Bring souls unto Christ

Well this week has been awesome!! Sister Cotton and I have had so many laughs that I probably can't even think of them all. This week has been full of miracles and laughs. It has been a great week to say the least. To start off the week we had an awesome district meeting. A tradition that goes on during the first district meeting after transfers is having the new missionaries to the district bear their testimonies. Sister Cotton told me that I was going to have to bear mine and I was convinced that I wasn't because I never left the district, but man does she get some great revelation. I was the last missionary to bear my testimony. The sisters got a good laugh out of it. I still get nervous bearing my testimony in front of the missionaries, but every time it is a spiritual experience. I bore my testimony on turning your will over to the Lord. I am finally understanding why that is so important. The moments that would make me so frustrated before don't and I know that is because I look to the Lord now for ways to change the situation. It is the little things that make all the difference. If you work at being more obedient one step at a time it is possible! I am learning that right now and I love being able to say that I get up and exercise even if it is the worst thing you can possibly do at 6:30 in the morning. Most of our appointments for Tuesday fell through, but that didn't matter Sister Cotton and I just pushed through and taught who we could. Wednesday we had a pretty full day which was awesome. It made up for the lessons we lacked from the day before. We taught Victoria and she is awesome. Her twin sister sat in on the lesson too. They both are sweet girls. We taught about the gospel of Jesus Christ and they enjoyed talking about Jesus a lot. We are trying to figure out how much they truly understand. When we ask questions they turn to the pamphlets for the answers. It is nice because they are always right, but that doesn't help them understand why this gospel is important for them. We hope to figure it out before we pass them off to the YSA sisters. I met some awesome less actives and active members in the ward too. We are teaching Brother Harper and his oldest daughter Elise they are awesome. She doesn't remember much at all so we are starting over from scratch with her. Brother Harper claims he doesn't have a testimony, but when we go over to teach he does most of it. That just shows us that he does have a testimony he just needs to gain the faith to see it. After that Rhea a recent convert came out with us. We tried so many people, but no one answered. She asked if this is what it is like all the time and we said sometimes. She gave us props for doing that everyday because she can see how frustrating it could be at times. Thursday was average just another weekly planning day. I still hate weekly planning. I hate being stuck in the apartment all day, but we got a last minute dinner with the Bartoseks. Brother B invited his boss over and we were able to talk to him about the church. He really admired what we do as missionaries. We taught Rhea and her family after. I really like Rhea maybe because she is my twin and we think the same. She loves learning about the plan of salvation so I have been looking for scriptures for her to read so she can learn more. Friday was an awesome day. We decided to bike so we could save some miles. Sister Cotton kept it entertaining for me by almost crashing three different times. I am the worst companion ever because if she did crash I would just laugh first then offer help. We rode to Algonquin and tried the five referrals we had and no one was home so we rode to the other side of the area and tried the less actives and investigators we had over there, and nothing. No one was home so we rode back to Algonquin again. It was a day of riding in the heat. I got a tan though.... just half my arms because it has cold when we left the house and I wore long sleeves. Saturday was a day full of service and that is that. Sunday was the best day yet. We got to watch Melody come unto Christ and be baptized. I was so happy to be able to witness it. It was even better because Sister Blume and Sister Petersen were able to come back for it as well. I just had a mini reunion with my companions at the baptism. Melody was so happy to see Sister Petersen it made the day so much better. I can't described how happy we all were for Melody. All in all it was a pretty decent week. I can't wait to see what this upcoming week has to bring. Hopefully more miracles and more seeds planted in the hearts of the people we teach. I love you all and hope you have a great week! How we do weekly planning.. Happy baptism. Me, Sister Petersen, Melody, Sister Blume, Brother Anderson