Saturday the 21st
We
woke up early in the morning to go do some service for a lady that is
in our ward boundaries. She is an acquaintance of the bishop, and not a
member of the church. She was recently divorced and really feeling the
weight of keeping a home, taking care of her mom and kids. So about 25
members came and swarmed her yard, even the back yard, put in some new
plants, and pulled some weeds! The best part was seeing how grateful she
was for all these people, that she didn't know, who were coming to help
her.
Later that day Sister Nelson and I were driving around that area
again, visiting members, and we saw her out front. She was showing her
neighbor around, pointing out all that the ward had done that morning.
We decided that after we stopped at a couple houses we would go back and
see how she was doing. When we got to her house she was in the
backyard, we waltz in started talking to her and her neighbor. She then
invited us into her house because she wanted to introduce us to her mom
and kid. Previous to this, when the bishop offered the wards help he
made it clear that there were no strings attached and that we just
wanted to help her. Turns out, she had a lot of questions about the
church. We didn't even have to bring anything up SHE DID! We called
bishop about our experience and told him that we scheduled an
appointment for this Wednesday, he was blown away. Who knows if she'll
join the church or not, what I loved was how the service we did effected
this lady and her family. She was so taken back that even though none
of these 25 people knew her and even though she wasn't a member of the
church everyone was more than willing to help her out.
They wont care about what you know, until they know how much you care.
Sunday
Joe
came to church again, but this time to the singles ward. He really
loved it there. Later that night we actually had the opportunity to go
have a lesson with him as well. We touch on a lot of different things,
talked about his experience at church, and how his scripture reading has
been. He is actually really good about reading what we assign him and
studying it all. We had a great discussion but in the end, he expressed
that he feels all this is short term for him, that he just doesn't have
the faith needed.
As I find myself leaning on the Lord more often, Ive had these
moments where I know I am not the one talking. If that makes sense. I'll
look back on a conversation and CLEARLY I know I could not have
come up with that, it becomes more clear to me in those moments as well
as others, that this is HIS work and not mine. (Back to the story)
At the end of the lesson we wanted to commit him to pray every
night, his answer was shaky, but he said he would continue to read. So I
said to him something along the lines of this " Joe..you enjoy
philosophy, studying, and learning..you find comfort in things that are
"tangible" You keep saying that faith is what you lack, the only way
your going to gain faith is by putting trust into things that aren't
tangible. You need to pray."
I realize that what I said may not be "quote worthy" but it
resonated with Joe, and we could tell that something changed for him,
his direction changed. I know that it was the spirit that lead Sister
Nelson and I on what we should said to help Joe on his journey to
bringing Christ back into his life.
Sunday (night)
We
got a call from President Eberhardt! I'm going to be training a brand
new missionary, yes, this means they are essentially splitting up the
dream team hahaha Boy am I gonna miss sister Nelson, we were quite the
companionship. However i am so grateful for this call to grow and learn.
I don't know what the heck I'm going to do with a brand new missionary haha
because i still feel like one myself, but if there is one thing that Ive
learned from transfers is that EVERYTHING has a rhyme and a reason.
Last district meeting together with Sister Nelson- The "Dream team".
Its been a really great week. Time is flying by, 5 months out seems a
little to much to wrap my head around sometimes. Thank you all for
your prayers and support.
I know that i am where i am suppose
to be, that Christ lives, and that he atoned for our sins. Getting to
spread that message has only strengthened my testimony of its
truthfulness. I love you all so much and i hope you all have a great
week!
Love sister Efnor
Out on a hike with the Mission President on P-day.
Looking back at Park City after starting our hike.
Still saving critters... This one was a sad little guy and very happy I came to his rescue.
