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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Finding those whom the Lord has prepared.

This week has been all about finding people like crazy! I can't believe all the people we've met who are so prepared to receive the gospel in their lives! The music class we've been teaching has provided us with a golden investigator. He originally was going to be a priest but decided to get married instead; he now has a PhD and a family who has been searching for the truth. He diligently comes to the voice classes and loves to learn. So I asked him if he would be interested in hearing the missionary discussions and he said, "Yes! I'll let my wife and twins know and we'll prepare our home for you." It was almost too easy.

On Wednesday we had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders and I was scared out of my mind. I was supposed to take her around my area when I barely knew it myself. I prayed all morning that everything would work out and it ended up giving me a ton of confidence. The Lord helped me so much in leading me and helping me to remember where to go. We planned for certain people but we didn't end up going to any of them. Instead, we followed the spirit and ended up putting 2 people on date for baptism. One of our investigators that we had originally dropped was suggested by Sister Porter. I told her I didn't think we should visit him because he's literally certifiably crazy, but she wanted to try anyway. So we went, and his wife was there too. We couldn't get a word in the whole time without this guy talking over us or singing about Jesus. I made the mistake of asking his wife to say the closing prayer and she's a born again Christian. She shouted the prayer shaking her finger trying to "cast the devils" out of her husband... it was scary and we were trying so hard not to laugh. BUT we found out that her son will be in town and that the wife wants to be taught one more time next week... so we're gonna give them one more chance. We'll see how that goes.  Anyway, Sister Porter was wonderful and it was such a great day. I can definitely see the Lord's hand in my life helping me realize I can do much more than I think I can.
Yesterday, our elders and us along with the ward mission leader had set up a Preach My Gospel orientation for the ward missionaries. We taught them how to use it to study and how to teach from it. It went really well - after we gave them demonstration we went on splits and visited the 15 less active focus families. It did a great deal of good. We now have the ward missionaries excited to get to work and help us! Even though a lot are returned missionaries, PMG is new and they didn't know what a blessing it is to teaching.

Today was awesome. We got to go bowling as a zone and then we went to this Asian buffet with all kinds of weird food. I think I'm done trying to eat new things in this country... except the fruit. Jackfruit is probably my new favorite thing.

Weekly planning was interesting. Half way through, it started raining really hard. The epitome of what you would imagine a tropical thunderstorm to look like. So naturally we all went out and played in it. We were soaked to the bone in seconds. The elders pulled up to the apartment in a tricycle trying to avoid the rain but we made them play in it with us. We have banana trees, mango trees, grapefruit trees and coconut trees by our apartment that are all coming ripe so we had a hay day picking them and making desserts out of them. Because of that, we didn't finish planning until dark and we forgot to shut the windows so our area book, planners, scriptures, everything got wet. :P Lesson learned. So after we finally finished, we went out for the last hours of the day to tract our new area, the neighborhood we live in! It was originally the elders' area but they gave it to us. We didn't realize how dangerous it was at night. It's much less populated because it's a more affluent area and it's big houses spaced apart with field and trees separating them. We were going around looking for a less active's house in the dark when we turned a corner with only one street light and my companion grabbed my arm and stopped dead in her tracks. I was looking for what she saw when I noticed a flesh colored figure perched against a wall with no face. Nobody was around and the hairs on our necks stood up. (If you've ever heard of Slenderman, you'll understand why this was so disturbing, lol.) We turned around and ran home as fast as we could and locked the doors. Oh man... least productive day of my mission thus far. We even slept with the window shut in the stifling heat. We went back the next morning and it was a statue. The man who lives there is an artist. We had a pretty good laugh.

The next day, we had another service project where we planted trees with the stake. When we were done, Sis. Surio and I were playing with some kids and we asked if we could meet their parents. One of them took us to her mom who was hesitant at first, but we felt prompted to share the Plan of Salvation pamphlet with her. She broke down in tears and explained that she had 6 children and lost 4 and is pregnant again. She was so excited to hear from the missionaries and she eagerly accepted the invitation to be taught. 

We had a baptism last night (it was actually the elder's baptism but we went anyway) and me and my companion thought we weren't going to get dinner so beforehand, we went out and got some street food. (Fishballs and squidballs from a street stand sound so dangerous and disgusting, but they're my new favorite things!) Then after the baptism they ended up having food after all... and then we were invited over to the family's house for dinner... and then a ward member called us over to eat the food left over from his brother's wedding. I've never eaten so much in my life. By the end of the night we were all trying to figure out how to dispose of the food without eating it (without anyone noticing). It was pretty hilarious to watch the elder's faces when they brought out the massive wedding cake. I think I saw a tear in their eyes. The family turned on How I Met Your Mother while we were eating, and it was one of the last episodes and we nearly died trying not to watch it. It's a daily struggle... We had to pretty much waddle home afterward.

Sorry that this is so long... and that it contains my random train of thought. If you take anything out of this, let it be that the Lord's hand is always in your life. You just have to have a good attitude so that you can see it. Here's another shout-out for my postcard wall of fame! Thanks to those who have sent them already! I love you all so much!

Have a great week!
Sister Wilson

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