I forgot something about zone conference. We watched a clip of a talk from Elder Holland at the MTC in January. He was talking about how after Christ died, the apostles were kind of clueless of what to do next. Peter suggested doing what they did before, go fishing. Elder Holland then talked about the experience with the fishes and Christ's question of "do you love me?" three times, in a way that only Elder Holland can. Picture his tone from his awesome BOM talk. That's what it was like when he was explaining the situation. Christ was saying, "really? fishing? I called you to be my apostles - FOREVER. Go feed my sheep!" Man, it was so powerful, and I can't even do it justice. But it was awesome. I've never quite seen that story that way. We are called to be his servants FOREVER, not just for 2 years or 18 months. Wow. I love Elder Holland.
As we walked out of the library last week, we ran into (almost literally) a guy named Tim. We tracted in to him at his sister's house and then he stood us up. Then we found his house (not on purpose) and set up another time. He stood us up again. He was kind of borderline, and we couldn't tell if he was really interested. We decided we'd wait to hear from him. Well, when we saw him last week, he said that just yesterday he had bought a BOM at a garage sale for 10 cents. Hmm. We're not sure really what to do with him. I don't think it's coincidence that we keep running in to him, but I don't know if he really wants to learn right now.
We met with Frank on Monday with S. Johnson and we talked about repentance. It was a really great lesson! He shared that his first thoughts about repentance were that it's a bad thing, and as we shared, we could really tell his view was changing. Autumn shared that God is just so happy when we repent and His is the attitude of "welcome back, I'm so glad you're home." Frank really liked that concept. We left with him Alma 36 to read, in addition to continuing on in 1 Nephi. We had S. Scoresby back with us for the Friday visit. Friday is when I broke the news to Frank that I would be leaving. He was super bummed, but so grateful for the 5 weeks that we've had to visit. I really think that I was sent here for him. Others too, but especially him. He mentioned that he has thought often of how neat it would be to have dinner in a member's home with us and just visit. :) We'll work that out. He told us that he's never had faith like he has now. Oh, it was so perfect! I wish I could've recorded that to put on a Mormon Messages thing or something. We tell people all the time that we're here to strengthen their faith, and Frank bore witness of that! Frank is just so awesome. He told us he'd read 1 Nephi 11-17 as well as Alma 36, and he really liked it. He said he finds himself at work, just waiting to get home so he can read the BOM. !!!! We shared Pres. Uchtdorf's talk with him "Waiting on the Road to Damascus". We asked him what his thoughts were, and he told us that just right before we came, he was thinking about how he needed to read the stories of Paul and Samuel so that he could tell his sons about their namesakes. Then, insert us with our lesson that started out with the story of Saul. How neat was that! We then talked a little about the story of Samuel. Frank thinks a lot about his kids and feels bad that he hasn't brought them up to be religious. He really wants it for them. S. Scoresby shared a really neat story - though I can't remember how it exactly fit in with the lesson. She told of how earlier that night they were at the school carnival, and she turned around just in time to see her daughter go the wrong way and start to get lost. There was a big crowd of people, so it was all Sister Scoresby could do to follow her daughter. She could see her daughter getting frantic and nervous. Finally, her daughter turned around and saw her mom. Sister Scoresby told her, "you were safe, I was watching you the whole time." What a perfect analogy to how God sees us. Frank really liked it. Frank had asked me to say the opening prayer, and he asked me to say the closing prayer too, but I convinced him that he should pray since it was my last visit. I love his prayers! They are so real and so sincere! He started out with "Thanks a lot God!!" It took me off guard, and I just had to smile. He then added "I'm coming to church on Sunday! I'm really excited!" Oh I just love him! He did come to church. It was stake conference (a broadcast), so it wasn't our normal meetings. But the talks were good. And it turns out he knows Mark Anderson from the ward. Samuel and Josh are friends from school. Brother Anderson came over and talked to him and that was awesome as he offered to help out with lessons and such and have Josh get Samuel involved. Yay! Brother Anderson told us afterwards that he didn't even recognize Frank because his countenance had changed so much, and he was so much happier. This gospel is true! Frank gave me some poems as a gift, in addition to writing me a short little poem about his appreciation for us. Can I say one more time, I just love him!
We had dinner with Sondrah and Vincent Wednesday. Tuesday she had her baptism interview and passed! But E. Lowe called that night and said there were some things she didn't quite understand. Based on what he said, it sounded like she wasn't ready for baptism, but he felt the Spirit really strongly say that she was. So after dinner, we went over the few things that E. Lowe was worried about. She knew them all, she just clammed up in the interview. Whew! Friday we went and taught them about temples and family history work. Vincent especially was really interested in family history work, and Sondrah really liked the idea of temple work. How neat! They've both got lots of work that can be done! Saturday, Sondrah got baptized. YAY!!!! There weren't as many people from the ward there as I would've liked, but there were people there. It was really great. Vincent gave the opening prayer, and it was so good. He was nervous, but it was perfect.
We met with Steve on Thursday and Sister Ficklin came out with us. She was awesome! She was really bold and asked him if he wanted to know the truth and if he thought it was possible to know the truth. We talked about the spirit world some, and then focused mostly on real intent. We testified to him that answers are available. He knows he doesn't have the answers, but he doesn't realize that he can have the answers and that it doesn't have to be a mystery. He told us he didn't really care about what happens after death, because he thinks that this life is more important than worrying about that. We explained how knowing what's ahead helps us live better here. We left him with 2 Nephi 31 to read about what we have to do here in this life, and asked him to ponder about whether he really wants to know that this is true. It was a good lesson, definitely gave him a lot to think about.
Thursday night the Marlers from Kokomo came all the way down to take us out to dinner and say goodbye. Now that's love - a 2 hour (one way) trip just to see me. Oh it was good to see them.
Friday we visited with Sister Robinson again. We talked about the Atonement from Bruce C. Hafen's talk "The Atonement: All for All". Rather than being uplifted by it, she felt overwhelmed. :( We helped her to see how great a gift the Atonement is, and it allows us to not have to be perfect. We talked a lot about how to pull up the weeds and plant the flowers in our gardens. She gets overwhelmed and tries to do everything all at once. We helped her to see that she needs to take baby steps, and focus on the things she knows need changing, and then worry about the others as they come. It really helped her out, and gave her some relief. She's making really great progress! She told us that she'd been reading a lot in the BOM and praying a lot, and she felt that 2 Nephi 4 that we left her last time really spoke to her. Yay! She came to Sondrah's baptism, and she loved it! She really felt the Spirit. I'm so glad she came!
We met with Tim again. He's doing really great. He's continuing to share the gospel in small ways with his family. He's planning on moving back to Alaska soon. :( He knows where the church is there though, so that's good. His mom has been coming to church with him, though after he moves, I don't know that she'll get herself up on time on her own. Hopefully!
At a dinner appointment Friday, Sister Tibbs commented that she really liked the exchange sign up sheet that we pass around that has a little information about the people on it. She said in the whole 9 years she's been here, she's never seen that. I then thought about it and realized, hey, I've never done that! Our first week here when I decided to do it, it didn't seem like a new idea or anything, it was just something that needed to be done, just like passing around our dinner calendar. I guess that was the Spirit working so closely with my mind that I didn't even realize it. Neat!
Saturday we stopped in to see Jane. She had been baptized back in 2008, but then in 2009 she had her name removed. The sisters in December had been working with her a lot, but the elders right before us tried to visit her and she said she was going to a Pentecostal church and she was happy there. Sister Ludema in the ward asked us about her so we decided we'd go stop by. She yelled from behind the door asking who it was and then she said she was sick and we should try calling her. We asked for her number, and then she just decided to open the door. She didn't seem too interested in talking to us; she said she was sick. So I asked if there was anything we could do for her, and that really softened her heart. Apparently she feels like no one cares about her or wants to help her. We ended up talking to her for an hour in her doorway. (Tired feet!) But she said she was actually thinking about calling us because she doesn't like the yelling and screaming at the Pentecostal church. But she said she felt too ashamed to call. So, what a "coincidence" that we stopped by at that time. She's got a lot of questions and doubts, but she's interested to visit and talk. She looks like she may be coming back!
We stopped by Karen and finally got back in touch with her. We sat down with her and her husband and taught them about the BOM. They were both really interested in it. Bob started flipping through the pictures and reading some of the introduction. We invited them to read and pray about it, and they said they would. Then in return, they gave us some free cereal. Perfect timing because I had just ran out! :) They are such nice people. I can really see them joining the church.
We saw Micki yesterday, and we finally got down to the root of it. She's really wrapped up in worrying about what other people think. She realizes that she needs to get over that, because church is not about that. It was neat because she said she didn't want to feel like she had to do things, she wanted to do things because she wanted to, and that's something that she's working on. As we talked about the importance of the basics - reading and praying - she said she felt the Spirit tell her that it was right, and she said she wanted to do it. Yay! We gave her a sign that said "optimum turbulence penetration speed" that she loved from Pres. Uchtdorf's talk "Of Things That Matter Most", and she just loved it.
Well, I thought I was done proselyting yesterday. But God just loves to bless me apparently! I was sitting here writing this email, and the girl sitting next to me (Consuela) saw my name tag and asked where I went to church. She said she's been looking for a church. I asked where she lived so I could tell her which building and meeting time. I couldn't remember which area her address was in. But just then, the zone leaders walked in. So I flagged them down. She's a YSA, so she's theirs. What perfect timing! They set up a time to meet with her this week, and she seemed really interested. After they walked off, I continued to talk to her and find out a little about her. I told her the YSA group has FHE tonight, and she sounded like she was going to come. Wahoo! I love miracles!
It really still hasn't hit me yet that I'm done here. Maybe it won't hit me til the mission home, maybe the airport. Maybe not til I wake up at home. I've imagined this day in my mind many times and what I would be thinking and feeling. I thought that I'd be kicking myself for not doing more and having some regrets. But I really feel at peace. No I wasn't perfect and I dropped the ball sometimes. But I feel like I did a good job and that I've really grown in the process. Especially in my relationship with Jesus Christ and my application of the Atonement in my life. "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith"
sister smurf
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