 |
| 4) caught my boy harper mid yawn |
Tjena!! It's so crazy to think that another week has gone by. I only have one more week left of training and then I am officially no longer a greenie!! This past week as part of training, I was the senior companion and took the lead in (mostly) all planning and teaching situation. I really learned a lot from the whole experience and gained a lot more confidence as a missionary, and I'm glad that Äldste Harper was there to save the day when I didn't exactly know what to say.
Looking back on the week, there were probably 3 big highlights that happened (other than the fact that Blessing is still coming to church and doing awesome!) The first thing that happened this week is we went out to an ex-members house to do some service since several of the members in the branch are still friends with them and suggested we reach out to them and do some service. So turns out, they live in a mansion and they have a huge yard and we ended up raking leaves for 2 and a half hours in the cold rain. While it would've been easy to complain about it all, I really had no desire to complain. I really enjoyed serving them and would've gladly done it for 2 more hours.
The next thing that happened was a crazy sequence of events. We originally had planned to go street contacting in the afternoon, but I had a very strong feeling that we should not be contacting at that time. So, we decided to start going through our area books trying to find someone we want to get into contact with. I came across a part member family teaching record where the dad was a member and the wife was not. It looked very promising so we tried all the numbers we had for them, but then none of them worked. They were all out of service. Well, I wouldn't give up that easily, so we called the branch know-it-all Veikko Heikki to see if he had any information on them. Well, he pretty much told me to 'låt de vara' let them be, and then we ended the call. Well, not even 5 minutes later, Veikko calls back and says hey we're meeting the dad at the church in one hour. So, we got everything together, Veikko picked us up, and we went to meet the dad. When we met with him, he talked to Veikko about a lot of family problems he was having and had come to Gävle for some legal help. He told us multiple times that us calling him must've been inspiration, because he really needed help and advice. That was super amazing to see how we were guided by the spirit that day and helped someone who was truly in need.
The last big thing that happened this week, is a new family just moved into the Gävle branch!! The mom is from the Philippines and the dad is originally from Gävle, but the dad is not a member yet. We don't exactly know how interested the dad is in learning about the church and making the steps to baptism, but he was at church there supporting his wife and his 3 kids, so we really have hope for the future with them! Such a miracle!
Now....to the subject line. The mission is truly the hardest thing I've ever had to do. It is so tough, especially mentally. The sun has been setting around 3pm, so the darkness isn't really helping a whole lot with morale. We don't see other missionaries very often due to video call district meetings, past investigators block our number, people don't show up to lessons after planning them the day before or even the day of, and people just aren't down to talk. It really is difficult and it can really start to wear on you. It's been a real tough week.
When all is said and done, however, I want everyone to know that I still have a very strong testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel. It continues to grow every day as I study from the scriptures and the words of living prophets. Also, my super cool awesome best friend (aka Alanna Buth) continues to be an awesome example to me and continues to strengthen my testimony. In a letter she wrote me this week she said "Every time I turn the Book of Mormon's pages, I am overwhelmed with the assurity that God lives and loves us and that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer." I couldn't agree more with that! There truly is power in the Book of Mormon and I invite all of you reading this email, whether you're Mormon or not, to read it. I promise it will change your life.
I hope all of you have a great week. I will continue to work hard and I just hope that all of you continue to do the same in school, work, or to all my homies out there serving missions. Love you all!
Pics:
1,2,3) We went by a church today just outside of the main city
4) caught my boy harper mid yawn
 |
1,2,3) We went by a church today just outside of the main city |
 |
1,2,3) We went by a church today just outside of the main city |
 |
1,2,3) We went by a church today just outside of the main city |
No comments:
Post a Comment