First Area Week 11- How Gentle God's Commands- (10-15-2013)

Family and Friends!

This past week has been pretty interesting. We had quite a few canceled appointments, a couple of potentials, mission tour with a member of the Seventy, an exceptionally long companionship inventory, and a very low attended finding activity. Amongst all of these things God has still managed to teach me that it is all for my good or the good of someone else. :D

How gentle God's commands!

How kind his precepts are!

Come, cast your burdens on the Lord

And trust his constant care.

Beneath his watchful eye,

His Saints securely dwell;

That hand which bears all nature up

Shall guard his children well.

Why should this anxious load

Press down your weary mind?

Haste to your Heav'nly Father's throne

And sweet refreshment find.

His goodness stands approved,

Unchanged from day to day;

I'll drop my burden at his feet

And bear a song away.

So for the past month we have been handing out flyers and posting flyers for a movie night that we had at the Church on Sunday. We were going to watch Finding Faith in Christ as a finding activity. We invited members of the ward to invite friends and just enjoy a night learning more about the life of the Savior. Well, people's perception of Mormons out here isn't that great. Sunday came around and we set up for the movie night. One family showed up, the family that we had eaten a late lunch/early dinner with not even 2 hours before. It was kinda tough, it kinda felt like we were that socially awkward kid in high school that threw a party and the only kid that showed up was the nice Mormon girl who took pity on us. But, amongst it all there were lessons learned and friendships forged. The family that showed up was a family that we didn't really have a relationship with. Because they showed up we were able to get to know them better and establish a better relationship with them. It was pretty cool.

One of our less actives that we have been working with for a while was in the hospital last week. Her name is Heather. She is so sweet but doesn't have the best grip on reality in the world. She has diabetes and her blood sugar was in the upper 400s so she was obviously hospitalized for a time. We were able to go and visit with her and read her favorite chapters from the Book of Mormon with her. She was released yesterday. She called us yesterday and she was so sweet. We told Bishop that she was in the hospital and so he called her. She said to me, " Sister Nay guess what?" I said, "What Heather?" She said, "Bishop called me! Can you believe it? Bishop called ME!" She was so amazed that the Bishop cared about her, it was so sweet!

A recent convert couple in our ward feeds us every Thursday because they love missionaries so much. Brother Fink is a very bold man who loves the Church so much! Anyway last weekend he met a young man that was "looking for more in his life" and invited him over for dinner with the missionaries. Brother Fink really took Elder Nelson's "Ask the Missionaries" talk from two conferences ago to heart and told him to ask us all the questions that he had. Basically Cody is searching to be more spiritual. We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he is coming over on Thursday again to meet with us. He truly is searching for God and Jesus Christ in his life! Member referrals match no other finding approach in the books!

Friday we had Mission Tour with Elder and Sister Arnold from the Seventy. The entire day was spent on how we could be better missionaries. So naturally, no missionary left that meeting feeling adequate. But we all did learn some things. I learned that as I commit people to living the Gospel I need to be more bold. Direct, yes or no, commitments are way more effective than shyly suggesting that they do something. I also felt that I could strive to work better with the ward council. Communicating with them, weather or not they ask, is key to hastening the work.

Like I said before, we had an exceptionally long companionship inventory this week. Due to some of the events at Mission Tour (that had nothing to do with Elder Arnold), it was apparent that the companionship was sitting on the rocks. It turns out that one of the companions was struggling with personal issues and was nitpicking the behaviors of the other two companions, but she was internalizing them instead of saying anything. So things kinda boiled over. We ended up talking for quite a few hours and things settled down a lot. It turns out the root of the problem was MAJOR differences in how the three of us grew up and there were lots of misunderstandings with one of the companions. But, as we talked it through with the Holy Ghost, love and understanding re-entered the companionship.

This week has been tougher than some of the other weeks, but as my companions and I have relied on Heavenly Father, things always have a brighter side. Lessons can be learned from even the yuckiest of circumstances.

The time has come for us to say goodbye. Another transfer has past another Monday/Tuesday gone. I love to hear from all of you and wish you all the best! Hear from you next week!

Remember the Lord love you and the Church is True!

Sister Nay