4-1-2013

Easter was great yesterday. We sang in the white river ward (the family ward) for their sacrament and then went to our own branch. A family from the WR ward invited us over for dinner. Yeah it was nothing like I'm used to haha. But we certainly have had our share of candy the last few days, more than you ever bought for us! :) Thanks for not overloading us on candy as kids.

Seriously the members of the branch here are awesome. That family, the Hurleys have 10 kids and 4 of them are in the YSA branch. Their house was so loud and they certainly "argue" a lot. It was great to be in a "typical" mormon home. Mark, their son, said they have started taking pictures of the missionaries because someone did that while he was on his mission. I knew you would appreciate it. You may get another picture, we are having dinner with them next month again. I've been really impressed with the members. A lot of them go out of their way to help us. Every lesson we teach with an investigator we have a member present. There are actually quite a few female RMs who I look up to quite a bit. Even though they aren't married yet, they aren't sitting around wasting their lives away.

So this week we taught 13 member present lessons. Our goal for this week is 16! Last p-day we were at wal-mart and this guy, Randy, comes up and asks if we went to the same church as the elders. We told him yes. He said that he had ran into them last week and they had invited him to go to church but he hadn't been able to. We took down his info and asked where he lived so we could figure out what elders he had talked to. The elders said that they had tried to contact him, but couldn't get a hold of him. Oh and our car had gotten towed saturday night and we didn't get it back until later on monday.....so we wouldn't have been at wal-mart at that time if the car hadn't gotten towed :). Anyways we called him and set up an appointment to meet with him. We were teaching him about the Restoration, about half way through the lesson he stops us and is like "how do I become a member of your church"? We paused and explained how he would need to read the Book of Mormon and take lessons from us and to get an answer from God that this is what he was supposed to do. We continued on with the lesson and then committed him to baptism. He said yes of course! He came to church yesterday and absolutely loved it. He was introducing himself to everyone and is incredibly social. Oh yeah he's from Puerto Rico...sweet accent. Anyways, we then taught him a lesson after church. We asked him if he had been reading the Book of Mormon and he said he hadn't. He had been working a lot (he just started his job) and didn't know when he could find time. We explained that reading the scriptures is a commandment, and that if he set a time each day he would be able to have time everyday. He understood that it was important and agreed to wake up 1/2 an hour earlier each day. He also was a little frustrated because he wants to be able to attend all of the activities, but he doesn't know how it is going to work out with his schedule. We promised him that if he did his best, Heavenly Father would know that desires of his heart and that he would prepare a way (1 Nephi 3:7). That's my cool investigator story for the week.

I got to go to zone leadership training meeting last friday. It's a meeting with all the zone leaders at the mission home that lasts like 6 hours.  This was the first time sisters have ever gone. The reason is because my companion, Sis Donaldson is the coordinating sister. We went around and introduced ourselves and said how long we had been in the field. I definitely felt silly saying 2 1/2 weeks when most of the elders have been out for 20 months. I was able to learn a lot, and some of the principles taught were what I needed to hear. We talked a lot about the important of obedience. Yes it gets mentioned everytime there is a group of missionaries together, but it is so important! Missionaries have more potential to receive revelation from Heaven than at any other time during their life, but it's all conditional. Anyways I'm starting to learn that for myself. Luckily I've been blessed with a companion who is very obedient and it has certainly helped. I'm grateful that I was able to be in attendance, even though I'm not a zone leader (thank goodness!).

I'm really looking forward to conference this weekend. Something that my companions and I have talked a lot about it is how we can receive revelation for our investigators because we have stewardship over them. So not only have I been pondering questions for myself, but also how I can continue to help my investigators progress. I've got a long list of questions for conference :)

Lessons learned this week....I've been thinking too much about myself. At the beginning I was concerned with becoming the best missionary I can be. I've come to realize that instead of focusing on my "skills" I should focus on helping my investigators progress. If I'm able to discern and address their needs, then I'll become a missionary. This week my goal was to really listen during lessons and focus on what they were saying. We are given a promise in D&C that we will be given what we need to say, when we need to say it. I can only listen to promptings from the Spirit if I'm listening to my investigators. The times I was really able to apply that principle, I was able to speak with the Spirit and I knew that I was saying what I needed to say. It was really neat. I'm still not very good at asing questions. However, we were teaching a less active the plan of salvation this last week. I was focusing on really trying to listen, and not worry about what I was going to say next. At one point (I don't really remember) I asked an inspired question because I was listening. It was way neat and even my companions recognized it. It is possible to teach with the Holy Ghost, but it takes a lot of work. The Atonement is everything. I know that sounds cliche, but it's true. Everytime I study anything about the gospel, this lesson is retaught to me. There is so much I don't know or understand about it. How grateful I am that we could celebrate Easter yesterday. My testimony of the Savior was strengthened so much. I know I have felt the enabling power of the Atonement on my mission. I would not be here right now if it wasn't for Christ. I cannot do this on my own. I'm grateful that so far I have been taught to rely on Him in all things. I'm suprised at how much I have learned in such a short time, and wonder where I'll be 17 months from now. I'm just taking it one day at a time though. Since gaining that perspective the mission has become less overwhelming for me.

Not only is Christ involved with this work, but so is Satan. Not a day goes by where I don't feel Satan putting doubts into my mind. Several times I have doubted the confirmations I have received. This week we went and saw a recent convert who was baptized about two months ago. She is really struggling. Her parents don't know that she is baptized. She was diagnosed with MS last summer and is beginning to feel the symptoms of it. She feels like she can't move on and keep living the standards. She knows it's true, but Satan is working on her. As she sat there bawling in front of us, I wanted so badly to help her. Unfortunately I didn't really know what to do because I've only met her once. We testified to her that Satan is working so hard on her because he knows what she is capable to doing. It hurt me to see her in so much pain. Luckily, the power of prayer is strong. My prayers is something else that I've really focused on this week. I felt like I couldn't say a whole lot to her during the lesson, but she asked me to say the closing prayer. I don't think I've ever felt the Spirit more during a prayer. I don't even know what I said, but I knew that it was my desire to help her and strengthen her, and that's what the prayer did. I've had a couple of similar situations this week where my testimony of prayers was certainly strengthened.

I know that this is where I'm supposed to be. I feel very inadequate, often times I don't think I'm doing anything to help my investigators progress. But I'm progressing. I'm learning more about my Savior then I ever have before. I know that serving a mission is the only way I could gain the testimony and knowledge that I am developing. I'm grateful for the patience of my companions, I'm still pretty hesitant to talk to people, but I'm working on it. Thank you soooooooo much for your support and love. I can't quite say I love being a missionary, but I'm getting there. There are some part I love, and some parts not quite so much. But I'm improving everyday!!!! I love you all very much!!

Sister Mayberry