How are you?! I've missed you this week. It has been a bit of a rough week. I've been impatient and not very Christlike. And then I get frustrated with myself and then it just is a vicious cycle. But I'm going to do better this week. I need to learn how to love people, even when they don't let you love them. I've tried super hard not to get discouraged when I feel like I'm not accomplishing much. But it's all going to be okay :) And this week we are going to work miracles. Let me tell you about some that happened this week. And it will be great :)
Monday: We visited a less active family in the Beach Side ward. We read the scriptures with them. Sometimes I want to shake people when they don't understand how important the Gospel truly is to them. Almost every day on my mission I am reminded why I will never marry someone that isn't a member of the Church. Don't ever do it. There are SO many LA/PM families and my heart aches for them. I don't remember what else we did Monday night, but I think it was really good :)
Tuesday: I went on an exchange with Sister Bauer and Johnson. It was awesome. Something that they do at the Institute (which is right next to a college and right next to the sisters apt) is a weekly free lunch and class about things we believe. So as we contacted we invited people to come eat a free lunch and learn about our church. And we met Lorraine. And she came! She asked a lot of questions and she had pretty much the first lesson. And she learned about the PoS. She said she would read and pray about the BoM. I hope that she does. We kept contacting people all over the place. Young single adults are so much more open to learning about the Gospel. Maybe someday I'll serve in a singles ward and get to have all the referrals ;) We had a really good day. We accomplished a lot. And we talked a lot about how we can improve. It was good.
Wednesday: We had another MLC. It was awesome. President and Sister Tew had gone to a mission presidents seminar with Elder Ballard up in Seattle I believe and they wanted to share the things that they learned. I wish I would have brought my notes so I could share with you what we learned. We talked about expectations-what does the Lord expect from us? What do we expect of ourselves? Why do we need to have high expectations? And we talked about teaching with the Spirit. Simple doctrine + the Holy Ghost = Converting Power. I am really trying to learn how to teach more simply. President Tew talked but right now I can't remember what topic this last one was. I'll have to tell you next week. Then we had a really long debate about the goal we wanted to set for the rest of the year. Our meeting went waaay over. But it was really good.
And I can't remember what happened the rest of the day. I need to take better notes in my planner.
Thursday: The zone leaders texted around 6:45 that morning and asked if I would do a 30 minute training in zone meeting that day. I was stressed. I gave a training in zone meeting last week on becoming spiritually mature. It went really well. I learned so much. But I had a lot more time to prepare that one. So I spent all of personal study preparing a training. It went okay. I learned a lot still so it's all good :) I really like teaching I decided. I never thought I would say that. But when I am passionate about something and I really love to talk about it, it makes teaching fun :) I want so badly to be a good teacher so I can have maybe a portion of the influence on others that good teachers have had on me throughout my life. It was a really good meeting and I was really excited.
Oh! And that night we had a lesson with Gilda, her mother and husband and friend. They are a Jewish Family. She is so amazing. She speaks 8 languages and knows an ancient Hebrew dialect that is almost non existent now. She said it was the same language that Christ spoke. She said when they made the movie The Passion they flew her out to translate things. How cool is that? She is friends with a member. Last week he gave her a Priesthood blessing and she was healed. And she recognizes that! It was hard to teach because there was a little bit of a language barrier. And she was translating into 2 languages-Farsi and ancient Hebrew. But the Spirit was so strong. She said she would read the BoM and we're going to meet with her again this week.
I LOVED hearing her speak in those 2 different languages. It was beautiful. I thought of you, Dad, and how much you love the Middle East. They were the sweetest, kindest people. Oh yeah, and then they gave us dates. It was so authentic :)
Friday: We went out that morning to contact and knock. It was a beautiful day. And we met the coolest little family. They are Born Again and the Husband is a pastor. But they didn't even (really) try to bash with us. That's pretty unusual. And the wife said that sometime we could come by and sit down with them and just tell each other about what we believe. I don't know how much potential is there. But if they could just feel the Spirit testify to them of the truth it would be amazing. They need the Gospel in their lives. They have 2 little kids and I can just imagine how much happier, how much greater peace they would have, if they had all of the truth and were an eternal family.
Saturday: I was on an exchange and it was really good.
Sunday: Really good. Really long. I love my ward.
Okedoke. I have to go. THe family hx center is closing. But I love you all! THe Gospel is true. Make time in your life to share it.
Love,
Sister Andelin
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