Hi everybody!
First of all, sorry about
the mix-up last week. I guess I forgot to hit the send button or
something. But I suppose now you get the pleasure of reading
back-to-back emails, which is always great. : ) And this email feels
somewhat scattered to my brain, so also sorry about that.
Also,
apparently the Week of the Missing Camera was enough time to lose my
picture-taking habits, so I apologize in advance for the lack of
relevant pictures. But that's why we can repent, right?
So!
Tuesday was awesome-very
likely the best day I've ever spent as a missionary. I think I say that
every day, but this was really super rewarding and awesome and we were
able to see results of time and work and it was GREAT! Our Ward had
planned a Relief Society activity (Johnny Lingo, 8-cow-woman themed)
for that evening, so we spent a lot of time trying to make sure people
would come. That morning we stopped by Kim H's for a lesson, as
well as to renew the invitation to that night's activity. We ended up
watching "Loving Others and Living with Differences" by Elder Dallin H.
Oaks, from October's General Conference, and it had the answers Kim was
looking for. And during this visit I received greater insight as to why
the Lord needed specifically Sister N and I to be Kim's
missionaries--I shared my knowledge that the Lord and the Ward are there
to help her through this hard time, and Sister N opened up to Kim
about how hard it was growing up when her Mom wouldn't go to church.
The Spirit was there testifying and teaching, and we all cried some, but
it was the good kind of crying. : )
Since
Brian works at Burger King we stopped by to "grab a snack," but really
just to say hello in the middle of the week (See Alma 18:22-23 for a
scriptural example (tee hee)). I strayed from my favorite Hershey Pie to
try the Reese's example. It was good, but I'm definitely getting my
favorite next time.
We had a couple hours
before the Relief Society activity, so we tracted some cute houses below
the University. It's actually been very warm here this week, especially
considering we're in North Dakota in January. For instance, usually
there's at least a foot of snow outside, and it's usually so cold that
the air in your lungs begins to freeze as soon as you inhale. Not super
pleasant, but a fun experience. However, this week it's been warm enough
that we can wear 1 coat! And tracting is super nice, because people
don't mind opening their doors and talking. :) But Sister N would
rather it was cold, just so she didn't keep getting Spring Fever while
knowing that it will still be freezing for at least 3 months. But for
the day, it was very nice. And then we went to the church, decorated for
20 minutes (It was slightly stressful to decorate that fast--felt a
little like Prom.), and then had our activity. The opening on the left of the tables was filled with a projector and screen, where we watched Johnny Lingo. :)
And
it was so awesome! Kim H came with her daughter Brittaniee (there
was babysitting so that was a nice break for them), despite her broken
elbow. Melissa came and had a good time with the Ward, and quite a few
sister ended up bringing friends from work. Afterwards Kim pulled us
aside and said, "Bishop is going to give me a Priesthood blessing. Do
you want to come?" We wanted to scream and jump up and down, but we held
it together and agreed (and then danced a little bit in the bathroom :D
). It was a powerful experience, and it is so amazing to witness Kim's
journey. She was promised powerful blessings, and we'll do our best to
make sure they happen.
Friday was ZTM (Zone
Training Meeting), where we learned how to more effectively Role Play,
or practice sharing the lessons. It was super helpful, and I'm excited
to see the progress within myself personally. I know that practicing
will help me share our message with greater clarity. We had our transfer
exchange with our Sister Training leader right afterwards, and this
time I got to stay in Fargo/Moorehead with Sister W. My goal, or
"exchange focus", was to increase my ability to teach with clarity (and
to learn what I can do to improve that), so it was great that we ended
up having 5 lessons during our time together. Also, I had a surprise
interview with President Anderson since I was in Fargo while he was, and
he gave me some super helpful advice on teaching.
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| Brian left this note on his door--I was with Sister W in Fargo, but Sister N took a picture and I thought it was pretty cute. ("My Mormon friends" : ) ) |
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It's a blurry picture, but the gas price still stands out: $1.84/gal! I never imagined I'd see it so low!
|
We had an exciting Sunday--Melissa was finally able to make it
to church, so we were helping her with Madison and Brooklyn during the
meetings, as well as making sure she had her interview with Bishop. And
then Kim H's family came, so we made sure to sit by them, but they
left before we could really talk! And then a huge family of more-elderly
brothers/cousins/sons? came in, and as missionaries we got kinda' stuck
talking to the new people. And then (!) Brian and Rose showed up when
we were setting up for the potluck! Our missionary minds were exploding
with excitement and anxiety by then--we hadn't asked anyone ahead of
time to sit with them and make sure they felt welcome, so we just tried
to do it all at once. But I think everyone had a good experience, and
hey, it's not my, work it's the Lord's, and He always makes sure
our best efforts aren't wasted. Since Brian had had to cancel his lesson
on Saturday (see the picture of the Doorknob Note) we met after Potluck
and had a 2-hour discussion on the Plan of Salvation. It's so hard to
make sure the lessons don't go way over because Brian gets super excited
about the information we're bringing, and he has a lot of comments and
questions. It's awesome, because he's actually taking in and applying
what we're talking about, it just can get really deep and takes time. We
started out the lesson with an invitation to be baptized, and while
he's still not sure, once we talk about the Gospel and clarify the role
of the Priesthood he'll really understand.
And that wasn't even the craziest part of Sunday!
That
night at around 7:00 we got a forwarded text from our District Leader
saying that as Monday was a holiday and people would be home, we'd
switch Monday to a normal proselyting day and do our preparation day on
Tuesday. Sister N and I were shocked at the news--at first, we
were sure it was a joke. No one would gives us news like that so
last-minute, right? But we found out that the schedule WAS going to
change. The only problem was, we already had 6 appointments scheduled
for Tuesday, and we'd planned to spend Monday with the Pet family,
and it was going to be REALLY HARD to be obedient on this one. During
our nightly planning session we actually planned Monday as a preparation
day, but as soon as we ended our closing prayer I was pretty sure we'd
made the wrong decision. We were waiting for President Anderson to call
us back, to see if we could get permission to keep our normal schedule,
but when I asked Sister N if we should pray about our plans. Was
our decision to have P-day on Monday the wrong one? I'd felt a growing
sense of unease all during that evening, and during our prayer there was
basically a pit in my soul that just kept sinking and sinking. Sister
N looked up at me, I said it didn't feel very good, she said she'd
gotten the answer that we needed to change our plans, so at 9:45 we
went back to the planner and figured out how to reschedule our day.
It
was really hard to be obedient to leadership that time, especially
since it had seemed so unreasonable, but that night we both knew that
we'd made the right choice. Sometimes the Lord gives you answers that
you definitely don't want or expect, but He always knows better. And I'm
very grateful now that we listened, especially since yesterday when we
stopped by Kim's house she invited us over to make coconut oil products,
and since today is P-day it worked out perfectly. : )
* * * * *
Mission News:
-As
many of you have already heard (in fact, it seems like most people knew
about this before the missionaries did), the South Dakota Rapid City
Mission's boundaries will be reorganized in July. Our Zone Leaders
addressed this during our monthly training meeting, but all they said is
to keep working like normal and worry about it when it's happening. : )
So that's the plan.
-To end their service with a bang,
President & Sister Anderson announced that our whole mission will be
going through the 12-week missionary Training program over their last 6
months. I just finished training and was basically heartbroken to see
that resource leave my day, so I'm very excited for these next months.
* * * * *
This week was a good week of growth for me. Ether 12:27 comes to mind; "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." Ether 12:27.
I love you all!
-Sister Fin
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