While we were at the church emailing, Elder Aitchison said that he will be Benedict Cumberbatch's best friend when he gets back xD I died. He said that his favorite band was 21 Pilots and that he loved Star Wars!
After emailing we went to the Villas to proselyte and as we were walking to different potential investigator's apartments and we found Jevon who set up an appointment with us. And as we were walking away from him, a woman came up to US and complemented our dresses! We struck up a conversation and she had moved here a week ago.Her name is Diana and she also made an appointment to talk with us this week! Miracles are real and so awesome! :D
The next thing we had scheduled was FHE (family home evening) with the YSA Ward. The activity was to walk around this pond, eating ice cream and talking to one another. Sister Foulke and I had a conversation with Ephraim about the priesthood because recently I have realized how very little I know about the priesthood so I've really been studying it and trying to find everything I can on the subject. Especially as to women's role in the priesthood. So that was a cool conversation. :)
After FHE we went to find a new investigator who we hadn't been able to get in contact with again. We weren't able to get a hold of him unfortunately :/ and after we tried to catch him at his apartment we had twenty minutes left and I was really tempted to just go home. It was dark and I was tired but Sister Foulke took us to another apartment complex and the entire time I just kept saying in my head "Heavenly Father will bless us for our obedience. Heavenly Father will bless us for our exact obedience." And.... Nothing happened. We didn't find anyone and those we came across were a teensy bit rude. It was 8:55pm so we went home so we would be home by 9. As we were doing daily planning, the phone rang with a number we didn't recognize. We answered and it was a Brother in another Ward in a different area giving us a referral!!! Heavenly Father blesses us when we are as exactly obedient as we can be because that shows that we can be trusted with his work. Obedience brings blessings!!! :D
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Tuesday, 30 August 2016
That morning Sister Foulke and I had to take the car in to get an oil change and have the tire pressure fixed. We thought we would only be there for an hour... It's just an oil change after all. TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER.... I was a tad irritated. I have never liked wasting time, and on the mission that hatred towards time-wasting has only been multiplied.
So there is a recent convert in our YSA Ward named, Alena Kiki, she is super cool! We went with Ephraim to the new convert lesson with her and she was super sweet and her conversion story was so tender. :)
Later that day we a member family took us to dinner and while on the way there we were talking about having spiritual experiences. So here is a question that I want to pose to you all... do deep spiritual things happen more often than we think? I wonder because I know that I rarely share the deep spiritual experiences I have had. Food for thought and discussion!
While we were trying to find a potential investigator we met.... A Scottish man!!!! Not gonna lie. Sister Foulke and I talked to him for as long as he would let us because we loved his accent so much! xD
We then had a lesson with Victor Ranga and it went really well! We started teaching him about the commandments and a lot of the ones we talked about on Tuesday he was ready keeping because it was in the scriptures. so awesome! And he said that he would keep the rest.
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Wednesday, 31 August 2016
We had District Council and it went really good! On Monday we started a zone challenge called "Labor to Find" in honor of Labor Day. The challenge was for each companionship in the zone to find 10 new investigators (means that when we talk to a person for the first time [street contact or otherwise] we have to teach a principle, extend one invitation, and set up a return appointment). Sister Foulke (10 months old now) was like "how are we ever going to find 10 new investigators this week when the average is 3 a week?" And little greenie me said "The Lord will provide!" XD I'm such a greenie, but it is good! (Note: A greenie is someone who is still "green" or new to being a missionary.)
But what is even better is that one of the Zone leaders, Elder Hayes, made a deal with our district leader that if we, as a district, found at least 38 new investigators that Elder Shepherd (district leader) could pluck one of his nose hairs with a pair of pliers. We have video proof that this bargain was struck and agreed to For "Labor to Find" we, as a district, only had to find 30 new people to teach. So this was above and beyond the goal.
After district council we met with Diana and it was WONDERFUL! She was raised Catholic but when we give her a Book of Mormon she Sid that she hoped it would fail the void she's been feeling in her life! And I know that it can!
We then had a recent convert lesson with Rachel! She makes us so happy! :D We then met with McKenna, she's the one who was bullied when she was a teen. And I love talking with her. She's thinking of moving though so we don't know how long we'll be able to meet with her. :/
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Thursday, 1 September 2016
So Thursday I had been in the mission field for six weeks so we had to go to a meeting with all the other people that arrived here the same time I did and it was actually really cool! The thing that I loved the most about it... Was that it ENDED THE TIME IT SAID IT WAS GOING TO END! Very happy camper over here. :)
We then went on exchanges. This time I stayed in our area and worked with Sister Souba, the other STL (Sister Training Leader). We got SO many street contacts while we worked together, it was crazy!
So we were in an apartment complex and we walked by a building and I got an impression to knock on the apartment 522. But we were running late to an appointment so I wrote a note so we could go back later to knock on that door.
Then something a little rough happened. While we were pulling out of a parking spot I clipped the car next to us. I was so scared as to what I was going to see when I got out of the car. But the other car just had a tiny, almost imperceptible scratch and some of our paint on it. Our car on the other hand had one long scratch and the headlights were pushed into the car. I was kicking myself the rest of the day and the next.
While out street contacting in the Crossings we met Andree who was a young father and was taking his 10 month old baby out for a walk in the stroller. We talked to him a little bit about the Restoration and how he and his daughter can be father and daughter for all eternity. :) As we were talking I thought of my own dad: young, tan, full of questions about life, full head of dark black hair :P And with a little baby girl who he loved dearly. And I couldn't help but long for him to know the truth like my daddy did at that age!
While we were out later that night we ran across this older man who was, no joke, a modern-day Pharisee. He was saying terrible things about his upstairs neighbors and how they needed Christ because they were the basest sinners. Sister Souba and I were horrified at the self-righteousness that could be contained in such a petty man. We tried to keep talking to him about him and he just kept talking about what terrible sinners the people were and then he asked us, "Who do you think needs to learn more about Jesus Christ? Me or them?" And Sister Souba just looked at him calmly with a hint of sadness and said, "Both of you." He was not happy about that. But "the guilty taketh the truth to be hard" (1 Nephi 16:2). And those "abominations" were some of the nicest people I have met. Jdjrhejwksnhcufkenfjcjwbsjksnfjdoemsncidn!!!!
We had taken Ephraim out with us so we could have a member present (super important!) And so after all of this we had a "Tribes of Israel" discussion with him. We just talked about the blessings of the different tribes and their responsibilities. It was super fun!
So after being companions with Sister Souba, I realized that I had a lot of things I needed to repent of (making goals, street contacting). XD
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Friday, 2 September 2016
Friday morning we took the car to a body shop where they took pictures of the car so they could send the mission office an estimate for how much it will cost.
That morning we spent two whole hours in the Crossing apartment complex. It was really good! So we were wrapping up to go home for lunch when I got the prompting to go knock on a potential investigator's door. So we went to the apartment and knocked a couple times... But nothing. We shrugged and I was (I'll admit) a teensy bit irritated for wasting our time. But as we walked up to our car, we just barely caught Amanda coming home from work!!! :D We hadn't see her in weeks and were so worried about her! She told us that she was now working two jobs and life had been upper crazy but that she had missed us! I missed her SO much! And we set up an appointment for a couple weeks later when the craziness died down.
So after lunch was the much anticipated meeting with Kristin (the former investigator who texted us to ask us to come over). Sister Souba and I went and talked to her and she is super awesome! She started investigating the church a year ago because her boyfriend is actually a member in the YSA Ward Sister Foulke and I are over. She stopped investigating for a little bit because she hadn't had good experiences with the other sets of missionaries that she had worked with before. That kinda made me a little anxious. My whole life right now is devoted to helping others to come unto Christ in whatever capacity they need. I don't want to leave here and have any of our investigators feel like I hindered their progression towards Christ instead of helping. Kristin was really amazing though! Her questions are deep and important and I spend the entire time we are in the lesson praying that my companion and I can receive the guidance to help Kristin come to the true answers to her questions.
After we met with Kristin we went and tried to contact some potential investigators. We knocked on this one door looking for a Daniel and instead met Nancy. It. Was. So. COOL!!! Nancy is Christian (halfway there, right?) and she writes clean, fun, mystery novels! Her name is Nancy Baldock and she has written the "McKenzie Sparks Mystery Series". She described her series to us and it is now on my list for when I get home, it sounds like a riot! XD Anywho, after talking about her books for a little bit we talked about Jesus Christ, and sadly she refused to take a Book of Mormon but I have hope for her future. Sister Souba and I were just exposing her to the gospel. Heavenly Father will make sure that she will receive more exposure until she is receptive enough to accept it. And when she does, she will be a valiant member of Christ's church. :)
We then went back to our apartment to exchange back. I hugged the stuffing out of Sister Foulke. I love Sister Souba and she is an awesome exchange companion... But I needed my companion back. :D
So Sister Foulke and I went to the Villas and we were singing hymns to ourselves as we were walking from one apartment building to another and we hear a soft shout of, "Sisters!" We turn around and peaking around the corner of an apartment building was Cynthia! She had been outside sweeping her porch and she had heard us singing and had recognized our voices! xD Isn't that sweet?
Singing and Cynthia heard us!
We went on our way and while walking towards a potential investigator's apartment we came across a man and he was wearing these light teal headphones (#myfavoritecolorever!) so I called out to him and told him that I liked his headphones. He grinned and we struck up a conversation and talked about the gospel and set up a return appointment!
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Saturday, 3 September 2016
So Saturday was the day when we got the news about transfers. Transfers are where you can get moved to a different area (different wards) and/or get a different companion. The entire week I had been stressing over this because I didn't want to leave this area and I especially didn't want to leave Sister Foulke!!! They gave us our papers that told us our assignments for this transfer (a transfer is six weeks long). AND I GET TO STAY IN THIS AREA WITH SISTER FOULKE!!! When we got into the car I started crying with relief and happiness. I cannot convey to you as to the amount of anxiety this had given me.
Saturday was simply miraculous and an amazing day! We were able to find 4 new investigators!!! :D
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Sunday, 4 September 2016
Sunday was kind of stressful because we had Ward council in both wards that day. So we were in church from 7 am to 4 pm. But what made it a little stressful was that it was my turn to go to the Ward council at the YSA Ward. So because the Ward Council for the YSA Ward is at 11 am and the Family Ward doesn't end until 12, one of us has to stay at the Family Ward while the other goes to the YSA Ward Council. So we went on splits (where the missionary companionship splits in half and pairs up with a member of the Ward who is 16 years or older and in our case, female) and I went with Ellen (my temp companion) to the Ward council. It went well! :)
So that day was Fast Sunday (where we go without food or drink for twenty -four hours on the first Sunday of the month so that, by so doing we deny ourselves physical wants in order to more fully focus on our spiritual needs) which means that for the first meeting of church anyone can get up and simply bear their testimony. One of the members in the YSA Ward, Shannon, got up and said something beautifully profound, "I have been guilty of sacrificing my greater self for my lesser self." Far too many times I have been guilty of this. Where I have sacrificed the better part of myself to please and satisfy the lesser part of my being. Please, remember that there is nothing that pleases the lesser that is worth sacrificing the greater!
Shoutout to Mom and Dad!!! Ephraim came into Relief Society to ask to use the consecrated oil you gave me because someone needed a blessing and none of the priesthood holders had theirs! See everyone who questions me, I am always prepared!!!! Mwahaha.
After church we went with Ephraim to go see Patrick (recent convert) and he and Ephraim started playing chess (I have never played before and it confuses me so very much) and we were able to relate it to the gospel and it was super cool! (P.S. Chess always reminds me of one of my favorite movies. Guess which one :P)
We then had dinner at the Barlow's house. It was an interesting experience to eat with a family of 16. But super fun at the same time! :D
That evening we had an appointment with Victor Ranga and Sister Foulke and I were really worried about it because the Bishop was out of town which meant we had to do it at Ashlynn's house. And the last time we did that, it was not so great. But we went over to talk about the Ten Commandments (which is now my favorite lesson because here are hand signs that we use in order to remember them and they make me so happy!!! #sixyearoldinnineteenyearoldbody
It actually went really well! It was one of the most lighthearted and loving lessons we have ever had with Victor! Hand signs for the win! *fist pump*
Our last appointment for the day was with a referral named Kelly. SHE IS SO AWESOME! She has been going to church with her friend for about a year but has never taken the missionary discussions before. One of the first things she said was, "So I decided that I'm going to get baptized on November fourteenth. Does that work for you guys?" I almost fell out of my chair. We hadn't said a word about baptism yet. And as we discussed her background the more and more awestruck I became. Holy cow, she is literally a miracle! A literal miracle from a loving Heavenly Father that Sister Foulke and I really needed. Her story is a LOT like Ephraim's, and he was there at the lesson with us. And I ship the two of them SO MUCH! SHE AND EPHRAIM ARE GETTING MARRIED!!!!! XD
So, in total.... We found 15 NEW INVESTIGATORS!!!! Which was five more than the goal! :D God is wonderful!
Sister Longo
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