May 19, 2014

This week really was a roller coaster! I am so glad it's preparation day so that after I am done writing this email, I can go home and recover mentally and physically.

 

Monday we saw Donna Woods. It was a great lesson. Our lesson went something like this:

"Donna, will you be baptized?"

"Mormon?........maybe."

"We're holding a baptismal service on May 31st, will you prepare yourself to be baptized by that date?" (boom. right out of preach my gospel, thank you very much)

"Hm. Yeah I think so. I mean, I'll need to prepare. And my daughters were raised Catholic, so they might think I'm crazy...but I am an adult and I make my own decisions! And I feel peace whenever you come over and compared to the catholic church I used to feel flat, but now I just feel so much peace after you leave and whenever I read the Book of Mormon....."

 

After we asked her to be baptized on may 31st, she went on for at least 10 minutes just talking herself into why she should get baptized. I didn't have to say a single thing after that. Man, i just love how the spirit works.

 

So Donna's on date for baptism! Pray extra hard for her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We actually changed her date to June 14th because she hasn't come to church yet. But she has so much faith and is willing to meet with us twice a week to teach her and help her prepare! It feels so great to be God's hands.

 

We got a referral for a new investigator just this last Friday from another set of sisters in another area. They told us all about Christi and how she is going through a divorce and is currently living with her best friend in our ward boundaries. We went over and met her and she is the sweetest lady ever! Almost immediately after I introduced myself she said, "I need to be baptized before June 1st." ......... :D :D :D OKAY!

She was ready to be baptized two years ago, but the week of her baptism, her husband decided that he didn't want her to be baptized. So now that she's separated from her husband, she can actually move forward and she's so excited! The only thing is that she probably can't be baptized by June 1st because of her situation. Like I said she's living with her best friend away from her husband and children and she was left with literally nothing.  I don't know the details, and frankly, even knowing THAT much totally stresses me out, so I'm totally okay not knowing anything else.

 

Anyway... so they're going to court this Wednesday and Cristi made it seem like she needed her clothes from her home right away. So she gave us her husband's phone number to see when a good time would be for us to come over and pick up her things. Her husband lives in Herndon, which is definitely out of our area, so we couldn't go. but our relief society president, sweet Sister Heiner, volunteered to go for us. It was just totally crazy and I felt that we were stuck in the middle of everything. yesterday turned into a "help Cristi get her clothes for court" day and I did NOT like it one bit. I hate being the middle man. I was so stressed out. I am still totally stressed out. I can't even put everything into words that's how scared I am. we just decided to back WAY off and not worry about it. Cristi said something about how she might need to use those text messages in court and that really freaked me out. I really don't want to get tangled into all of this. divorce is nasty. It makes me sick. I made myself sick with stress yesterday. I PROMISE that I will NEVER get a divorce when I am older. It just isn't an option for me. It is so hard and stressful.

 

Cristi has no idea how much she put me through. But whatever. We had a lesson with her last night and Sister Heiner was our member present. I was so grateful that she came along with us. It was a really good lesson. I feel that Cristi really is sincere about joining the church, and that she is not joining it for the wrong reasons even though her circumstances might make you think that she is. Her heart truly is in the right place, she is just going through the refiner's fire right now.

 

Don't worry about us though. We are getting members involved. We have the Relief Society president and the Bishop helping us with this. AND President Riggs is a lawyer, so he will be able to help me. Oh my goodness, this entire situation just makes me want to cry. I'm really really trying to be smart about how I help Cristi so I don't end up tangled in the mess. I just want to do missionary work!!!!!!!! really bad! I don't like this kind of drama! I just don't know what Heavenly Father's plan is with all of this, and I just really need to trust him.

 

Elder Ballard came and spoke to our mission on Saturday!!!!! I was herded to the back of the room, so I didn't really see him very well. but it was still extremely powerful to be in the same room as him and hear his voice in person! We had a three mission conference- we were with the Maryland Baltimore Mission and the Washington dc North Mission. There were 760 missionaries there. I felt like a warrior in an army! It was so cool.

 

I really needed to hear Elder Ballard. I felt like everything that he said was customized exactly to what I needed. It was amazing. After that conference, I have taken my missionary work to a whole new level. I am going to do everything in my power to be a preach my gospel missionary. I eat, sleep and breathe Preach My Gospel.

 

One thing that he said that really stood out to me is that if we want to baptize more, we need to talk to more people. I was like YEAH! I mean, it's true! I haven't helped a single person (that I know of) get baptized. and President Riggs received revelation for our mission that every area can get one baptism per unit per MONTH. :O I want to be a part of his revelation! man oh man I really want to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I NEED to talk to more people. Elder Ballard said that whenever we struggle with talking to people just think, "this isn't Gethsemane, this is a privilege!" I loved that. that's what I tell myself whenever I start to question whether or not I should talk to someone, and I feel the fear and do it anyway.

 

There was another speaker who related missionaries to the wave in the phrase, "catch the wave". He made a really cool analogy with surfing. He talked about how the missionary force has increase significantly in the past couple of years and we need to help the members get involved. We have to be careful not to drown the members, but to help them catch the wave in just the right spot so they can surf perfectly! That's how the work is going to hasten! I loved that. 

 

After that mission conference, I just felt strongly that I need to change. I need to take my own commitment to serving the Lord to a whole new level. I need to push myself out of my comfort zone to where I thought I'd never go. I need to truly sacrifice for Jesus Christ. I need to be the kind of missionary that he can count on. after we got home, I went into the closet and just told heavenly father that he has my entire heart. I have nothing holding me back from being what he needs me to be!

 

I had a really great week. it was a hard week. but I learned a lot! I might actually have my first baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please keep Donna and Cristi in your prayers. that would mean the world to me. they need all the heavnly help they can get at this point.

 

I love you all so much! 

Till next monday.

Sister Anderson