Monday 23 January 2017

Who Says it Doesn't Rain in Southern California?!?!

Hello!

This week has been pretty slow on the lesson side of things.... I think God is humbling us, which is probably good! But it has definitely been harder to get people to meet with us! We were able to meet with 2 young investigators of ours, Yojhann and Emily, and teach them about prayer. They have been meeting with missionaries since they were really little but have never been able to be baptized because of extenuating circumstances, so we continue to meet with them! They are only 13 and 15, so it can sometimes be hard to get them into what we are teaching them. Sister Greener and I came to realize that we needed to take a different approach to teaching them. We decided to have shorter, more concentrated lessons on one gospel topic at a time, instead of teaching a whole lesson where they could lose interest or get lost. We also wanted to make their lessons a special, sacred, spiritual experience, every time. We took extra time planning out their lesson plan and seeking inspiration from God as to what they needed, not what lesson they were missing on paper, but what they needed for their spiritual development. I've got to say this was probably the most spiritual lesson I have had the privilege of teaching on my mission. I know it was inspired and led by God, and I felt, maybe for the first time, that something clicked there! I am just so happy to be here and to be able to have experiences like that! Now we just have to apply that to every lesson we do! Sometimes we cut corners in life, but I am learning that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not something that we can be stingy with! They need it, corners and all!

On Tuesday, we went to go see a member that no one knew, and they had moved, so I guess that's why no one knew them. So we left a pamphlet with the new person and as we were walking back to our car, we met a guy named Robert! We taught him a little bit about our church, talking about the Apostles and it was good, we asked if we could see him again and he said yes! So we are going to try and see him tomorrow! Hopefully we won't bail...

I also had a member make me poutine!! Yay! It was a little cold, but still good :) I miss Canada... We also got lost in a maze of an apartment complex looking for a less-active member.... for like 20 mins. Yeah, it was a pretty good time...

We sadly had one of our dear investigators, who was even preparing for baptism, drop us :( It was very sad but we prayed to know what Heavenly Father wanted us to do and we felt that we should let her go. We left her with John 14:27 and our testimonies. I sincerely hope she will be able to find her way back to the path she was on when she is ready. So yeah, that was a sad day. But! We did also have a baptism that evening for Tristin, our 11 year-old investigator. It was a nice service, it was very sweet to see his Dad baptize him!

It was also suuuuper rainy, so we took some pictures! Like I'm talking the streets were flooded.

Yesterday we basically had a typhoon hit us. It was pretty rainy after church but, you know, we gotta work anyways! So we went out and visited a couple people. Then our appointment for 3:00 texts us and cancels because there are flash flood warnings. Well, you know, we keep working anyways haha So we're about to go see some backups and we get a call from a less-active member we visit pretty often and who was going to feed us that night. She calls us in a panic and says there are 2 inches of water in her house! So we asked if she wanted us to come over and she said, YES! So we debated whether or not to go home and change first, but we were already soaked so we went over in our dresses and tried to get some of the flooding that was going into her house from the backyard, into the storm drains. So we had like 10 people there sweeping and raking and doing whatever we could to move the water from the backyard, around the side of the house, and out to the street. Oh man my back hurts now but it was actually kinda fun! Even though I was in a skirt, freezing cold in torrential rain, barefoot, so I didn't ruin my shoes! Somehow, through all that, I was so happy, and so was the member! She texted us later and said that she has no idea how she wasn't crying and freaking out that whole time. Even in the rain, we were able to find sunshine, and put our shoulders to the wheel. 

The Church is true! The Book is blue!


Love, Sister Holt






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