, and she has oranges at her
house, so she took us to pick tons of oranges and take home with us. Too
bad I don't like oranges ;) But it was still fun!
We also did some fun things to celebrate the New Year. We bought
sparkling cider but we didn't drink it until the next day because we were too
tired. We actually went to bed earlier on New Years Eve! haha only at
10 but that was still an extra half hour earlier than when we normally go to bed! So we didn't do much to
celebrate that night, however we did go to lunch as a zone at a Chinese
Buffet. We all went around and talked about what we were grateful for
that year and what our new years resolutions would be. My goal was to
try not to be so accident prone, and to eat healthier. Plus of course to
be a better missionary.
We had some cool little miracles of God guiding us this past week.
We aren't supposed to hand our Gilbert Open House invitations out; the members
are. But a few people had asked us for them and the reservations online
had already been opened up so we felt obligated to take them one. Our
original plan was to ask specific members to take them to specific
people, but we didn't have anyone to ask and it was getting too late to
wait. So we were on our way to deliver some invitations when we street contacted a woman working in
her garage! She turned out to be a member and she was saying that she needed
to find out where to get the invitations so she could take some to her
neighbors! We got really excited because we were originally taking them
to her neighbors. What a blessing that she was there at that specific
time and we didn't know her, so we street contacted her and she turned
out to be in our ward! She works in the primary so we hadn't really seen
her before. So that was really awesome and the member was really
excited to invite everyone. We had a few invitations on us (because the
ward mission leader keeps them) so we gave them to her. Sounds so
simple, but I definitely know that was a blessing from the Lord.
We had a really, really good day this week. We received 4 referrals
and we got a ton of return appointments so we were really excited! We
also had a lesson with one of our male investigators. We had spent a lot of our day trying to pair
our investigators up with specific "fellowshippers" to take to lessons and
to really befriend our investigators, so we were able to find a family that really
clicked with this guy. They are a newly wed couple and the husband is really
analytical/factual just like our investigator is and he was able to answer so many
questions that we would not have been able to during the lesson! It was
the perfect balance of us teaching, and the member teaching. It was the
best lesson I've ever been in I think. So that was super, super
awesome.
We also had the awkward experience of a 20 year old young man
hugging us! He didn't know the rules, obviously, and as we went to shake
his hand, he went for the hug and said, "Eh, I'm just gonna hug you!"
Sister W's face was pretty hilarious! Neither of us knew what to
do and he was already hugging us as he said it so it was super awkward.
We just did those super light, A frame hugs. It's already foreign to
think of hugging a guy! haha It was just awkward.
So after we had that super awesome member present lesson, the next
day we had THE WORST lesson ever. We taught a young man's teacher/friend
at his home and the mother sat in on the lesson and she did AWFUL. She
made us teach two lessons and she kept interjecting and telling us that
we missed talking about certain things and that we were basically doing
it wrong! But she was making it SO complicated and giving too much "deep
doctrine." It wasn't super deep, but what we teach is just the basics. It
was WAY too much information and we were there for an hour and a half; we ended up cutting her off and just saying we had to leave because
it was an absolute train wreck. So now that lady probably thinks we are
terrible missionaries because she kept saying we missed things and it
was just bad. Sis W and I just kept looking at each other with pained expressions because
it was going so bad. After the first lesson when the lady wanted us to
teach another one, we instantly knew it would be a bad idea; needless
to say, the spirit was not there. She also kept saying that the
pamphlets we were using, were wrong. WHICH they were made by Boyd K
Packer and in our training with Salt Lake, we just got told that we need
to make sure we use them in lessons more often. It was just really
ridiculous and Sis W and I were pretty angry about it. But oh well, the
guy wasn't interested after that and said he had only come to support
his student.
SO yet another bike crash this week. BUT I have to say, this one
was NOT my fault. Sister W turned her head to look at something
as we were turning a corner and she turned too sharp and hit my back
tire which resulted in me face planting/skidding across the ground with
my bike on top of me, her bike on top of my bike, and she was just
entangled in everything else! Definitely the worst fall yet. My knee and
ankle were really skinned and I had blood dripping down my legs and
COVERING the bottom of my skirt. We were on our way to pick up a young
women to go out with us, but we ended up staying at her house and
cleaning up my leg. Sister W had to scrub all the rocks out of my
leg and I washed the blood off my skirt. My knee and ankle are really
sore and I haven't been able to bike because it reopens the scab each
time I bend my knee! haha so it was a rough one and I forgot how bad
skinned knees hurt since I haven't had one in so long! haha not since I
was a child. So it started to turn green and nasty but one our ward
mission leaders made me put stuff that they use on cow
udders on my wound. They use it at their house a lot and it helps you
not scar too! He had a huge gash in his head and you couldn't even tell
because he used that stuff. So he gave it to me to use until it goes
away. It's really gross because it softens everything up, but apparently
it works. It's called
Bag Balm, and he said he guarantees that all of the
people dad works with use it on their cows. So buy some of that stuff
for wounds apparently ;) One of the greatest things about our crash
though, was the fact that apparently our phone fell out of Sis W's bag
during the crash and we didn't notice until 2 hours later. We rushed
back and it was still laying in the road! It was banged up, but it still
works! Blessings.
One of the best things that happened this week was going to the
visitors center with one of our other investigators. She has a member boyfriend
and he is the ward clerk or something. We took them to watch the Joseph
Smith Restoration video and the spirit was SOOOO strong in that room. I
basically cried the whole time even though I have seen the video
multiple times and not cried the past few times watching it. Apparently I
just needed that reconfirmation that I am supposed to be here and that
the church really is true and stuff. It was really awesome to be there
and to experience that because missionary work is hard and from what I
hear, this is the hardest part of your mission. Which it has been harder
so it was really what I needed and probably answered more prayers for
me than it did for our investigator! Then on Sunday I got the prompting
to bear my testimony and I tried to push it off but of course knew I had
too. I did and the spirit has just really been touching my heart these
past few days and I've felt it more immensely. It is hard for me to
recognize promptings sometimes, so I think this was the Lord's way of
telling me to quit second guessing myself and just know to do it. He
just had to really throw it in my face for those days to show me I
guess.
I also got a HUGE confirmation that the Book of Mormon is the word
of God and is true. I have always known this, but I have learned it line
upon line, and precept upon precept. I have never had a specific
"moment" where I just had a huge feeling or confirmation that it was
true. During the movie it talks about the Book of Mormon and during
one of the parts, I just had a huge feeling/confirmation that the Book
of Mormon is from God and that Joseph Smith was able to translate it.
What a cool moment for me to recognize a specific MOMENT and FEELING
that it was true.. Like I said, I already knew, but sometimes as humans,
we forget and take things for granted. It was a great spiritual week
for me.
Well we get transfer calls this next Sunday and I'm really nervous.
I would love to stay with Sister W for one more transfer. We
finally feel like we are starting to contribute and make progress. The
zone leaders said if we keep working as hard as we have been, that we
will hopefully stay together. But of course, it doesn't matter what they
think, it's what the Lord wants. So we are praying we can stay for one
more transfer. I don't want to have to change again. I'm just starting
to know people again and it's so exhausting to be in a new area! But
wherever I'm supposed to be is where I'll go :) Have a wonderful week
everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment