So... this week was awesome! On Tuesday, we had a great district meeting where we discussed diligence, obedience, and punching Satan in the face. Afterwards, we had lunch at the church consisting of tortellini, tomato basil soup, and salmon... it was pretty wonderful. Then all three companionships drove to the same neighborhood to do some divide-and-conquer tracting in the rain! Clad in our raincoats, rubber boots, and umbrellas, Elder Smith and Elder Nunez knocked doors on one street, while Elder Langston and Elder Wood took a street with us, they knocked the doors on the other side of the street from us. It was super fun! Lots of people said they weren't interested, but we met two that were! Liz is a kind 70-something lady from Scotland. She gladly took the Book of Mormon and said we could come back any time. We also met Tammy- "Have you heard of Mormons before?" "Yes- I went to church for six years with a family when I was in elementary school." Haha, what?? That was cool- she said we could come back, too. :)
We
had dinner with the Nelsons!! Matt Nelson made some seriously delicious
chicken and his mom's famous chocolate chip cookies.... now, I have had a
lot of chocolate chip cookies in my day- and these were hands down the
BEST fresh chocolate cookies I have ever had. PERFECT gooey, chewy
texture, chock-full of chocolate chips, perfect amount of saltiness, and
golden. They were baked in individual little skillets and he put
vanilla ice cream on top. Wowwwwwwww they were HEAVENLY. MMMM. Aaand he
gave me the recipe! But he made me swear to not give it away to just
anyone. And I had to swear that I will not alter the recipe in any way.
"And if you do I will slit your throat and chop up your body and throw
it in the woods. Deal?" Brother Nelson was a sniper in the army for
several years... he kinda has a different sense of humor. :) And he's
super protective of his cookie recipe.
That night, we got a call from an unknown number-
"Hello, this is Sister Saunders and Sister Jamison."
"Uhhh, hello- who did you say this is?"
"We're missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."
"Oh- I'm looking for the bank..."
"Well, sir, we're not the bank, but we don't think it was a coincidence that you dialed our number."
And
we went on to tell him who we are and what we do, inviting and helping
others to come unto Christ by learning about His church and gospel which
have been restored to the earth. He said his name was Marty, he lives
in Crestview, and he is a Christian who is an honest seeker of truth. We
didn't get any creepy vibes, and he seemed interested. We have an
appointment with him at the church next week!
On
Wednesday, we were invited to speak at New Beginnings for the young
women. The theme was "Be strong" and there were several women from the
ward who were asked to speak for a few minutes on how the gospel has
made them a strong woman. It was super cute, with denim and red for
Rosie the riveter theme.
Thursday was a
game-changer Missionary Leadership Conference! Brother Littlefield and
Brother Stevenson from the Missionary Department. They basically told us
everything we need to do better as missionaries to fulfill our purpose
to "teach repentance, baptize converts." They talked about having the
faith and hope to find the elect of God who "hear the voice of the Lord,
and harden not their hearts." They taught that to find more people who
are prepared to follow Jesus Christ by being baptized, we simply need to
find more, teach more, and invite more people to follow His example.
One of them said, "It (finding those who are prepared) has everything to
do with the missionary and nothing to do with the area, culture or
people." It's all about our faith, which is belief+action=power to do
God's work, in His way. It was SO POWERFUL. We as missionaries just have
to get the Spirit, get the guts to talk with everyone, and get to work
to find those who are ready to follow Jesus Christ.
We
also learned about simplifying our teaching and focusing more on the
commitments we invite people to make and keep, which is how we invite
them to repent. We put this into action on Friday when we went to see
Angelica. She has changed so much in this past month! She is visibly
happier, full of light, and she understands why she needs to be
rebaptized, and loves the truths of the restored gospel. She made us
some delicious Venezuelan arepas (?), which are like thick corn meal
pancakes that we cut in half and ate with kale, chicken, barbeque sauce,
and cheese. SO good. She told us she feels like she is meant to help
children learn songs about Jesus- so we told her about primary
choristers, which she had no idea about! We had a powerful lesson with
her about the ten commandments, the Word of Wisdom, the Law of Chastity,
and tithing and fasting. Then
we focused on the importance of attending church, praying, and studying
the scriptures, promising her specifically experiences that will give
her a confirming witness that being baptized by the proper priesthood
authority is what God wants her to do, and to help prepare her. This
story would be a lot more awesome if I could tell you that she came to
church on Sunday, but... her boyfriend Jeff came back in town on Saturday and was no help in encouraging her to come to church.
Later
that day we went on splits with the Curdy twins, Erica and Emily who
are 17 and both want to go on missions. They were awesome!! Erica and I
went to visit some less active members in 1st ward. She loved it!
For dinner we had pizza and cookie dough with Ashley. :) She is the best ever at making us feel loved.
Saturday
we went to help a member move, and the elders were there, too. Sister
Saunders and I practiced for our musical number, and we had Chinese for
dinner with the Baltimores.
Sunday
was wonderful! Church was awesome- I was asked to play the piano in
primary for singing time and it was soo fun! Kids are so cute and
entertaining! Sister Fetters is the chorister, and she is the bomb!
After church, we stopped by Liz's house and talked with her on her porch
for a while. She started reading the Book of Mormon, and likes it! We
share a lot of beliefs. The Spirit was strong, and she agreed to have us
back again.
Then dinner with Sister Farris- she is hilarious! She made delicious beef stew.
Afterwards, we went to the Corbins for a lesson about missionary work. They gave us two referrals!
Today
has been one of the best p-days ever!! We went with a couple of the
Steele brothers and their sister and Sister Steele who is married to
Johnny Steele, to go fishing! It was my first time, and it was sooo fun!
We went to a beautiful little lake and cast our lines over a dock we
were standing on. The weather was perfect! I learned how to poke the
hook through the worm and it's sticky insides got all over my hands- and
my stomach didn't turn! I caught a FOUR POUND CATFISH on my first
try!!! It was totally beginner's luck, but I was pretty proud of myself!
Sister Saunders caught a good sized fish, and we both caught some
little ones. Then we went back to one of the brothers' property to a
little station out back where he dumped the fish in a sink and we
de-scaled them!! They were still alive!! But I tried to pretend they
were dead... it was kinda sad, but super fun... :) Gerald Steele cleaned
and gutted the big catfish- it was fascinating to watch! On Wednesday
we're going to go back for dinner and eat the fish!! Sooo fun!
Something
I took away from this week is that our faith just has to be above our
fear. One sister in MLC said, "it is worth it for us to be uncomfortable
for a moment so that others can be comfortable in God's presence for
eternity." Often it's uncomfortable to boldly talk with a stranger about
following Jesus Christ, or to invite people to repent by making and
keeping commitments. But it is the most worthwhile thing we can do. This
gospel is so true!!
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