Hello family!
I'm getting to the point in my mission where Monday comes around and I have literally no idea what happened since I last sat down to write you an email. So it takes me just as long as it took me to type up those 68 page essay emails that I used to write at the beginning of my mission, but I don't have as much content.
I guess a highlight of the week was when we taught Jay again. We were trying SO hard to find a family that would let us teach his lesson in their home, and it seemed like literally everyone that we asked turned us down for whatever reason. It was hard! But we knew that we needed to teach him in a members home, so we kept trying. We tried just about every active family in the ward when finally the Schmidts said we could come over. Phew. It's such a HUGE wave of relief when things go through. Jay connected really well with Brother Schmidt because they have the same sense of humor. It was pretty funny. They're both really good at the one the spot one liners! A lot of Jay's concerns have to do with him feeling judged. He went to SVU for school at a time in his life when he was mourning over the death of his mom. He said that the majority of the students at the time were all members of the church who tried to convert him, and they weren't sensitive about it. He had a few people tell him that he wasn't going to the Celestial kingdom... Man. I wish all the members of the church realized that pushing people into the church isn't missionary work. It's all about love! Thankfully, Jay made a few friends who loved him enough to support him and help him through that hard time in his life!! We started to teach him about the Plan of Salvation. Jay's understanding of his life is to live, serve and die and that's it. So to tell him that he lived in heaven with God before he came here was a whole new concept for him. It's really cool to see him put the pieces together. We started to teach him about the pre-earth life and he said, "Oh, a scripture from Jeremiah is coming to my mind about how God knew us before we went into the womb or something" I was like, "Yes!! Jeremiah 1:5!!!! You've got it!" It's exciting! :) We only got through half the lesson with him because he talks a lot. But that's okay because talking things through is how he understands them. I love it when he talks everything through because I can literally hear how the spirit is working within him. He tries so hard to talk himself into believing that what we say isn't true, but then he starts talking about how it totally makes sense! He just talks himself into knowing for himself that what we're teaching him is true!! It's the best ever!! It's evidence to me that the spirit really is the TRUE teacher. As missionaries, we just provide the environment for the spirit to take over through personal stories, scriptures, testimony and promised blessings. When the spirit is present, I know that I am doing my job!:) At the end of our lesson, we didn't even invite him to baptism before he said, "Sisters, I have been really thinking and praying a lot about this. And I can see baptism as more of a possibility for me." :D
We had a really great week, but we did not hit mission standard. We still had really great numbers this week (don't worry, each number accounted for has a person that I love backing it up!) so of course, I wasn't going to complain. Our mission has had an even bigger push for working with members right now, and we've hit the ground running. We're just trying to find the balance so we can still find new investigators to teach. I am fully aware that we need to improve, but I was so grateful for the week that we had! Sister Williams took it really hard though. This is the first week that we didn't hit at least 2/3 areas of our mission standard... Ha! I wanted to tell her that she should serve in the Potomac Mid Singles ward where it was considered a tender mercy of the Lord if we found even one person to teach!!! It's just funny how different our missions are.
Since we've been teaching Jay the Plan of Salvation, a big focus in my studies this has been about the atonement of Jesus Christ in preparation to teach him. It's truly amazing to me how we, and by we I mean people everywhere, don't realize that we need a savior until we realize that we are fallen. I am so grateful that Jesus Christ came to the earth and performed the atonement for us so that we could live again. I always knew that was true, but now it really means something to me. I love our Father's perfect Plan of Happiness and I feel so blessed that I've known about it since I can remember. I also feel really blessed for this time in my life that I've had to really break it down and seek to understand as much of it as I possibly can. I can't wait to teach the rest of the lesson to Jay because understanding the Plan of Salvation is what changes people. I know that because it's changed me and how I see myself, the people around me, God and the world!
I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week!
Oh and mom- sorry I've been a bum about sending pictures! I'll be better about that!
Love,
SIster Anderson
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