So this week was pretty good! We went on exchanges and Sister G came to my area with me. It is going to be a sad day when Sis K leaves because she knows where everyone lives and she has a photographic memory. So we never have to look at a map. Well, we had to use a map the whole day. haha. I'm really going to have to learn the area. I know where some stuff is but I tend to get confused here. Sister W left me her gps, but our car charger doesn't work...so it's dead. That's unfortunate.
So transfers are a mystery because we receive transfer calls tomorrow, but I'm sure I'll be staying in this area.
We did a lot of work with our older male investigator this week. We had a really good lesson about the Book of Mormon the day we were on exchanges. He believes everything we tell him, because it is in the book. We keep trying to tell him that he needs to get an answer for himself, but he says he has no reason to not believe us. So we really hammered into him that he needs to gain a testimony for himself. He still doesn't think he needs to get baptized because he already was baptized. He understands authority, so we are trying to many different things. We told him to pray about Joseph Smith and to know if this is God's church that night, because we went to the visitors center with him the next day to watch the Restoration movie. His grand daughter took all of us and asked him if he was going to get baptized. She straight up told him that his baptism wasn't valid and it was like her just dunking him in a bathtub. We did the family walk through at the visitors center and she bore testimony that in order for them to be a family, he needs to be baptized. He thinks that he will be with his wife anyway. So we talked about temples and he cried. He is the cutest thing when he cries and he cries all the time. So then we watched them movie and he cried when they restored the priesthood, and when they talked about the Book of Mormon. I know that he received an answer that this is true. He agreed to pray about being baptized on Valentines Day. However, we then took him to a baptism this weekend and when we asked him, he said he's not getting baptized because he has already been, and that he is comfortable being Baptist. AHHH, LEO! Darn it. So we need to figure out what is not working for him and help him have an actual DESIRE to find out for himself. I feel like he's avoiding the answers he is getting because he is scared and he doesn't want to change. He said he wasn't going to get baptized but he still came to church the next day and we are still going over this week. So hopefully we can figure out what he needs and help him understand. It's hard to teach old people. They are so stubborn. But man, I love him. He's the cutest. His birthday was this week and he turned 87. So pray for this man to have his heart softened and for him to understand.
We had another great opportunity to teach a couple this week. We were so excited because the girl is less active and wants to come back, and her boyfriend thought it would be good to learn more about the church. So when we started we asked a question that somehow led to the boyfriend telling us that he had been baptized when he was 8....what? Darn. haha but it's ok! He wants his daughter to be raised with God, and he is willing to give this a try because he is basically an investigator. He doesn't know really anything about the church. So even though there won't be a baptism, we are so excited to help them become active and gain their own testimonies :)
So random side story. I was ACTUALLY getting ready one day this week. I put effort into it and was actually curling my hair. Unfortunately as I went to unplug the curling iron, it was a little bit off the counter so my hip bumped it, turned it around, and cause it to rest on along my thumb. It took me a second to realize what happened and then to move the curling iron. Man, I burned myself so good. So good that the burn was white, not red. Needless to say, I have a second degree burn from a curling iron...I have never done that before. Ridiculous. So now my thumb is blistering. No fun. haha luckily Sis K. has some tea tree oil that I have been putting on it, so that has helped. I am such a klutz now.
Anyway! I had another blessing of being able to go back to my last area this week! One of the young woman I helped teach was baptized and I was able to go. Bishop drove us down because he has family there so that was fun :) He took us out to eat and we had a fun evening. The baptism was super good and I was really excited to see them again. I sure do love them. This young woman is such an amazing girl and I was able to feel of the spirit at the baptism and know that this was the right step for her (obviously), but it's always nice to get that confirmation from the spirit.
Also, since we were with the Bishop, he asked us to speak tomorrow because the other speakers had a family emergency. Luckily, I had a talk written in the past about listening to the spirit, and the topic is the Godhead. There is only so much you can say about the Godhead in general, so I decided to just use most of that talk and discuss one member of the Godhead and why he is so important. So I didn't have to prepare much. Sis K prepared a little talk on real intent, and when we were going over it in sacrament right before we spoke, we realized our talks go together so perfectly. So she went before I did and talked about real intent and then I talked about how to listen to the Holy Ghost and find answers. It went SO well. There were so many people who came up to us after and thanked us and asked for the references we had used and told us that was just what they needed. The Bishop even said that is exactly what he had been trying to get across to people lately. So that was really cool.
I think that is what stood out to me most this week. God does inspire people and prepares things. I don't know if that talk really helped anyone last time I gave it, hopefully it did, but I think maybe God prepared me to give that talk in this ward at this time. He inspired Sis. K to know what to talk on and we had no idea that it would work together so perfectly. It made me continue to realize that we don't always know why things happen in our lives or sometimes we think we did something for nothing, yet God knows those things and can use them to our advantage. It was very nice to be able to hear that it helped someone, because I felt that it maybe didn't go so well at first, but it did :) So we were grateful for that opportunity.
I am so grateful for the gospel and for God being in the details of our lives. I know that He has a plan for us, and sometimes its hard to find that plan or have the faith to push on and hope that you are making the right choices to be in line with that plan. I was refreshed by the talks I had read a few months ago when I was preparing the talk I gave in church. God doesn't make it easy for us to receive guidance from him or else we wouldn't learn. I think that has been one of the hardest things for me. I just want to do what he wants me to do. However, also as I have been reading the Doctrine and Covenants, many times the Lord tells them that he isn't going to command them in all things. Or he will tell them they need to do something, but he doesn't care how they do it. They have to put the work into it and learn to make wise choices and that can be SO hard sometimes. It is a scary thing for me to do. But if we have faith and do our best to make right choices. I believe God will make it all work out. So I'm grateful for that! I encourage each of you to look through Preach My Gospel chapter 4 and ponder on ways the spirit has spoken to each of you in your lives, because it is different for everyone and it is something we have to learn. It takes practice and action, and as we do those things, we will receive more promptings and answers, and God will know that he can trust us to follow them. I hope you all have a great week! Love you!
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