Well folks I made it one month! Only 17 more to go! The time actually goes by pretty fast. The days are long, but the weeks move by pretty quick. It's weird how it works like that. This week was kind of a blur, but I will try to remember some details! Unfortunately, as I guessed I have been sick this week. Nothing too major just a cold, but it is very annoying being sick when your on your mission. Mainly just very tired and lots of congestion. Curse these mortal bodies! But we press forward.
So Thursday was quite the exciting day for us. We went and did devotions at the Assisted Living Home again, but this time we were in charge! Yeah it didn't go very well... haha. Mainly because all the people there are 90+ years old and don't really understand what we are saying. You should have seen me and Sister West trying to get those ladies to sing along with us to songs that we don't even know! haha it was pretty hilarious. We then had all of our appointments cancel on us Thursday as well and the other Sisters took the car. So we spent most of the day doing weekly planning. We had a dinner appointment with Sister Francis who is a less active, but loves missionaries and loves to feed them. So we had to bike there right? And it's about 3 miles away so not too bad. Now, here is the thing about Wilmington. None of the roads are actually all that safe to bike on. They are narrow with absolutely no shoulder and the people drive like MANIACS here. I have gotten used to pretty much just expecting anything to happen. Nobody uses turn signals. They turn on red lights. They run red lights. Dogs and Cats living together, Mass Hysteria. Anyway, so it makes it very difficult to bike places because we really can't use any main roads without risking our lives. So we have to weave through the very complicated neighborhoods of Wilmington and it takes FOREVER. Needless to say we got lost and we were an hour late to our appointment. It was not a fun time. But we made it nonetheless! Then Sister Kandare saved the day and came and picked us up with our bikes and we were able to get our bikes back. Then we got ice cream. Cause that day sure needed some ice cream.
Friday we had a Zone Conference in Fayetteville, which is about two hours from here. So we had to wake up bright and early to leave by 6 am. Elder Dube who is a member of the Seventy and his wife were the speakers! It was SO cool. Elder Dube is from Zimbabwe. It was such a spiritually uplifting day! It was really nice because he didn't just give a talk but he taught us as a teacher, accepted questions and input and used volunteers. It was almost like a seminar to becoming a better missionary! I liked how he taught directly from preach my gospel or used the scriptures. He was a master scriptorian! Someone would make a comment and he would immediately come up with a scripture that related perfectly. He put a lot of emphasis on using our time here on our missions wisely because we will never have a time like this in our lives again! That really resonated with me. I feel so so blessed to have this opportunity. I not only get to help others to come unto Christ, but I am coming to Him as well. This mission is making me into the person I'm going to be and giving me things that I will use for the rest of my life! I really am so grateful to be here, even when there are hard days. I have really had to put myself into God's hands and trust in Him. It was a really wonderful meeting, and the President and his Wife were there too. They really emphasize role-playing. So we practiced that at the meeting as well! I have such a love/hate relationship with role playing cause it's terribly awkward, but it helps so much!
So there is one thing that I have neglected to mention and I don't know how I have, but WE HAVE A BAPTISM ON SATURDAY. Her name is Rachel, she is 16 and she has been going to Church for most of her life, but her father is Baptist and hasn't allowed her to be baptized until now! So I don't feel like Sis. West and I have actually really done anything, but we still get to be a part of it! We have taught her the first 4 lessons and she had her interview on Sunday. She is such a great girl! I have loved teaching her because she already knows everything, haha but it's still been a wonderful experience! In our last lesson with her, her mom was there and she got very emotional at the end, which of course made me emotional. It has been a long time coming for her and it has been a process to get her father ok with her being baptized. She is so brave! We are so excited!
OH! and do you remember those people I talked about last week that want to be missionaries? Well we had another lesson with them! haha but thankfully we planned really, really well and tried to not let them talk as much as possible. Unfortunately, they still got off on weird tangents and talked more about having "Jesus in them" and all kinds of other crazy stuff. We tried to make it clear to them that our purpose is to get them to be baptized into our church, NOT to help them become missionaries, but I'm not sure if they get that yet. But at one point Kenny said Joseph Smith! And I was like "Oh my gosh he actually was listening last time" and then they both said they wanted to come to our church and that God had told them to! It was crazy! But, they didn't show up for Church on Sunday.. so that was very disappointing, but we are hopefully meeting with them again! And maybe we can clear some things up, haha I wish I could record what they say! It is a riot.
I am truly loving North Carolina! Despite all it's crazy antics. There are some seriously weird bugs here and mosquitos everywhere! You don't know how many bites I have. I also sent a picture of that massive spider that was at the Kandare's house! (sorry mom) It is very, very hot and humid. Some days are hotter than others, it's like a sticky hot! Those days you just dread having to ride that bike. The streets here are also super wild! It's kind of like somebody threw up on the map haha, you will get to an intersection and the road going to the right has a different name than the one going to the left! They have fun names though, like Whipporwhill and Frog Pond and Friendly Lane! (Those are real street names) Also, EVERYONE has a dog. And I am talking everyone. Every single house I have been in whether an investigator, member, or less active has a dog! It's great! Except of course for people who are scared of dogs (ie Sis West.. haha), But I love it.
Well that was my week! The work is definitely trying at times, but we are moving forward! I love ya'll!
Love, Sister Dearden
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