Tuesday morning - we met with a recent convert's daughter.
Scariest thing of my life.
Basically she comes in and starts attacking us about women not being able to hold the priesthood, how she thinks her mom joined a cult, how she doesn't want to go to hell, and how she thinks its stupid that we can't drink coffee.
And the list went on but those were the highlights.
I seriously forgot how to speak in that lesson. It's like...ah....em....er....companion....
SO BAD.
And SO discouraging! I was kind of down the rest of the day, like, "Man I just got confident in my teaching and now it's being torn down again!"
Dumb.
Wednesday -
We met with the lady with the animals again. Somewhat frustrating....but these things kind of always happen to us during lessons with her. She'll start saying why she doesn't want to come back to church....
and then she'll completely change the subject back to her donkeys.
I'll hand it to her, she has a real gift for doing that. So we STILL don't know exactly why she hasn't come back to church, but hey. We're still visiting with her.
Then the real drama unfolded.
We got back from doing a service project, and we had a missed call from our investigator. We call her back, and she said that she wanted to cancel her baptism.
We asked why and she said she just had a nagging feeling.
"Well can we come talk about it?" I asked.
"No I'd rather just let you guys go now." she said.
Silence.
You have GOTTABEKIDDINGME is what was running through my head. And I almost started to cry. I'M SERIOUSLY NOT USUALLY A CRIER ABOUT THESE THINGS.
So then Sister R says, "Well we're going to talk about this face-to-face."
"...well....okay..."
So we zip on over to her apartment. It was actually the weirdest thing. Something was different about her. I could just SENSE it. I can't really describe it....but I can always tell when investigators feel the spirit cause I can see it in their eyes, and she did NOT have that in her eyes. It's the only way I could describe it.
We talked to her for a little bit, and addressed her concerns. She was still really, really struggling when we basically told her, "Alright. We're praying right here, and you're going to ask Heavenly Father if this is the true gospel."
We knelt down and she said the most beautiful prayer. The whole time during this I'M praying that she'll recognize an answer. Her prayer ends, and we just sat there for a second, then she says, "Yeah...it's true. I need to get baptized."
Relief. Huge, huge sigh of relief. And I could see that light return back to her eyes. The difference was really noticeable, but it still takes me by surprise every time.
Thursday-
We were still a little shaken from the whole investigator situation. Like we had PTSD or something (speaking of which - we did meet with the owner of the dog again. He offered us coffee. Tea. A beer. We politely declined.)
Later we met with a less-active family, and we were teaching one of the sons-in-law (whose wife is less active) and he said that he wanted to start working towards baptism! And then Sister R swallowed a bug and I had to try to take over and teach while she kept coughing and coughing.
Anyway.
Mostly we need to focus on reactivating his wife first.
Later we met with our other investigator. Again, we were still kind of shaken and down, and she said that she wanted to set a date for August 31st, but that she had a few things she wanted to talk to us about before then. Unfortunatly, we weren't really as chipper as we should've been. Mostly we're just worried. But she wants to have a long talk with us about baptism on Tuesday, so hopefully we'l be able to talk about it then.
Friday -
Weird how much the tables turned. We went to go meet with the recent convert's daughter again, but she wasn't there, so we met with her mom. We had an AMAZING lesson about Adam and Eve and the second coming and it was AWESOME. Then we had another lesson with our investigator. It was AMAZING to see the change in her. She was all smiles, and still a little nervous, but excited as well. We had a member who was a convert as well, so she gave some helpful insights, and we felt SO much better afterwards about the baptism.
That night, we had ward correlation at a family's house with the elders, and when we left...THERE WERE FIREFLIES!!! So the Elders, Sister R and I start chasing them like crazy, and I CAUGHT ONE!....but got a little excited in the process and accidentally killed it.
RIP Frank the Firefly.
So I was feeling in MUCH higher spirits that night with all our good visits.
Scariest thing of my life.
Basically she comes in and starts attacking us about women not being able to hold the priesthood, how she thinks her mom joined a cult, how she doesn't want to go to hell, and how she thinks its stupid that we can't drink coffee.
And the list went on but those were the highlights.
I seriously forgot how to speak in that lesson. It's like...ah....em....er....companion....
SO BAD.
And SO discouraging! I was kind of down the rest of the day, like, "Man I just got confident in my teaching and now it's being torn down again!"
Dumb.
Wednesday -
We met with the lady with the animals again. Somewhat frustrating....but these things kind of always happen to us during lessons with her. She'll start saying why she doesn't want to come back to church....
and then she'll completely change the subject back to her donkeys.
I'll hand it to her, she has a real gift for doing that. So we STILL don't know exactly why she hasn't come back to church, but hey. We're still visiting with her.
Then the real drama unfolded.
We got back from doing a service project, and we had a missed call from our investigator. We call her back, and she said that she wanted to cancel her baptism.
We asked why and she said she just had a nagging feeling.
"Well can we come talk about it?" I asked.
"No I'd rather just let you guys go now." she said.
Silence.
You have GOTTABEKIDDINGME is what was running through my head. And I almost started to cry. I'M SERIOUSLY NOT USUALLY A CRIER ABOUT THESE THINGS.
So then Sister R says, "Well we're going to talk about this face-to-face."
"...well....okay..."
So we zip on over to her apartment. It was actually the weirdest thing. Something was different about her. I could just SENSE it. I can't really describe it....but I can always tell when investigators feel the spirit cause I can see it in their eyes, and she did NOT have that in her eyes. It's the only way I could describe it.
We talked to her for a little bit, and addressed her concerns. She was still really, really struggling when we basically told her, "Alright. We're praying right here, and you're going to ask Heavenly Father if this is the true gospel."
We knelt down and she said the most beautiful prayer. The whole time during this I'M praying that she'll recognize an answer. Her prayer ends, and we just sat there for a second, then she says, "Yeah...it's true. I need to get baptized."
Relief. Huge, huge sigh of relief. And I could see that light return back to her eyes. The difference was really noticeable, but it still takes me by surprise every time.
Thursday-
We were still a little shaken from the whole investigator situation. Like we had PTSD or something (speaking of which - we did meet with the owner of the dog again. He offered us coffee. Tea. A beer. We politely declined.)
Later we met with a less-active family, and we were teaching one of the sons-in-law (whose wife is less active) and he said that he wanted to start working towards baptism! And then Sister R swallowed a bug and I had to try to take over and teach while she kept coughing and coughing.
Anyway.
Mostly we need to focus on reactivating his wife first.
Later we met with our other investigator. Again, we were still kind of shaken and down, and she said that she wanted to set a date for August 31st, but that she had a few things she wanted to talk to us about before then. Unfortunatly, we weren't really as chipper as we should've been. Mostly we're just worried. But she wants to have a long talk with us about baptism on Tuesday, so hopefully we'l be able to talk about it then.
Friday -
Weird how much the tables turned. We went to go meet with the recent convert's daughter again, but she wasn't there, so we met with her mom. We had an AMAZING lesson about Adam and Eve and the second coming and it was AWESOME. Then we had another lesson with our investigator. It was AMAZING to see the change in her. She was all smiles, and still a little nervous, but excited as well. We had a member who was a convert as well, so she gave some helpful insights, and we felt SO much better afterwards about the baptism.
That night, we had ward correlation at a family's house with the elders, and when we left...THERE WERE FIREFLIES!!! So the Elders, Sister R and I start chasing them like crazy, and I CAUGHT ONE!....but got a little excited in the process and accidentally killed it.
RIP Frank the Firefly.
So I was feeling in MUCH higher spirits that night with all our good visits.
Saturday -
BAPTISM! Such an amazing experience. Elder F baptized her and Sister R and I sat with all the little kids in the front to watch. Her toe popped up the first time, so they had to do it again. Her reaction was, "Wow I get a two-for-one deal!" Our other investigator came as well to watch, but had to leave early so we'll have to talk about it with her after, but it was still exciting! Our investigator then read her favorite verse from Ruth and bore her testimony. So amazing!
Also, she's obsessed with pineapple.
We were so grateful to have found our investigator. It seriously is incredible how much the Lord prepared her to be baptized. Such an amazing experience!
That night, we did service and helped a member remodel their house. The daughter served in Taiwan and told us all the crazy stories of the stuff that happened to her there.
I love missionary work!
BAPTISM! Such an amazing experience. Elder F baptized her and Sister R and I sat with all the little kids in the front to watch. Her toe popped up the first time, so they had to do it again. Her reaction was, "Wow I get a two-for-one deal!" Our other investigator came as well to watch, but had to leave early so we'll have to talk about it with her after, but it was still exciting! Our investigator then read her favorite verse from Ruth and bore her testimony. So amazing!
Also, she's obsessed with pineapple.
That night, we did service and helped a member remodel their house. The daughter served in Taiwan and told us all the crazy stories of the stuff that happened to her there.
I love missionary work!
Sunday (sorry...I'm quickly wrapping this up cause I'm outta time) -
The lady who was baptized on Saturday was confirmed! And we had an AMAZING testimony meeting. All the missionaries bore their testimony and gave each other fist bumps after the meeting. She was so happy and smiling the whole day!
Later that day, we went tracting. A nice man tried to save us and tell us that we need to accept Christ in our lives.
I kind of already thought I had accepted Christ in my life but......We're just glad he's worried about our salvation.
Hopefully this week will be a bit less drama filled. I have LOVED my mission so much! Can't decide if these two months have gone by fast or slow....crazy.
I love you all so much! And am praying for y'all.
Love,
Sista Stimpson
The lady who was baptized on Saturday was confirmed! And we had an AMAZING testimony meeting. All the missionaries bore their testimony and gave each other fist bumps after the meeting. She was so happy and smiling the whole day!
Later that day, we went tracting. A nice man tried to save us and tell us that we need to accept Christ in our lives.
I kind of already thought I had accepted Christ in my life but......We're just glad he's worried about our salvation.
Hopefully this week will be a bit less drama filled. I have LOVED my mission so much! Can't decide if these two months have gone by fast or slow....crazy.
I love you all so much! And am praying for y'all.
Love,
Sista Stimpson
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