I am typing this on my own actual
iPad, which is like, hecka exciting, seriously.
This week has
been super good. On Monday we spent our P-Day baking with the Bartlett sisters.
Sister S. in our ward (she's super awesome, we've eaten dinner at her house
three times already and she helps us out constantly) let us come over and use her
kitchen, which was great because she had The Other Side of Heaven, so we
watched that while we baked. We made two pies, a cake, and snicker doodles. One
of the pies was for our Zone Leaders since they put us on full car, the cake
was for our District Leader because it was his birthday, and the cookies/other
pie were for us. Everything was really good except we accidentally got
distracted by The Other Side of Heaven and didn't hear the timer go off for the
cookies, so they got a little burned.... But we scraped off the burned part and
they were still good!
The not so fun thing
about Monday though was that our investigator family The B’s. didn't show up
for dinner with the member family the Bu’s. :( I was pretty upset because I was
really excited to be able to teach them in a member's home, but it didn't
happen. Thankfully The Bu’s still were happy to eat with us and they were
really nice about the B’s not coming. We ate our other pie with them and after
a little family time with them I felt much better. The other funny thing about
the Bu’s family is they have a daughter named S. who just graduated from high
school, and she and I get along really well, but then I've been to at least 5
dinner appointments where the person has gone, "You know who you remind me
of, S. Bu’s!!" And then one of the Elders thought she was me the other
night at Book of Mormon study and we both laughed our heads off. It's a thing
apparently.
On Tuesday we spent a
lot of time just out and about, mostly trying to contact less actives without
much success. That night we had dinner with a family in our ward named The C’s.
He is a professor at University of Memphis, and she has a master’s in French.
They have three boys and all three of them are smarter than me and none of them
are older than eight! All three boys are learning French and German. They are a
very unique and interesting family. That night we also watched and studied
General Conference talks with Sister W., a recent convert. I really don't
remember if I told you guys about her last time, but I am too lazy to go back
and check so whatever. She is like, at least 80 years old and got baptized last
September. She is super super fun to listen to, but she can talk, A LOT. Her
husband died in 2001, so she lives on her own and all her family is in Canada.
She is very good at puzzles and needle point and I love her. She's been having
a lot of health problems recently though, so please keep her in your prayers
:(
Wednesday we tried
contacting less actives, and still were met with no success, but while we were
in one of the less active's neighborhoods we started knocking doors. While we
were walking down this street, there was a mom and two daughters doing some
yard work. We always offer to help people when we see them doing stuff like
that, but people almost always say no. This time though we asked the girls if
we could help and without even asking any questions they said yes! It was kind
of strange, but we were really happy. As we talked to them we learned that the
mom's name was T., and her daughters were named A. and R., and they used to
take lessons from the Spanish sisters! That's why they were so willing to let
us help them! We went inside after we were done with the yard work and taught
them a brief lesson. She told us they were Catholic, but agreed to let us come
back and teach them next week! That night we went to dinner with a lady named
Sister L. Her story is so awesome. She was inactive for a long time, and then
in 2008 she felt prompted to start reading the Book of Mormon again, so she did
and has been active ever since! She is so awesome and hands out Book of Mormons
to everyone!
Thursday was the
glorious iPad delivery! We had Zone Meeting and that's when we got the devices.
We spent a lot of time getting them set up and what not, and since I have tons
of problems with technology already, being away from it for a while meant that
I didn't know how to do ANYTHING, and messed up EVERYTHING! The Office Elders
were not happy with how many problems I had! But then we had a miracle! We
stopped by our investigator family the B’s just to see if they would talk to us
because they hadn't been answering our texts, and the father D. was in the
front yard talking on the phone. He was super happy to see us! He explained
that his son had been in the hospital all week and that is why they had missed
dinner and hadn't been responding. He told us they are still really anxious to
learn, and we set up a teaching appointment for next Tuesday, invited them to church this Sunday, and got a
referral!!
We also saw our less
active Sister G. on Thursday. We are working really hard to help her understand
the importance of the Book of Mormon, so we read with her every Thursday. She
is so much fun to be around, we love her! She works a lot and Sundays are hard
for her, but I am really hoping we can get her back to church soon.
That night at Book of Mormon
study group Sister W. told us she'd been to the doctor earlier that day and
found out she has shingles :( she was really upset and cried a lot, so the
Arlington Elders gave her a blessing and I think it helped. She's worried that
this will interfere with her getting her service dog next month. Pray pray pray
for her!!
Friday we spent some
time finding with a laurel in our ward. It was really fun, and we were able to
teach a few lessons on the street. We had dinner with The S’s that night and it
was wonderful, as usual. After our dinner we stopped by to see Sister W. She
was doing a little better, the pain medication is working for her, but she is
still having a hard time with the pain. We talked to her for a long time about
life, and the blessing of the Atonement. I really love her and hope she will be
able to begin to feel better.
Saturday morning we helped our
investigator J. move some stuff around in his house because he is getting two
roommates. I think it will be really good for him, ever since his wife died he
has been really lonely. He did tell me he is thinking about pushing back his
baptism date though, and I was not so happy about that. :( Hopefully we can get
him to where he needs to be to feel good about that date! Pray for him to get
the confirmation he needs to take the plunge (literally!)
After we finished with
Jacob we decided to go looking for some former investigators, and decided to
try and talk to a young guy named Ja. that the Elders before us had taught. We
knocked on the door at his house, and his 15 year old sister answered. Her name
is J. and she told us she remembered the Elders. When we asked if we could talk
to her a little she said sure and sat down with us on the porch. We ended up
teaching her the full 45 minute Restoration lesson! The spirit was SO STRONG,
and when we asked her how she was feeling she told us she knew God had sent us
to teach her that message!!! We set up a return appointment and I am just so
excited.
Later that night after
we had dinner with some members (The S’s again actually, ha! They feed us when
no one else has signed up for dinner!) We decided to make cookies to bring
around to all our new neighbors. We actually got back to the apartment late
though so we were only able to visit with one set of neighbors, but it didn't
matter because the one set we met with was so awesome! It's a family, her name
is Sh., his name is R., and they have a son named K. We knocked on the door and
they invited us in immediately. They were super friendly and kind. They asked a
lot of questions about what we taught and we set up an appointment to teach
them on Wednesday!! They were very neighborly, and offered help and even
pointed out where a police officer lives in our complex. They are so super
sweet and I am feeling so blessed to have met them. K. knocked on our door
Sunday after we got home from church and had written us a note and brought us
freezer pops! He is so cute!
After church yesterday
we went and visited Sister W. We had the sacrament brought to her since her
shingles kept her from coming to church. When we told her she could have the
sacrament brought to her in her home, her eyes welled with tears and she
thanked us profusely, saying she hadn't even known that was possible. Her
reaction made me ponder how much importance I have put on the sacrament in my
own life, because I have missed plenty of church for a variety of reasons and
never even given not taking the sacrament a second thought. Even when I take the
sacrament sometimes, rather than ponder the blessing it is to receive it, I
just go through the motions of taking it. What a blessing to have Sister W’s
example to make me think of it in a different way! The sacrament is vital to
our salvation, but for those of us who have had the opportunity to take it our
whole lives, it doesn't always hold the importance it should. This week I have
committed myself to pondering and appreciating the blessing of the sacrament
not only on Sunday, but every day, because to appreciate the sacrament is to
appreciate the Savior.
Sunday night we ate with the N.
family. They are seriously the best. They have five kids, the oldest is named
J. and he's 17, then M. is 14, A. is 12, C. is 10, and G. is 2. They are super
crazy and loud and they run around like maniacs, but they remind me of home
sometimes (: Sister M., the mom, is seriously THE BEST cook. Dinner over there
is always a blast.
All in all this was an
amazing week. We got six new investigators, had the opportunity to serve
investigators and members, and grew closer to Christ through our continued
service of him. I love my Savior and I absolutely love this gospel. My
blessings are so numerous. I cannot list them all, and try as I might, I know I
will never be worthy of them. How loving is our God?!!
Sister Hannah Kathryn Thomas
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