The Adventures of Sister Pew(ny): Week 7 New Investigator Progressing

Hey y'all!

Just Southern Things:

-found a guy in our area book named George Washington
-were asked by a couple different people which "groups" of Mormons we belong to, and if we practice polygamy still
-learned that even the people you think have teeth don't actually have teeth because they're dentures.
-taught a preacher's wife (and did not Bible bash)
-were given anti-Mormon material by an investigator.The investigator did not believe the weird things, thank heavens
-Had a man answer the door without a shirt on

Wow! This week has literally zipped by. I cannot believe it's Monday already and we're emailing again!

So last Monday was wayyyy fun. We were over our mile budget for the month, so we couldn't really go anywhere, so we stayed at our apartment and painted pictures and I made tacos!!!

Tuesday we had DDM and I had to talk about the new key indicators. I probably did fine, but my shyness has increased to like level 50000 on my mission and it is REALLY scary for me to talk in front of people. So I felt like I was going to die the whole time, but other than that it was great. We also met two really nice old ladies while we were trying to contact a less active family. The one kinda scampered off when we approached them, but the other one's name is I and she was so sweet! (Also, I love the name I. Someone remember that one for me when I have children, okay?) She invited us to come back, but we haven't yet, so hopefully we can contact her again. She is religious but seemed open to other ideas.

Wednesday was so great. We felt very strongly about going down this certain street, but after getting door after door slammed in our faces, and person after person saying that they go to church already and they're not interested, we decided to leave and contact some referrals from our friend the preacher's wife. So we were headed to this one referral's house and we passed another person she had told us about and decided to try him first. So we knocked on the door and this old lady answered and told us that we couldn't help her, but we could probably help her son. "Just give him thirty minutes," she said, "and he'll be back from the store." We thanked her and turned to leave when she pointed behind us and said, "That's him right now." And that is how we met M, who is on date to be baptized February 18th after 3 wonderful lessons. He is 28 years old and has Asperger's, but he is so in tune with the spirit. He told us he'd been praying for us to come without knowing what he was praying for, and that he'd wanted to start feeling more joy, and that the message of the Restoration helps him love God more. WHAT???? God is real, everyone.

Thursday we went to volunteer at the food bank, which was good. We went to eat lunch at the park and met a guy named A and his daughter S. And he was so cool! Afterwards we taught M his second lesson and went to see Brother W, who told us he was going to R ward instead of B because he was offended. We tried to help him but he was not having it.

Friday we did weekly planning, which took REALLY LONG because we had lots to plan for and talk about!

Saturday we taught M again and gave him the baptismal interview and put him on date! He will need to be interviewed by President Turner because of some rough experiences he's had, but he really wants to be at peace with God and he knows he needs this covenant to do it. It takes a while to teach him anything because he doesn't have the greatest attention span, but he's getting progressively happier and more talkative every time we visit him. It's just awesome.

Yesterday was so great. A didn't come to church, like we said, but M did, and the ward just totally embraced him and took him in and they were so kind and loving. E (the recent convert) gave him a ride, and Bishop introduced himself, as well as like EVERYONE else! It was so awesome and M told us he feels a lot more joy in our church than the other churches he's been to (and holy cow, he's been to like 500).

Overall, this week ran me over like a bulldozer, and left me for dead, but I loved every second of it. Weird how that happens. I don't know. It's been a heck of a week, but missionary work is so awesome and I love it. We do this thing as a mission, before every meeting, where we recite a whole bunch of things and it takes us like 5 minutes to say it all. We first do the missionary purpose, and then that one quote that goes "the standard of truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, and calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth bold, nobly and independent, until it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country and sounded in every ear, until the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done." Then, we do the first vision, and then we say D&C 4 (all of it) and then we say, "I love tough things! I am the first to do tough things! I do tough things first! I love being a missionary!" and I love that last bit. It's a great reminder that the tough things are here to make us grow.

I love y'all! Don't let the muggles get you down!

All my love,

Sister Pew

As a side note V is very sick, like super duper sick so she hasn't been able to meet with them or go to church. Pray for her to recover.