Only 9 months left! AHHHHHHH!!!!! *barf*
We went to Wilie's on Monday
because he was burning some branches that he had and so we went over to
watch them burn slash also Sister Laws had a REALLY old skirt that
she's had since like 8th grade that she wanted to burn for being out 9
months and so Willie ripped it in half and we both burned half of it and
it was awesome!
Gina's babies hatched! On Saturday
when we looked out there after we got up 2 of them had been born! But
since the third one had come a couple of days later it hadn't hatched
yet. Then yesterday when we came home from church we checked on them and
the nest was empty! Guess Gina got sick of us (or the pouring rain
since her nest had no cover) and carried her babies to a new location.
That was sad. We miss Gina. Oh well, can't have pets anyway....
I
ate brussell sprouts this week and I had never had them. WOW they were
SO good! Gee wiz why does everyone say they're gross?! Man they were
good!
Also, here's a funny story. So we were on
our way to dinner and to get to this members house you have to pass by
this house with this dog that will ALWAYS run out in front of you. It's
so annoying. So we were talking to the members about it because they had
seen us struggling to get past it because they had been sitting on the
porch and they were like, "Oh that dog does that with everyone. You just
have to drive really fast and he'll move. If you slow down then he'll
get in front of you." So when we went to leave, well a series of
hilarious events happened. So first of all, we had all been sitting on
the porch and so that family was just still sitting there when we left.
So I had to back sister Laws out and I saw a rope on the ground so I
decided to pick it up and make her think it was a snake. So when I got
in the car I held it out to her and said, "Want a snake?" And she
screamed and slapped me so hard when she realized it wasn't. Then we
were dying laughing because our windows were down and the members heard
her scream. So then I told her, "Okay, drive really fast now so we don't
get stuck with that dog." So she starts driving but chickened out and
so I was dying laughing and the members were watching us from the porch,
probably laughing and the dog would NOT get out of the way and it was
just the funniest situation. We were probably laughing for like 10
minutes afterward hahahahah
So for like the
past 3 days we have just been contacting potentials and if you are
missionary then this is just a struggle especially when you try like 500
of them and no one seems to be home!!! Ugh we are getting pretty sick
of it...but sometimes you just have to do it or else the area book gets
way out of hand! Or when people cancel on you and you're backups can't
do it and then you just have to do it whether you like it or not!
#struggleisreal
We knocked into this guy that
was on America's most wanted. He was super nice though and he had a
really cute family and you can tell he loves Christ. Also, here's
something weird about that. When we knock on people's doors we always
try to ask if there is anyone they know that could benefit from a
message about Christ and after we knocked on that guys door, 2 other
people on the street gave him to us as a referral. Hm.....
Wanna know something crazy?! I went through the Temple one year ago from yesterday?! Wowie it feels like just yesterday!
We
were far out in Doyle this week Sister Laws really had to use the
restroom so we went into this random little store that was kind of like a
gas station but it didn't have gas and wowie it was so sketch. Haha we
had to go through this random door in the back and it opened to this
room that had another door to the bathroom and it was just insane. I'll
have to attach pictures because it was so sketch.
Also
while we were out there we found drove by this cemetery and saw a
grave....check out the picture to see what the last name was and why we
took a picture with it! :)
Okay now that I've talked about random nonsense I think I'll talk about some of our people! :)
So
I don't know if y'all remember Teresa but she is this lady that we have
been teaching. So when we went on exchanges last week they went and
taught her the restoration and at the end she said "I was going to tell
you not come back but this just makes so much sense and I feel like I
need to keep meeting with you." And she was just so sincere! So then we
took this member, Sister Bartold, who is a convert and KNOWS her stuff
(we were planning to teach Teresa the Plan of Salvation but go deeper
because she really knows her stuff about it and wanted to know what we
believe about it all) and that lesson went so well! She really
understood everything and she and Sister Bartold just clicked. A lot of
the confusion and feelings that Teresa has is exactly how Sister Bartold
felt. And wow, talk about the perfect member. And the spirit was so
strong. Then Teresa told us how she worried though because of what he
family would think and so that's why she hasn't taken a leap of faith
and just dived in and come to church and stuff. So we talked to her
about that and then we offered a church tour and she said she would like
that because she doesn't like to just walk into random churches. So
then the next day we met up with her at the church and showed it to her
and then after she told us about how she had stayed up basically all the
night studying and reading and praying and researching about everything
because she really wanted to know and she said she got the answer that
everything she has always believed is right and that the Mormon church
isn't for her. Um what?
We just don't
understand! She was SO sincere in wanting to know the truth! And she got
that answer?! How does that make sense? Also she were talking about the
trinity at one point and she was saying how she believes they are one
and we were talking about how they are all separate and giving examples
in the scriptures and stuff. Then she was like, "I can see your point
but I was just brought up believing in them being one so that is what I
am going to keep believing." OK! I was brought up believing that killing
is okay so I guess that's just what I'll believe. We just have no idea
how that happened. Ugh.
James: We finally saw him this week! Okay so on Monday
we called him because we were planning to see him that night and his
son answered and said he had been in a car accident but he was fine and
he was staying in Cookeville with his girlfriend because he had no car
or anything. So then on Tuesday
his girlfriend texted us via his phone and told us he would love a
visit from us. So Sister Tucker took us over that night and we were able
to visit with him. At first his girlfriend was sitting with us and they
were saying how they were both going to come to church, even though
she's not too keen on religion, although she has her beliefs. So we
taught her the restoration in 4 minutes (we are THAT good haha) because
she had to go into another room to get online for a meeting for work
(because she works through online communication or something like that)
and we hurried as asked if the missionaries could come visit her so she
could understand what James is learning and be able to understand when
she comes to church. And she said yes :) So then after she left we were
able to have a really good lesson with James be like "What are you
thinking?! Why you are not making God a priority!" Not in so many
words....but we shared the first few verses of Helaman 12 and talked
about how the Lord has to chasten his people or they won't remember Him
(because after we set his date and he was doing everything, everything
was going well and then he went to his old church and dropped the ball I
guess you could say and all these bad things started to happen).
Anyway, we were just really bold with him and it was really good. I
think he really needed to hear it. Then he was in pain because of the
car accident and so we asked if he wanted a blessing and he said yes and
so we called the Elders in cookeville and luckily they were free so
they came and gave him a blessing and it was really good!
Then they didn't come to church on Sunday because they went to his old church again. Ugh. People! Come on!
Bobby
and Crystal are doing pretty good! We've been working on helping them
to receive answers. Except they won't come to church! We were talking to
them about it and Bobby was like, "We go to church." And we were just
like, "Not the true one though!" and we convinced Bobby and to come and
yesterday we knocked on their door in the morning and Bobby was up and
dressed said he would be there but for some reason he never showed up!
What?! Also, funny story, on the way over to knock on their door to come
to church, there was this tree that had fallen across the little road
that led to their house and we were like, "No! Satan! This will prevent
them from coming to church!" But we were determined to not let Satan win
and so we just moved it....haha it was huge but I guess moving stuff in
Monterey has made us strong enough so we were able to conquer that.
Then they still didn't come....ugh.
I guess we'll have to teach them what I taught in my training on Wednesday.
I trained about helping investigators and less actives come to church
and talked about how we have to help them understand why. And I came up
with this acronym to remember - SPARTA!
Sacrament (we take the sacrament)
Priesthood (sacrament must be done by priesthood)
Atonement (we take sacrament to remember Jesus Christ's atonement)
Renew covenants (we also take it to renew covenants)
Testimony (we bear testimony to each other at church and help strengthen each other)
Abstain (going to church helps us to abstain from doing other things that won't help us keep the Sabbath day hold)
Here's
a cool miracle from the He Lives initiative! So when we tract this has
been the main thing that we share with people and then we lead that into
the restoration or whatever and there was this one girl that we tracted
into, Dusty, and we were talking to her and she was talking about how
she doesn't go to church because people judge a lot, but she does have
her own basic beliefs. So we asked if we could share the video with her
and and she said we could but she seemed pretty apprehensive about it.
So we showed her the video and she just loved it. She opened up a lot
and when we asked if we could come back and share more with her and she
said, "Um....yeah, I actually would like that. You guys can come back on Friday
at this time because I'll be out of school then." WOW! Also she's going
to college for Early Childhood Education and that's my major so that
was awesome.
This week I've learned a lot
about repentance and repenting every single day. Every single day we all
have something to repent for. Even just small things. This week I've
really been striving to account to the Lord in every thought and action
and sincerely repent for every little thing that I might do wrong so I
can strive to be even more exactly obedient, be more bold and loving, be
a better companion, and just the best missionary that I can be. It's
been amazing to see the change that I have felt since I have been
working to repent every single day! I can feel the spirit even more and
I've gained an even greater relationship with my Heavenly Father. I
really want to invite y'all to do the same. Repent - EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
And I'm not just giving you an invite because I'm a missionary and
that's what I do, I'm doing it because I love y'all so much and I know
it will really bless your life!
Hope y'all have an amazing week!
Love y'all bunches and bunches!
Love,
Sista M
PS Pictures!
1. Gina's babies! :)
2. The grave I told y'all about haha
3. Just a rainbow from yesterday!
4. 9 months! By the flame after it burnt the skirt!
5.
The sketch bathroom....the door to the bathroom was inside that room on
the left haha we were laughing about that for forever after that!
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