General Conference:
I was able to go to 3 of the 4 sessions! Saturday AM session we took an "enternigator" (forever investigating the church) named Irvin. And then Sunday PM we brought an investigator who's on date for this Saturday, Spencer. For the Saturday PM session we got tickets from the mission and could go without an investigator because it's my last conference. It was absolutely awesome and I loved every minute of it. except I got kind of spiritually exhausted Sunday and my notes aren't as good... oh well. Some things I noticed:
- Emphasis on following the prophet and respecting all revelation. I was thinking the last time Pres Monson spoke he was going to give us a crazy new commandment or something... but to my relief- there was not. Thank goodness.
- All of the messages really told how accepting and loving we should be to all types of people (probably about homosexuals).
-BOLD. Saturday AM was hardcore! I loved it! All the time, less-actives all the time will have this attitude like, "it's ok I don't go to church ... I love God and still believe in the church." Okay, that's not enough! We won't be exalted just because God loves us... come on now, people
-Helaman 5:12 was used like 5 times.
I love conference and absolutely love being able to go and watch it in the conference center. There are 2 girls in one of our wards who are refugees from Conga/Ethiopia... they've been here a couple months and they humble me hard core. They are SO grateful for conference and to be able to watch it on TV. They woke up really early to take the bus down to the conference center and wait in the standby line for tickets, and they just make me realize how much we take for granted... conference is a big deal!
Chunky Peanut butter:
I absolutely love my companion. Sister Tranchina is the best missionary I have ever seen. She's been out 11 months (in the US about 9, she served her first couple months in Spain waiting for her visa). She is from Spain and speaks Spanish and French. She has had a hard life.... her dad died when she was young and he abused her mom growing up. Since she's been on her mission, her older brother also took up abuse and she's been really worried about her mom. Her mom also got remarried a couple of months ago to kind of a loser.... he's not very nice and just got baptized for her mom. She's had a hard life! I can't even imagine... she was engaged to a guy from Gilbert but put it off because she felt like she was supposed to serve a mission. She is literally the best missionary I've ever seen.... all of those little things they tell missionaries to do in trainings and stuff? She actually does them. Like ones that always slip my mind. We contacted a referral the other day... if it was me, I would have just set up a return appointment. But Sister Tranchina taught lesson 1 and invited him to be baptized on his door step. Like, that's what this is all about! She's my role model. And she's so sweet.... we get along so well. And she's really helping me become a better missionary. I already thought I was pretty good, but holy cow. She got permission to have lunch with her boyfriend's family who came up to visit. They are from Ecuador but live in Gilbert.. it reminded me of Jamison's family- it's funny, hahah.
Back to chunky peanut butter... I love living with other sisters. And we love chunky peanut butter. We have this like 10-pound tub from Costco and ate half of it this week between the 4 of us.
We went on exchanges with some sisters who serve in the ghetto ghetto of SLC.... I went to their area and normally I would be scared to death... but it was so fun. I was able to really help them and it made me feel so good! Like, okay maybe I'm not such a bad missionary... we found them 2 new investigators, street contacted 10 people and taught 4 doorstep lessons! I love being a missionary sometimes.... just kidding- all of the time!
Something new I've learned: answer questions with questions. It works so well! It's like my new favorite thing... example: we were teaching a new investigator. We read Moroni's promise in the intro to the Book of Mormon. After she read it, she looked really confused..... I asked for her thoughts and she said, "that doesn't make any sense.... this is saying to ask if it's true... but you just said it's true?" (#prepared). Instead of saying, "well it's important for you to know for yourself!" I said, "now why would you think it's important you know these things for yourself and not just take our word for it?" And it was like this lightbulb went on! She was like, "because if I know for myself, I can be fully committed to following God because I KNOW it's true!" Ding ding ding! Yay! It was awesome. Me and Sister Tranchina have really been working on asking questions and getting them to talk most... and also, inviting to be baptized and putting them on date the first lesson. I could go on and on about how important that is..... awesome.
Also, one of our crazy investigators started a lesson this week by talking about how he might be in trouble with the department of homeland security... then he was saying how God will forgive because lots of prophets have killed people....poor Sis Tranchina and this 18-year old girl we brought were scared to death- they didn't even say anything, hahaha - and I was like,. "Reagan... are you saying you killed someone?" Silence.... silence.... and then,"oh man... no dude...." Hahahah I thought it was funny but Sis Tranchina and the girl were SO SCARED. Keep in mind this was on the pitch black porch of a sketchy area in Rose Park. And this guy's a drug addict. So that was fun.
On that note, have a good, uplifting week!
Heidi
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| Ciera, a member we take with us all the time - she's getting ready to go on a mission! |
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| Conference with Irvin |
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| Spencer |
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