This week has been pretty good. Last week with the car and we got lots
accomplished! Hermana Smith and I have been having quite a few good
laughs, remembering past jokes and coming up with new ones... our latest
and greatest joke is what we call the 'awkward porch award'. Pretty
interesting how people react to the missionaries knocking on their doors
sometimes. One of our investigators is holding the awkward porch award
3/4 awkward porch approaches! lol, the best time was when we were
standing on their porch knocking... their friends pulled up came up on
the porch with us knocked the door, the door opened just enough for them
to squeeze through and quickly close the door behind them... SO FUNNY!
We
were able to help the Riviera family reactivate this Sunday! So
exciting finding lost sheep and helping to motivate them to come! They
are such an awesome family. The branch can really utilize them so I hope
we can get them callings really soon.
We had
exchanges again this week. They are always so interesting when an
English sister comes to a Spanish area (with no knowledge of Spanish)...
all the questions, "What'd they say?" "Did you invite them to be
baptized?" "Tell her that her baby girl is so beautiful!" etc... not
terrible but weird catching someone up while still standing on their
porch in the middle of trying to explain church services and setting up a
return appointment. Always an adventure ;)
Playing
the piano is such a blessing. But I have found in the church if you say
that you play piano they expect you to be able to play anything at any
time. Just a shout out of great thanks to my piano teacher, Mary
Simpson! Thank you SOOOOO much! I was asked last second to play for a
baptism of Carl Lewis. Then in the middle of the service there was an
impromptu musical number and I was asked to accompany without practicing
before! So crazy, I'm sure the Spirit helped calm my nerves but it was
so awesome! I love accompanying so much more than straight up solos.
So
for the most part of my mission my morning workouts have been less than
stellar... but with Hermana Smith we made a workout activity. We have a
jar of various exercises such as sit ups, burpees, tricep dips, jumping
jacks, planks, etc... and then another jar that contains the number
that we have to do ranging from 5 to 60...super awesome stuff. I can
actually do a push up now :D I know right?!? Huge accomplishment! But
now for the real point I was trying to get to. During weekly planning
last week while trying to set goals we got to the new investigator goal
and we started to get a little sidetracked with the story of Nephi and
his brothers drawing lots to see who would go and get the plates from
Laban. When we decided we should draw ''lots'' to see how many new
investigators we should try and get this week. Got up drew out a number,
10! (that was the only truly acceptable number in the jar because 5
wasn't enough, and 15 would be a big stretch since we've been averaging
about 7, and 45 would have been ridiculous) And we felt super good about
it so we went with it. Last night we were lacking 2 investigators to be
able to reach our goal. So with the hour we had left at 8:00pm we went
spiritual harvesting and Heavenly Father lead us to a beautiful little
family and our goal of 10 new investigators was achieved! I know that
God has a plan for us and that as we exercise our faith and work hard to
the very end we can accomplish everything that he has for us to do!
Keep going, keep the faith, stay strong, and always remember who you
are.
It is super funny how people butcher my name
sometimes... we had an interesting experience with this one lady. She
told us of all the times that she had told Mormons that their beliefs
were wrong. And then she proceeded to find out our first names so that
she could pray over us. Ives is not such an obvious last name as Smith
so I got away with just saying my last name. So in her prayer she said,
"please bless Silvia and Isis to know thee better." She was praying for
my companion and then all of the sudden a terrorist group... that
escalated quickly ;) My companion could hardly keep it together. It was
pretty funny.
I've been reading in Alma in my book
of Mormon study this month. So awesome! So many things that relate back
to Preach My Gospel (mostly because it is all mission stories...) but
still it is cool to see how the awesome missionaries like Ammon, Aaron,
Amulek, and Alma used the scriptures, taught the basic principles of the
gospel, used How to Begin Teaching points, and commitments to help the
people progress. Something that I have realized is the importance using a
scripture, checking comprehension, and then testifying. Works every
time.
Ummm...how is it already November??? Where did
all of 2014 go? Cherish the time, use it well, and be anxiously engaged
in a good cause. This is the equation for having no regrets!
I hope you all have a wonderful week! Love you all lots!
Love,
Hermana Ives
No comments:
Post a Comment