Oh
Bessie, not even a fortune teller could predict what happened to Sister
Stewart and I this week! Everything that happened majorly, happened on a
separate day this week. There were no boring days for us!
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| One of the members gave us a "dream catcher." |
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| But, we never dreamed what this week would bring! |
V.
and Sh. are doing well (heh, that rhymed) and I loved asking V. if
she's prayed about the Book of Mormon and if the Church is true. She
explained to us that she prayed for guidance, and if this is the right
path that He wants her to take. Ever since she's started to meet with
us, her life has been going up and up and up. But we found out that they
applied for housing in Atlanta, and they could be moving away from a
couple weeks, to a few months. We're so bummed because Ap. (the mom in
the family) is getting her own place, and we don't know where she's
going to end up either. We're not sure if Ca. (our most recent
convert) will be able to afford his own place either, but everyone is
going their separate ways! :( A lot of the family has been sick, so we
haven't been able to see them as often as we'd like.
Where
to even start? I suppose I'll start from an earlier foggy Monday
evening with one of our members. She told us that she had a really bad
feeling, and that we shouldn't go tracting because it was too dangerous.
Our appointment fell through, and we were at loss on what to do. We
prayed and asked for guidance, and we intently started to look at the
GPS to see where all of the members were around us. I spotted De. on the
map, and I knew instantly that's where we were supposed to go. She's
been on my mind for the past 3-4 weeks, and I knew she needed us to pray
with her. De. was so excited to see us, and she told us repeatedly that
she needed us to come by, and she was so happy that we were sister
missionaries. De. mentioned she'd love to feed us dinner with her fiance
sometime, but we told her we wanted to come by even if she wasn't
feeding us! We set a return appointment but that one fell through
because she had surgery the day before (she thought she'd feel better
for company), so we set an appointment to see her this past Wednesday.
Well,
this past Wednesday we were prompted not to confirm because many less
active members cancel on us. We drive up to her house and there was half
a dozen people around her front door. We asked if De. was there, and
Gl. her fiance told us that she passed away in her sleep yesterday. We
all looked at each other, and we weren't sure if they were kidding and
wanted us to go away, but the Spirit confirmed to us that it was true.
Gl. told us it wasn't a good time, but I piped up and asked if we could
pray with them. They gave their names individually, and I knew that it
was me who needed to leave the Savior's peace and a blessing upon them
and De.'s family. I took a long pause before I opened my mouth, and I
was praying in my head that I would say the words that would comfort
this family. I don't remember what I prayed for as I was choking back
tears, and in the end the Spirit was guiding the prayer. Afterward I
started to talk about the Plan of Salvation, and Gl. agreed that we
could come back in a couple weeks after he recomposes himself. He
mentioned that he's had a long list of questions the last two days for
his pastor, and we're keen to answer some of them as well. I think that
experience was one of the most powerful experiences I've had concerning
praying for others. There were tears everywhere, and the spirit was so
strong during that short interaction. It really just showed to me that
missionaries are literally set apart from the world, and that we DO have
the power and authority from God to preach the gospel to the world.
We're
officially moving into the apartment that we've been going over and
doing service for on February 20th, the day before Se. and D. are
getting baptized! This week we were helping the Belleville's up in their
attic, where some of the flooring isn't completely stable. I felt a
sense of danger as we hopped from piece to piece on the floor that was
safe so we wouldn't fall through the attic. It was scary as Brother
Belle was helping us with some of the wiring, and he fell because he
didn't realize where he stepped had no flooring! He didn't fall through,
nor break anything, but I'm sure he received a few bruises on where he
hit some of the wood. We've had some close encounters where Sister
Stewart has slipped off the chair trying to get something above the
fridge, and I thought she was going to hit her head on the couch armrest
or tile. Good thing missionaries are kept safe!
I'm
sure everyone is just DYING to know whether or not the lesson with P.
(a Jehovah Witness) went well, and it did! Remember how P. asked us to
pray for the world and how the people around them needed to better their
life? Well, the day after we did, his 'homie' moved into his house with
his family, and he invited To. to join us in the lesson. It was a heart
wrencher when P's Mom drove into the driveway (we were meeting outside)
and she saw us on the front porch with our Books of Mormon in hand. All
she did was say hi to us, and walked inside. P. explained to us that
they gave him religious freedom when he turned 18, and now he's been
searching ever since. We taught To. and P. the Restoration, and it was
the best lesson I've ever had outside! (Perfect temperature too.) They
both told us that they'd be baptized if they found out Christ's Church
was restored on the Earth again, and that they'd go to church every
week! (Except for the fact they didn't come to church this week, but we
won't talk about that haha!) We're seeing them again on Tuesday, and now
we'll be able to answer some of the questions that we had to hold off
on for tomorrow. :)
We
saw the V family again this week, and these kids are just too cute!
(They are the ones getting baptized February 21.) They're cherishing the
Books of Mormon that we've given them, and their prayers are just
journal worthy. Se. loves to pray for those around her, and she never
fails to mention how grateful she is for us coming over and teaching
them, and how much she loves Jesus Christ. We taught them the Ten
Commandments with hand actions so they could remember, and they already
knew what most of them already were. :)
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| Seriously...the skies in Georgia are GORGEOUS! |
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| Just get slightly jealous of the Georgia skies :D |
So
remember how I mentioned that Ap's family has been sick? Welp, I got
sick on Saturday really bad. I had this insane sinus/migraine headache
that wouldn't go away, but we HAD to get DQ 1/2 off. A small Reeses
blizzard for $1.75? Heck yeah we're going! We met a member there so we
could go out and see her visiting teachee, and some of our investigators
afterward. While we were visiting her VTee, she asked if we wanted
anything to drink. Sister Stewart got to try this drink that looked
really questionable called Malta, but she tried it to be polite. Our
member pointed out that it was a 'non-alcoholic drink' but it actually
had less than 5% of alcohol in it! Sister Stewart had no idea that it
did, and the VTee felt so bad for what happened! She's actually allergic
to alcohol (she was a convert) so she's glad that she found that out
because she's been sick because of her recently moving here.
We
had ward conference yesterday, and we've been given specific
instructions on what to do with the members, and President Harding has
given us the assignment to contact every single member that's assigned
to us, and see them weekly. We're stepping up the notch and we're no
longer allowed to tract for days on end. We're supposed to see the
members all day every day, and find around them. We've been trying to
unite with the members for so long now, and our stake hasn't been giving
us referrals. It's practically a plea for help to the members that
we'll find solid investigators that will be a blessing to the ward. The
entire Conyer's zone is getting special training (it might be the entire
mission too) from President Harding in three Thursdays about it all,
and it's going to be big!
I hope that y'all have a wonderful last week of January!
-Sister Sudweeks
Wow....that was quite a week!
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