February 23, 2015

Hola! Hola! 

What a good week!!! And a fast one! Time needs to slow down...I can't keep up with how fast it is going. And it is starting to freak me out a little bit. But this week we did WORK.  I felt like this week we cut out a lot of the fat and went straight for the meat. We met with a lot of people that are making progress and moving forward. And it showed yesterday at church when sister Storrs and I alone had 9 individuals, less actives and investigators come to church. Sacrament was packed! It was pretty close to the happiest day of my life. Even Lar Bear came.  He walked into sacrament late and I looked up at him right as he was walking in and he shot me a peace sign.  Hahaha Peace and Suga Brother Albert. Peace and Suga.  

We met with Keern on Tuesday and had a great lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He took notes and wrote down questions he had at church, so we were able to answer those. ( who does that???) Keern is very logical in his thinking and has a lot of questions but what I like about Keern is that he is never contentious with his questions, or misunderstandings. He asks solely to learn. But, because he is such a logical thinker we are helping him learn to recognize the feelings and promptings of the spirit, which is coming along well. He acts like a member at church. We had to break off into groups in gospel principles and I looked over at Keerns group and it was him, another investigator and two Less active members so I went over there to help lead the discussion and the whole time he participated as if he had been taught this his whole life. JUST BE BAPTIZED KEERN! Oh, he is wonderful.   He is having dinner with the Hickmans tonight. OH I LOVE THEM! I am excited :)  

Later on Tuesday night we went to go visit Samantha. Sam is a less active member. She is in her thirties, a single mom with 3 kids and busy as all get out. She works as a nurse at the hospital and had a hard time coming to church because of her job. I love her to death. She is just this cute, fun mom and from the get go her and I just clicked. We met with her and because I have been able to build this relationship with her over the course of me being in Great Falls  I was able to be very real and straight forward with her and say it was time she comes back. That we needed her, we loved her and we wanted her there. It turned into this awesome discussion of her opening up and telling us her real concerns and what has driven her away. But she said to us that it had just hit her that it had been a whole year since she had gone. It just creeps up on you. She kept saying how she would justify a Sunday here, a Sunday there, until an entire year had passed without her attending at all. And that is so how Satan works. There is a verse in D&C 50:24 that says, "that which is of God is light; and he that receivers light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light growth brighter and brighter until the perfect day."

This same truth can also work, in reverse. People lose light line upon line or sin upon sin. Here a little and there a little. And even though the light being lost is almost imperceptible to a person at the time, the culminate loss that takes place because of this is shocking. Satan never will throw he big bad boys at us at the beginning, he will chip away and do what we can to the point where we look back and we really see how far gone that light of the gospel is. But we shared that scripture about how we are to choose this day...choose today to go to church. Don't choose Sunday morning, choose right here, right now to go. But! The story doesn't end there. We left her house, and I didn't think much about it. But who came marching through those church doors yesterday? Only Sam! I am pretty sure when I saw her I ran across the chapel to go hug her. I was so happy to see her. 7 months everyone. It only took 7 months to get her there. But it was worth every visit to see her walk through those doors. AND she told her non member boyfriend she wants to go back to church, so she is bringing him next week! Also they are going to Salt Lake for some tournament thing he has and she asked him to take her around temple square. I told her to take a picture of the two of them in front of the temple, print it out, frame it, give it to him and say, "that's where I plan on getting married, make it happen."haha

Penny Burkstrand!!! I love that woman so much! Oh, I love her. This week she is quitting smoking. We started the stop smoking program with her. It is supposed to work in 7 days. It talks about Pavlovs dogs and how smokers have their bells.  The program is supposed to help turn off all the smoker bells.  It uses grapefruit juice, cinnamon mouthwash, vitamin C and all sorts of things. It's very specific on when you take each thing, what time of day, and after certain activities. But we went to Penny's to start the program and she said she had shampooed her carpet in preparation, she had put pictures of the temple in frames all over house and on her walls, she had put up signs telling her not to smoke up all over the house and when we got there she had all her cigarettes and lighters out for us to take. We had a little fun and made her take the cigarettes outside and smash them. But also, in order to be effective in stopping smoking, one of the requirements is to abstain from  coffee. And penny drinks coffee like a fish. Her 2nd day of not smoking she called and texted us all day saying she couldn't do it that she was craving coffee so bad she could kill someone. We went over to her house and she was like, , " my teeth are going to fall out I have been brushing them so much and using that dang mouthwash!" And she had already finished a whole carton of grapefruit juice. Ha hahahaha oh penny, but we fixed it and got her some Pero which seems to do the trick for her. She is on her way to being completely off! I am so proud of her and her determination. AND! The woman stayed all three hours yesterday at church! I was so proud. I don't know if I said it before, but Penny gave us a key to her house, so yesterday when she didn't answer our calls or texts to wake her up we just went over and woke her up ourselves.  Hahahahaha oh I love being a missionary. You get away with a lot of strange behaviors that most people wouldn't get away with. But she came! WOOT! 

Also this week we had a meeting with our investigator Dion. He can't get baptized until October because he is on probation but that man has not missed a Sunday since the day we met him.  He wanted us to start teaching his girlfriend, Rhonda so we set up a time to see both of them.  We called a member to come that we have never used before and he told us he would be there and that he was going to bring a friend that was interested in learning more about the church.  STOP!  So we taught 3 investigators at one meeting.  And that member rocked! I loved him! Dion and his girl come from pretty rough backgrounds and the member we brought has had his fair share of rough experiences and doesn't look like your typical Mormon.  I thought it was a good change for him to come to the lesson....and it really payed off! The lesson went well.  It was difficult because Rhonda and the members friend, Rick had different concerns so it was hard to address all of them.  But Rick accepted a Book of Mormon and asked if we could meet weekly on Saturdays. :) Yes, we sure can Mr. Rick.  SCORE! 

On Thursday and Friday of this week I went on exchanges with some sisters in our zone.  We had a pretty neat experience with a less active man named William.  It was late and they decided to try him to see if he was home.  He answered the door and seemed kinda weirded out that we were there.  Sister Major asked if we could step in and share a message with him.  He seemed pretty hesitant to let us in. But boom! Once we sat down the man unveiled all of his life to us.  I am telling ya, there is something about this badge that we wear.  We all sat there as he told us of struggles he has had, of the despair he was feeling because of his divorce, how lonely he was etc.  He went on and on and we just listened.  He mentioned that being in the army he traveled all the time and that the church was always there for him no matter where in the world he traveled.  He said that the church had always been a family of friends.  He hadn't gone to church in a couple years and didn't really mention why.  But when we neared the end of our visit I got the distinct impression that we needed to be bold and invite him to come back to church.  We hadn't said much at this point.  But right before we left I reiterated what he had said about the church being a  family of friends and how this ward was that for him. I asked him to come to church this Sunday and be with his family.  He paused and didn't say anything for a moment and just thought.  Then turned to look at me and said, " You know, I will.  I will be there."  I talked to those Sisters yesterday and they said he came and the ward just loved the heck out of him.  The gospel isn't just a way of life personally, but it is a family that is united in purpose and desire.  The church and the ward is a large family of friends to support, sustain and encourage.  I think back on our ward and how the people in our ward have been such a huge part of my life in me growing up and progressing and how grateful I am for ward families. 

This gospel is the good life! I love it! I love this area I am serving and I ADORE the people here.  They have my heart.  

I love you all and I know that being on a mission is exactly where the Lord needs me.  I feel like I have finally come to know why He wanted me to come here and who He wanted me to meet and help strengthen. I am honored to wear Christ's name over my heart every single day.  It means the world to me.  I love my Savior.  I know He lives.  I know that through our Savior we can be strengthened mind, body and soul.  He loves us, He knows us.  I hope and pray I do and say what He would have me do and say each day. 

I love you! 

Sure love ya Moline's Rock Missionaries Rule! 

SISTER MO MO