March 10, 2014
This week was a tough one! It started out painfully slow. Monday we had a huge snow storm and were stuck inside. Mondays are Preparation days. So I could have used the time to clean the apartment, or organized my desk, or something to help prepare for the week. But no. I'm embarrassed to say that I sat around and did almost nothing. And oh my goodness. I do not know how I did that before my mission. It was literally painful to not be doing anything! Right then and there, I made a promise with myself and with Heavenly Father that I will NEVER be bored again. Ever. Even after my mission. No, especially after my mission. Time is so short. It comes and it goes. If we don't do anything with it, we are out of luck. In Alma 34:32 it says For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors. Can I get an AMEN?! Oh my gosh. I will NEVER be lazy ever again. In Relief Society we had a lesson from the Joseph F Smith booklet. The lesson was about Faith and Repentance. There was a quote in there that said something about how procrastination is the thief of eternal life. That statement just hit me! In my past life, I was the queen of procrastination! But now that I've learned so much about my Father in Heaven, I don't want anything to stand in the way of my returning back to Him! I feel so strongly about this. (Ha. Mom and Dad- as you're reading this you're probably thinking, "FINALLY! It only took her going on a mission to learn that!" Well, yep. It really did take me going on a mission to learn it... But thanks for doing all you could to try to teach me that when I was at home. Using your time wisely is a good habit to be in. I'm sorry I never really listened before!)
So the first few days after that, I was making up for not doing what I should have with my time on Monday. And it hurt. I kinda felt like I was being punished for it! We FOUR lessons all right in a row on Tuesday after our missionary meetings, and every single one of them fell through. Yeah, that kinda hurt. I was so excited for each lesson, and made sure to practice teach and study up for each one! And then, nothing. Everyone decided that they had better things to do than meet with us. I mean, it's okay. Everyone has agency, and the world doesn't revolve around me, but it was still tough. I took it as Heavenly Father telling me that I really shouldn't have wasted my time. Since then, I have repented! Godly sorrow is a good thing- I will make sure I NEVER do it again!
Wednesday we had our technology training and were given our iPads! Pretty exciting stuff! I'm so excited to use mine to help move the work forward in my area! Not to worry, there are no games and only apps that are useful to our purpose as missionaries. We have our entire area book and planner in one app and can sync info to our companions! It's awesome. I love not having to carry around so many books with me all the time! I just have my iPad. :) Right after our tech training, we had to go all the way out to Sterling to get the tires changed on our car. I guess they were really bald or something and our vehicle coordinator at the mission office was freaking out. So we went to a place called Fire Stone Tires, left our car and went to a place with wifi. We found a frozen yogurt place a few stores over. As we were walking there, we passed a radio shack. I had a thought to look in to see how much a keyboard would be for my new iPad. I grabbed the first one I saw and asked the man working to check the price for me. I went back to looking around and about five minutes later, he came up to me and said, "yeah, this item is no longer in our inventory. So you can have it for free!" My jaw dropped. The other keyboards I was looking at were about 50 bucks. And he just gave this one to me for free. Talk about miracles!!! I was so grateful. Haha- I wanted to make sure it wasn't a joke, so I offered to buy something, or sign a piece of paper that said that I wasn't stealing..hahaha! But it was for real! I got a free keyboard! Oh my. It's been such a blessing- we have to type up every record that we've ever taken on every person we've taught and it's gone so much faster because of the keyboard!
We've been working with a lot of less active members and they are all doing great. Oh! Thursday night, our appointment fell through and I felt like we needed to see Donna, one of our investigators that we haven't been able to get a hold of in a while. We dropped by her house and she was home! We ended up talking to her for a while. She is in her 50's, divorced, has two daughters who are 21 and 22. She is currently living in her aunt and uncle's place, renting out a room. She took her 22 year old neighbor and her 5 year old son under her wing because she got kicked out of her boyfriend's place. Donna is the sweetest, most loving person I know. She says that she has been reading the Book of Mormon when she's at work. Oh my gosh I love her to pieces! We were on our way out and she said, "Wait! We have to pray!" She likes to pray all holding hands in a circle. We sat there for a second waiting for someone to volunteer for the prayer. I thought Donna'd ask me or Sister McKee to say it, but instead she looked up at us with eager eyes and asked if she could say it. It was one of the sweetest prayers I have ever heard in my life. It was so simple. By the time she had finished, she looked up at us with big eyes and said, "did I do it right?!" I smiled so big my cheeks hurt and said that she did great! She reminded me of an innocent little kid that was looking for their parents approval. It was one of the sweeter moments I've had on my mission. Donna has been so prepared for this message of the restored gospel! I love her! Pray for her to find time to meet with us! The gospel will do her SO much good!
The week started out hard, but it ended really well. :) Heavenly Father is the perfect tutor, and He's teaching me all that I need to know to improve myself and turn my weaknesses into strengths. He sure does love me, that much I know. And He loves all of His children! He spoils us with blessings, and yet, we still ask for more. He's a good father and I love him!
I love you all!
Sister Anderson
 |
| Sister Anderson and Alexis |
 |
| Sister Hansen and Sister Anderson - she gave no names for these two but they look nice! |
 |
| Sister Anderson and Sister Gawthrop. She's wearing a Star Trek dress. She thinks it's awesome my sister's name is Belana! :) Sister Gawthrop also knitted me a hat with matching gloves to keep warm when it snows. |
 |
| My ward mission leader, Brother Stark, polished my shoes for me yesterday after our correlation meeting! He said that he refused to let his missionaries walk around with dull looking shoes! Ha ha!!! |
No comments:
Post a Comment