A Week with the Members

Hei Hei!

This week has been...uhh... interesting... As most weeks are on a mission. I sit down each night to write in my journal and it'll say "Today was the best day ever!" And then, "Today was so difficult..." In the same journal entry so yep, lots of ups and downs, but I'm still happy and healthy and involved in a great work so that's all that matters!

Well this week I wanted to write about all the member experiences we had this week. Man I love it when members step up to the plate to help us out! 

Well, on Tuesday, we went out with a recent RM who served in, yep, you guessed it, Mesa, Arizona. It was sooo cool being able to talk to him! I also found out that he had taught and baptized two people from my high school who I knew! I was so happy I almost cried. (Which is pretty weird considering I knew these people, but wasn't super close with them) but still, It was awesome! I also couldn't help wondering if I could've done something to help share the gospel with them a little more. They have a billion mormon friends and have been to church/mutual a bunch, but never had a formal invitation to hear from the missionaries. That's all it takes! One formal, bold invitation can make all the difference. Man, I loved hearing about all the work going on in my home state. 

So anyway, We went out with this Elder and sometimes it just takes a fresh, eager, RM to remind you of the spirit of missionary work. Sometimes when we're involved in it every day, we forget the joy of it. So, while we were out with him, we taught tons of lessons and found 3 new investigators! It was awesome.

Then, on Wednesday we held a lesson at a members home where we watched the Restoration movie. Finns are very sensitive and careful about how they use their time, so agreeing to meet with you is a big deal for them. Because of this, we like to keep our lessons shorter, so they know that we value their time and don't want to take hours of their day. Well, this is sometimes difficult because the movie is already 20 minutes long. But, these wonderful members had everything so perfectly set up and ready and all we had to do was sit down and teach. It made such a difference to the investigator when she could just learn and be receptive to the spirit and not worry about how much time we're taking up or anything. So yeah, members rock.

Then, we had another lesson on Saturday with this same investigator. She lives quite a ways away and it takes us over an hour to get there because of the way the bus schedule is and where the bus stop is and walking there and everything. But, once again, a wonderful member agreed to come to the lesson with us and give us a ride and made everything waayyyy easier. (It's only like a 15 minute drive on the freeway) We were able to go to more lessons that day and get way more done because of the help of this member.

Okay, so here are some other cool experiences that happened this week that aren't really member related.

We have a former investigator and her son who we've been trying to get in contact with. We've talked to her on the phone and she said we could come over anytime, but we've gone probably 5 or 6 times now and she's never home. Well, about a week ago we were walking over there to try to contact her again and while we walk places, we usually try to talk to everyone we pass/see (Which isn't a lot of people now that it's cold and snowy outside). So, we were walking and kinda in a hurry and saw a lady on the other side of the street walking the opposite direction and reasoned with ourselves that it would be too out of our way/awkward to talk to her and we were in a hurry so we just kept walking and went to this former's home and she wasn't there :( So then we just went on our day and didn't think much of it. Well, this week we went over there again and she was home! And guess what?! It was the same lady!! The Lord had put her perfectly in our path, but because we didn't talk to absolutely everyone we passed, we missed her. So yeah, we definitely repented of that one. But I learned a valuable lesson: The Lord won't keep someone from hearing the gospel just because he has imperfect people as his missionaries. This work is guided by him and the Lord patiently provided another way for us to get in contact with her. So, moral of the story, talk to everyone.

The second cool experience this week came when, as a companionship, we were prayerfully trying to pick a baptismal date for our investigator. When we started talking about it, the date November 28th popped into my head. And I though "No, Sister Crandall, that date just popped into your hear because it's your birthday. Plus, it's a Thursday and people aren't baptized on thursdays." So, in my mind, I picked the date November 30th, the closest Saturday. Well, then Sister Ballif went on to tell us that baptismal dates should be picked by the spirit regardless if they follow the normal circumstances regarding baptism i.e. On Saturdays, being in church 3 times,... So, then, Sister Dayton and I decided to say the dates we were both thinking outloud at the same time. And guess what, she said November 28th! ! She commented how she though that date had just popped into her head because it's Thanksgiving, but apparently it's the right date! So it was just cool that we both thought of a non-Saturday date. Just goes to show what can happen when your companionship is in unity: the spirit takes over.

So, those are my many stories/experiences for this week. It rained this week which is awesome because that means it's warm enough to not snow. I'm doing well and I'm happy and healthy! Oh, this week was also transfers and the two elders in my district got transferred and we got a new district leader and his brand new companion out of the MTC. Elder Cook and Elder Cummings. I'm way excited to work with them and get to know them more. We've got some great things happening in our area and I just can't wait to see where it'll go!

The pictures included are with Elder Downs and Elder Anderson who got transferred and a picture of me out freezing... p.s. Camille I'm wearing the hat you gave me and it's awesome :)

I love you all and I can feel your support each day! Keep up the great work at home and I'll talk to you next week!

Rakkaudella,
Sisar Crandalla