Happy Monday!
Last Monday we were trying to get
gas but our mission gas card declined. Found out that we were a victim of
fraud, and someone stole over $750 from the mission! We had to destroy our card
completely and get a new one. That was a fun P-day!
Over the past few months, Sister J.
has done a great job in scaring me. So this week I decided to get back at her
for all of the times she almost scared me half to death. :) The first time I
scared her it was unintentional. She was in the bathroom with the light off,
and I was in the living room. I turned off the living room light since I assumed she
was going to turn on the light in the bathroom so we could continue to get
ready for bed. After I turned off the light she screamed 5 seconds later and I
had no idea why! I turned the light back on and she said that she brushed up
against the bathroom door very lightly, and she thought it was someone. I
laughed so hard my stomach and cheeks hurt!
C. (our amazing bus contact) has a
theory that people are always afraid of monsters from their childhood. So if
someone is unaware of a person grabbing their shoulders and yelling,
"MONSTER!" they freak out completely. So that's exactly what I did
later on when she was about to change into her PJs. She screamed once again.
C. was talking to us about how he
was doing with his scripture reading, and he was surprised that someone could
kill a person with a rock. He then proceeded to say, "That's what you get
from choosing scissors, brah!" That was pretty amusing. He's in Alma and
is continuing to love the scriptures more and more as he reads them.
We tried to teach L.'s friend, JA. She has a Book of Mormon and we read the Doctrine of Christ (2 Nephi 31)
in the Book of Mormon earlier. She refused to come out to listen to us teach
L., so we know that she's no longer interested in learning more about our
church. Which is sad, since our teaching pool is diminishing greatly. But L.
showed us his kittens that were born on his birthday about a month ago. They
are getting so big and adorable! We named them Simba, Gramps, Lil Bit, Furball,
and Scaredy Cat.
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| Sister Sudweeks holding Simba...or is that Scaredy Cat? |
We taught a guy named M. part of the
Restoration. He was one of the potentials from a while ago. We were just
reaching the part about the First Vision, when he found out he had to leave. M.
said that he feels like Joseph Smith--he doesn't know which church to join. He
said he'd read the rest of the Restoration pamphlet but we don't know if can
read very well. On Sunday he texted me asking if he could tell me something. He
made me promise not to tell anyone or get mad. (I crossed my fingers since
OBVIOUSLY I'm going to tell Sister J.) I
found out he likes me and wants to get to know me. Awkward. He said he wants to
learn more about me AND the church, since he doesn't want to mess with the
Lord. I'll be going over there with my new companion saying that our area got
moved around so the elders will have to continue to teach him.
I found out this morning that I am
indeed staying in Atlanta! I'll be getting a new companion Wednesday and I won’t
be training.
C. got baptized on Saturday! As we
were waiting for him to arrive one of the sisters in our ward called us asking
if we knew that we had a flat tire. WHAT?! So her husband and Elder E. were
able to put our spare on so we could go get a new tire after the baptism.
Apparently there was this HUGE blade in our tire, and there literally was no
pressure in our tire whatsoever. We're wondering if we ran over it because
there's so much construction going on around our apartment.
We were worried that C. would make
some smart comments after being baptized, but thankfully he just stood there
and looked at us, then walked out of the font. Later on I asked him how he
felt. He paused for a moment and said that he felt serene. But unlike R’s
baptism, the water was way too hot. Hopefully we'll get the right temperature
soon heh! It's so amazing to see how much he's changed in such a few short
weeks. I know that due to Sister J’s and me praying in faith and asking for Heavenly
Father to help us find someone to teach that is prepared to hear the gospel, we
were answered and we had the privilege to teach him. Miracles will never cease
to happen! (Mormon 9)
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| C's Baptism Day--March 22, 2014 |
A lot of the rest of our
investigators are at a standstill, I don't know what's going to happen with
them in the next few weeks. A lot of them have scheduled appointments, but they
just happen to reschedule. None of them came to church.
On Sunday it was a very special
sacrament meeting. Since Sister J. is leaving, (and also Sister B., who’s been
in the area now 10 months) all of the
sister missionaries besides me spoke. There was a special musical number after
Sister J.’s talk, dedicated to her. Three of the RMs in the ward that went to
Brazil sang Called To Serve in Portuguese. I was crying throughout all of sacrament
meeting when the talks were being given, but Sister J. and I really bawled when
we heard that hymn sung in Portuguese.
I'm really going to miss her, and I hope she doesn't underestimate how great of
a missionary she truly is. We had dinner appointments every day last week and
we were able to sing for dinner. We sang in English and Portuguese, mostly God
Be With You Till We Meet Again, or a song that they preferred. I've learned a
lot from her, and I can't wait to see what my next companion teaches me!
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| God Be With You Till We Meet Again! |
All of the missionaries in the ward
were invited to Ward Council last Sunday, one of the first times we were EVER
invited! I am so excited that we finally get to go and know what they talk
about although we have to be there at 8am instead of 9am. But it's worth it if
we get more trust from the auxiliary leaders otherwise! But one of the sad
things about it is that I left my hymn book since we had to leave for our 9am
meeting. It was originally in the Young Men's room, and I didn't realize I had
misplaced it until the 3rd hour. I checked all of the lost and founds, and
asked one of the guys in the Young Men's presidency and they didn't see it. So
I waited an entire month for that hymn book and it's already gone. I wish I had
put my name in it!
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| All 10 missionaries that serve in my ward in Atlanta! There used to be 14 of us! Maybe that's one reason why we haven't all been invited to Ward Council before. We take up half the space! |
C. was also ordained a priest,
and I don't think I've ever seen anyone so excited to get the Aaronic
Priesthood. We had assumed that they taught him what he can and can't do with
the Aaronic Priesthood, but apparently not. He even put one of his hands on my
head and 'blessed' me that I would get along with my new companion and other
things like that. I laughed since I thought he was joking. We had to teach him
later on and he was pretty bummed when he found out. C. asked what powers he
had now that he has the priesthood, and Brother I. told him that he has
telekinesis, and he can kill a yak from 100 feet away. Turns out, C. believed
him. He also has a really long name, and his real name isn't even C, so he now
wants to be called Brother
_______. (Think about a character
in Lion King and that will give you an idea of his sense of humor.) We'll see
if it catches on or not in the ward.
I took advice from my Dad this week
about how if I really want to know an answer to something, I should fast. The
past 4 months I've been questioning how to recognize the spirit better, and to
gain confidence on whether it really is the spirit, or am I just questioning
myself. I've been praying the entire time I've been out here, and I really
haven't gotten an answer. It really is best to fast for one specific thing
instead of multiple things at once. So I finally fasted and I was able to
receive an answer to my question on how the spirit speaks to me. I'm so
grateful for fasting and if you really want an answer to your question, seek it
out and the Lord will provide. Now I just need to have the courage to act when
the Spirit is trying to guide me to do the Lord's work! Learning how the Spirit
works through you is really important in life, you don't want to miss out on
how our Heavenly Father is trying to use you as one of his instruments in life.
I hope everyone is doing well, and
always remember to pray!
-Sister Sudweeks
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