Dear Friends & Family,
Monday was P-Day so we spent some time with Sister W vacuuming for her and filling bird feeders, etc. That woman may be sweet and little, but she worked us hard! Just a side note- from now on when I am describing P-Day activities it is just safe to assume that the Bartlett sisters were with us, as they were at Sister W's house. After Sister W we all went to get lunch and ate at Steak & Shake. We then just went to the chapel and emailed forever. I have to tell you guys how much I love hearing from everyone, I really appreciate the emails, especially now that I have the opportunity to read them all week, it's such a pick me up to hear from everyone.
Monday night we ate dinner with the S family, who are the best! They have the three cutest little boys ever, and her niece lives with them as well and she is just a doll. We had a great time eating with them and then participating in their family home evening. After we were finished at their house we went tracting in their neighborhood.
Now is probably the time for me to mention the big change in our companionship this week. If you remember my last letter, you'll remember that I was really unhappy with the lack of work we were doing. So this week I committed myself to working as hard as I could, and when the decision was left up to me on what we should be doing, I always said finding. Another thing we implemented is that we started having nightly accountability to our district leader, so every night we text him and let him know how many lessons we taught, people we got return appointments with, etc. I know missionary work isn't about numbers, or checking boxes, or anything like that, but the numbers have been an amazing tool in helping us quantify the work we have been doing that does matter, and with accountability, I have seen our work increase exponentially.
So Monday night tracting was super fun. We met a Hispanic guy named A that we talked to for a long time. He wasn't interested in a return appointment, but he let us pray with him, and gave us a referral for his aunt and uncle! We talked to a few other people, but the other really standout conversation of the night was with a mother and a daughter. The daughter was Catholic and the mom was Pentecostal, so we had a very passionate discussion about the Trinity and the nature of God. The cool thing was it looked like it was going to turn into a bible bash, but as we kept our focus on the love of our Savior, it ended up just being a really cool discussion between four followers of Christ.
Tuesday we had district meeting, and it was really great, but it was also a sharp reminder of how much more we could be doing. It really is nice to just talk about our goals as a district though, and the thing about reporting your numbers to the district is that they will know the areas that you are struggling in, and everyone can pray for each other to find success.
We taught J later that day with Sister S, and the lesson went well. He agrees with everything he's been taught, and feels good when he's at church, etc. but he is still afraid of the commitment of baptism. He is just really afraid of making the wrong choice. We talked to him a lot about the importance of taking a leap of faith sometimes, and I bore my testimony on my own leap of faith coming out on a mission. I think he connected with what we were saying and he told us he will work hard to get over his fear. I have faith J will be baptized.
Tuesday night we had a Relief Society activity, and we got Sister G (a less active we have been working with weekly) to come!! I kind of forced her a little bit, but it worked (: The activity was a pool side get together and everyone brought salads, so I decided I would make a salad. We got Sister G to come to the activity by showing up to her house, telling her I needed a kitchen to put my salad together in, and telling her we would all drive to the activity together when the salad was finished. It worked like a charm! She was willing to come to the event and she had a great time talking to all the Relief Society women, and they all loved her. After the activity she told us that she & her son decided it would be a good idea to come to church on the 28th!! We hadn't even mentioned church, she totally did it in her own! Please, please, please pray that she and her son G will make it to church on the 28th!
Wednesday we spent a lot of time finding, and met several really cool people. We ate dinner with The S again, and she made us sloppy joes. During the day we visited a referral with a member for a long time. She wasn't interested in hearing the lessons, but we talked to her a lot about her family and her past, which is super tragic. I think talking to us helped her, even if we didn't get a return appointment. That night we had interviews with President and it was a unique, powerful experience for sure. His spirit is so amazing, and I am so blessed to be able to receive counsel from him. Many of the things he said in our interview were answers to specific prayers of mine. It is a comfort to know that he has been called of God, and that he is here because the missionaries of the Little Rock Arkansas Mission needed him specifically to lead, guide, teach, and comfort us.
After interviews we had a lesson scheduled and we invited a girl I our ward who just recently received her mission call to come out with us, the scheduled lesson ended up falling through, so then we went tracting with her, and met a man named R. He talked to us for a while, scheduled a return appointment for this week, and let us pray with him. After we left he called us and asked if our church did service, because he would love to get involved. How cool is that????
Thursday we went on splits with our sister training leaders again, and was really fun! Sister M and I went street contacting, taught some lessons, and got two return appointments! That night we had dinner with a less active named B, and his wife L is not a member. B has a really strong testimony, and he is a really fun guy, but he has some anxieties that are keeping him from church. We are really excited and hopeful when it comes to working with them though.
Friday we saw Sister G again, she continues to have more and more spiritual experiences each time we read with her! We also saw a less active family named The H. They were super nice, and we will continue visiting with them, but they both work weird hours and have just gotten out of the habit of coming to church.
Saturday we taught some lessons, one with a Hispanic family, the mom responded well but no one else was really interested, we didn't get the return appointment, but we will keep trying. We also taught our neighbors with the cute little boy. The lesson was super interesting, there ended up being five adults there, and they all had a ton of questions, so we mostly just had a discussion about different things relating to the gospel, but it was good.
All in all, this week was so much better. I am such a thankful servant of my Heavenly Father.
Sister Hannah Thomas
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