Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me. Really, though. Don't.

Email #10, sent March 31--new photos up on Facebook

Sister Hoynacki and I think that President Monson will make a huge announcement over the pulpit in General Conference this weekend. We think he'll allow all missionaries to drive convertibles. How ill would that be? (Sorry I used "ill". I'm just trying to stay hip with the trends among the youth today.)

I started this email off with that because this past week has been utterly exhausting. Sister H and I have worked our bee-hives off this week but our numbers don't show it. It's been our ultimate low since we've been in this area. We just caught everyone at bad times so we couldn't teach as many lessons as usual. But numbers aren't everything. It's just that everyone else (namely the ward council) may think we were slacking this week.

Let's start with K. Sister V invited us over for dinner one night with K, her neighbor. We taught K the first lesson and she invited us back this week. And we taught her the Plan of Salvation. She attended church twice these past two weeks and is, therefore, our only progressing investigator. Her 11-year old daughter wants to sit in on the lessons, too! She even attended the General Women's meeting last Saturday night!

(Quick aside from Eden: Illia told me to keep the anonymity of her investigators. She said, "I'm giving a lot of background on this girl so change her name to Sokdfiehrl or something." So for Sokdfiehrl, I did.)

Sokdfiehrl. Sokdfiehrl's 16. She doesn't like going to school so she goes every now and then, very sporadically, because she doesn't understand how to do any of the work she's assigned. Sokdfiehrl is on date for April 26 and she really wants to be baptized. She's been involved with several different things including pot, anti-depressants, drinking, and smoking but she's been 9 months sober from pot and drinking and almost a good 9 months sober from drinking but still working on smoking.

This week, we were walking towards her house when we heard someone behind us say, "Hey guys!" Lo, and behold, it was Sokdfiehrl riding her little sister's bike. We were wondering why she hadn't responded to any of our texts. Turns out, she went to South Dakota for the weekend and she got her phone back (apparently it was taken away from her...?) Anyway, the phone we'd been texting was her boyfriend's. Now ex. But that's another story.

We read a bit of 2 Nephi 31 with her and set up an appointment for the next day. The next morning, she cancelled. It was sad. It's hard to help people prepare for baptism because if they're not willing to put forth any effort, aka read the Book of Mormon and attend church, then there's no way they'll be able to change themselves. It's like making a goal to go to crossfit in the mornings. If I don't set my alarm to wake up at the right time, then I wouldn't be putting forth effort in attending crossfit.

Of course, NOT that I'm not attending crossfit or anything. Because I am. Still. And it's still painful. BUT, it's working off the pounds of homemade meals we consume every day.

But even though our week was tough, the weather was beautiful. 70 degrees almost all week! Talk about tender mercies, huh?

I was just writing a fellow missionary friend who's having a REALLY tough time on her mission. And this is what I wrote to her, which I think could apply to everyone:

If it's one thing I've learned in just these past couple of weeks on my mission, it's that even though God gives you what seems like the toughest trials, both physical and spiritual, He always makes up for it in some way. Maybe not the way you want it to or the way you expect, but always the way He knows will provide joy beyond measure, beyond any pain you'd ever feel.

I just quoted myself. Is that super conceited of me? But, it's so true. God will always provide a way. And He already has provided one of the best ways and that is Jesus Christ, our Savior. He's our Savior for a reason. He saves us from pain, sorrow, misery, loneliness...etc.! He's been there before.

Sorry if I've written about that before. It's just that I love it so much. I hope you all have an amazing week! I know I will with the Lord on mah side!

Love,
Sister Wen

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