We had kind of a slow week this past one. Tuesday I found out that pudding does not agree very well with me. After dinner at a member's house where we had homemade chocolate pudding for dessert (it was really good, btw) we spent the rest of the night in the apartment updating records and planning and teaching lessons over the phone when we could. Not the most ideal situation, but at least I have a funny companion to hang around with.
Wednesday we had district meeting which took up a lot of time.....new number reporting stuff that's confusing (ok, random tangent, but I hate mission math. It's dumb. Go out and find people. Just do it. If you are doing everything that you can, God will supply the miracles. If I can reach my monthly goal of 5 baptisms without finding 20 new, then I'm not going to find 20 new. I'm going to find just enough people so that I'm not overwhelmed by our teaching pool and so that we still have people to teach once we baptize the ones we have already taught. Ok, I'm done now). It just took up a bunch of time. Then a member from Silverdale who knows both Baylon and me came down and took us out to lunch. Sis. Graves is the best!!! She even brought us Nutella and Nesquik. What else do you need? Nothing. It was so fun to see them and feel some Silverdale love. Then when we got home, my companion felt sick, so we had yet another chill night. Why can't these things happen at the same time? Or not at all? Either one would be more efficient. But, we did go out and tract for a little bit and we knocked into a really cool guy named Charles. When he answered the door he said, "Where are the other girls?" Turns out about a year ago the sisters at the time gave him a Book of Mormon and he has been studying it with the Bible and has questions about it. Every single question that he asked can be answered by the Restoration. We are going back this week to teach him. He is so cool. Also, Wednesday was my 6 month mark. I burned a sign that said "Greenie." I also almost burned my hand off. It was great fun.
Thursday we had zone conference. It was so good. Definitely the spiritual motivator and edifier I was looking for. We talked a lot about finding new people and ways that we can do that. Our bread and butter has been church tours and sometimes we forget that there are other ways to go out and find new people to teach. Another thing we learned about was immediately teaching when you talk to people. That is something I definitely need to work on. I'm not really an in-your-face kind of person and I don't like forcing things on people, but we should not and cannot be ashamed of the message that we carry and are willing to share with those who will listen. I wear a nametag with Jesus on it, so everyone already knows what I stand for, so why should I hide it? There is a difference between being pushy and putting something out there. So that is what I am trying to do right now.
Friday. Friday was awesome!! Sister Balmforth and all of the other departing missionaries (including my favorite Elder Dayhuff) were going to the temple and their companions needed somewhere to go for the day so we took Sis. Jensen and I got to see Balmforth!! We picked up Jensen in the morning and had a really good day. We had to weekly plan for a few hours, so Jensen had to sit there and twiddle her thumbs for a little bit, but we got a lot done and taught 8 lessons. It was really cool. We went on a split for finding. Baylon went and supervised a lesson with Pohai (she is doing awesome by the way. She is really learning the gospel now and starting to actually understand what we teach her. It is so cool!! The gospel is cool!! Haha)
Sis. Jensen and I went out tracting. We started in this one apartment complex and knocked 1.5 buildings and no one was home. Literally. No one. So I felt like we should go across the street to another complex that Baylon had suggested. We knocked a few doors and I was feeling kind of stressed and didn't really want to be out knocking, but we kept going anyway. A woman answered one of the next doors and she was super nice and I decided that it was time for me to stretch my finding muscles and try the teaching on the doorstep technique. It worked! She is good friends with a lady in the ward and she took a Book of Mormon and agreed to have us come back and teach them. Her husband came home while we were standing there talking to her (I won't lie, it kinda made me nervous since usually husbands don't like random people knocking on their door and talking to their wives when they're not home and they're tired from work) but he was super nice and friendly. Their names are Apple and Steve. I am so excited about them. At the end of the night we took Sis. Jensen back to the mission home to meet up with Balmforth and we got to spend a little bit of time with them there. There are about 9 missionaries going home so there were quite a few people there with their companions. I got to talk to Balmforth about how the temple was. I was so happy that I got to see her. I can't believe she's going home in 2 days. So that was a really, really good day.
Saturday slowed down again. We decided to do some service and gave one of the elders a haircut. It was the first time either me or Sis. Baylon had cut someone's hair with clippers but we did a really good job and he still looks normal!! I was pretty impressed, especially since I was the one who trimmed his sideburns and the back. Scary, but good. Pat on the back for Sara!! I mean, Sis. Chronister.......eh. Then we got transfer calls....you already know about that part....
Sunday we got to go out to Anderson Island. There is a tiny little branch out there that we cover and we were invited to speak in sacrament meeting. I spoke on receiving answers to prayer and Sis. Baylon spoke on the Holy Ghost. It was a really great meeting. There are about 20 people in the branch, inlcuding kids, and they meet in a little house on the island. In the basement is the chapel with a tiny podium, sacrament table, and organ. They have 1 bread tray and 1 water tray and 1 deacon who just barely turned 12 who passes the sacrament. It was soooo cool to be in there. The Spirit was very strong, and you could feel the dedication of the members. They were so nice and friendly and they love missionaries. We are going to try and work with them more, but the islanders don't like missionaries and it's a 30 min $5 ferry ride every time we go out there (on foot) and they don't have any investigators for us to teach. It's a challenging situation, but I really liked being out there and it would be really fun to have someone out there to teach. Also, I got to meet my grandma!! Sis. Bradley was Sis. Balmforth's trainer and Steilacoom was her first area and she and another old companion decided to come out to Washingotn for the weekend. It was a tender little moment haha. She recognized me from the FB videos of me and Balmforth....oh dear....
So this week should be good. I'm preparing for a tearful Wednesday, but knowing me, I'll be just fine. I will be finishing the Book of Mormon on Wednesday, making it 6 weeks total. I'll let you know how it ends next week. It has been a really cool experience reading it like that. I don't plan on doing it again any time soon, but it's fun if anyone ever wants to try it. I'm trying to write more letters, I promise. I love you all. Have a great week!!!
Love,
Sara
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