Week # something? I stopped counting weeks more than a year ago.....
Date
June 5, 2017
Area
Holly Springs
Companion
Sister Smith
Week # something? I stopped counting weeks more than a year ago.....
Monday (the day Jenn was awesome): District activity. We are the only sisters in the district and I miss getting to see them more often than just on exchanges :( The elders are great and all, but I love the sisters. That being said, it was a fun district activity. We played a bunch of games and had pizza.
We also had an amazing lesson with Jenn in a member's home! Jenn is incredible! She is reading the Book of Mormon and takes notes as she reads, writing down questions and thoughts to ask us about. She is so committed to doing what is right and getting baptized! We taught her about the Word of Wisdom recently and she is making great progress! She told us she feels addicted to energy drinks and knows that that is bad for her, so she made the decision to stop drinking them before she gets baptized. We told her that she didn't technically need to, but that we thought that was wonderful! I am so impressed by her willingness to do what God asks of her and that she is so willing to change to be better. I love her so much!!
Tuesday (the day I cried): My last zone conference. Which meant I had to give a 'departing testimony'. Surprisingly, I managed to not cry (too much) while I was actually bearing my testimony and was just fine when I went back to my seat. Then of course Sister Ruske came up and hugged me after the meeting and that is when I really started crying. I cannot believe that I won't have another zone conference, that this was my last one. There really are no words to explain how much I have loved serving a full-time mission and being here in NC. I will be leaving a very large piece of my heart here when I get on the plane. And now to move on so I don't start crying in the middle of the library 😉
After zone conference I went on exchange with Sister Pulham. She is an incredible missionary and is so dedicated to the work. I love going on exchanges, I always learn so much from the sisters I am with. I'm pretty sure I was called to be a sister training leader so that I could learn from others, not so that they could learn from me.
Wednesday (the day of miracle meetings): Lunch with Chris. Chris works at the local grocery store and we have met him a couple times when we are there. The first time we met him, we gave him our card and talked a little bit about what we do as missionaries. Then this past week we ran into him again and he texted us later asking if we could meet for lunch some time. We took a member with us and had a great conversation with him! Chris has always wondered why there are so many different churches and is a little confused about which one is the best. He also talked about how he believes this life on Earth is a test, to see if we will do what God asks us to and help prepare us to live with Him again. So we got to talk to him a little about the Plan of Salvation and a lot about the Restoration. Our member was awesome and boldly invited him to take the lessons and meet with us again. Chris was interested, but wasn't sure of his schedule so we couldn't get a return appointment. Also, he lives in another ward :( We are going to try to see him this week and see if he is really interested before passing him off to the elders in his ward.
Oh yeah! We met Christian. Christian is a member of the YSA ward. Through a series of miracles, he just happened to be at the store where we stopped to use the bathroom. He said 'hi sisters' as we walked past, so we asked him what ward he was in. When he told us he was in the YSA ward, we asked him if he knew anyone that could be good friends with Jenn. Jenn is YSA age so we have been thinking about having her go to the YSA ward to decide which one she wants to go to. He said that he knows a few people and offered to help us.
Thursday (the day of service): Weekly planning, service at the Food Cupboard and Ernie's. Then we had an amazing active member lesson with the Hansens. Brother Hansen has been super excited about missionary work and has been trying to find someone for us to teach. Last week we had challenged them to set a date by which they would find someone for us to teach. Brother Hansen decided to give himself a week, to have found someone by the next time we came over for a lesson. So today after work, he realized that he hadn't found anyone to invite yet. Getting a little desperate and not wanting to have to go to the store to invite the cashier, he called a friend he had been thinking about. Brother Hansen asked him if he would be interested in coming over to their house to meet with us, fully expecting his friend to say no. But he didn't!!! His friend said "that would be great!"!!! Miracles happen when we just open our mouths and invite people!
Friday (the day of the best members): Ice cream with Jenn and a couple of the YSA members that Christian knew. They clicked really well and all invited her to church with them. Now she has people to sit with in Relief Society and to show her where to go! It is scary to go to a new church for the first time and not know anyone, so this helped her feel more comfortable.
We had dinner with Sister Atkin and her nonmember friend. Sister Atkin told us she had never invited a friend over with the missionaries before, so she was a little nervous, but had no need to be! She made her friend feel comfortable with us and bore her testimony to her friend. Her friend wasn't really interested in taking the lessons, but that's okay. Our member was a successful missionary because she invited her friend to do something that would strengthen her faith in Christ. Her friend met missionaries for the first time in a members home, which is always 1000000x better than us knocking on their door being their first contact.
We had an active member lesson with the Milnes. They are incredible missionaries! We had also challenged them to set a date to find someone for us to teach. Brother Milne set a goal to have 2 gospel conversations every week and that they would find someone by the end of September. He talked to a friend about the Book of Mormon, gave him a copy and invited him to read it!!
Saturday (the day we met the town): In the morning, there was a thing called the Taste of Holly Springs. Kind of like a farmer's market/town gathering. We figured why knock doors when half the town would be at the Taste of Holly Springs? So we went and met a lot of people, handed out lots of cards, got a little sunburned, and even saw an investigator we haven't been able to get up with in a while! People are a lot more friendly to us when they meet us in any other circumstance than us knocking on their door. Of course we still tract because there are people that can only be found that way, but often we get a better response when we meet people outside of their homes.
In the evening we got to go see a play!! A member of the Holly Springs ward wrote and directed a play about the history of Holly Springs and about half the cast is LDS. We got permission to go because we are supporting our ward and also because it is a great way to meet people. The play itself was absolutely incredible! It was so touching and very well written. I learned a lot more about the history of Holly Springs, which made me love it even more than I already did. And we got to meet a lot of nonmembers!!
Sunday (the day of stake conference): Raleigh South is such a wonderful stake! The whole meeting was focused on missionary work! President and Sister James spoke, very recent converts bore their testimonies, and we watched a video of the missionaries serving in and from Raleigh South stake (for those of you who want to watch it, the link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70BhXaPQ4_U . All the missionaries recited parts of scriptures relating to missionary work and then they were all put together. It was really neat to see the missionaries serving from this stake in their missions all over the world and realize that no matter where a missionary serves, the gospel is still the same. It is true no matter what language it is taught in or where in the world it is preached.
Also, Jenn went to the YSA ward and absolutely loved it!!
Love y'all
Sister Pyper
We also had an amazing lesson with Jenn in a member's home! Jenn is incredible! She is reading the Book of Mormon and takes notes as she reads, writing down questions and thoughts to ask us about. She is so committed to doing what is right and getting baptized! We taught her about the Word of Wisdom recently and she is making great progress! She told us she feels addicted to energy drinks and knows that that is bad for her, so she made the decision to stop drinking them before she gets baptized. We told her that she didn't technically need to, but that we thought that was wonderful! I am so impressed by her willingness to do what God asks of her and that she is so willing to change to be better. I love her so much!!
Tuesday (the day I cried): My last zone conference. Which meant I had to give a 'departing testimony'. Surprisingly, I managed to not cry (too much) while I was actually bearing my testimony and was just fine when I went back to my seat. Then of course Sister Ruske came up and hugged me after the meeting and that is when I really started crying. I cannot believe that I won't have another zone conference, that this was my last one. There really are no words to explain how much I have loved serving a full-time mission and being here in NC. I will be leaving a very large piece of my heart here when I get on the plane. And now to move on so I don't start crying in the middle of the library 😉
After zone conference I went on exchange with Sister Pulham. She is an incredible missionary and is so dedicated to the work. I love going on exchanges, I always learn so much from the sisters I am with. I'm pretty sure I was called to be a sister training leader so that I could learn from others, not so that they could learn from me.
Wednesday (the day of miracle meetings): Lunch with Chris. Chris works at the local grocery store and we have met him a couple times when we are there. The first time we met him, we gave him our card and talked a little bit about what we do as missionaries. Then this past week we ran into him again and he texted us later asking if we could meet for lunch some time. We took a member with us and had a great conversation with him! Chris has always wondered why there are so many different churches and is a little confused about which one is the best. He also talked about how he believes this life on Earth is a test, to see if we will do what God asks us to and help prepare us to live with Him again. So we got to talk to him a little about the Plan of Salvation and a lot about the Restoration. Our member was awesome and boldly invited him to take the lessons and meet with us again. Chris was interested, but wasn't sure of his schedule so we couldn't get a return appointment. Also, he lives in another ward :( We are going to try to see him this week and see if he is really interested before passing him off to the elders in his ward.
Oh yeah! We met Christian. Christian is a member of the YSA ward. Through a series of miracles, he just happened to be at the store where we stopped to use the bathroom. He said 'hi sisters' as we walked past, so we asked him what ward he was in. When he told us he was in the YSA ward, we asked him if he knew anyone that could be good friends with Jenn. Jenn is YSA age so we have been thinking about having her go to the YSA ward to decide which one she wants to go to. He said that he knows a few people and offered to help us.
Thursday (the day of service): Weekly planning, service at the Food Cupboard and Ernie's. Then we had an amazing active member lesson with the Hansens. Brother Hansen has been super excited about missionary work and has been trying to find someone for us to teach. Last week we had challenged them to set a date by which they would find someone for us to teach. Brother Hansen decided to give himself a week, to have found someone by the next time we came over for a lesson. So today after work, he realized that he hadn't found anyone to invite yet. Getting a little desperate and not wanting to have to go to the store to invite the cashier, he called a friend he had been thinking about. Brother Hansen asked him if he would be interested in coming over to their house to meet with us, fully expecting his friend to say no. But he didn't!!! His friend said "that would be great!"!!! Miracles happen when we just open our mouths and invite people!
Friday (the day of the best members): Ice cream with Jenn and a couple of the YSA members that Christian knew. They clicked really well and all invited her to church with them. Now she has people to sit with in Relief Society and to show her where to go! It is scary to go to a new church for the first time and not know anyone, so this helped her feel more comfortable.
We had dinner with Sister Atkin and her nonmember friend. Sister Atkin told us she had never invited a friend over with the missionaries before, so she was a little nervous, but had no need to be! She made her friend feel comfortable with us and bore her testimony to her friend. Her friend wasn't really interested in taking the lessons, but that's okay. Our member was a successful missionary because she invited her friend to do something that would strengthen her faith in Christ. Her friend met missionaries for the first time in a members home, which is always 1000000x better than us knocking on their door being their first contact.
We had an active member lesson with the Milnes. They are incredible missionaries! We had also challenged them to set a date to find someone for us to teach. Brother Milne set a goal to have 2 gospel conversations every week and that they would find someone by the end of September. He talked to a friend about the Book of Mormon, gave him a copy and invited him to read it!!
Saturday (the day we met the town): In the morning, there was a thing called the Taste of Holly Springs. Kind of like a farmer's market/town gathering. We figured why knock doors when half the town would be at the Taste of Holly Springs? So we went and met a lot of people, handed out lots of cards, got a little sunburned, and even saw an investigator we haven't been able to get up with in a while! People are a lot more friendly to us when they meet us in any other circumstance than us knocking on their door. Of course we still tract because there are people that can only be found that way, but often we get a better response when we meet people outside of their homes.
In the evening we got to go see a play!! A member of the Holly Springs ward wrote and directed a play about the history of Holly Springs and about half the cast is LDS. We got permission to go because we are supporting our ward and also because it is a great way to meet people. The play itself was absolutely incredible! It was so touching and very well written. I learned a lot more about the history of Holly Springs, which made me love it even more than I already did. And we got to meet a lot of nonmembers!!
Sunday (the day of stake conference): Raleigh South is such a wonderful stake! The whole meeting was focused on missionary work! President and Sister James spoke, very recent converts bore their testimonies, and we watched a video of the missionaries serving in and from Raleigh South stake (for those of you who want to watch it, the link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70BhXaPQ4_U . All the missionaries recited parts of scriptures relating to missionary work and then they were all put together. It was really neat to see the missionaries serving from this stake in their missions all over the world and realize that no matter where a missionary serves, the gospel is still the same. It is true no matter what language it is taught in or where in the world it is preached.
Also, Jenn went to the YSA ward and absolutely loved it!!
Love y'all
Sister Pyper
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