Monday, December 30, 2013

Missionary Work Pays Off

This week was very interesting! I was humbled right away! We weren't able to see many of our investigators because they were gone for the holidays! But we were able to get 2 new investigators! One of them is a less active's husband, his name is David! They are interested in learning more so they will know how to raise their 2 year old son.  The other was a potential's son. He has had a very hard life! And is interested in learning more about the church! So I feel so blessed to be able to teach the 2 of them!

This Christmas season we were able to see a lot of less actives and share a special message about Jesus Christ with them! It was fun to see how they were remembering what it's like to feel the spirit! The less actives in our ward have been so nice! There is one who bought me and my companion a bunch of groceries as a Christmas gift!

We are still working with the D family and are now trying to teach their older brother :) We are excited to see where that goes! The D family is so amazing! Their testimonies are just so powerful! And its been so fun to see them grow in the gospel! The parents went through the temple again! And now Blake has the priesthood and is passing the sacrament! I feel so blessed to have been able to meet that family.

This week I learned a lot from my companion. I had my very first melt down. I think for girls you just have to cry at times. I have learned that I am very stubborn over small things! And This week I feel like I have overcome it a little. She mentioned something she thought we could do to be better and my stubbornness wanted to fight back and disagree with her. But I prayed. I prayed so hard in my heart that God would let that stubbornness pass! Even over the silliest thing! And It was incredible what happened; my heart was softened and I cared about what she had to say. And I started to value her opinion! And Now I feel like our companionship can work more in unity.

A quote really hit me this week," Work like it depends on you and pray like it depends on Heavenly Father." Since I have been doing that, its been amazing!  I'm learning to really work hard! And when I'm at someone's doorstep I've learned to not just be persistent to be annoying, but because I am fighting for their salvation! And that means everything to me.

We had kind of a funny experience, Beverly has been our investigator for awhile, she's the one that always gives us pine cones. Well we asked her why she didn't want to get baptized and what her real concerns were... and her reply was something I would have NEVER in a million years expected! She said, " It just makes me sad that I would waste all that water on myself. It just doesn't seem right to use that whole font to just baptize me. " She then talked about how she would like it if we did it on a  date where a lot of people will get baptized. We have researched when other people are getting baptized and she can't do it on those days. The Bishop mentioned that perhaps we could  do it in his pool so that we wouldn't be wasting water, and Beverly would feel more comfortable. I'm not sure what the rules are on that, but I'll figure it out!

Something else I learned this week is taking responsibility! And what that really means. It means that you have the ABILITY to choose your own response. And THAT has made all the difference for me this week! My stubbornness has been beating me up! But I'm learning to pray extra hard and how I can choose my response to all situations.

I LOVE this work, and I am so grateful for all the miracles I am seeing daily!! OH!!! on Christmas day we got a flat tire! THAT was pretty crazy... We had exchanges the next day so me and sister R were in Thousand Oaks all day getting the tire fixed, and we went out for pizza, and because we prayed before we ate, somebody grabbed the waiter and paid for our meal! WOW! isn't that crazy?! And I always feel awkward praying in public... but let's be honest, missionary work can be awkward, but it pays off! (literally) :)

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