Better than Trick or Treating

Hi, everyone! 

Regardless of how hard we worked this week, and how many people we've seen and how many lessons we've had, we only had one member present. 

This week was full of interesting things! 

Monday: So like I mentioned in the last blog post, I got hit in the eye with a Tennis ball while trying to tighten up my tennis skills. Sorry to say, my eye hurt for the rest of the week. 

Tues: We had a member come out with us to see Cynthia and the lesson went well. My companion and I can tell that the more we meet with her, the more hope she has, and the more she has been reading the Book of Mormon. I am so excited for the day she comes back to church! It's been over 20 years. 

Wed:

We had a lesson in a Member's home this week, which is one of the main focuses for our zone. We had Lori, a less-active, in Sister Davis' home and the lesson went pretty well. We went over Alma 7, verses 11-14 and mentioned the power of the Atonement. A lot of great things were shared; Sister Davis had a guitar and I had the opportunity to play it for a couple minutes. It had been a while since I last played.

Later that evening I had the opportunity to submit 2 names from doing Family History. I haven't done family history before, and I submitted Thomas Bagley's name (M7TD-788) to [be connected] to Vivian Elzora Bagley in marriage. I believe Thomas was from the time of the 1600s. Another name was John Baguley (LH3C-9SF), and he lived from July 18 1585 to Jan 15 1642, and he had some temple work that needed to be completed. I truly felt the spirit of Elijah when I went on familyhistory.org to work on family names. 

During this week, I made dairy-free/gluten-free pumpkin -cinnamon bagels, and I made some regular bagels for my companion as well. I'm glad I was able to make something she preferred. 

I also made my first soup yesterday and it turned out pretty good. 

On Thursday, we had Sister Bloomfield come out with us to go see some people. We weren't able to find a lot of people to teach, but we kept trying. She then dropped us off for our Dinner Appointment with the Lewis family. We taught them about the 10 commandments, using hand signals. After that, we walked home and we walked in the dark for at least an hour. It was good time for my companion and I to get to know each other a little better and to share memories of our past Family Halloween experiences. 

on Friday, we had District Meeting. After that, an elder brought out a spice cake to share. Another elder brought a cookie pie from the store. 

After that, we helped Sister Matthews set up for the Chili cook off that was going to happen later in the evening. We helped set up chairs and rearranged some things in the room after the young-women had tried setting things up. 

After that, though, there were a few experiences that really stood out to me and I cannot believe that it had happened. Sister Putnam and I went to go see sky, a 13 year old who we have been trying to get a hold of for weeks. After we knocked and waited, we were just about to leave when a middle-aged man with dark-brown eyes from next door came out eating a sandwich. We asked if he knew Sky and he said he knew of them and the conversation lead to who we were as missionaries. He asked us what he believed, and immediately he mentioned how he was Pentecostal, and he tried telling us what we believed. He told us about how he has been reading this book that has 'false teachings' from every religion. One of the things he said was, "Hold on, let me get [the book I'm talking about]". My companion and I looked at each other. He was going to try and bash us. When he came out, he opened to the Mormon section of his book and mentioned some false beliefs and how we believed certain things; he told us we weren't Christian because we didn't believe in the Triad (we believe in the Godhead, which is mentioned all throughout the King James Version of the Bible, which means that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three, separate and distinct beings); he said more things that were completely out of an argumentative tone; because we called God 'Heavenly Father' instead of the German name for God (I don't remember what it is right now), and how we believed Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ  were separate beings has us to be believing in multiple Gods. Well, that's false, just like his whole book. We told him that the purpose of our visits is not to Bible Bash. He told us we were blind and how we needed to do more research on our own religion before we went and taught it to people. Well, my companion and I did do our research. When we told him that he can come to know for himself if what we have been teaching him, is true, through prayer and how Heavenly Father will give him the answer. He told us that he knew without a doubt that he could call down power from God to tell him these things just like the prophets of hold and he will know the answer immediately. Well, I'm glad he has that great of faith, and I hope he does receive an answer. He asked if we could come back and discuss more about our message and Sister Putnam said, "Actually, no" and told him that we weren't here to argue. When she went to shake his hand goodbye, he refused to shake her hand. Soon after, he went back inside. 

After that, we went to see Avril, an investigator who set up an appointment with us. She wasn't home for the second time, and later on in the week she told us where she had gone to. Her power was turned off and she was staying at her mother's home. 

Around 6:00 was the 'Trunk or Treat'. Sister Putnam was a chili tester, along with the other missionaries.  I couldn't taste it, because it had meat in it. In the end, Sister Manchester won first place, and the Bishop won 3rd. The Bishop told us, "...but the bishop is always supposed to win! ...[T]hat competition was rigged!" It was so funny. 

Later on, the kids went around the parking lot in their costumes and did some 'trunk-or-treating.' It was so cute to see all the costumes and decorated trunks. 

On Saturday, we went to see some potentials and investigators and we didn't have much luck. We had walk-and-talk and we walked around for an hour or two and it was pretty much desolate. When we went to walk home, I saw a couple on the sidewalk, in black. I could barely make what was going on. By the time we walked up to them, we introduced ourselves to this young man (24) and this young woman (25); they were a very attractive couple. She was crying and he was very upset. He tried to shoo us away as he said, "If you don't mind, I need to talk to this girl... who is the love of my life... but I don't deserve her and she can do better than me..." and he told us how religion will not help at all and how he was a realist and saw things as they are. He also mentioned how this town was full of negativity and no one can make a living out of the low-end jobs here. He told us how he was going to start his life over by leaving everything behind, including his girlfriend. Her family drove by and he pointed that out to his girlfriend. She needed to get ready for work and so they walked off. They broke up. She walked  off a ways, and she started to cry again with her back toward us. "Let's go talk to her," Sister Putnam said. When we went to see her, she said that she was sorry for the rudeness of her boyfriend and she said she was sorry for crying. We told her that we completely understand. She told us that she would call us after work. 

Sometime afterwards, we saw a black guy with a santa hat come out of his car. We helped him with his groceries and we scheduled a return appointment. 

Later that evening, we went out with a sister in our ward and we went to go find someone who lived in one of the new complexes. 

-The first door had a colorful Easter wreath and the lady was not interested.

-The second door had a Halloween Wreath and the lady was very bubbly, and friendly. She told us she was Catholic and she lived with her boyfriend. She told us to go check for the person in the next doors, since she just moved here. 

- The next door had a burlap wreath, and there was no answer.

-The next door had a tall man who was in his late 20s, with a cap on, and he was on the phone. He pointed to his iphone, and then he shut the door. It was so brief. I started laughing.

"This is better than Trick-or-Treating!" I said. 

We went to the apartments across the street and we knocked on the first door. There was no answer. We joked around as we thought about finding a 'Johnson' around here (even though that was not who we were looking for). 

-The Next door was a short man, who looked like he was in his early 30s. He was the manager of Applebees and told us he worked 50-60 hours a week. He wasn't opposed to our message but we could stop by when he had time. We asked for his last name, and it was 'Johnson.' My companion and I, and the sister, all smiled wide because of the previous thought we had moments ago. 

I love going door to door, especially with young people. Everyone is so different from one another. 

On Sunday, I had to teach Gospel Principles class by myself and I can't believe how well it went. I prepared just the night before because of the limited time I had. My companion had to give a talk in Sacrament meeting about how members need to be working with the members. It seems like working with the missionaries is not a priority. A lot of them expect the missionaries to do all the work and that they will hopefully bring more to the church. BUT - it is the member's responsibility to help find people for missionaries to teach. When I am off my mission, I plan to go out with the missionaries, and help them find people to teach. 

Well, that is all I can say for now. Every day I am so grateful I have this opportunity to serve and before I came out, I had no idea how missionary life was. It is one of the hardest, most rewarding things I have ever done in my life. I think the only thing that I can think of that prepares anyone for a mission is the mission itself, no matter how many times one can read the scriptures or Preach My Gospel, or even going out with the missionaries. 

Talk to you all soon,

Sister Marshall