(Sent June 16 | Photos on Facebook)
This past week was super rough for me because I've been feeling super duper discouraged. It's a new transfer and I thought we could start off great and we ended up having an incredibly unsuccessful week. Our key indicators were dangerously low and absolutely no one was accepting of our message. I became so discouraged that I'd reached a point where I just didn't want to go out and work. I thought, if no one's willing to listen to us, why should we go out? But I got myself out there that day. It was yet another unsuccessful day.
I always think about President Hinckley's experience of when He wrote to his father about how discouraged he felt. His father responded, "Forget yourself, and go to work." So I thought, oh, I'll just forget myself...but I never knew what that meant....
Until last Saturday. Because I figured it out! I know why missionaries are sent to areas where no one accepts them. This was our time to develop ourselves not just as missionaries, but also as true disciples of Jesus Christ. I'd noticed myself getting more and more angry because no one was willing to meet with us (yes, I was angry. I'm not perfect. Surprising, I know), and my attitude was horrible. So I decided to read "A Successful Missionary" in Preach My Gospel, chapter one. It says that a successful missionary is measured by their commitment to the work, not by how many people they find, teach, and baptize. Many, many, many missionaries come home having not witnessed a single baptism that resulted directly from their hard work.
As I read the section, it referred me to a scripture (now my new favorite scripture) in Helaman 10:4-5:
"Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people....And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works" (emphasis added).
I realized that if we go out there with full heart, might, mind, and strength in the work, we will be blessed foreeeeeever. That's a reeeeally long time.
So Sister Billings and I decided to work on Christ-like attributes each week for the rest of the transfer because we know that a change in attitude will bring all sorts of success. We decided to have faith and hope this week by being enthusiastic about the area, optimistic about the people, and confident that God has already prepared people for us to teach.
And guess what? Many people accepted to say a prayer with us. All because we changed our attitude and our outlook. All because we, essentially, changed ourselves.
So even though I was so down in the dumps for so many days, I felt rejuvenated by my new sense of purpose. I really do feel hopeful.
Sister Wen
Showing posts with label trials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trials. Show all posts
Saturday, June 21, 2014
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.
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.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Let Them Eat Pi
Email home #8, sent 3/17/14
I'm here for another transfer! Last Saturday was my first ever "Transfer Doctrine" where the zone gathers round and listens to who's getting transferred. The entire week, Sister Hoynacki and I were thinking that neither of us would be transferred because we both just got here! That was up until we got there and an elder said that a lot of the new missionaries are getting a different follow-up trainer and I started freaking out! I didn't want either me or Sister H to be transferred! So when the zone leaders read out the list of people, my stomach knotted! I was so nervous! But the only sister that ended up transferring out of the zone is actually going to be with my MTC companion, Sister Mills! Crazy!
Anyway, let me continue onto the best story of the mission, thus far: Monday night, we had 3 appointments set and all 3 of them cancelled that morning. It was crazy how they all cancelled all at once....So Sister H and I were stuck with no appointments for the evening, which is the worst thing in suburbia because no one wants you at their door at 8 o'clock at night...
So Sister H and I decided to visit a member of the ward who is less active. We knock on the door and the sister opens the door, walks out, and closes the door behind her. I say, "Hi! How are you?" and while expecting a simple "good" or "okay," we got, "I'm doing HORRIBLE." Whoa. "So many things have happened in the last few years and-- well, come inside and I'll update you on the past few years." So we got in! Then she said, "I'm truly sorry. This house is a disaster!"
She recounts to us all the things that's happened to her since 2010 including breast cancer, whooping cough, shingles, passing away of her mother, AND one of her daughters even barely survived the Aurora movie theater shooting in 2012. It was crazy. (Side fact: that movie theater is apparently totally deserted now....)
THEN, she says, "OH! And I lost my daughter's pet hedgehog!" Uhm, come again? Okaaay. And let me remind you, this house really was a disaster. She said, "Ever seen that Hoarding show?" when referring to the cleanliness of her house....So when we'd spent a good hour and half (yes, an hour and a half) trying to find this spiky ball of a rodent, Sister H and I tried to think like the hedgehog. We came to the conclusion that he must want to crawl into a dark area, cuddled up somewhere. So I go into one of the bedrooms, close the door, and turn off the light. And I say a prayer. I was desperate. It was getting late and we definitely weren't going to leave without finding this hedgehog. I ask Heavenly Father to please PLEASE show me a sign that this hedgehog is alive...or dead for that matter! And I stand and listen. And I hear rustling sounds. I walk over to it and see an old stereo perched slanted on who knows what. I tell Sister H to come in and listen. She hears nothing and basically thinks I'm crazy. So we lift up the stereo and, yes, there he was. Tuck the hedgehog.
And we were invited to come back two days later. Moral of the story: #prayerworks
Dang, typing all of that out brought back the stress. Oof. But, we also attended a wedding. A 17-year old girl who we met our first week here had twin boys about 7 months ago. And she and her boyfriend decided to get married before he enter the army next Monday. They wanted something really simple like go in, marry, get out. No decorations or anything. But our Relief Society Presidency really wanted to make it special so they completely transformed the RS room into a wedding ceremony! Check it out!
[View pics on Facebook]
But the wedding was just so beautiful! It took the RS presidency a lot of last-minute planning and setting-up but they totally pulled it off and it was just beautiful! Bishop gave great counsel to both the bride and groom AND didn't mess up their names! He's known for messing up people's names REALLY bad. For instance, he called Sister Hoynacki (really pronounced hoy-naw-ski) Sister Hoy-Nazi. Yeah.
We had dinner with the M family whose boys had punny pi shirts on and it triggered in my mind that I almost missed Pi day! I would've been devastated if I didn't acknowledge Pi day ON Pi day. Phew, I was so close! But when I told them I'd memorized 55 digits of pi, one of the boys was pretty much speechless/in awe of my amazingness (I'm pretty sure that was it). They ended up talking about pi and math and school a lot that night and Sister M said they usually never talk about that stuff. I just think they wanted to impress me and my highly intellectual mind.
That night we had home-made grilled pizza (pies) and peach and apple pies. They apologized that the pies were store-bought. Brother M is known for his home-baked pies but he didn't have time to make one. When he took a bite of the pie, he slammed the fork down and said, "THIS IS HORRIBLE!" And it was just regular pie....He refused to eat it. But, understandable, understandable.
So this past week was crazy but we've had the highest number of lessons this past week of all the weeks we've been here! It just goes to show that attitude is everything! Keepin' it classy.
Love you!
Sister Wen
I'm here for another transfer! Last Saturday was my first ever "Transfer Doctrine" where the zone gathers round and listens to who's getting transferred. The entire week, Sister Hoynacki and I were thinking that neither of us would be transferred because we both just got here! That was up until we got there and an elder said that a lot of the new missionaries are getting a different follow-up trainer and I started freaking out! I didn't want either me or Sister H to be transferred! So when the zone leaders read out the list of people, my stomach knotted! I was so nervous! But the only sister that ended up transferring out of the zone is actually going to be with my MTC companion, Sister Mills! Crazy!
Anyway, let me continue onto the best story of the mission, thus far: Monday night, we had 3 appointments set and all 3 of them cancelled that morning. It was crazy how they all cancelled all at once....So Sister H and I were stuck with no appointments for the evening, which is the worst thing in suburbia because no one wants you at their door at 8 o'clock at night...
So Sister H and I decided to visit a member of the ward who is less active. We knock on the door and the sister opens the door, walks out, and closes the door behind her. I say, "Hi! How are you?" and while expecting a simple "good" or "okay," we got, "I'm doing HORRIBLE." Whoa. "So many things have happened in the last few years and-- well, come inside and I'll update you on the past few years." So we got in! Then she said, "I'm truly sorry. This house is a disaster!"
She recounts to us all the things that's happened to her since 2010 including breast cancer, whooping cough, shingles, passing away of her mother, AND one of her daughters even barely survived the Aurora movie theater shooting in 2012. It was crazy. (Side fact: that movie theater is apparently totally deserted now....)
THEN, she says, "OH! And I lost my daughter's pet hedgehog!" Uhm, come again? Okaaay. And let me remind you, this house really was a disaster. She said, "Ever seen that Hoarding show?" when referring to the cleanliness of her house....So when we'd spent a good hour and half (yes, an hour and a half) trying to find this spiky ball of a rodent, Sister H and I tried to think like the hedgehog. We came to the conclusion that he must want to crawl into a dark area, cuddled up somewhere. So I go into one of the bedrooms, close the door, and turn off the light. And I say a prayer. I was desperate. It was getting late and we definitely weren't going to leave without finding this hedgehog. I ask Heavenly Father to please PLEASE show me a sign that this hedgehog is alive...or dead for that matter! And I stand and listen. And I hear rustling sounds. I walk over to it and see an old stereo perched slanted on who knows what. I tell Sister H to come in and listen. She hears nothing and basically thinks I'm crazy. So we lift up the stereo and, yes, there he was. Tuck the hedgehog.
And we were invited to come back two days later. Moral of the story: #prayerworks
Dang, typing all of that out brought back the stress. Oof. But, we also attended a wedding. A 17-year old girl who we met our first week here had twin boys about 7 months ago. And she and her boyfriend decided to get married before he enter the army next Monday. They wanted something really simple like go in, marry, get out. No decorations or anything. But our Relief Society Presidency really wanted to make it special so they completely transformed the RS room into a wedding ceremony! Check it out!
[View pics on Facebook]
But the wedding was just so beautiful! It took the RS presidency a lot of last-minute planning and setting-up but they totally pulled it off and it was just beautiful! Bishop gave great counsel to both the bride and groom AND didn't mess up their names! He's known for messing up people's names REALLY bad. For instance, he called Sister Hoynacki (really pronounced hoy-naw-ski) Sister Hoy-Nazi. Yeah.
We had dinner with the M family whose boys had punny pi shirts on and it triggered in my mind that I almost missed Pi day! I would've been devastated if I didn't acknowledge Pi day ON Pi day. Phew, I was so close! But when I told them I'd memorized 55 digits of pi, one of the boys was pretty much speechless/in awe of my amazingness (I'm pretty sure that was it). They ended up talking about pi and math and school a lot that night and Sister M said they usually never talk about that stuff. I just think they wanted to impress me and my highly intellectual mind.
That night we had home-made grilled pizza (pies) and peach and apple pies. They apologized that the pies were store-bought. Brother M is known for his home-baked pies but he didn't have time to make one. When he took a bite of the pie, he slammed the fork down and said, "THIS IS HORRIBLE!" And it was just regular pie....He refused to eat it. But, understandable, understandable.
So this past week was crazy but we've had the highest number of lessons this past week of all the weeks we've been here! It just goes to show that attitude is everything! Keepin' it classy.
Love you!
Sister Wen
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Email home #1
(Sent January 25th. P-days at the MTC are Saturdays.)
This is me. Sister Wen. I got both of your Dear Elder letters. They were great, but could've been better. But I didn't get them until after I put my own letter into the mailbox....So, they might be overlapping. But, yes, first things first. MY LIFE IN THE MTC.
Today's my fourth day here so I honestly don't remember much from the first day, which is why I've pulled out my handy-dandy journal! So after you guys dropped me off at the MTC with tears in my eyes and whatnot, my host, Sister Manley (going to Russia) led me to my room and to get supplies. Everything happened SO fast. She brought me here and there and I had a bunch of things in my arms. It was cray. Then, right after, I was dropped off at my classroom where I met my companion, Sister Mills.
Sister Mills is Black and Mexican, but I like to call her Blaxican. She's from LA and she's pretty cool but still isn't used to cold weather hahah. But we're basically the same person, she and I. She's just so funny!
The first night at the MTC we began actual training! We all sat in small rooms with missionaries and collectively taught real investigators! It's interesting though b/c they're actual investigators but they're hired to work at the MTC as an investigator...it's fun stuff. It was really cool, though, because we heard the stories of each investigator as to why they were suddenly looking to come unto Christ. One is a Southern woman who wondered why her childhood was so hard. She didn't know why God let her father domestically abuse her and her family. We all tried to explain to her that we go through trials to make us stronger. Trials may scar, but they shall give us experience. And if we keep an eternal perspective, we will realize that each trial will be for but a small moment.
This is me. Sister Wen. I got both of your Dear Elder letters. They were great, but could've been better. But I didn't get them until after I put my own letter into the mailbox....So, they might be overlapping. But, yes, first things first. MY LIFE IN THE MTC.
Today's my fourth day here so I honestly don't remember much from the first day, which is why I've pulled out my handy-dandy journal! So after you guys dropped me off at the MTC with tears in my eyes and whatnot, my host, Sister Manley (going to Russia) led me to my room and to get supplies. Everything happened SO fast. She brought me here and there and I had a bunch of things in my arms. It was cray. Then, right after, I was dropped off at my classroom where I met my companion, Sister Mills.
Sister Mills is Black and Mexican, but I like to call her Blaxican. She's from LA and she's pretty cool but still isn't used to cold weather hahah. But we're basically the same person, she and I. She's just so funny!
The first night at the MTC we began actual training! We all sat in small rooms with missionaries and collectively taught real investigators! It's interesting though b/c they're actual investigators but they're hired to work at the MTC as an investigator...it's fun stuff. It was really cool, though, because we heard the stories of each investigator as to why they were suddenly looking to come unto Christ. One is a Southern woman who wondered why her childhood was so hard. She didn't know why God let her father domestically abuse her and her family. We all tried to explain to her that we go through trials to make us stronger. Trials may scar, but they shall give us experience. And if we keep an eternal perspective, we will realize that each trial will be for but a small moment.
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