Sunday, December 21, 2014

Lead me, Guide me.....

This week has been pretty good. Last P day was really fun because we were able to go to the Stake President's house and play games. They have a huge house and a volleyball net in their yard ,as well as basketball and tennis courts. So we played a fun new card game that Sister Walton taught us called Cover Your Assets. You should look into it, it's really fun. Then we played some fun volleyball! It's always fun to get together as a zone and get to know each other and take a little time to relax and just have fun. There are always so many things that you have to do on P day and never enough time, so it's nice to take that break and work out some stress.

We got to teach one of the member's grandson tonight for FHE. He is living with them for the school year and is not baptized. He is 10 and is not currently interested, but they are reading scriptures with him and having FHE and he comes to church, so we are teaching him little lessons so that he can learn more. It went really well last week and he had some good questions. We also got to help decorate their Christmas tree so that was fun :)

We finally saw  one of our investigator's again and still, it is amazing to see the progress that has been made on her. She didn't get to read the Book of Mormon on her trip and she is leaving on another trip this week so we told her to bring her Book of Mormon and she said she would this time and she would put it in her purse right then. It is amazing that she was smiling and lighthearted about it because in the beginning, it definitely wouldn't have been that way. She loved the Christmas video (He Is The Gift) though and really opened up about things after that. That Christmas video is so awesome and is such an easy way to do missionary work so make sure you are using it!

Our single adult investigator was doing really well this week too. We backed up and started over so that he can take things slower and not get so overwhelmed. So we taught the Restoration over a couple different days. I also told him I read the Book of Mormon in 12 days before my mission so he wanted to read it in 11.5. haha he has been reading a lot and he has grown so much in the past week just from reading! It has been super cool to see him grow and he said he knows the part that he has read is true. So he was doing awesome and we also taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he said he needs to start preparing for baptism. Then he came to church on Sunday and he was fine in Sunday school, but apparently he left church after priesthood and told one of the members that he was never coming back. What? So we called him and he said he just can't be something he is not and can't be surrounded by such good people. He said we have other people who are worth saving. It broke our hearts and he asked us not to come anymore but promised he would keep praying and finish the Book of Mormon. Of course we aren't going to not go by, he needs a little boost and needs to know that God loves him and that we all are trying to become better. It's not about fitting into the church and changing WHO you are, but it's about changing to become WHO God wants YOU to be. He wants you to be the best YOU that you can and that is what matters. So we are hoping some members of the branch will stop by tomorrow and we will stop by the next day. We wanted to give him a little space from us and have members stop by and show he is cared about. 

We had exchanges this week and Hermana D came with me to our area. It was fun because it was her first exchange ever! We had quite a few lessons that day too so it was a good day for exchanges. We even contacted a former and shared the Christmas video with her and set up a return appointment. We caught up with another investigator as well. It is really hard to teach her because she basically knows the doctrine. It now just comes down to her acting in faith and taking the steps she needs to, to grow in her testimony, such as coming to church. So it's hard to know how to help her because she is the type of person that if you are too bold with, she will probably turn away. As well as her husband. So we are trying to be careful and really seek for inspiration and revelation to know how to help her.

We got a new investigator in the YSA! Yay!!!! He came to institute (we met him at a dinner last week in our family ward. He is the father's oldest son and has only known his dad for a few years). He showed up and the lesson was on the first vision. Boo ya! But they didn't actually tell the story, it was more like what can we learn from the story and apply it to our lives. So we set up an appointment to teach him the "story". The lesson went really good and you can tell he is a thinker. However he has had bad experiences with churches in the past so he isn't ready to jump into it, but the members with us were super bold and told him he can just take this as information or his life can be changed by it and it can resolve the concerns he has. So he seems promising :) He even said a prayer without just trying to push him at all. It was awesome! So we also taught at ton of recent converts this week as usual. That is something we really need help with from the ward because it is so hard for us to keep track of all of them and all of our investigators on our own. So we are hoping to making progress there soon. We don't want to be a burden on the bishop, but the ward has really got to step it up to help these people who are making HUGE changes in their lives. However, I am super grateful for all they do for us. I know they have their own lives and families they need to worry about as well, so I am very grateful for all the help they offer us.

My thought this week is from one of the testimonies I heard on Sunday in the YSA. I have been fasting and praying a lot to know what I should do after my mission and yesterday one of the men said "If it makes you want to be a better person, then that's where you need to be." So it doesn't matter whether it is applied to dating, schooling, your job, or whatever it is, that is where you should be. I really liked that and it really made me think about where I should be in order to keep learning and growing the MOST. So keep that in mind as you are making decisions in your life. God has a plan for us, but he wants us to put forth the effort and make our own decisions too. Which is extremely stressful I'll tell ya! But I know that as we put our faith in him and do our best to serve Him, that everything will fall into place. I hope you all have a wonderful week! Try to Share the Gift with someone! :)

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