Date
March 17, 2014
Area
St. Clairsville, OH, United States
Companion
Kayla Bradshaw
Happy St. Patty's Day!!!!!
Hey everyone!!! So...I'm pretty sure St. Patrick's Day is a way bigger deal around here than it is at home! So much green and talk about it....it's kinda funny! Maybe that's just because there's probably a much larger number of drinkers....I don't know!
Soooo...this week has been awesome! I'm not even totally sure why, I just feel like we had a bunch neat little experiences. Hardly anything seemed to go as planned...but that's ok! Because normally what we do ends up being better than our plans anyway! So first off, on Tuesday we had a much better lesson with some of our investigators...the Underwoods! They are a part-member family we're teaching. They totally want to get baptized...just need to overcome a few things and make the decision to DO IT!! Yep, one of those times when I just kinda wanna shake them and say, "What do you possibly have to lose?!" Don't worry, though...I don't do that! I'm pretty confident they'll get baptized eventually. They're praying about dates we've given them, so hopefully they'll feel good about them! Then we can get some stronger commitment out of them and have them working toward something. Although they didn't come to church yesterday...we totally thought they would, so that was pretty disappointing...but we're working on it!
Oh..other funny thing about Tuesday. The Elders were calling us about something right at the end of our studies...I can't remember what. But then they proceed to tell us that they are in Ohio (our area) going to help out a lady who just moved.........then there's a second of silence and we hear "Oh crap! We can't even go in!!! Uhhhhh....Sisters....what are you doing right now?" Yepp...typical, we had to drop everything we had planned to go bail out the Elders...hahaha I'm just kidding. They're good elders, we just had to give them a hard time for totally not even thinking about the fact that they wouldn't be able to go into a single lady's home. Good stuff!! :)
Wednesday was pretty crazy...nothing too exciting to report! After dinner we got to drive to Washington, PA to stay the night before Zone Conference. I got to stay with Sister Williams!! Remember her?? From Mansfield?! She calls me her adopted mom? Anyway, I love her a lot, so that was a ton of fun! We had a blast!! And oh my heavens, I thought our two mice were bad.....they've found TEN so far!!! And they live in this creepy garage. I've never seen a Sisters' apartment that was anything like that. I've been pretty lucky with the apartments I've had, I guess!!!
So then Thursday was Zone Conference in Pittsburgh! It's still weird to go to Pittsburgh for something other than transfers or MLC, but it's fun!!! Zone Conference was SOOO good! It was all about finding new investigators. I would have died to have been able to have that training at the BEGINNING of my mission, but it was still great! Finding has always been a struggle for me, so it was awesome to have a whole day devoted to it! And not finding like tracting....finding through referrals and through members. I'm telling you, MEMBERS ARE KEY!!! I hope you all tell the missionaries about ANY nonmembers you know. It's always better for missionaries to be able to start with a name instead of just a door. And a name of someone who hopefully has had good interactions with members of the church. That's the way missionary work is supposed to happen! They made the comment that the Lord is closing the door of an old way of doing missionary work and opening a new one!! The days of tracting 24/7 are PAST! Thank heavens, right?! Anyway, it was just awesome! And don't misinterpret--if we don't have anything better to do, tracting is still a way for us to find people, but it's not a way that always makes the best impact on people. The training wasn't about NEVER tracting...more about prioritizing the ways that we find a little bit better.
Ahh Zone Conference...I just love it! I love being around other missionaries. It gets me so excited!! It's the greatest!
Friday was one of my favorite days--except for weekly planning. I don't think I'll ever like weekly planning, but it's whatever....we try to make it fun! But after weekly planning, we went to help the Underwoods grand-daughter-in-law move. I LOVE DOING MANUAL LABOR! Haha you probably never thought you'd hear me say that, huh?? But I love getting to do stuff like that! Just putting on some work clothes and getting down to business. Oh man, I am still sore--we had to lift some heavy things!!!! But it was great. The Elders came too, and we were all complaining the next day about being sore, but it was just awesome! I love giving people THAT kind of perception about the church--that we just show up and help out even if we don't know you. That's totally what the gospel is about! We're brothers and sisters. We don't care who you are or whether we know you, we're willing to serve at every opportunity! It was awesome. They just couldn't stop talking about how grateful they were and about how long it would have taken them if we weren't there. It just felt good!! And I thoroughly enjoy being sore, so that was just an added bonus....no seriously, I really love being sore and feeling like I did something!
That night we had a lesson with another less-active family. They are just starting to come back, and they have an 8 year-old grandson that we're trying to help prepare for baptism, even though he won't be a convert baptism or anything he still needs to know some doctrine, so the ward has asked us to teach him the lessons and stuff--it's quite a task!! Anyway, that was awesome because they've had tons of things come up in the past few weeks and haven't made it to church...they haven't come since I got to the area.....yikes, maybe it's just me?! ;) No, I certainly hope not. But anyway, they came to church yesterday. YES!!! I love that! So that was a good experience!
Saturday was a little wild, too. We had an awesome lesson with another less-active lady, Nancy. She's so sweet! She was just crying and saying she felt like Heavenly Father was telling her she needed to come back to church. It was great! Sometimes I feel like Jacob or Alma (the Elder)...just so excited when people are pricked and humbled and just recognize that they need to change! It's great, not that I wish that guilty feeling on anyone, but it's part of the process! :)
After that, we went to go teach another less-active family who happened to be cleaning when we got there, so what did we get to do again?! SERVE!!! Yes! We mopped the heck out of one of her rooms. Not gonna lie, though, this service was slightly less enjoyable, because they have a dog who likes to urinate everywhere, so mopping a wood floor with dog urine soaked into it ends up smelling quite "pungent," in one of the elder's terms. I'm telling you, after my mission I will NEVER EVER EVER have an inside animal. No one here can even survive without a dog or cat of some sort in the house. Oh man...the hair, smell, just all of it....I'm kinda over it. Haha BUT the good news is, these less-actives came to church, too. So I'll mop dog pee any day for that!! :)
Ok, now my favorite part of the week....our lesson last night with Brad! He's the 16 year-old whose family is less-active, so he's never been baptized. He totally read the chapter he left with him. And was so excited about it. And we talked a ton about Jesus Christ, which just meant the Spirit was super strong, and Sister Bradshaw and I just felt super guided by the Spirit. And he loves everything we're teaching and believes it. And his mom is coming around and seems each time like she wants it a little more for him. And he's gonna come to church all by himself next week because his parents will be gone. Ahh it was just so good! I'm way excited for him. And seriously, we can't ever do ANYTHING without the Spirit. I learn that more each day.
Oh and we also got to go around with some members and the Elders to take the sacrament to a few people in nursing homes yesterday. That's the first time I've ever gotten to do that, and it was so awesome! Just the excitement in those ladies' eyes was priceless. I loved it! Such a great experience!!!
Guys, I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!! I don't want it to ever end. Good thing it never has to, right?? We just get to keep being missionaries for the rest of our lives! Oh man. It's the best! Anyway, I hope you've all had a great week, too! Listen for the Spirit! Act on your promptings every time...even if you don't know if it's a prompting--what's the worst that can happen, right?! JUST DO IT. As one Sister I loved who just went home would say, "Just go and do, don't sit and stew!!"
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Love, Sister Ferrin