Busy, Busy

Hey, everyone! It is another week down, and I am now going on my 7th week on the mission.

I've gained 3 pounds so far after the weight loss, and that is good.

So much has been going on! 

On our P day, Sister Bowen and I walked to the park and we played on the swings, played on the monkey bars. I may be 8 years away from 30, but I still got it. 

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On Tuesday, Sister Bowen and I invited a church member to teach the Plan of Salvation with an investigator, Roy. Sister Bowen and I prayed to make sure that the lesson went well, and I wrote on a note card for the investigator the layout of the lesson, to help him follow what we were going to be teaching. The spirit was strong in the lesson, and the investigator's ability to focus increased than in previous lessons. 

We were also able to teach a part member family on this day as well Joe and Sally, and we taught them the same lesson as the previous investigator mentioned. He is interested in our message, and we will be returning another time to teach him the next lesson. 

On Thursday we met with the little girl, Leah, who has a desire to be baptized, and we were surprised again, that the father (who is anti-Mormon, and a returned missionary) explained the plan of Salvation to her as we taught her the lesson. We invited them to church, but the mother told us that her daughters were up late last night and had trouble sleeping. We will continue to invite them to church so that their daughter can progress toward her baptism.

On Friday, Sister Bowen and I had a lesson with two investigators, Tracy and Margie, and the lesson did not go well (according to us missionaries). The members we brought along for the lesson were going into deep doctrine, while my companion and I were trying to teach them the basics about the restoration, which included some verses from Joseph Smith History. Margie had so many questions, and she wanted to know the order of all the prophets, starting with the Old Testament portion of the Bible. Halfway into the lesson, one of the members completely went off the deep end, confusing the investigator even more. Oh, it was terrible. The other investigator (who is the other investigator's daughter, Tracie), was covering her eyes, with her face  toward her lap. She too did not like how the conversation was going (in my opinion). The members kept on talking with the one investigator who had a bunch of questions, and there was not a spot for us missionaries to say anything. At one point, it was too much, and Sister Bowen said, "Sister Marshall has something to say" and the room became quiet. I said, pertaining to 'How to begin teaching,' ["So, Margie,  the questions you have, about the order of the prophets, I feel like they are a distraction to the message which we would like to share with you today. They do not pertain to your conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ," her daughter nodded, "and the things we would like to share with you are built line upon line, precept on precept, and you will not be able to learn them all at once..." And then the conversation calmed down for a bit, and I felt good that I spoke up. Next thing I knew, the members went back into talking about the deep stuff, and they did not understand how investigators are starting with not knowing anything whatsoever. 

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Near the end of the week, Sister Bowen and I were running out of miles because we were short this month because of the Bednar conference, and the sisters called and gave us 40 miles to use before the next day. We visited more people than if we did not have this, and we felt it was such a blessing! 

We visited the Butlers and we invited them to church. They came the next day, and I was so happy to see everyone! 

Anyways, I would write more, but I don't have much time. 

I love you all! 

-Sister Marshall