Last Monday we took Sister Rhoades with us to go see the Buttermores. They didn't really give us a clear answer as to why they dropped us my first week here. After a video presentation in zone conference about not giving up on people, S. Mat had a feeling we should go back and see them and get to the bottom of things. So we talked a bit and discovered that they dropped us because they don't understand our teachings. Ron thinks he's too old to change. We emphasized the BOM and testified that if they really wanted to understand, it would come through reading and praying about the BOM. We committed them to do just that. Judi was more easily convinced than Ron. He said he'd read, but he's not much of a pray-er. They have so much potential if they'll just put in an honest effort. S. Mat has told me that they said they want it to be true. Hopefully the Spirit will work on them and slowly we'll be able to get back in and teach them more. They would be such great members.
Funny story: Tuesday we went out to try to find some less actives. We pulled into an apartment complex and parked. A lady came to her glass sliding door and stared at us. Creeper. We prayed, and then we noticed that she was still staring at us, and her husband was there too. There weren't any blinds on the door or anything. Awkward. S. Mat noticed that there were assigned parking spaces, so we thought maybe we were in theirs. So, even more awkward, I got out of the car and backed S. Mat and we parked out on the street. The less active we were looking for lived in that same building, so we approached from the other way so we wouldn't have to walk past the creepy people's glass door. We went in and walked upstairs to find that the less active no longer lived there. We came back downstairs and the creepy lady got even more creepy - she came outside and looked at us, and then went back inside. Crazy lady! That's probably the most creeper-like thing that's happened on my mission.
We taught Michael on Wednesday with Sister Healton. We taught him about the spirit world. He didn't have any real idea about what happens after death other than that our spirits live on. He was interested in the spirit world, and in his closing prayer he showed his understanding and acceptance of it. He's still slow in getting into the BOM and being proactive in his conversion. I almost kind of feel bad teaching someone if they're not going to act on it. It kind of condemns them. Hmm. But who knows, maybe he'll start acting soon.
Sister Isaac - the relief society president - is awesome! She is so willing to come out with us on a moment's notice. Tuesday she was with us and we tried to see Sister Crow - a less active. She no longer lived at the address we had. Sister Isaac called us Wednesday and said she had called the phone number and found Sister Crow and talked with her and she set up an appointment with us! So we went to see her with Sister Isaac on Thursday. Sister Crow is really receptive. She's got a strong testimony. She moved here recently, and just hasn't been out to church but once. But she told us she had decided she needed to come back, and then we found her. She was at church on Sunday with her 2 granddaughters that she's living with. Yay!
Thursday another miracle happened. We were out tracting and we found Judy. She teaches karate with Brother Andrews at our church. S. Mat's first transfer here Brother Andrews had Judy and the sisters over for dinner and a lesson. Apparently Judy wasn't too interested in converting, so it didn't go anywhere. We knocked on her door and she remembered S. Mat. She let us in and we talked for a few minutes, but we had an appointment, so I asked if we could set up an appointment. She asked if we were going to try to convert her again and S. Mat said yes. :) Judy then said "okay". She's such a funny lady. We went back to teach her the Plan of Salvation on Friday. It was a really energetic lesson. She had some questions, so we didn't get to everything, but they were good questions. We gave her a BOM and she was excited to get it and even asked us to put our names in it along with the date we gave it to her. At the end of our visit she wanted to know what the main difference was between us and Protestants. We tried to give her the short answer, but she wanted the long answer. We didn't have time though, so we told her we'd come back and talk more about that next time. We hooked her into another appointment. :) She's such a funny lady. She'd be a great member too.
We met with Mike Friday again. Last Sunday he was quite contentious and almost malicious in Sunday school, so we decided we really needed to address that with him. We talked about feeling the Spirit at church and our mindset and preparation so that we can feel the Spirit. (He was doing something with basketball scores last sacrament meeting.) We asked him if he felt the Spirit at his church or our church, and he said no. Then he told us our sacrament meeting bores him to tears. We asked him why in the world he comes then. He told us it was partly to keep us happy, and partly because he enjoys Sunday school. We brought up the issue of his attitude at church and how our beliefs shouldn't be put on trial at church. He said he recognized that he had kind of "ruffled some feathers" last week. He was really humble, and said he'd be more aware of not being contentious. He also said that he had felt bad about doing the basketball scores in sacrament, but he did it anyway. In talking with S. Mat after the lesson, we realized that he does feel the Spirit, he just doesn't recognize it as that, and he's been used to ignoring the Spirit for so long. We're convinced that he feels the Spirit at church and our lessons, and that's why he sticks with it, even though he's convinced our church is wrong. He doesn't know what he's feeling. It's amazing to me that after so many years of ignoring the Spirit, that he can still feel it. Now it's our opportunity to help him recognize the Spirit so he can start following the promptings.
Angie missed our Wednesday appointment. :( We stopped by Friday and she said she'd gotten tied up in helping her mom, and she thought she would be back in time. We had 2 good lessons with her and the kids though Saturday and Monday. Saturday we played the apostasy game. (It's like telephone/gossip but it's with pictures and written words instead of whispering in someone's ear.) We taught them the principle of apostasy as well as the need for a prophet to keep things right. We asked Angie what she thought about having a prophet on the earth. She has such a leaky spirit. She said that is was awesome knowing that there was a direct contact with God on the earth. Man I love her! She's so golden! We asked her about her reading and praying. She said she'd only been able to read a chapter, but she'd been praying a lot about Joseph Smith and the BOM. She said she felt like she'd been getting answers. We asked her to describe them, and she said she just felt so much peace and felt that this is the right way to go. YAY!!!! Man, she's so in tune with the Spirit!! I love it! Monday we taught about baptism. We were planning on teaching Angie but it was a holiday so the kids were home, so we had to switch up the lesson a bit and we addressed it to the kids. We taught about Christ being baptized by John the Baptist because he had been given that job (aka authority). Emma, who's 8, really impressed us with her questions. She asked how we know who has been given that job to baptize people, and so we were able to talk about authority given by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority. She asked another really good question, but I can't remember it now. I looked over at Angie and was going to ask a question, but I saw tears in her eyes, so I asked what she was thinking/feeling. She said she was really appreciative of us coming to teach her girls things that she wants to teach them but doesn't feel like she knows enough. She also had a sense of pride in her girls because they do know a lot and they want to learn more. Angie is such a good mom. She's raised her girls well. We extended the commitment to be baptized. Angie said she wants to, but she wants some time to think about it. Emma said yes, and Mikela said she didn't know. I think she was a little shy, and maybe also a little jealous that we focused on Emma because she had good questions. We're going to meet with just Angie tomorrow and talk with her more about baptism and find out her concerns. They were supposed to come to church Sunday, but they didn't show. :( Major bummer. We stopped by Sunday afternoon and found out they didn't come because Angie didn't get up in enough time to get ready. We also found out that Emma was so excited to come that she had been up since like 5 am. Both Emma and Mikela were super bummed that they didn't get to come. Angie promised them that they would make it next week. Angie expressed to us earlier her concern of knowing things but not always following through. Her girls are what's going to get her to church. Since they were up and planning on coming to church anyway, they did make it to their church at 11:00. Better than nothing I guess. I'm so excited for them. They are so solid! I hope that we can meet Angie's husband soon and get him in on the action so we can teach and baptize the whole family. He's so busy with work though.
Last night we finally saw Jeanette again. It's been just over a week since we've been able to catch her. She's got so much stuff on her plate to handle. It seems like every time we go over there's something new added to her plate. She tends to go off on that and use up all our time filling us in on all the mess. It's good to be there to listen to her and support her, but what she really needs is the gospel. Things are on the verge of collapsing for her right now. She's doing an amazing balancing act, but she can't hold it. We very directly told her that what she needs is this gospel - it's the one thing that you can add to your life that makes everything else either drop out or get put in order so that you can handle everything. We're going to try to have daily contact with her and have our lessons be a mental vacation from all her stress. Our appointment with her tonight is key in setting that tone. She's not used to seeing us as teachers, but rather listeners. So we'll have to discern how to still show her that we care about her as we plow ahead in teaching her rather than just being sounding boards.
Sister Boonstra finally came to church! We've been visiting with her about once a week since before I got here. She mentioned she didn't have anything to wear to church. S. Mat had gotten her a skirt, but it wasn't the right size. Leave it up to Sister Isaac to be awesome again. She went out and bought a skirt and blouse for her. Sister Boonstra was very appreciative and then she really did come! Oh it was so good to see her there! Hopefully she continues to come. Sister Isaac said she'll have to buy her more shirts so she doesn't have to wear the same thing every week. Oh I love her!
Well, I guess I should tell you about transfers. Sorry, I forgot. S. Mat and I are staying together! That came as a surprise. We were both sure that she would be leaving. But, we were wrong! I'm glad that we get to stay together, because she's like my best friend. At the same time though, a change would've been nice because it's easier to start/stop habits when you get a new companion or a new area. It'll be a bigger challenge to start/stop habits that we've developed this past transfer, so hopefully I'm up to the challenge. I hope I don't get complacent. There's lots of room for improvement, and I want to make those improvements. I love my S. Mat, and I'm so grateful for this opportunity to continue learning and growing with her, and experiencing more miracles!
I guess that's it for this week. Take care!
sister smurf
p.s. the movies are of the Haus' dogs eating crackers and peanut butter and it gets stuck on the roof of their mouths - cheap entertainment. :) Let me know if you're able to view them.
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