Sooo, we finally got transfer calls last Tuesday night super late. I was called to be a trainer again! So I'm going to have another daughter! I'm assuming that I will just do her full training until I go home, but you never know what might happen. But I'm really excited because she will hopefully help me not get trunky! So she is super cute. She is from Arkansas. She is the youngest of 5 kids. I picked her up on Thursday and sent my mom/trainer, home. That was a sad day though. She has always been here my whole mission! And I thought I would have one more transfer with her here since the beginning, but she went home a transfer early rather than late. So that was hard to say goodbye to her.
I feel very privileged and trusted to be called to be a trainer at this time. Only 2 English sisters came in this transfer and I was called to be one of them! Sister W was called to be the other trainer too so that was fun for us to be together for that again. It was interested to see how our trainees fit our personalities too. Sister W is outgoing and crazy (of course in a good way) and I'm a little more reserved. We both got trainees that seemed to fit with the way we are too. So I feel privileged, but I'm also nervous and feel the pressure coming from President and of course, the Lord.
So this week we taught most of our recent converts at the beginning of the week so Sister K could say goodbye to them. I was super nervous about her leaving because everyone loves her, and also I still don't know the area super well. Sister K has a photographic memory so we never had to look at a map or anything! So this weekend we have been using a lot of maps. haha I know the major streets and it uses the grid system mostly, so that is nice, but I still struggle with all the small streets in between sometimes. I'm learning quickly though. Plus, its good for my new companion to have to look at the map and direct me so that she can learn the area too so that when I leave she will be prepared to take over.
So one of our new convert families taught US the Restoration this week and I was actually really, really impressed. The mom was like a natural missionary. I felt like she had been studying from Preach My Gospel for months and had applied the teaching skills and the patterns that we use to give commitments and promises and such. It was amazing! haha she loved doing it too so that was really good for them to relay the information to us and bear testimony of the truths that they have in their hearts now. They need to be ward missionaries! They are awesome and the gospel really has changed their lives. We also watched "The Testaments" with them for family home evening this week. They LOVED it and watched it a second time after we left. They wanted us to bring all the church movies we had so we got a huge bag of them at transfers. They were so happy.
This week I also studied chapter 8 of Preach My Gospel (using time wisely) so that we could have an awesome planning session and help my new companion learn how to set goals and such. So I was really excited about our weekly planning, but when we showed up, our area book had been all messed up with the other elders in our ward...so we spent all 2 and a half hours of weekly planning reassigning all the people that were theirs, back to them. We had to do it one by one and there were over 400 of them. It was ridiculous! Sometimes the iPads are a huge blessing, and sometimes they are a huge pain. That was one of the moments they were a huge pain. We didn't get to plan ANYTHING for this week. Not only did we not get to plan anything, but we NEED new investigators. So we did so much finding this weekend. We knocked on a lot of doors and most of the time they didn't answer. So I felt bad for my new companion, but hey, might as well introduce her with realistic things. haha.
We did have a couple good lessons within the first day though so that was good. So since we needed new investigators, our district goal for the week was for each of us to find one new investigator. We knocked quite a few doors and were able to meet a few people and set appointments to come back, but they weren't there when we came back. However, at the very end of Sunday night, we were trying to contact a referral from church headquarters that we had tried earlier in the week. She was home! When she opened the door and we told her who we were, she was so excited and let us in! We were able to give her a Book of Mormon. She has a friend who recently joined the church and she is going through a hard time so she invited her to have the missionaries over. She accepted and she is sooo solid! She is a single parent and has a 10 and 4 year old, both daughters. They are adorable! We established expectations and set up a time to come back, so she became a new investigator! Miracles!
We also are going to start teaching a part member family. The wife is a convert and the husband doesn't know anything about the church. We went over the Family Proclamation this week and we set up a time to go back and start teaching him more about the church because they want the gospel in their lives more :)
Lastly, we are hopefully going to start teaching another woman. She is a snowbird. She loves Native Americans/aborigines because her father is part native,so we gave her a Book of Mormon and set up a time to come back and go over more of it with her. She has a cousin who is a member and has loved what she has learned about genealogy from her so I think she will be really solid too! She was very kind to us and said she isn't sure why she is here per say, but I think this is why :)
Our less active couple is doing good as well! They want to move to Utah eventually so that would probably be good for them. We went over the family proclamation and looking to God to know how to be a good parent. That was one of the things they had wanted to talk about and it went really well. They have been saying family prayer and the husband gave examples of blessings that he has already noticed and been given just from doing that. They are so awesome as well. I love them. So we have a lot of awesome potential being built up! I'm so excited!
We also taught one of our male investigators this week and tried to uncover his concerns. He has decided he doesn't want to be baptized "yet" or pick a date. It's hard because I know he has been getting answers, he just is too stubborn to recognize them and also forgets about the experiences he has. Hopefully he comes around. He says he doesn't want to get baptized, yet he still reads the Book of Mormon and believes it is true, believes in Joseph Smith "because the Book says he was a prophet", and he was going to come to church but he got the flu and couldn't. So we still have yet to uncover the real reason. He says he still doesn't feel he has received an answer that he wasn't already baptized by the proper authority.
Anyway, it has been a really good week! I'm really focusing on the fundamentals this past week and trying to be the best trainer I can. I want to get her started on all the right habits now so she can be going strong when I leave! haha this time feels a lot more like parenthood since the last sisters I trained. Probably because that is going to be one of the next big steps in my life. Which is super weird to think about, so I just won't think about it right now. haha. So this week I would say I have learned mostly about the importance of goals. If we don't have goals to work towards, then we aren't progressing. And many times when we aren't progressing, we start to go backwards. We need to continually make goals for ourselves so we can keep growing spiritually. It is so important! So I invite each of you to make a goal for yourselves in an area that you want to work on the most. For example, I am working on studying the Christlike attributes right now and also the fundamentals. Then I make little goals that help me focus on them. Maybe you want to be more outgoing with the gospel and open your mouth, so make a goal to talk to 1 person that week about the gospel, whether you just mention it or invite them to do something, as you prayerfully set a goal and stick to it; God will help you reach your goals if you do everything you can! Just like our new investigator for the week! We didn't reach that goal until the very end of the night on the last day. Yet, we pushed forward in faith and did all that we could, and God helped us with the rest. Blessings and miracles occur when we have set goals prayerfully. Also, setting the time when you want to accomplish the goal is so important as well, or else we will all procrastinate! I hope you all set goals this week to help you keep progressing! :) Thanks for your love and support! Have a great week!
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