Okay, I will get right to it and catch you all up on my week. On Tuesday the 16th we had District Meeting which was great because we thought of creative ways to find people. It seems like my ward is the one that is the hardest to find because tracting works for the other two wards in our district. (Side note, but did you hear that the Redland's Mission Pres said they aren't allowed to tract anymore because he feels like it is a waste of time and not really missionary work so now they HAVE to rely on the members to find people. That could be good and bad I think.) Anyway, we came up with some ways that we actually tried later in the week that I will share with you. Elder Heath who is one of our zone leaders came up to me and my companion and said that he needs our help with someone they are teaching. We were so excited o hear this! She is 21 and he says they don't really connect cause he doesn't understand girls! We laughed pretty hard at that comment but we were happy to help. He said to come to the church that night at 5 pm because they were teaching her then and wanted us to be there and meet her. We went and so did Pres and Sister Hobbs. They like to go to lessons with each companionship to see how the work is and cause they just love to act like missionaries and probably to check up on us lets be honest. It was a full house for sure. She is this cute girl that I got along with in a heartbeat. She is someone I would be friends with back home which was fun to see. She was struggling the last time they met but came back with an opened mind and ready to press forward cause she knows this is true. She was thrilled to have us sisters there cause we talked after the lesson to get to know her more and she asked if we were going to teach her and she was thrilled that the answer was yes. She is getting baptized on Aug. 3!!! Yes, this will be my first baptism and I am so so happy for her cause she will be such a great Mormon haha. Later that night we had exchanges so I went with two other sisters and the other sister took my spot. I was excited to get to know other sisters in the mission!
On Wed the 17th I was serving in the Upland 1st Ward with Sister Cook and Sister Morones and they are both 20 yrs old and came out the transfer before me. They are so sweet and I had so much fun with them. (Don't worry mom I took pictures of them so you can see who I am talking about.) I was able to experience a service project for an elderly woman. We moved rocks from under her window and put a tarp down so weeds can't grow. It wasn't too hard but it got hot really fast and we found a black widow, yuck! The elders had fun playing with that in a glass jar. I still don't understand most elders, haha. After that we went home and got ready and went out and taught a lesson to Jessica who is a LA but says she is active in the other ward cause she likes that one better but who knows for sure. They tell her that we are there to practice teaching but really it will help her become active again without her knowing. The other lesson we had fell through but we did get a referral and checked it out. We then went to dinner and he cooks for a living so it was really yummy!! The other sisters came and picked me up from there cause they were taking me home. I loved getting to know those sisters and their area but I missed my companions and my area and was ready to go back.
The 18th we didn't do much because Sister Miles was sick. I think she had heat exhaustion and she had a little fever but didn't want to admit she was sick. I told her to sleep anyway. I guess that is my nurse/mom side coming out of me, haha. She didn't want to take any meds cause she is one of those people who don't believe in doctors and the healthcare systems. I just did a lot of personal study which was a nice break.
Friday the 19th we got up and put on some pants and went to parks because we came up with this fun and clever way to get the word out in our neighborhood. We bought sidewalk chalk and drew the Plan of Salvation in the parks in our areas and wrote mormon.org at the bottom of our drawing. We were debating to leave our number but we thought the website would be safer. It sucks cause we don't know if it is working or not but hey at least we planted seeds and got their minds thinking. The first park we actually ran in Pres and his wife. They were out exercising and came over to see what we were doing out here so early. They loved the idea! Sister Hobbs even came back and took pictures to send to her children, yes we are famous!! haha. Some members in the ward even text us saying they loved our drawing and we didn't even tell people we were planning on doing that. Don't worry, I took pictures of our art work. After we went back home to study cause we were teaching the lesson with Anika today. We decided to prepare the Gospel of Jesus Christ so GOJC for short. The zone leaders wanted me to take over most of it for practice. I was so nervous cause I suck at teaching. That is something I am working on for sure and better change real quick. People say I do great but I am always hard on myself cause I know I haven't mastered it. Anyway me and my two weeker split it up for where we would teach and Sister Miles would just comment and make conversations happen. It went really well! She is so smart and totally understands it all. She told us that she told her grandma about getting baptized and it went good at first but now they are fighting about it cause her grandma started googling crap and is worried about when she gets married. Anika didn't understand how Mormon weddings worked so we explained that her grandma will be with her the entire day just not while she is in the temple getting sealed. She said that wasn't a big deal cause they could do something after to include her family who aren't able to attend. She is just getting pressured and she told us she knows this is right for her because she feels that it is right so we just told her to stay strong and that her grandma will turn around someday.
Saturday the 20th was also an exciting day! We were able to get 2 new investigators! Their names are Brandon and Jessica. We know that Brandon is 21 and we are sure Jessica is around the same age. They are boyfriend and girlfriend and live together. Brandon has a year and a half old son from another woman and they live with his dad and two other older men, we haven't figured out that situation yet. Jessia is the one who met elders one day and knew it was a sign cause she was praying for help and direction. My companion and I stopped by and met Brandon who seemed like he wasn't interested at all but come to find out that he too was looking for direction and decided to try it out. We taught them about the Restoration and they seemed pumped and we invited them to be baptized and they said YES! So Aug 17 is their baptism so yes I have 3 baptisms in Aug!!!! We gave them both copies of the Book of Mormon and Brandon asked if he could keep it to read it cause he is interested. We know that he is wanting to join the army and wants to marry Jessica for the benefits so that won't be an issue, so I might be planning a wedding too! haha. It is such an amazing feeling to see that light andhope in their eyes that they found something that they were looking for. We invited them to church but they didn't make it :( it's okay cause we have two appointments set up with them this week.
Well, that is what has been happening with me and hope that all is good at home! I would love to get more written letters cause I love getting mail and writing back! I love you all so much and am so happy to be out here doing the Lord's work. Don't get me wrong it is very hard but worth it.
Love,
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| Sister Cook and Sister Morones |
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| Plan of Salvation in the park |
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