Hello wonderful family!!
This area is amazing. It is a BIG
area, and we had limited kilometers to use due to the end of the month so we
had to be tricky with where we went and how we used our time. There was a lot
of walking and a lot of running haha. And I only have one pair of working shoes
now, and they aren't boots, and Sister Chelson doesn't have boots or a winter
coat so this early spring season is pretty chilly for the both of us. We are
loving it :) This area is amazing. The people are wonderful. Our Bishop is from
South Africa - as always we have people in our ward from all around the world.
They are very welcoming and friendly, and they LOVE missionaries. We have
dinner appointments almost every night and some lunches. While the people are
wonderful, the work has the reputation of being very slow. Everyone works and
is away during the day, and everyone has cars so no one is outside walking. It
is a place of tracting. The stake just had a fast for the members to have a
missionary opportunity and the members are gung-ho (spelling haha) about it and
we are SO EXCITED to help them out. We got into our area and there is very
little action right now. And with us being new, not knowing the members, the
area, and having no investigators, there is a lot of work to be done. And boy
oh boy have we been praying a lot. My testimony of prayers of faith increased
so much this week. I will tell you a couple experiences we had in a little bit.
Sister Emily Chelson is from Saint Anthony, Idaho. She is
AMAZING. That word really doesn't cut it, but it's the best that I can do. She
is just on fire with the work. She loves every minute of it. Haha the second
day, we were walking around our area and needed to get back to the car in time
for our dinner appointment. We started to run and after a little while Sister
Chelson says to me, "Sister Bodine, I don't know if you already know this,
but we have the best mission in the world." We get along really well. We
have been making an emphasis on being proactive with everything. We walk
quickly, we talk to everyone, we pray A LOT.. we are just so happy. She is a
GREAT teacher. She loves everyone around her. She isn't afraid of making a
mistake, she just does the work and learns. I am blessed with such an amazing
companion. It makes me so excited to see what her mission has in store. She is
a natural-born leader.
Sister Chelson and I had the marvelous opportunity to
surprise Brother Newall and be at the temple with him when he went for his
first time! Usually we aren't able to go when we are not serving in that area,
but President gave us special permission to go with Brother Newall. Turns out
that Brother Newall had been praying and praying that I would be able to join
him. He didn't know that we were coming - it was SO MUCH FUN to see his eyes
light up when he saw us walk into the waiting room at the temple. He was able
to be baptized for his father, and Marcella (she was baptized a week before
Brother Newall) was able to be baptized for his mother and grandmother. Such a
sacred sight. I am so grateful we were able to go. But I think the thing that
made me the most excited was being able to go with Sister Chelson. I was so
happy for her that her first experience on her mission was seeing a recently
baptized member go through the temple for the first time. Hopefully it set the
goal for her to help those she teaches to get to the temple. :)
On Thursday, we had an amazing day, but it wasn't very
successful despite our efforts. We got to our dinner appointment on time and
were about to pray in the car before going in. That whole day we had been
praying for the Lord to guide us to where He needed us to be because we did not
know the area. As we parked the car, we saw a man walking his dog, and before
praying we felt that we should get out and talk to him. We got out of the car,
crossed the street, and he yelled "Mormon missionaries! I have never seen
Mormon missionaries in all my years of living on this street!" We greeted
him and he told us that he was a Mormon! He and his wife hadn't been to church
for the past 10 years due to historical things about the church that they
didn't agree with. He said he was talking to his wife just a few days previous
and they were remarking that they hadn't seen Mormon missionaries in a very
long time, and they couldn't remember a single time that missionaries had come
near their area. He continued to talk and we listened without putting a single
word in. Haha he gave us his address and told us to come over and visit him and
his wife any time. Wow. We could probably say that the Lord answered our prayer
:) and he answered our new friend's inquiry without him even planning on it!
All in the Lord's timing. But what's even cooler is that while we were talking
another girl approached us in our conversation and asked us who we were. We
were able to talk to her about our purpose as missionaries. By this time we
were a few minutes late for our dinner appointment so we just waved at a man
and his dog while we hurried to the Sim's door. As we knocked, that man walked
up to us and asked us what we were doing, and what our purpose was as
missionaries, etc. Haha the Sims saw that we were having a conversation so they
waited to open the door until we were done talking. But in those 10 minutes, 3
people approached US and asked US about who we are. It was such a testimony
builder to me that if we work by the spirit, and we strive to be led by the
Lord, people will see that we are different and will be interested in finding
out more.
And then GET THIS!!!! We felt good in that area where the
Sims lived so we decided to go back the next day and tract the area. We knocked
on every door, only a few people answered and the ones who did were very quick
to reject our invitations. The next day, the Sims got a knock on their door, it
was one of their neighbors. He asked Brother Sim if he was a Mormon. Brother
Sim said yes, and his neighbor told him that some missionaries had knocked on
his door very recently and he was interested in learning more about the church.
He wanted to know what life was like for a Mormon family. Sister Sim saw us at
church yesterday, and very excitedly ran over to tell us the story. She told us
that they exchanged numbers and got his address and plan to invite them over
for dinner sometime to answer his questions and spend some time together.
Sister Sim is a returned missionary and she is so excited to have an opportunity
again to be a missionary for this neighbor and his family. And the thing that
made us the most happy was what she said at the end, "The spirit you
sisters brought into our family's home and our neighborhood was very special
and very unique. And because of who you are, our neighbors were able to see
that light that you have. We are very grateful to have you in our ward."
On Saturday, we had the goal to find a new investigator. It
was going to happen, and we felt SO GOOD about the area that we were working
in. As we were walking a little later in the day, we were feeling a little
slower and not much was happening so we decided to stop and pray. But it was a
weird spot to pray because we were on a very busy street so we decided to turn
off onto a smaller road and pray there. But when we got to the smaller road we
decided to cross the street and walk a little further and pray there. But then
we saw a mailbox a little ways away and decided to walk to that mailbox and
pray behind there. Then we saw a man walking his dog so before we prayed, we
went to talk to him. Our new firefighting friend, Grant, is curious and willing
to learn more about our message. We were guided every step to him through our
unsaid prayer :)
And those were just a FEW of our miracles last week. I know
that this is God's work. We are the Savior's hands. It is the spirit teaching.
There is no greater and more satisfying work than this. I wouldn't want to be
anywhere else right now. And there is nothing greater that I want to think about.
I COMMIT to serving the rest of the Savior's mission here with no regrets.
These next several weeks will be the greatest weeks of my mission and for my
life. Sister Chelson and I have committed to do it together and we are so
excited :)
Thank you for everything! Have a great week!
Sister Bodine
No comments:
Post a Comment