Hello! I know it's the middle of the week now...I forgot that our prep day was being moved because we had zone conference on Monday. So, I apologize for leaving you hanging, holding your breath, etc. :)
This past week went SO fast. I can't believe it's the middle of this week already. Last prep day our district decided to play volleyball. We discovered that we all have room for improvement in developing volleyball "spiritual gifts." It was fun.
When we woke up on Tuesday, both of us felt like we were 100 years old and we could hardly move for most of the day going up and down the stairs everywhere we went. There are a lot of stairs in NC. Everyone lives in apartments. We had a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation (part 1) with Tabitha. Tabitha is Universal Unitarian and has told us that she doesn't think she'll ever join the LDS church, but she knows the BOM is true and feels that Joseph Smith was a prophet. She even watched a little bit of Conference. Anyways, we still have hope that she will change her mind. She asked quite a few questions about the spirit world and about what happens to those who aren't baptized with the priesthood and so forth. I have a lot of hope in her. She is a great lady. Afterwards, we met with a former investigator named Max. Max is Sis. McCoy's friend. Sis. McCoy is very bold. She told Max she needed to start meeting with the missionaries again and set up a time for us to go see her. We met with Max and talked about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. Max has a really hard time accepting the Joseph Smith story. We talked to her about recognizing the spirit and bore testimony that if she would read and pray that she would be able to know if it was true. Then, we met with Matthew. Matthew talked to his parents and they weren't too excited about his decision to keep going to church. He still has a lot of doubts, but despite his doubts he does have faith that he will know if he should be baptized on the 29th. We set a date with him for the 29th and we are praying that he will be able to overcome those doubts and fear of rejection from his family. Matthew is stellar.
Wednesday was zone training. Somehow, Pres. Cotterell had forgotten to interview me about a month ago. Sis. Matthews pointed this out so, I got to have my first interview with Pres. Cotterell. I was so nervous, but then it turned out to be great. Pres. Cotterell is amazing. Zone training was amazing too. We learned about the importance of warning those we teach about how satan will try to plant seeds of doubt in their minds after they have been introduced to light and truth. Then we talked about recieving referrals from people. The poor elders don't seem to have a lot of luck with referrals from members or anyone for that matter. We figured out the average percentage of referrals we recieve each week. Sis. Matthews and I have been incredibly blessed to recieve a referral from about 3/4 of the people we talk to. Then, we talked about the importance of prayer and making sure to take time to pray out loud by ourselves. It's hard to do that when you're with someone 24/7. Sister Matthews, Mecklenberg, Welch, and myself all ended up singing in a quartet thanks to a giant misunderstanding. President asked Sis. Mecklenberg and Welch if they would be willing to sing. Then, he asked if they would like an accompianment. I somehow missed something huge and agreed to what I thought was playing the piano. Turns out it wasn't that. We sang I Know that My Redeemer Lives. Sis. Matthews wasn't too excited to sing in front of the whole zone, but she said she was glad that we got confused afterwards. Zone training is the best. I felt like everything that we talked about was something that I had had questions about.
On Thursday we met with Johanna. She is a less active who was baptized, but didn't really know what she was getting baptized for. Her son was the one who had wanted to take the lessons and be baptized so she kind of just followed behind. We had planned to teach her the restoration and then a miracle happened! We drove to her house and her friend, Nicole (who is presbyterian) was there. Johanna asked her if she would like to pretend to be our "investigator." Johanna is funny like that. We really did want her to be our investigator though. Nicole was really confused, but agreed to stay. So, we taught them both the Restoration. Nicole agreed with everything we said and read from the BOM. We are going to meet with her tomorrow! After our lesson the Johanna's twin boys found a HUGE snake in their backyard. It was at least three feet long. Johanna caught it and put it in a pickle jar. She told us it wasn't poisoness and said you could tell by the shape of the pupil of their eyes. I didn't really care. I think it would have been a gonner if it had been slithering in my backyard. I don't like snakes.
Friday we did weekly planning and a whole bunch of calling. Sister Matthews told me a really good quote! She said, "when you give you trust to God, stop trying to take it back." So basically, don't let Satan plant those seeds of doubt. Just trust in God. (Proverbs 3:5-6) I have learned a lot from Sister Matthews. She is very wise and has an incredible spirit about her. She is a great teacher as well. I'm thankful Heavenly Father saw fit for us to be companions. On Saturday we went to Trisha's to help her pack. She is moving to Winterville..which is still in our area. She is moving three houses down from the bishop. Providential? I think so. It was a moving experience (no pun intended) She hadn't moved anything in their garage since her husband passed away a year ago and it was hard to think that he had left everything in exactly that place. Trisha did well though. Her spirits were a little down, but no where near as bad as it has been in the past. We packed with her for about an hour and a half and then we had a great evening of attempting to contact people. We contacted a part member family! I was so excited! They seemed really open and receptive so, we are very excited to go back and teach.
Sunday was pretty typical. Somehow I got pulled into playing the piano for stake conference at the end of the month. No stress. No worries. Whatever. We had Branch conference though and that was amazing! President Walker is a great stake president. He is not afraid to be blunt and I learned a lot. Bro. Jones gave a talk about how worthiness is not synonymous with perfection. I was very thankful to hear that talk. I don't think I'm a perfectionist, but sometimes it is easy to lose patience with one's self. Anyways, it was a really good meeting. There were only 22 people who came to the branch this sunday. I wish they all would have come. It was so good! Plus, we kind of owe it to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
Thanks for all you do and for you continual love and support. I love you all sooooooooooo much! I hope you are all doing well and just remember that you are in my prayers! Thanks for everything though.
I'm sure thankful for the Book of Mormon. I really don't know where I'd be without the guidance that is for our day in that book of scripture. I know it's true.
Much love, Sister J
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