Hola mi familia!!
Greetings once again from Mt.
Pleasant!! Land of the randomly ending sidewalks, home of 'em
'ganders!!! For starters, I forgot to
tell you last week that my address is Apartment B. Thank you to those who wrote
me this week!! Love you!
This week was so crazy but so
good! I forgot to tell you than on my first Sunday here, I was asked to say
the closing prayer in Sacrament meeting, so I’m glad that I “kinda” know
English. (Serious on the kinda. I am
realizing that my accent is different than that of the ‘gander’:)). I am learning more about the area and those
around me. I don't feel as lost as I did last week, which gives me hope that
I will know the area quite well by the time my training is up in 9 weeks.
Life as a missionary is exactly what I expected, and exactly opposite of what
I expected all at the same time. I knew I would be tired, but I am in a
different way than I thought I would be. I am now on the East coast time zone, which
I feel pretty adjusted to, so I have felt so much better this week than last.
The hardest part about being a
missionary? Well I guess I have come to realize that literally all of my
friends have gone foreign speaking. So what I was told would be hard isn't
what I have found to be the most difficult. I am very blessed that I am able
to talk with all of the people around me, but that is also the struggle. I am
ABLE to talk with EVERYONE!!--but I don't know what to say! Like, what the
random? How random is it that two young girls come to your front door, show
you a blue book, and want to talk to you about Jesus? It's fascinating how
people act towards us. Most people are kind, and reject us. Which is pretty
much normal I guess. Some get super offended or upset that we have asked them
their personal beliefs about God. And some even ask if they can come
help/give us people to go visit. Quote of the week "You have no idea
what is behind that door". And
it's so true!! Could be a dog, could be a beer-belly, could be a foreigner
who doesn't speak English, could be a Buddhist, could be a DEVOUT Baptist, or
could be someone who has been praying to know if God loves them and hears
their prayers. So it makes life interesting when so many others are involved
in your day.
The most interesting conversation
this week was with a man who is retired. We knocked on his door, and when we
told him that we would like to share a message of Jesus Christ, he FLEW
questions at us. He asked us, "How do you know there is a prophet? How
do you know God is there? If He was there? Why can't my son see him? Will my
son go to hell if he doesn't believe in God? Will God punish me for not
always believing in me" Pause the story: Let's, for a moment, observe
the situation as if we were a third member of this party. On the left, you
see a young GIRL (19 years old) who has literally been a missionary for less
than a month. She does know how to speak the language, but not how to use the
language efficiently. You also see another young girl, trying to help her
trainee as much as possible, but who also isn't quite sure of what to do in
this situation. On the right, you see a RETIRED MAN who is asking GIRLS some
of the most difficult and frequently asked questions known to mankind. Ok,
press play. So we are on this man's door for about 45 minutes trying to
answer everything we know. It was such a crazy experience. We
are going back to teach him this week, so it was pretty cool! Freaking
scary though!!
We also met this man who, when we
found out we are Mormon missionaries, told us that he was almost baptized
twice. We then taught him some restored truth, to which he said, "Man
that sounds nice, but I don't want to hear anything more because I don't
want you to persuade me". Wait, did he just say that I, someone who is
probably 40 years younger than him, could persuade him into believing there
is a God? This idea of people, who are quite a bit older than we are being
afraid of our knowledge, astounds me. We are trying to explain that we don't
have that ability, but that it would be all by the Spirit. He walked away,
but still an interesting conversation.
Funniest thing that happened? You
better believe I nearly fell off a porch this week. I was laughing so hard my
trainer had to talk the whole time. I was out of control. But, I guess that
you can laugh in these situations, or cry. Any crying gives me a headache, so
I'll just chose to laugh.
I live in an apartment with my
companion that has multiple rooms, a washer, kitchen, study room, bathroom,
and our room. It’s pretty nice. We
have a car 3 weeks out of the 4, so we walk the other week. My companion is so great. Life is so good!
Love you all, and thanks again for all that you do!! Xoxo
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Monday, August 24, 2015
Glad I "Kinda speak English".
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