January 20, 2014

Monday evening we went out to Dinner at an older couple's house in the ward. We had never met them because Sis Furnival had a stroke last summer and hasn't been able to get out much since. SWEETEST COUPLE EVER. I enjoyed every minuted of being at their house.

So confession (don't kill me Sis Donaldson) I haven't had a single member present lesson since I've been in Plymouth. Every single time we have one set up it falls through. On Tuesday we were supposed to have a lesson with our investigator, a member was driving like half an hour to come with us. Like five minutes before the investigator cancels. I was so mad! But we went with the member to see a less active instead. We haven't had any luck getting into this LA's door but the member is pretty good friends with her. Well! She let us in! I was pretty excited and felt like it was meant to be even if we didn't get out member present. Tuesday night we went out to Culver to teach a member the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was the German lady who had has over on Christmas Eve. We showed up and she had made us pumpkin pie and hot chocolate....figures. She's always trying to fatten us up haha. We had a very positive experience being able to teach her.

Wednesday morning I was studying about hope. Hope is trusting that God will fulfill His promises. I'm promised as a missionary that I will find people to teach if I'm obedient and diligent. That is what motivate me to keep knocking on doors. For the first time I'm really having to work to find new investigators. In Franklin the baptisms just kind of fell into our laps.

Thursday we went tracting in a neighborhood I had never been in before. No one answers the first few doors. Then we knock on this particular house and this older gentlemen lets us in without even introducing ourselves....always a little weird. Well he acts like he knows who we are and then after talking to him and his wife figure out they are actually in the process of getting ex-communicated. He's a preacher of a 7th Day Adventist church now. I never know quite what to do in these kind of situations. Luckily they were both super nice and willing to talk and let us warm up (it was snowing like crazy). On a side note it snowed Saturday night again and we are supposed to get more this week. The members keep saying this is a real Indiana winter, that the last few have been quite mild. I'd much rather have a rough winter and a mild summer any day! That's what I'm hoping for.

Our district meeting on Friday was all about finding, ha that's why I got to train! Afterwards we had to go get our oil changed, etc. :(. Lakeville is a pretty small town up north so it's on our way home from Mishawaka. We stopped there and tracted for a few hours until it got dark. It was freezing cold and no one let us in. But! I kept a very optimistic attitude which may have included some dancing and goofing off on my part, while maintaining my calling as a representative of Jesus Christ of coarse. Sis McDowell asked me how I keep a positive attitude. I told her I think of positive experiences that I've had on my mission and remember why I'm out here. I also tell myself that one day I'm going to miss tracting out in the snow and freezing (which I know I will). I guess I'm starting to realize how important it is to make the most of every moment. So even when my situation seems miserable, I'm trying to make it into something positive. I also sing "The Work" songs in my head. Sister Donaldson....I did not like the cd when we listened to it during my first transfer....now I can't get those songs out of my head! And I love it!

Friday I got a letter from a member down in Seymour. Man it was what I needed. This particular member had us over for dinner quite a bit and she would come teaching with us all the time. She told me how before we starting spending time with her she didn't really have a strong testimony of the gospel, but as she spent more time with us her testimony was strengthened. She also said it became so easy for her to share the gospel (she's awesome at it!) because we came in and taught her and showed her how to do it. I never thought I would have made a difference in the life of a member. I guess everyday I learn that you don't know who you are going to change.

Saturday consisted of a lot of finding time! In the morning we stuck around Plymouth. We were tracting this street and maybe on the 6th door this little Hispanic girl opens (Hispanics are my favorite BTW). We ask if here mom is there and she goes and gets her. We introduced ourselves and begin sharing with her about faith in Christ. She tells us she is Catholic. So the conversations continues and i just got this thought to bring up the Book of Mormon. So I mentioned the Bible and explain how the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. I pull out a copy and begin to use the pictures in the front to explain what it is. I had never done this before. I flip to the picture when Christ visits the Nephites and explain it. Olive (that's her name) tells us that just that morning her son was asking her about their ancestors. She told us how there is a legend of a white God visiting their people and that one day he would come again. She said that that picture reminder her of it and that the people in the picture looked like her people! AHHHHH! She told us that she was interested to read it. So we left her copy, said a prayer and were on our way. I love doorsteps like that! We'll be going and seeing her this week. After lunch we headed out to Bourbon (about 11 miles outside of Plymouth) to contact a HQ referral. No luck there, they weren't interested. So we started knocking on doors. It starts snowing. No luck. We stop to use the restroom and when we get out we find a voicemail on our phone. The cars are grounded; we have to drive back to Plymouth. I was so frustrated! Here's the deal with me and finding, if I know I'm going to do it for three hours I have to mentally prepare myself for it. That's why I hate tracting if a lesson falls through. We drove back and had to knock close to our house.

On Saturday the assistants came up to do exchanges with the elders and President Kelly and our WML came down and the three sets visited LA all day. President Kelly had told us he would take us all out to dinner. Well once you found out our cars were grounded that put a little chink in our plans. Luckily the assistants were on our side so they said we could drive anyway because "we had work to do here in Plymouth" haha. Eating is definitely work. It was a fun time at dinner. We had an appointment that night but she cancelled on us. She was had to stay inside because it was dark and we couldn't drive. I did a bit of coach tracting (calling numbers for formers) and such. No appointments from it.

Last night during our dinner break we were watching The District. I love it! It's like our own little reality tv show. It's fun to realize that those missionaries make mistakes and they aren't perfect, that they go through difficult times just like us. They just help me stay motivated. This week is going to consist of a lot more finding again. We really don't have any investigators. But I guess my whole outlook is continuing to change.

I thought I would include a picture taken real quick before we came to e-mail of all the lovely Christmas cards we received that are still on our fridge. I'm also including a video of me playing at mission conference. I can't figure out the volume on these computers so I have no idea if it's actually going to work on not. If it doesn't, let me know.