Monday, April 27, 2015

Baptism Week!! (aka opposition week...eek!)

First of all, birthday shout out to the one who gave me life! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! 27 is a great age! ;)

BAPTISM!!! 
We have a baptism coming up on Saturday and we all know what means! We are just bracing ourselves for the opposition that's going to come. We've already seen some these past couple of days so we're just preparing for more! But YAHOO for a baptism! 

Oh my guess how many investigators we had at church yesterday?! Did you guess 5? Then you would be wrong. Bummer. WE HAD 9 INVESTIGATORS AT CHURCH! 9!!!! That is like....unreal in Sparta, TN!! It was so crazy! AND I had to play the organ in church again and so it was a struggle keeping them all rounded up (wow I make them sound like cattle or something). Also 2 of them were these 2 random ladies that just showed up! They have gone to church elsewhere and just moved here but never really taken the discussions. And one of them, a couple of her grandsons live in Salt Lake and are getting ready to go on missions! Crazy! 

You wanna hear like...the craziest miracle ever?! This is like...one of those types of miracles that missionaries pray for. Well, once upon a time there is a lady in our branch who is like 96 years old and she comes to church with her son and his wife. Well, turns out she isn't a member but comes every single week! So we were like, "Um...why hasn't she been taught and baptized?!" Well, we didn't really know how we would find that out until the Lochners (the son and his wife) came out with us on Friday. So we played the dumb card and we were like, "So how long has your mom been a member of the church?" (because we knew he was convert) And Brother Lochner was like, "She's not a member actually." And we asked him why and he was like, "Well, I don't actually know why. She used to take me to church way back in the 40s and we went for like 5 years because my aunt had invited us and she's a member." And so we were just like "Oh that's interesting!" And we kind of just let it drop. Well fast forward to the next day and we get a call from Brother Shotton, another member of the branch who told us that Helen Lochner (the 96 year old) decided that she wanted to be baptized!!!!! WHAT?!!! So we get to church on Sunday and we were talking about when she would want to get baptized and Brother Lochner was saying how she has had the missionary dicussions several times before (I don't know why they never committed her to baptism!) and she has been coming to church every single week for who knows how long and she is totally ready! Um okay! Easiest baptism of our lives!!!!!!!! We are still working out WHEN the actual baptism will be because we wanted to combine it with Bennie's but they were saying how she may want her own baptism and then they might want to wait until July for a family reunion when all the family is in town to come. But it all depends on what Sister Lochner wants to do so they are calling us today to let us know what's happening. But isn't that INSANE?!!! 

Well, here's some random stories for the week!
So we were trying to find this less active member and it was like 8:30 and so it was dark and we drove out to her house. But the road she lives on....like isn't a road. It has a street sign but it's like this dirt road with huge ditches and stuff and that make it really difficult to drive up and of course there are no lights. So we drive up in and there's only 1 trailer on the street so we figure it must be it. So we get out and it's like....pitch black. So Sister Laws has to whip out her flashlight and we walk up and knock and there's no answer. So then we are walking back to the car and this guy is like, "Hello?" Sister Laws didn't hear him for some reason and he scared the living daylights out of me and so I screamed and then immediately realized that it was just some guy and so I was like, "Sorry you just scared me so bad!" And then Sister Laws was just sooooo confused because she didn't even know he was there and it was just the weirdest thing. Haha so then we asked him if the lady lived there and he said she lived further up the road. What? There was more! The road just curved behind his trailer so it looked like it stopped. And when we drove up there she has lots of lights so it wasn't as sketch. Haha it was just the funniest situation. 

So here's some updates!

James: He's doing awesome! We went and taught his girlfriend before we helped them clean his house and it was really awesome! And James was like, bearing his testimony and stuff like that and helping her understand and it was super awesome! And they both came to church yesterday and it was great! 

Bennie!!! :) He's ready to be baptized! We are super excited for the baptism! Anyway, he is doing awesome! We had testimony meeting yesterday because we have stake conference this week and he bore just the best testimony ever! Oh it was so awesome! Also, we taught him about the priesthood and the offices in it and all that this week with Brother Tucker and he totally got it! It just like...clicked! Sometimes he just remembers stuff and totally understands and sometimes he cannot remember something to save his life. Haha that reminds me. This week we were talking about the 10 commandments and we were trying to help him remember all of them. And so had hand signals and rhymes for him so he could remember. But for some reason he could NOT remember 7 (thou shalt not commit adultery) 9 (don't bear false witness) and 10 (thou shalt not covet). We would ask him what number 7 was and the conversation would go like this:
"Bennie what is the 7th commandment?"
"Uh.....don't covet"
"No, that's number 10...what is number 7?"
*thinks*
"Bennie remember the rhyme and hand signal"
"Uh...thou shalt not covet."
"No Bennie that's 10!" 
Haha and he would just keep saying number 10! Then we would ask him what number 10 was and he would have no idea and we'd be like, "You kept saying it for number 7! Over and over!" And he would be like, "Uh bear false witness?" No Bennie! Haha it was seriously so funny. At least he knows what they are and that he needs to follow them. That's what's important! He is so classic though! 

Bobby and Crystal are doing alright. We were going to see them Friday but they said not to come over because of bunch of stuff that was happening and when we went on Saturday we took our Ward Mission Leader and it was like...just an awful lesson. Well first Bobby is struggling with the word of wisdom again and Bobby's brother is visiting and he's just.....not a good influence. I don't think Bobby takes us as seriously when his big bro is there....he just acts differently and it's a struggle. We ended up teaching them the whole restoration again because Bobby didn't understand why he still felt good when he went to their church so what makes us different. It was good because now we see where he is coming from and stuff but we are at the weird stage where if they don't start coming to church and really acting then we are going to have to let them go. Which will be awful! 

I don't know if I told y'all about Tony but he's this guy we have been teaching and he's super awesome! He's been reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it. Haha when we were talking about him praying about it we asked him how he felt as he prayed and he was like, "I don't know how to describe it. I just felt....melancholy." And Sister Laws with her "no filter" was like, "What?! It made you feel melancholy?!" Haha and he just kind of looked at her and then he was like, "Well that's not really the word I meant. I can't think of it." Anyway he was trying to think of  work that meant "wordy" because he was confused to some parts in the Book of Mormon but we cleared that up and also he came to church on Sunday! Wahoo!!! Anyway, that was just a random funny story. 

Also watching 6 year old's do "magic" tricks is the funniest thing of my life.  

I read this quote that someone had on their wall last week that I just loved and wanted to share! "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." I just love this quote especially as a missionary because there are so many things that we have the power to do and there are so many things that we have the power to change and then there are things that we just don't have any power over, like agency. And the key is to find out the difference and then act! If we can change something - change it! If we can't, accept and move on because there are better things ahead! It reminds of the scripture D&C 123:17 "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." Sometimes we just have to do all we can and then wait for God to do the rest!

Love you all so much and I hope you have a great week!
Keep on truckin!
Love,
Sister Myers

PS I'm not sure why I said keep on truckin but whatever...haha
PSS Pictures!
1. We held 2 day old kittens! Aw!!!
2. I like this sign. 
3. Southern people put great things on the sidewalk! Hahaha
 


 

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