Dear Friends and Family,
This week was interesting! Monday we
mostly just hung out with the Bartlett sisters and then we got haircuts from
Sister M. I continue to be so thankful for both of them. Sister M's
constant willingness to serve us is astonishing, and the friendship of the
Bartlett sisters is a huge blessing. Sister B. and I in particular have
grown very close, I admire her strength and ability and obedience so much. She
is who I look to when I think about the sort of missionary I want to be.
Tuesday we spent a lot of time
teaching with SB. We were trying to contact a less active named
M. who is 16, he got baptized two years ago and was very active for the
first year, but since then he has fallen out of activity almost completely. He
weren't able to see him, but we did teach a brief lesson with his sister, and
she invited us back! We also saw J. while with SB. He had come home from
work due to heat exhaustion. We brought him Gatorade and cookies and talked to
him for a little while. He continues to be totally set on baptism, but his work
schedule is making it difficult to set a date. His job is the worst! They treat
him really poorly and he works all the time. Please pray that he will be able
to set a date and also that he will be able to find a new job.
We also saw Sister W. that day post-surgery.
She had her operation in the morning, but was back home by noon. Her voice is
awesome now! You can totally hear her and she is so happy to have it back. She
is in a lot of pain though. Her surgery involved them removing fat from her
stomach and injecting it into her vocal cord, so her stomach has been in a lot
of pain since Tuesday. She also has been experiencing a lot of soreness and has
found herself having a hard time keeping food down. As the week has progressed
though she has been feeling better and better each day. Because she had surgery
this week and she lives alone we stopped by to visit her every day just to
check up and make sure she was okay. We ended up running a lot of different
errands for her like mailing bills, writing emails, and picking up her dentures
from the dentist's office! We also were able to just sit, talk with her, and
share words of comfort. She is such an amazing lady and really fun to talk
to!
Other significant events this week
included Transfer Meeting, which happened Wednesday. We were not transferred,
but we attended the meeting because it doubled as the 40th birthday party for
the Arkansas Little Rock mission. It was a really fun meeting, but it was sad
to see a lot of missionaries who I really enjoy, get transferred to far away
areas. Such is the mission life I suppose. The great news is that my whole
district is staying another transfer, so the Bartlett sisters will be with us
for at least another 6 weeks! We also got cupcakes at the end of the meeting,
so that was good.
We spent the 4th with our
investigator, J. He had a block party and introduced us to all of his
neighbors! It was really fun.
We also met three guys this week
named J., A., and M., who we have seen and taught every single day
since we met them on Thursday, how awesome is that? They are friends and all
live on the same street. J. is a Baptist and has been exposed to a lot of anti-Mormon
literature at some point, but told us he knows a lot of it isn't true and that
he wants to learn about us from the source. I am not sure A. has any strong
religious beliefs, and M. is Messianic Jewish, and very solid on his beliefs,
but they all want us to keep teaching them, and, they all came to church on
Sunday!!!! And so did J.!!! And a less active member and his non-member
wife!!!!! Gospel Principles was FULL that day. It felt so good to see so many
people being led to the gospel. Heavenly Father is so amazing at blessing us
with people who are prepared to hear the gospel.
It is such a blessing to be serving
here and to be able to witness the Lord's work being done. As I continue to
strive to be a better missionary I have to continue to work on exact obedience.
This week I did not do as well as I had hoped the week before, so I am
recommitting myself to that, particularly in relation to exercise and bedtime.
I also am working hard at personalizing my lessons to all those that we teach
so that our planning session consists of more than "should we teach the
restoration?" "Yeah sounds good".
I hope that I am continuing to
improve and I am working hard to do so. I love this church. I love this gospel.
I love our general authorities and am deeply saddened at the loss of President
Packer. I am so thankful for my opportunity to serve, and I love you all.
Sister Thomas
Hannah & Her Comp With a New Member
Hannah on the 4th
And I got this wonderful birthday surprise!
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