The week is over... oh wow, where did the time go?
Our numbers were good this week, and my companion and I strived to meet our key indicators. We had 5 investigators show up to church yesterday. That is a high number if I do say so myself.
We had a lot of appointments cancel and reschedule, and cancel again. One of them was with Darlene, and we haven't seen her for over 2 months. But, we keep trying, and trying. We brought a member with us to teach the lesson, but Darlene was all the way in Jacksonville, even though she said she'd be here at the scheduled time she said she was going to be here. Oh well. Soon after that, We met with Sister Hall, and went over the word of Wisdom. She is recently back together with her husband, and he just got out of surgery that previous Friday. She had some concerns on what it meant when it said that we are commanded to eat meat sparingly. Sister Sparrow and Sister Hall got along well.
We are teaching Jackie, the sister who does our laundry. We are helping her with the things she needs to work on in order to meet her goal of attending the temple by the end of the year. We are excited to help her meet this goal. Jackie jokes how the whole ward is going to be there. Many want to see her attend there, especially to receive her endowments. We are excited.
Deep clean is the first Tuesday of every month, and boy do we need to seriously clean! It wasn't super dirty, but the President of our Mission is going to check each missionary apartment and we have to though away a bunch of things previous missionaries left behind. A lot of these things are going to Good Will.
We are not going to teach Marie anymore because she cannot grasp that much within the first lesson.
We also taught Sally, and we are helping her to be grateful, not matter the circumstance, just like Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk mentions.
We had a good lesson with Kim, and the lesson was great. Even though she's married, we went over the Law of Chastity; it is a lesson that is required for baptism.
On Wednesday we had exchanges, and I got to be with Sister Hymus for a day. She is such a wonderful missionary, and I am glad she came to New Bern for the exchanges. With her, we found a new investigator, even though just before, one after another, appointments cancelled and fell through.
We went to Brother Hill's house, to teach his wife; they are separated, and so she is now Sister Roundtree. We went to her location, and she had completely forgot what was going on in the Book of Mormon and has been attending a different religion. Her mom was there, and she was standing in the doorway inside when Sister Hymus and I sat down. She asked, ["Where in the Book of Mormon does it mention Jesus Christ?"] and we told her it does. Then, she said, with great boldness: "Show Me." My companion and I smiled wide at each other. That is one of my favorite things anyone can say to me, especially as a missionary. We showed her some places in the Book of Mormon, such as the Title page, which states, "Another Testament of Jesus Christ". Instead of focusing on Sister RoundTree, the lesson went to her mother. Her name is Annie, but she likes to be called Ann. Sister Hymus and I were sitting around her on the floor as she sat in the recliner. She wanted to see how the Book of Mormon was just like the Bible, and we flipped through many scriptures that were mentioned in the Bible, and Book of Mormon. One of them, in the Bible, Exodus, briefly mentioned how we can obtain eternal life. Then we flipped to a passage in the Book of Mormon that expanded much more on how we can obtain it. We also flipped through the verses both in Bible and the Book of Mormon which mentioned how God is the same yesterday, today, and forever and Ann was super excited about that. "See, that's what I'm talking about!" she exclaimed. She also asked a question about why do we need both the Bible and the Book of Mormon if the Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the gospel, and why they have to have two different names for both books. We mentioned that the Book of Mormon is a second witness of [God, and ] Jesus Christ. At this point, Ann's daughter was out of the house and on to do something with family.
We also Taught Carol, and we taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She said she will attend our church services by the time her pastor doesn't have church on one of the upcoming Sundays. That is going to be fun.
We also taught Colleen, and she fed sister Hymus and I dinner. I had never had a meal at an investigator's home before as a missionary. Definitely a new experience. She had a lot of questions about the introduction page and what certain things meant. We are going to teach her the Restoration soon.
We had another lesson with Lashanda; She's been taught by missionaries since last year, and she still has not opened the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is the key to conversion. If it's not read, then nothing about the LDS religion will make much sense.
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This week: I made Apple-Cinnamon bread since it's been on my mind since last year when Joseph said he really liked it. He said he couldn't find it anywhere outside the Farmer's Market. I wanted to make some, and it turned out pretty good. Hopefully Joseph will want me to make some for him by the time he gets back from his mission.
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Also.
Sister Mahler and I taught Gospel Principles class on Sunday. It went pretty well, and it was a small crowd, which made it easier. Two investigators were in the class; one of the Elder's, and one of ours.
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We texted the Elders to come and unscrew the cap for our light bulb in our apartment because we could not do it. When they came, we stepped out of our apartment and the Elders went in. They pretended to work hard and we couldn't see what they were doing. It was very funny. Then, there was silence, and Sister Mahler pointed that out loudly as she exclaimed that from the front door. The elders were messing with our stuff in the room. When they left, we went to check to see what they did. The elders put a picture of Jesus and stuck it to my Frame of Joseph and I, and positioned it standing the 6 x 4 way instead of 4 x 6. They stuck a sticky note on the lampshade on the desk that said, "have a nice day." They also turned off the fan by using the switch, which we sisters cannot reach because we're so short. Sister Mahler was paranoid and wanted to see what the Elders did to her stuff, for they messed with mine. . She didn't find out until the next day when someone called us in the morning (today), and she flipped through her planner (she couldn't say much of anything when talking to a member was on the phone; it was funny) to the current day, and one of the elders left a sticky note, inside, that said, "Don't forget to Flush." Her face was priceless. When the phone call ended, I burst out laughing. Our toilet had broken again and it was so nasty. She was laughing, but at the same time, embarrassed; we thought they didn't check the bathroom! Well, the elders were sneaky. We couldn't help laugh in companion study. I kept laughing when I saw her planner. Goodness.
Well, that's all I can say for now.
I love this gospel, and the peace it brings. I am proud to call myself a Latter-day saint. I hope each of you can feel and recognize God's love in your lives, even through difficult times.
I am so grateful to be on a mission. I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything.
-Sister Marshall
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