Hey everyone!
This
week went by in a blink of an eye and yet I feel like the things that
happened on Tuesday actually happened last week. My concept of time has
become very skewed as a missionary. If I didn't wear a watch and have a
planner that has the date (d/m/y) and times for all hours of the day to
write where I need to be I would be totally lost. On the other hand my
since of direction has been increased by the fact that we use a road
map everyday. Highlights from this week include: setting a baptismal
date with an investigator, finding new investigators, and meetings that
have strengthened my testimony in many ways.
First off on Tuesday we went to visit Sarah and Mariam. They are a
mum and daughter that were baptized back in March. They are from
Sudan. The older brother, dad and younger brother were not baptized so
as we visit their home we try to include everyone. The dad is always at
work or sleeping and the other brother is just barely warming up to us
but little 9 year old Eddy is always there. We have adapted our
teaching for them by teaching a principle and then teaching them a
primary song that goes along with it to help them remember what we
taught. This week we taught the 1st half of the Plan of Salvation and
sang, "Families can be together forever." We invited Eddy to be
baptized so he can be with his family forever and he said yes. We have
him on date for the 21st of December. What a great Christmas present
right?
On Monday we were tracting and met this lady named Elicia. We
shared a scripture with her and asked if we could come back and share
more. She was hesitant but said yes. We went back on Thursday and she
had 2 friends over. We sat at her dining table with all three of them
and got into a good conversation. We introduced ourselves and gave them
a little background about missionary work. We just established our
purpose and then her friend Jo started to ask us some questions. She
started with, "Do you believe in God?" "Do you believe that Christ is
the Son of God?" "Do you believe that Christ died for our sins and that
through Him we can be clean of the wrong we do and can make it to live
with God again?" To each we answered, "Yes!" After her minor
interrogation she seemed to loosen up and then let us have our little
turn to ask questions and expound on what we believe. They asked heaps
of questions to which we had an answer for from the Bible. We worked
through the entire Plan of Salvation with them. We finally had to tell
them that we had to leave. We told them to write down any questions
that they have and we will come back to answer them or they could call
us. I handed each of them a pass along card with our number on it. I
didn't realize that the card had a picture of the Book of Mormon on
it. Well Nina noticed it and quickly asked what the Book of Mormon is.
We gave simple answer and told them that they can have a copy and read
about it from the introduction and testimonies if they'd like before we
see them again. They almost wouldn't let us out the door because they
wanted their questions answered. We left them hungry :) It was cool to
see people actually hungry for what we have to share. Elicia was
raised Christian but kinda just accepted it on her own as she got
older. Jo always knew there was a God but didn't know who Christ was
until she was in her last 20s, and Nina used to be a Buddhist who has
converted to Christianity. It was soo cool to talk to each of them. We
asked when we could come back and Elicia said that they would figure
out a day when they could all meet back at her house and they would let
us know. Less than 30 mins later we had a text saying, "Next Thursday
at 10:30am! We can all meet then. Does that work with you girls?" Of
course that worked with us. I can't wait to go talk to them again this
week.
At our Missionary Leadership Council this last week we talked
about the difference from coming to church to worship and coming to
church to attend. What does it mean to you to worship? We had words
like praise, give thanks, remember, and serve. Attending church is
nothing more than sitting on a hard chair for 3 hours. Coming to
worship at church is what we should be inviting people to do. We go to
church to remember the Saviors sacrifice for us by focusing on and
partaking of the sacrament, to renew our baptismal covenants, and to
uplift, inspire, and support the other saints in our ward. We worship
at church. I don't know if that makes as big of an impact to your
heart and mind as it did to mine but I know my invitations to people to
come to church with us have a lot more power and conviction then they
did before. We had dinner with a less-active family named the Lizayas
on Saturday. We spoke to the 20 year old son after dinner and applied
this sense of worship verse attending church and he came to church
yesterday. Not only did he come but he felt peace and said that he
found answers to the questions of his heart and soul. That is why we go
to church! My favorite thing is to read the sacrament hymns while the
sacrament is being passed. I've done that for as long as I can remember
and it just helps keep my mind on the reason that I go to church.
Hymns are amazing. The lyrics are so much deeper than I ever thought
they are. Look up the scriptures that are associated with the hymn.
You can have a good study on the sacrifice that the Lord made for you
when you do things like that. I encourage all of you reading this to
make Sabbath worship more meaningful to you. Whether that be you need
to start or you need to just up your spirituality of each meeting you
attend. It will make the world of difference. I promise you it will.
I love you all! I love hearing from you. I hope everyone has a
fantastic Thanksgiving! Write me and tell me all the things that you
are grateful for, including your testimony. :)
Much love,
Sister Shayne
P.S I get to Skype home in one month from today! Would it be
better for me to call on Christmas here which would in turn be like 9am
Christmas eve there? Or On your Christmas day at like 11am? That
would be like 8pm Christmas day here. I think. You may want to check
that hour math for me. President has asked that we stick to the white
hand book of mission rules the best we can and keep calls somewhere
between 30-40mins. Shorter than last time but I think it will be just
as great :) Let me know what you think. I vote the latter but it's
whatever is most convenient.
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