We had a tough start to the week. We
lost one of our investigators, Jamie, when we went over to visit her and an
older woman answered the door. When we
asked for Jamie, she told us that Jamie was there but really wasn't interested,
which was hard for us to accept, seeing that during our first lesson, she was
so enthusiastic about learning more about the Gospel.
Our progressing investigator, Wayne, was
a little bit confused when we took him to Church last Sunday and afterward
talked to his close nonmember friend about Mormons and did a lot of online
research about the Church. He told us
that he had not gone on any anti-Mormon websites. However, during our last lesson with him, he
continuously referred to things he had read about a Church leader who had left
the Church and all the reasons he had for leaving it. (None of my companions
had heard of this individual and when Wayne asked the Institute teacher about
him, he had not heard of him either.)
We tried to help Wayne understand that
in order to find out for himself whether or not the Church is true, he needs to
go to the primary source (the Book of Mormon) and pray about it. He says that he has been praying to know if
the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet, but he also
says that it will take an extreme sign from God to get him to join the Church. We took him to Institute again on Thursday,
which he likes better than Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School, and the
Institute teacher, Brother Halverson, answered a lot of his questions. However, I feel like, although he has faith
in Christ and is searching for truth, he is trying to find the faults in our
Church and use them as an "excuse" to not search anymore for the
truth we have. The adversary has gained
so much power through media.
On the bright side, this week we had a
zone conference in Lebanon, TN and had the opportunity to hear from a General
Authority, Elder Pino, and his wife. The
things he said have definitely encouraged me to set goals, create a plan to
achieve them, and focus on them throughout the week.
On Wednesday, I went on an exchange with
the Spanish-speaking Hermanas. It was
quite exciting. They didn't have their
car this week so we spent the day walking, which was actually quite nice in my
opinion. I've been travelling by car
since I got in the field so it was refreshing to stretch my legs and get some
exercise. Plus it wasn't too cold that
day (It was snowing two days before for two minutes in the morning. We didn't have a car scraper, so we had to
use pass-along cards to scrape the snow/ice off the car. Pass-along cards come in handy, believe it or
not).
It was interesting being with two new
companions, Hermana Strickland and Hermana Holman. We went to visit one of
their investigators, who has some major psychological problems, including
extreme manic depression that causes her to be bipolar. We weren't there so much to teach her but
instead to help her see that there were people that cared for her and help her
understand that we were there for her.
Afterwards, we went to teach an English class at Church to Spanish
speakers. Believe it or not, I was
actually able to help out and speak some Spanish, although now I cannot say
"muy bien" for the life of me.
No matter what, I always say "muito bon."
A week after I got here, I started
noticing little red bumps on my arms that were really itchy, they soon spread
to my hands, legs, feet, and face.
Sister Fowler had some too and on Friday Sister Culp noticed some on her
arms. Saturday morning we checked our
room for bed bugs and were horrified when we found little bugs crawling on the
floor by our beds (we didn't find any in our beds). We collected some specimens and then the deep
cleaning began. To make a long story
short, we went to the office with the specimens in a Ziploc bag and, after much
googling, the lady there found out that they were carpet beetles. Their hair supposedly irritates the skin and
causes it to itch a bunch. The
exterminator is coming this Thursday.
We had Stake Conference this
weekend. Usually the missionaries are
only allowed to go to the Saturday afternoon session if they bring an
investigator. However, our zone leaders
texted us in the afternoon and told us that all missionaries were required to
go. At Conference, we found out that the
First Presidency of the Church specifically asked that all missionaries be
present at Conference and told the Stake Presidency to speak at Conference
specifically about "Hastening the Work of the Lord." This is not
something they normally do and assigning topics to speak on during Conference
is often discouraged, so we knew that it was important.
Conference was great. It was, of course, all about missionary
work. We were really sad to find out
that only 40% (1500 people) of the members in our stake are active. 60% (2200 people) are inactive. We have a lot of work to do. And when I say "we" I am talking
about the members of our stake.
For Conference, our opening hymn was
hymn #335 "Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy," a hymn that I was not
familiar with. Throughout Conference,
however, I kept looking at the words over and over again after we had finished
singing and I found that I really loved them:
Brightly beams our Father's mercy
From his lighthouse evermore,
But to us he gives the keeping
Of the lights along the shore.
Dark the night of sin has settled;
Loud the angry billows roar.
Eager eyes are watching, longing,
For the lights along the shore.
Trim your feeble lamp my brother;
Some poor sailor tempest tossed,
Trying now to make the harbor,
In the darkness may be lost.
Let the lower lights be burning;
Send a gleam across the wave.
Some poor fainting, struggling
seaman
You may rescue, you may save.
There are so many individuals who are
going through trials and are struggling with their faith. We do not know who these individuals are, but
the Lord does. We must turn outwards and
come to their rescue. We will be held
responsible for those who we have the opportunity to rescue and ignore. We must hasten the work and send out a
gleaming bright light of hope and encouragement to that poor fainting
struggling seaman we may rescue and save.
Let the Lord use you to hasten Hi work on this earth. He needs you.
You are His representative. He
has chosen you to help Him bless the lives of others and help them remember
that He knows and loves them.
Would you like a Book of Mormon?
Pass-along card ice scraper
Carpet beetles
Carpet beetles into the trash bin
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