I feel like each week that I write all of you that I say how it was a week of miracles, and honestly I feel like this week was a week of miracles as well. I guess as a missionary you are always just seeing miracles and tender mercies from the Lord.
So last week we had Zone meeting and Sister Haas and I were asked to train on our mission vision. It is something that President and Sister Winder put together, that says that if as missionaries we do "a,b,c...." then we will see "x,y,z". It is really good and really helps you as a missionary see what your focus needs to be on. So we went over that with everyone in the zone. We asked them where are some areas that they want to serve as missionaries and why that is? Eccentrically they responded that the areas that they want to serve in are ones that they have heard from other missionaries are good areas. We talked about what other peoples "visions" are of Eagle and what our "vision" is as missionaries here serving in Eagle. We talked about not letting other missionaries views effect our views of the area that we are serving in. How your area, mission, companionship,ect. are what you make it and they attitude that you want to have towards it. We talked about the potential they we have in this area and how we can feel it, how this area has surpassed the work that it was seeing the previous year. I shared a scripture that I had found in my personal study D&C 31:3-5. This is the only part in the scriptures where I have seen the phrase "the field which his white already to be burned". I talked about the analogy of a fire, how once a fire starts that it can't be stopped. How growing up in California, it is always the places that are the driest or that have been in a drought where the fire usually starts. We came up with a phrase that we need to "Light the Fire" in Eagle. How we need to start the fire and have the rest of the mission catch that fire as well. That we can make Eagle the place where people want to serve. We set some goals for this upcoming month on finding so many new investigators. The zone really has enthusiasm and are excited for this upcoming month. The goals that we set, we totally believe they are doable.
At the end of our zone meeting our zone leaders had us all go around and say one thing they have learned/or an attribute that the other missionaries have that the really admire. It was really great, a lot of people that I haven't served around talked about how bold that they hear that I am. That I am not afraid to tell it as it is, but I have the love behind it as well. They talked a lot about the enthusiasm and fire that I have for the work and they can feel the spirit in the room. That really touched me, i felt this was a really good thing for us to do to go around and to build each other up.
Sister Haas and I have been really taking that momentum that we felt in zone meeting and get the fire going even faster in our area. Last week we actually picked up 4 new investigators. It was such a tender mercy from the Lord. It actually is Pam and Matthew, who i believe that I mentioned last week. We helped them move in a few weeks ago, Matthew is just so smart and is very knowledable when it comes to religion and he is only 15 years old. I feel like they young men just need to sweep him up. Pam said that they are looking for a church to go to. Her good friend is a member of the church and she has gone a couple of times and knows a lot about the church. She says she believes that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but she is kind of a person taht kind of excepts everything. We just need to make the connection with her. Her daughter as well we are starting to teach, who we will probably pass off to the YSA missionaries and then her boyfriend who is visiting from Korea. I feel like he is so prepared, he doesn't know much about God, but it wanting to learn. He talked about how kids back in Korea are starting to pull away from God and he doesn't think that is good. We are really hoping to prepare him as much as we can these next few weeks and then pass him off to the missionaries in Korea when he goes back. At the end of our lesson with them, he actually asked if he could pray and he prayed in Korean, it was such a neat experience.
So since today we went to the temple,it is our p-day, so yesterday we were out working. At the beginning of the day we both thought it was going to be a long one, but honestly I feel like it is one of the most successful days that we have had in a while. We were out contacting some last actives, and tracted into some of their neighbors that were around them. We knocked on an older woman's door name Lydia. We talked to her on the porch for about 10 to 15 minutes about various stuff and questions she had about the church and she said how she greatly appreciated the efforts that we do. We asked her if we could share a message with her and she allowed us to come in. We taught her the Restoration, and it was a lot harder than we thought. She is a catholic and is a talker as well, so she had no problem interrupting us. She asked us a lot of questions and I guess had some issues with the trinity and how Peter is "the rock". She believes that he passed down the priesthood through the popes. She kept asking us questions right when I was reciting the First Vision, so it was a little hard for her to feel the spirit. We talked about various things like why the Popes are called Popes and not Prophets and about baptism by immersion. She said we can come back again to teach her a little bit more, we plan on going back we aren't sure how receptive she is at this point. Maybe the Plan of Salvation will have an effect on her.
Later that day after dinner, we decided to knock on a few houses around there. One of the houses that we knocked on this older woman open the door a crack and her dog was barking like crazy, she asked who we were and kind of seemed like she was in a bad mood. We introduced who we were, but thought she was going to turn us away. She told us to hold on a minute and then she came outside to talk to us. Apparently a few months ago she went down to temple square and just loved it! She said how it was the highlight of her life and just how good she felt down there and how nice the sister missionaries were. She asked us what we were there to "sell" her and we just laughed. We told her our purpose as missionaries and bore our testimony of the Book of Mormon. We gave her it as well as the the Restoration pamphlet, which she was grateful to accept. We asked her if we could come back later this week to teach her and she agreed! She said how she was Episcopalian and that the nearest church was in Meridian. She asked in nonmembers could come to our church and we said that visitors are more than welcome. She talked about how she was thinking of making a change in her life. It was just a miracle to me how prepared she was by the Lord, you never know who is in your area, neighbors or friends that are prepared to receive the Gospel.
So this last Saturday i got to go back to my area for the baptism of Ann Johns!! I don't know if you all remember me talking about her. She was probably one of the hardest persons that I worked with in Boise South, I seriously love her so much. I was always nervous to know if she would make it to baptism or not because she never felt worthy. When I saw her on Saturday, we both just started crying. She told me that the reason that she was there that day was because of me. If it wasn't for me pushing her and helping her she might of never made it to that baptismal font. She said how she needed me as a missionary, I was what she needed. She means the world to me and it was so great to see her in white. After she came out of the water she just kept repeating "I Did it" and just started crying. You could just tell that she was glowing. The spirit was there so strong and I feel so blessed to of been able to been placed in her path. She has effected my life as much as I have hers. I wish I had more time to give this story justice, but just know it was such a great experience.
Today we got to go to the temple and it was amazing, I love going there! I hope all of you that can try to go to the temple as much as you can. It is such a great place to be. I am just loving it out here in Eagle!! Things are going so well and things are really starting to pick up!!!! I hope all is well back at home. Know that I love you and miss you all!!
Love
Sister Metcalf
Sister Haas and I at the Temple
Eagle District
Ann Johns and I
Some of the missionaries that have worked with her in the past year and half
No comments:
Post a Comment