The beginning of this week was a little rough because both of our baptisms that we were supposed to have fell through. I was a bit stressed out, but don't have time to explain all the details. Wednesday I was up in South Bend on exchanges with Sister Saunders. I was a bit nervous because I have never served around her before and don't know her at all. We had a lot of fun together though. We talked a lot about persistence and the role it plays in missionary work. We both set goals to work on it so each night we text each other a moment we had that day where we were persistent. It has helped so much! I'm always looking for opportunities and its already worked wonders with my attitude. She asked me to think about how I experience the Atonement when we were planning Tuesday night. As I was praying, diligence came to mind. It's being diligent in making the right decisions (ex. prayer, scripture study, having a good attitude) that allow a change of heart to happen. Sure I could make good decisions here and there, but it's making them day after day that create conversion, or allowing the Atonement to permeate me. I know a few months ago I realized that I needed to experience the Atonement more. I've noticed a change in me because of my conscious decisions to be diligent.
Thursday we taught our investigator with Sister Schieber. Sister Schieber is the coolest! She was baptized last June and had never taught with missionaries before. She told Audrey she never would have thought she would have been on "this" side before. Her husband has been deployed for the last 10 months and comes home next week. She's had a lot of her plate with her three boys and she bore a powerful testimony of how she couldn't have gotten through the last year without the gospel. She's an example to me of being strong even when everything is pulling against you.
Ok So I got the package on Thursday. The minute I saw the socks I knew Elder Oram (the one from Yakima) would love them. So I took them with me when we went to the church that night. I showed him them and he flipped out because he's seen the Seattle skyline socks before. He told me I had to wear them the next day to zone meeting. I think he told about every missionary I owned the coolest socks haha. He even asked if I was wearing them yesterday at church.
Saturday started out a bit rough. We didn't have any appointments in the morning or anything so we just tried potentials, tracted, and PCed. It was awesome! I talked to EVERYONE. I was looking for moments where I could be persistent. It was snowing, but I had a lot of fun. The best was when we PCed into Michelle. She was walking home from buying her boyfriend cigarettes. After talking to her for a bit she asked us why we would walk when we have a car. I straight up told her it was so we could meet more people, that if we were driving we would have never met her. She liked that. After lunch we went out to Walkerton to see a LA. We taught her and then went to try another one out in the country. They weren't home so I back up plan was to going tracting out there. We were just about to go in when I said we would knock the last two doors that were in our view, but that we would actually one knock one because they would let us in and we would teach a lesson. We knock on the door, the lady takes a look at our nametags and says "oh from the Latter Day Saint church, we'll I believe in the blood of Christ, etc". I just testified that we were Christian and also believed that we could only be saved through Christ. She told us her name was Debra and then invited us in. We were both concerned she was just going to bash with us. Then she told us how her ancestors joined the church in England, crossed the plains, and settled in Idaho Falls. She told us her grandmother was a "jack Mormon". It took us quite by surprise! Even today most of her extended family are members. We shared with her about the Indy temple being built and aspects of the plan of salvation. She disagreed on some points but also liked the spirit world. We were getting ready to go when she told us she had been baptized when she was 12. What? We were a bit confused, invited her to attend church with us, which she responded very positively too, and were on our way. Next time we are out there we are going to stop by again. She was a VERY animated lady. You just never know what you are going to run into.
The elders had a baptism yesterday, Frances. She is one of the neatest people I have ever met. She was going to get baptized about nine years ago and some things happened and she never was. At the time she was living up in Michigan so when she moved back to Indiana a couple months ago she called the number of the elders from nine years ago and it was still a set of missionaries! She referred her to the elders and the rest is history. The best part was right after she was baptized. We were standing in the bathroom (the font is in the hallway so there isn't much room) with another sister. When Frances came out she went and hugged the sister and just started bawling. In the mean time, Sister Schieber had snuck in the bathroom and was watching and she started tearing up. She said it was because she remembers feeling exactly that same way last June. It was a very special moment, the five of us in that bathroom. It makes we wish I would have done the same thing when Leah Ann was baptized.
This is definitely the happiest I have ever been on my mission yet. There are still plenty of times when I get really frustrated and down, but I guess I have a greater understanding of what my purpose is. AND! It's supposed to be 55 today and we are going to be walking around. What's not to love about that??
Sister Mayberry
No comments:
Post a Comment