Hello one and all!
LA LOVE:
Many of you have likely not been following this story as closely as my zone has, because you haven't gotten as many details about the situation as they have, but we finally dropped Robert and Katherine, which was honestly a pretty big moment in my personal mission history because for a long time we've been thinking we might be being catfished by them. So there's that. Katherine wants them to suspend their learning for now but we are going to keep in touch periodically. Whether they are who they say they are or not, I hope that soon they'll be ready to accept the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
During this unique time in missionary work, missionaries have been asked to write about their service during the COVID-19 pandemic for the Church history department! I am excited to share some stories with them, because we've definitely had some adventurous experiences.
EVENTS OF THE WEEK:
On p-day we had our first shopping trip that we were allowed to have in awhile!
A great first district council of the transfer with the best zone ever. Our number of missionaries have decreased but our numbers of success have not. We are doing more work than ever before. Truly nothing can stop us.
We got to watch the BYU women's conference! It was really cool.
We held a mission prep class for our wards! It was SO awesome. I'd like to state how grateful I am for my home Preach MY Gospel class because I modeled a lot of our class after what I learned in my first mission prep class. I bore testimony to the girls (we were joined by Esther, Bree, and Ariana this week) about how much Preach My Gospel has changed my life, and how my diligent study of it in my teen years prepared me for my mission in a dramatic way, because I ended up not even going to the missionary training center. It was a super fun time and I think they all learned a lot.
Elder Gay (of the Seventy) and Sister Gay gave an amazing devotional for young adults, and we got to watch it with some friends/recent converts! They were great talks about how to prepare for the days ahead and to commit our lives to the Lord, covenant living.
The mission virtual fireside last night was great! It was by Church historian Richard Turley, called "Joseph Smith, Teenage Prophet", telling the story of Joseph's childhood experiences where he was called to represent the Lord. I remember watching it and thinking of parts I knew my friends would really benefit from.
FRIENDS:
Okay, so this is definitely the strangest thing I've ever done as a missionary, and missionaries do some pretty strange things. I'm part of a number of Christian groups on Facebook, and in one of the groups an awesome girl named Jessie asked us if we wanted to do a Bible study with her! At first I thought she was asking for one from us. Then I realized she's a minister for her church, pretty much a missionary for them, and wanted to lead us in a Bible study. It was such an unusual experience. We were like, "Is this what people feel like when we talk to them?" Haha! But I mean we accepted, because we will snatch any opportunity we can to find people to teach. We were excited to do a Bible study with Jessie! And also very, very nervous. But then I had to remind myself to not be, because I am a servant of the Lord! One final surprise came a few mere minutes before the call, she added ANOTHER FRIEND named Mari to the group. So she literally had a TEACHING COMPANION. We started with a prayer, got to know each other, and did a little Bible study! They are honestly awesome ladies. At first it was a little weird. We were like wow, we're being taught. But we tried to teach principles and expound on the doctrines in the study and it worked out pretty well! They are aware that we are missionaries for the Church. I love them; they are already great friends of mine.
We had a lesson with Vicki! She is so cool. We talked about temples and the sacredness of them, covenants, how patient the Lord is with us, and she talked about how comforting it is to know that our families can be together forever.
We did a Come, Follow Me study with the W. family, Andrea and her kids Bella and Jackson! They are all so smart and have strong testimonies. We loves talking to them.
This week Craig T. learned about prayer and the law of the fast, and he was eager to participate! He prayed about who he could fast for this Sunday, it was so awesome. We also taught him the law of chastity and he loves it. During a Book of Mormon read in that lesson, he was curious about where the plates the Book of Mormon were written on are, so the next time we told him the whole origin story and explained where the plates are now. He also had another great Sabbath experience with Aaron, Amy, and Brevon. We love them all.
This week I introduced Carlos to Sister John! He is so sweet. He agreed to doing a Book of Mormon read with us and Sister Torres, who is from the same country as him. Stay tuned.
We read Alma 36 (an icon, so good) with Ariana this week to learn more about repentance! Ariana is such a cool lady. I love her so much.
We read from Alma 13 with Monica to teach her more about the priesthood. She understands the importance of the power of God!
We read 2 Nephi 28 with John this week. We also did a study about faith with him and Nataly, where we read about the woman with the issue of blood and a conference talk called "Do I Believe?"
We had the most amazing lesson with Cathryn. In case I've never mentioned this before, Cathryn knows practically everything about our Church and has been learning for years. So for this lesson we talked about covenants and pretty much what they are and how great they are. We asked Cathryn if she had ever talked about or thought about baptism before, and to our surprise the answer was no. I mean her missionaries in the past had previously brought it up, but she didn't even really know what it meant. We, with the great help of Sister Kakazu, explained the baptismal covenant. Cathryn did a fast this weekend to help her resolve her concerns about baptism.
We met with Gisele! WE talked about the role prayer has played in her life and how it can help us and connect us to God.
We did a Come, Follow Me with Ginger, her boyfriend Aaron, and her kids, Cami, Brooke, and Beau! They are a super cool family.
We taught Judi and Sophia about the Restoration of the gospel. It is so cool to see how much Judi wants her daughter to learn about the gospel. Sophia knew so much about it too and understood it so well! They are such a sweet family.
This week our friend Mary Ann from the ward joined us for a lesson in teaching Diana about the Restoration of the gospel. That's of course a thick subject to understand, but Mary Ann really helped Diana understand it in the way she needed.
We studied Come, Follow Me with Marian and her father, John! Marian was baptized a number of years ago but John was not. They are so sweet. We are going to share messages with them every week and we are so excited to hopefully meet them in person soon!
Because I love to share from the scriptures and I'm pretty sure it's illegal for me to leave a lesson or an email without giving something to read, I wanted to share with you all my new favorite Book of Mormon story. I had learned about it as a child, and had read it many times since then, but this time my comprehension must have been deeper, because it just hit me so different this time. I invite you all to read Alma 24. It is about a group of people who turned from wicked Lamanites to righteous Anti-Nephi-Lehis. It is a beautiful story about conversion unto the Lord and the peculiar grace with which God saves His children. The best part is that it's true--it really happened. Although there are very few stories that top this one in beauty, so it's almost like a testament to itself--it's so astonishing to NOT be real.
Thanks and much love!
--Sister Day
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