Well Hello World!!
I have SO much fun stuff to talk about this week!
I forgot to tell this story before--Sister Longmore and I went to find a place of service. We found this GREAT Christian mental home type place and thought it'd be great. The head guy was out of town, but they let us come that night and help with wrapping presents for kids in the Ukraine. Two weeks later, when the head guy was back, we went back and he sat us down and talked to us (we went back a week later and talked to him too...this is kind of a hybrid of the two discussions) Apparently, we shouldn't have even helped that first time--they thought we were nuns, not Mormons. They've had problems with volunteers of other faiths telling patients to stop meds and stuff, so they had to ask their Board of Directors if we could help there. As we were talking to him that second time, a woman came in and said he had to go help with meds. He said he was almost done and she demanded he go then. She wasn't real thrilled we were there.
So...we decided we'd better find another place to serve. There's another mental type place even closer to our home, so we went there and they took our info, called us back, and set up a schedule! We showed up and kind of mosied until the room was ready. We were chatting with the residents as we waited for the activity to start and all of a sudden, this man across the room said, "Can I help you ladies?" We said we were doing service and he said, "We have volunteers and they are not from the Church of Latter-Day Saints." We said we had talked to Christie and he said, "I'm the owner and I overrule any other decisions. I'd appreciate it if you didn't 'stop by' again." He said sorry as we grabbed our stuff to go, but what the heck!?
We actually got a call from the first place saying we could apply to volunteer. They sent us the forms, but they needed like references and social security numbers and things, which really isn't the kind of volunteer we should do with the possibility of people changing every week.
So that was my first experience with discrimination for religion :D
Tuesday
We have certain days of the week where we can only drive 10 miles or less. We were running late from one appointment to the next and couldn't walk some parts we had planned to walk, so thought we'd be over by a mile or so. As we pulled into the complex, Sis. Longmore looked down and it was RIGHT at 10 miles! We parked at the bottom of the complex and walked home to keep it at 10 miles. Woot! The Lord blesses us when we're doing His work!
The appointment that ran long was Claretta. We were SO excited to teach this family, they already seemed Mormon! Apparently their goal in having us over was to make sure WE had Christ in our hearts...so ya. We tried to teach the Restoration, but they wanted biblical proof for everything we said. We showed them the scriptures that we use and they wrote them down to show their pastor (the husband's dad). We set up an appointment to go back, but are kind of hesitant to. It doesn't seem like they really want to learn. :(
Wednesday
Once upon a time, there were two sister missionaries taking their hour lunch break on the side of the road. It was a residential area, but not as many houses as a neighborhood. Sister Longmore was in the back seat memorizing scriptures and eating carrots. Sister Denton was in the front seat with a scarf to block the sun, trying to take a nap. All of a sudden, a man's voice was heard at the window. They turned to see a cop asking for their identification!! He asked if there was anything they should be worried about in the car and Sister Longmore said, "...I'm reading my scriptures..." He thanked them for their honesty and took their IDs and registration. About five minutes later he came back and said they were clear.
Really!? Really!? We're missionaries!!!! Someone had called our vehicle in as suspicious. Oh. My. Heck. So....ya missions are fun :D haha
Thursday
Zone Conference was this week and was AMAZING! We won 2nd place for the clean car award--100 extra miles this month! Woot! Also while there, I got a package from Hong Kong! Megs made me an AWESOME calendar! Totally made my mission! President came up to us while there and showed us an e-mail he had received. Our Bishop e-mailed him and told him how much they loved having us in their ward and requested that we stay there for forever :D
Afterward we went to an awesome dinner appointment and tracted their neighborhood right before--three other lessons! That's like a record for a half hour for us! And one potential! We also got to meet our new investigator on Thursday! His girlfriend is a RC (recent convert) and he had some questions. He had been looking online and decided that the best place to go for answers is to the missionaries :D He said he didn't plan on joining, but by the end of the lesson, he agreed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon! Woot! We meet with him again on Thursday. His mom sat in, too, so hopefully we'll be able to teach her!
Friday
As Elder Denton II mentioned last week, even though we ALWAYS ask what we can do for people, they rarely allow us to serve. This day, we got to!!! A sister is moving and needed help moving her hay bales. I felt like a cowgirl! And got to wear jeans! We drove to her new barn and put it up in the loft. Then we cleaned out the horse's stalls. Who knew that could be so fun!? I had tons of fun :D
Saturday
We had a craft fair that we went to at our church. First, they sent us down to a clothing exchange. It was like DI, only free! Loved it! I got some awesome clothes, including a 100% wool skirt and a trenchcoat! We also picked up clothes for a less active family that we were visiting that day.
We taught YeYang her first new member discussion! She'll hopefully be able to get her patriarchal blessing and temple recommend before she heads off to BYU! Woot! I am SO excited for her! She'll be living with Sister Longmore's family over Christmas break--her first Christmas! She's spending Thanksgiving with us at the Clarks.
Sunday
Sunday evening, we were trying to find some less actives. We always follow Josh's (the GPS) instructions. Well....we came up to this road that said Private Drive and Josh wanted us to go up. We decided to turn around. It was pitch black and kind of forested around, but I got out to back the car (mission rules). As soon as I stepped out, this SIREN went off! Like imagine a jailbreak at a prison! I expected floodlights. It was like waaAAAA waaaAAAAA. SO scary! So I finished backing and hopped in, but as I tried to shut the door, the cellphone flew out, so I had to try and find it on the dark ground. I grabbed it, shut the door and we left quickly. As we were driving on the next road over, we saw flashing lights and heard sirens and this truck w/ cop lights was coming, so we pulled over and I was like FREAKING out and then it passed us. So ya, it was way funny, but WAY scary at the time!
Other
While tracting, we tracted into a Jehovah's Witness! Turns out we're pretty similar in beliefs and structure. We also tracted a woman who said her husband was a member of our church. Turns out he's a LA (less active) and we didn't even realize they lived there! We got to talk to her for awhile.
My dreams seem to be my entertainment out here. This week I dreamed about getting transferred to do service for Josh Groban's mother-in-law (he sang us a song, too!) That's what we get for listening to his Christmas CD ALL the time lol. I also was able to watch a new episode of Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place with Danial in my dreams. Dad of course was angry we were watching it haha. Dreams are funny.
Mandy's baptism in now set for November 28. She seems solid on it, so hopefully it will go through! She's so awesome! We'll totally be facebook buds when I get home :D
Daylight savings is my favorite day of the year, I think. Just sayin' :D It's like waking up at 7:30am for one precious day!!
Well, that's my crazy week! The work is good!
Sister Denton
No comments:
Post a Comment