Heyo!
I'm done with
training! But...
Sister Ward is leaving
and I am NOT OKAY. She's being transferred to Lexington in Nicholasville where
she will be a Sister Training Leader (STL). She completely and totally deserves
it, because, well, she's amazing and will help so many of the sisters become
better. I know she has done that for me. She is amazing and has helped me grow in more
ways than I can even express. Sister Ward has shown me obedience,
diligence, charity, and has helped me truly come to understand the Atonement.
On Saturday I was
pretty much freaking out because I had no confidence in myself to take over the
area. Especially since the boundaries for the wards have changed because
they're opening a new branch. The branch has taken half our area plus Prospect
and President still hasn't called to tell us what area we'll be covering. So,
either way, I'll be opening up a brand new Sister area. Ah! I was also worried
that our investigators and ward members wouldn't like me as much as they like
her.
Needless to say,
Sister Ward had to call me to repentance really quickly. Basically, she said,
"Sister France, that is crap. Those thoughts aren't yours, they are
Satan's. This whole past week you have been complimented and you're not
listening. President even called to say that you were the best greenie in the
mission and President doesn't just do that. God is trying to tell you something
and you're listening to Satan instead. So, stop and think about who you need to
listen to."
I'm summarizing of
course, but she is always right. we have this pattern of her telling me
something, me doubting, and then she ends up being right. Now, I've been really
trying to focus on what Heavenly Father is trying to tell me instead of
thinking that I am not ready or qualified to do this. I'm sill nervous,
but I know God will help me. The best part about being a missionary
is that I don't have to rely on myself for anything.
But, I will miss
Sister Ward so much! Gah! Luckily, she is going to UVU and BYU so I will
definitely see her in the future. :)
That's awesome that
Connor got the Priesthood. Tell him I said, "Congrats!" I didn't know
that Josh and Logan got to be in the circle, but that is so cool!
Oh my gosh! Emilee is
wearing glasses! She's so cute! I loved the picture so much! :) By
the way...if you could just take a picture of your food that would make me
happy. I just want...a few little pictures of home every week. :)
Br is still doing
well...we think. He lost his Book of Mormon so he didn't read by himself, but
we taught him the Plan of Salvation and he gave us this really confused look a
lot. But, because he's a wall he wouldn't open up unless we asked him if he was
confused. Overall, he found it very different, but at the end he understood it.
When we left Brother Button had Br read with him from the Book for Mormon
for fifteen minutes. I think that Br just needs to read and pray about he
Book of Mormon or he isn't going to progress.
So, Br's ex-wife
doesn't want us to teach M and has probably threatened Br to not let us
teach her with him which sucks, because we have to comply with her wishes. But,
I'm planning on trying to meet with her and say hello before she thinks we're
wierdos or something. However, Tr, the Elder's investigator, was baptized on
Saturday and we invited Br to it...and he came and brought M with him!
He wasn't going to come at first because they were both in jeans and t-shirts,
but Brother Button decide to come in his full-on police uniform to help Br feel not so out of place. The baptism was really spiritual and was really nice.
By the Elder's request, Sister Ward, Hermana Wilkinson, and I sang 'Oh My
Father' to the tune of 'Come Thou Fount'. It's really pretty. I kept the sheet
music. After the baptism was over, Br said it was really nice and he
met the bishop as well. He said he would try to make it to church next
Sunday so we hope that actually happens. He's starting to open up little by
little (it's like watching grass grow) which is great!
By the way, I almost
can't wait to swim in our pool. That is going to be awesome! Worth waiting for
though. ;)
We met with the
K's yesterday and we had such a good time with them. V looked
extremely tired, because he just finished his weekly chemo therapy, but he was
laughing and wasn't as shy as he usually is. They won't know if the therapy is
working until he goes in for another scan later this month. But they told us
some cool stories. They've been to London, Paris, and Switzerland. The first
time that Kh came to the U.S they lived in Iowa which made her not
like the American landscape very much, haha.
Vi told us a
short Indian story about a prince who fought a demon with ten heads to save a
princess. It was quite cute. They showed us a little picture book of all these
Indian stories and legends from their culture. Totally awesome!
We found out why
V wasn't reading the Book of Mormon. He has a hard time reading. But, he
loves listening so we're going to get him the Book of Mormon on CD. The next
step is trying to get them to church. It's hard because V is sick a
lot, but they can't be baptized unless they come to church.
They were extremely
sad to see Sister Ward leave, which made me nervous about them being as
comfortable and happy around me, but I'll just be myself and it will work out.
:) Besides, I love them so they should like me, right?
Before I forget, the
mission has a blog with pictures and stuff! Super cool! Hopefully, you know the
address to it because it's for parents...
We have been richly
blessed with new investigators this week.
On Friday night we
were on a street where we were looking for some former investigators, but we
didn't feel like we were supposed to be there. So, we got in the car and as we
were driving Sister ward saw something glitter out of the corner of her eye.
She decided to not ignore it and quickly pulled over. We then walked over to
the house that it came from and when the lady answered the door she said she
would love to hear our message. Wait, what? Literally, we didn't know what to
say because we usually don't get that reaction, haha. Seeing her, J,
sometime this week. :)
Also, there was this
one guy named N. He was a former investigator so we decide to find him. I
was not expecting an extremely pretty 26 year old to answer the door. But, oh
my goodness, was he Baptist. N is a music minister for his church and we
knocked on his door just as he and his friend, Bo, were discussing aspects
of the gospel while making pulled pork sandwiches after practicing some gospel
music together.
We stood outside on
their porch and talked to them for about 45 minutes. Basically, Bo tried to
rake us across the coals and tried to make us deny the Bible as the word of
God. Plus, he compared us to radical terrorist Muslims. That was fun.
This is when I was
grateful for the boldness training, because when he asked us what his church
was missing, without thought, I started teaching them the Restoration and about
the priesthood. Kind of surprised myself. At the end all we could do was
testify of what we know to be true as Bo tried to bash with us. For some
reason N wanted a return appointment with us. So, we are meeting with them
again on Tuesday at 8:45. Pray for us. I do not plan on bashing with them,
especially Bo. In fact as we left I felt this immense weight of sorrow
because of how prideful they were and how much their words stung. I shouldn't
expect less from two 26 year old boys who have 'everything figured out', but it
just hurt. Especially when someone tries to rip apart your testimony like that.
I plan on trying to
love them as Heavenly father would and teach accordingly. It took me all week
to get to that conclusion, because I wasn't feeling charity toward them.
But, I know what I
know is true and those who say that I am wrong cannot change what God has
manifested to me. Everything about the gospel just makes sense. I have a
divine witness that it is true, because of immense study and prayer. Perhaps I
can even say that "in a coming day" when I see Christ and God the
Father I will not know any better than I know now of the truthfulness of what I
testify of.
Please pray that my
new companion will be nice. I'm super nervous about meeting her.
As of March 9 I'll
have my 3 month birthday...man, time flies so flippin' fast! Ah!
I love you all so
much! I miss you!
Sam, can you draw me a
missionary cartoon and send it to me? I would love some letters from you. :)
Can't wait to e-mail
next week! I love you all so much! You're in my prayers all the time!
To the moon and back,
Raye :)
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