I'm going to Brazil!!!
Ha. Just kidding. Gotcha. (I know, I got so excited when I read her Post Title before I opened her email. I started yelling at everyone in the house that Katie had gotten her visa to Brazil...She got me good! ~Mama Baker)
I'm still in Oregon. I actually like it here a lot! Sweet Home is
pretty schweet. We've found more people that are interested in learning
about the gospel! Woohoo! It's pretty great.
Tuesday we helped a less active member move into town from Albany
(a neighboring city). We got a call that morning from the sisters in
that area that she was moving and needed help. So we made some phone
calls to get some help and showed up to help about
an hour later. She had this HUGE uhaul truck full of her stuff and
about 3/4 of it was open boxes with stuff spilling out of it. It was a
bit rough. I mean I loved helping her out and I wish we could have
gotten more help there, but there's only so much you
can do with an hour's notice. You know?
That day I kept getting the thought to go visit a potential
investigator named V. She's pretty cool and seems interested, she just
has crazy work hours and we've never been able to catch her at home. So
we knocked on the door and waited. No one answered.
V told us that her dad works a ton of crazy hours too and has a weird
sleep schedule, so we weren't sure if we should knock again and make him
angry from waking him up. So of course, we knock again. As we were
about to walk away the dad opens the door and
is rubbing his eyes like he just woke up. Yikes. So we start talking to
him about how we're missionaries and we were trying to talk to V. Then
he just starts talking about his family and pours his heart out to us
about how his wife left him a year ago. That
poor poor man. Like one day his wife completely out of the blue just up
and left him. He told us how hard it's been on him and the kids, and
how he works so many jobs to keep his mind off everything he's going
through. If I've ever seen the face of a broken
heart, it was this man's. We told him about the Book of Mormon and how
it testifies and teaches of Christ. We told him how the Atonement is for
not only our sins, but also for our sorrows. We read out of Mosiah 14
and the spirit was so strong! We invited him
to read more and he said he would. We couldn't set up an appointment
with him because of his changing schedule, but we're going to try again.
The gospel will heal your heart!!! I just want his family to be
happy!!!
We had a lesson with our investigator L (the one that already
knows the Church is true). She got her new scriptures and we all got to
marvel at them for a little bit. That was fun. Man the new edition is
awesome! Can't wait for one of those! So we tried
to teach the Plan of Salvation to her, but she was basically like
"yeah, yeah I already know all of that." It was weird though because she
kept asking questions about the rapture when we were talking about the
second coming. Sister J and I don't really
know what that is, so it's hard to address her concerns. Sister Parrish
(the Bishop's wife) was there at the lesson, so she googled what that
was and that helped a little bit. So if you want to do some research and
send it over yonder that would be much appreciated.
We tried looking it up in the scriptures, but the word rapture isn't
even in there. It's just confusing. I think when people talk about it,
they're referring to the second coming and the resurrection. But really
everyone is getting hung up on those little
details and is missing the bigger picture. The gospel. Boom. There ya
go folks.
We got a referral last Monday to go see our Ward Mission Leader's
neighbor that just moved in. So we knocked on the door about 5 separate
times. A few times the tv has even been on so we though they were trying
to avoid us. The last time we knocked the
tv was on and no one was home, so we got in the car to leave. As we got
in the car, a different car pulled into the driveway and a lady walked
into that house. So we knocked on the door for a sixth time. We thought
she might have seen us sitting in the car
and gotten creeped out but she didn't! She opened the door and before
we really said anything she invited us in. Awesome. She and her fiance
are looking for a church, so we taught her about the restoration and
about the Book of Mormon. She was super open to
talking with us so we set up a return appointment with her. It was a
few days later so I think she forgot, so we're going to have to go back
over there again. Sometimes I feel like a creeper missionary. That's ok
though. Persistence!
We have one investigator who was a member of the RLDS church and
basically thinks Brigham Young was evil. We're trying to work with her
on that one...
Friday we had an awesome zone training meeting. Bishops were
invited, but ours couldn't come so our ward mission leader came. It was
awesome!!! Basically I need to be more patient. Things aren't going to
happen in my time, but the Lord's time. And I need
to have more faith. I don't need to know the end from the beginning.
That's why I have to have faith. Oh and we talked a lot about helping
members. That's a tough nut to crack, but we have to help members
understand that missionary work is about love. We share
the gospel because we love them and we want them to have the peace and
happiness it brings. If we reach out to others in love, they won't be
offended. So everyone go love some people today! Share the gospel! Be
good examples!
So that's what's up here in Sweet Home. Keep on keepin' on. Remember who you are and what you stand for. FIND THE ONE.
Sister Baker
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