Happy Memorials Day! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day and remembering the loved ones in their lives who have passed on and led great honorable lives.
This week has been really great and productive for us! We were able to stay busy all week (which has been rare, especially just covering one area).
Tuesday, I got to go on exchanges again with Sister Tauiliili (from Samoa) and we had a great day together. We finally have begun teaching Minda and she is just amazing. She seems to already have a great understanding of the principles we teach and has had no objections or things she's questioned. We're going to be teaching her again tomorrow and I'm just so excited to see where things go for Minda. It was fun because Sister Tauiliili knew some Tagalog and so they had fun trying to have some brief conversations. We were also able to teach Lisa about the Plan of Salvation which was great because we have been visiting her since March and finally were able to teach a lesson. Although it was more just "practicing", it still was an opportunity to teach her about our gospel. She enjoyed it as well. Hopefully these things are all continuing to soften her heart.
Wednesday, we went to the Madsen's to practice the lessons on them again (the kids are struggling in the gospel) and it was neat as the daughter's friend, Renee showed up and was fine listening in and seemed really interested. In fact, she was excited to be there for our next lesson this week. They live next door and have had a good amount of exposure to the church, her mom has even read the Book of Mormon twice, but not all the family members have been interested which I think is what has put up the roadblock. But they may receive the gospel through their daughter. It's just fun to see these people of all ages being prepared and receptive to the gospel message that we share!
Throughout the week, we have been able to see people who we have tried before but haven't seen in a while and are just being more receptive. Sometimes the time inbetween helps so they don't feel any pressure, but it's great that they are willing to let us in and share a message and invite them to come more unto Christ.
Friday night, we had a great visit with Billie. We have continued reading the Book of Mormon with her and did more on Tuesday, but Friday we felt prompted to talk to her more about prayer, partially because she hasn't felt comfortable in the past to pray when we're their. She was able to share how she has felt her relationship with the Savior has increased as we've been teaching her. She feels a more genuine love for those around her, which was there before, but now even stronger. We shared with her Mosiah 18:8-10 which talks about the love for our brothers and sisters where we are" willing to bear one another's burdens" and "comfort those that stand in need of comfort". She said that is how she is feeling. We had done a roleplay earlier that day and Sister Worden felt prompted in the roleplay to invite Billie, again, to be baptized and so in verse 10 we shared that with her and I invited her to be baptized. Although she still said she is not yet ready, her excuses were not so many this time and we can definitely tell her heart is being prepared more. She is out of town this week and we are praying that through this time she might have an experience and receive an answer to her question of the "next step".
Saturday, we stayed surprisingly busy for being Memorial Day weekend. In the morning we went to help Lisa with weeds in her backyard. We knew it would be a lot of work and so we asked the elders in our district to come as well (8 of us total). We got the back yard done in about 2 hours, right in time for her landlord to come check on the sprinklers. She was super grateful for that and really mindful of the timing. I'm glad we could help since she can't do this work with her MS. Again, I just see these opportunities as softening her heart and preparing her more. It was great to service anyways :) We went to contact a referral later in the day, a neighbor of one of our members. The not so great part was that he was pretty quick about not being interested, but THEN the miracle happen when his daughter walked up to the house as we were heading back to the car. She had been walking her dog who was the easy conversation-starter and we were able to visit with her and she was willing to take our number for future contact. It may not have been an immediate contact, but maybe we were meant to contact that man for his daughter. There is timing and reasoning in all things. Some we may not know right away or even in the lifetime.
Yesterday, was a great day at church with some powerful talks and lessons. They were things that I needed to hear and my companion needed to hear as well. Later on, we had an experience that I know Sister Worden is still going to give me a hard time about. We had to have dinner with one of the families right after church because they had other engagements in the early evening, but I had also agreed for us to have dinner with another family after. I was hungry when they asked us if they could feed us. Mistake #1. Haha. These meals were back to back and ironically the same meal (Hawaiian haystacks, my fav out here!). We were so stuffed though after the second meal and my companion even felt a little sick. I was figuring, I've done it before on the mission (unintentionally) and I was really hungry. But I don't think it was worth it! Haha. I was reminded, we can't eat like the elders ;) It was still a great night with the members though.
I am so grateful for this work that I am able to be a part of. I continue to learn so much all the time. Sometimes I am humbled and sometimes I learn something new. I am grateful to be reminded that we are not perfect, but through the Savior, we can become complete. When we are reminded of our weaknesses, it is not for us to be hard on ourselves, but and opportunity to grow. I have grown a lot and am still far from perfect, but am becoming better every day as I learn about my potential and what my Father sees in me. Sometimes we are looking for something new, but I have also learned that it is important to not forget what we already have and to not neglect those things that took time and prayerful preparation to put together. We have been blessed with so much and we can find gratitude in any circumstance! I love you all and hope you have a great rest of your week :)
Love,
Sister Wightman
No comments:
Post a Comment