Hello dearest friends and
family!
I have survived another
week here in Wilmington, NC! It was definitely an interesting one. Lots of good
things happened, but also some bad. Such
is the work.
Tuesday we had
interviews with the Mission President! I had just barely had one the day I got
here so it was a little redundant, but that's ok. They are really, really wonderful people and I
am so glad I was sent to this mission. On
Tuesday we also helped with Bingo at the Assisted living home. Quite exciting! Just kidding it was the most boring thing
I've ever done. Calling out numbers for
an hour and a half and having them say "What?" after each one. But they really do need the help! I also finally
met Marquita! Sister West has been
telling me about her since I got here. When I was surprised at the state of
Jennifer's house she said, "Just wait until you see Marquita's. She was right... I won't go into any details
to save you from worry Mom. She is in
the process of moving out so we went there to help her. She is such a great lady! She has gone through some absolutely horrible
things in her life. When we were done
helping her clean, we were able to sit on her porch and share Ether 12:4 &
6 with her which talks about having faith and hope for a better world. She definitely deserves a better world! She has some mental problems including
schizophrenia. But she said she wants to
work towards setting a baptismal date! The sisters have been working with her
for a while. She also has a daughter,
Janiya, who also wants to be baptized. I
know that they can do it!
Wednesday was...
interesting. We received a referral from the Church Headquarters which means
someone requested missionaries in our area. Her name is Leslie Dunbar. We set
up an appointment with her and we were really excited! We got over there and
introduced ourselves and asked about her and why she requested missionaries.
Well come to find out she belongs to some Baptist/Christian/ Pentecostal church
and wants to become a missionary for her church... Her boyfriend was also there
and he is working on becoming a minister. So as you can see the lesson became
interesting. We did not get to talk much
because they both just launched into this hour long talk about everything they
do in their church. It was all very
difficult to understand. At one point I
was thinking to myself "They think we're Baptists!" Basically what I understood is they are those
people that believe in the holy spirit and that it knocks them down when they
feel it... and at some point they talked about trances? and how her grandma is
dying? and how they save people? and they only do things if he Lord "lays
upon their heart"? It was NUTS. hahaha oh man. I don't know how Sister
West and I got out of there. We finally were able to talk about the restoration
for like 5 minutes and give them a pamphlet but by that time they had talked
for an hour and a half and we needed to go. haha we set up a return
appointment, but when we went back they weren't there. I am secretly kind of
glad. I know, bad missionary.
Thursday we went to the
Assisted Living Center and helped with their morning devotions. Oh my gosh,
another hilarious experience! I wish I
could film some of the things that happen to Sister West and I haha. So the director of the center is from Brazil
and he is super funny. So we walk in
there and there's some lady jamming it out on the piano and the director is
playing his guitar and it's a bunch of old women and one old man singing
Christian gospel songs. I wish I could describe to you just how funny it was!
We sang "Down by the Riverside" and "He's got the Whole World in
His Hands" and songs like that. And then he (the director) had us read them
some poems. They have some characters in
there! There is one woman who doesn't
sing any of the words but just sings "ahhhh ohhh" and stuff like that
REALLY loud. Oh it's so funny. I wish I could describe it better. After that we went to lunch with some of the
older ladies in our ward. Another
interesting experience. They didn't ask us any questions, or really include us
in any of their conversations. The most
exciting part was when one of the ladies brought out a confederate flag that
she had bought for one of the ladies there. So yep that is still here! Really, really awkward. I had no clue how to
respond to that one! Also on Thursday we
had another lesson with Cari! It went
really well. We talked more about the book of Mormon and prophets and how we
have a living prophet today! I showed her the pictures of the Prophet and
apostles in the Ensign and she called it a "yearbook.” She is a super fun and sweet lady. But she
has been reading the Book of Mormon! She is just waiting for a witness from the
spirit. We also talked about possibly
setting up a baptismal date, but she says that she wants to feel 100% ready. So we're still working on her! Thursday night we went to the Kandare's and
made cookies for some referrals that we have received. Sister Kandare is an ANGEL. She gives us rides, feeds us, and basically
does everything for us. She feels like
my mom. I am so glad to have her!
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| Getting ready to ride |
Friday it rained! That's about all I remember about Friday. We had to bike and we went tracting, but had
no success. Sister West also has a cold
so we have been taking it a little easy. She's had it for a long time, but won't go to
the doctor cause she doesn't have insurance and take anything, ie Sudafed
because she has never taken cold medicine before!!! Her family doesn't believe
in medicine. So yeah. Basically I'm probably going to get sick too.
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| MTC Selfie |
Saturday was probably the
worst day I've had so far. We received a
referral from the Elders so we went over there and taught her the first lesson.
Her name is Chris and she is Catholic. She
seemed to be very receptive and open. But
then we asked for a return appointment and she said she didn't think she could
do that cause she has a mental illness. Soo... yeah. Then we tried to give out our cookies we made
and nobody accepted them! One guy said
that he doesn't eat cookies (Yeah who doesn't eat free cookies) and then
another was diabetic and the rest just weren't home. So we ate the cookies. Then that's when we got on Facebook and saw
the post about mom. Then we went over to
the hospital to visit a member from our ward who has MS and is in and out of
the hospital regularly. They are the Honeycutts and they are the nicest! But Sister Honeycutt wasn't there so we didn't
stay long. We then found out that the
bus wasn't running so we had no way to get home. Thankfully, a member was able to come and get
us. Once we got back to our apartment,
we decided to give Rose a call who lives in our apartment complex and the
sisters have been giving service to. So
we went over there. She is in a
wheelchair and needs a lot of help so we just helped her fold some
laundry. We then shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon
with her and bore testimony of it. She
then proceeded to talk about some of the craziest things I've ever heard in my
life. It became very clear that this
woman had been researching on the internet and came across conspiracies and
false information. It was clear that she
didn't believe in our church and was trying to persuade us that we needed to research
more and "open our eyes.” It was an
extremely scary experience for me. I
felt absolutely awful. I truly felt like
it was Satan talking to me. Telling me untrue things about my church, and who
Christ is (She talked about some conspiracy of records of babies being born to
virgin mothers) and who God is (She kept saying "Geometry of Dimension,
G.O.D). It was just a very terrible
experience. It's clear that she is a
very, very confused woman and it has become difficult for her to discern
between things of God and of man. The feeling in that room was the complete
opposite of what the spirit feels like. Thankfully she randomly started praying
and we were able to leave. Sister West
and I just felt awful! We said a prayer and were able to feel a little better.
It was just so upsetting
to me because I am never going to believe the "philosophies of man mingled
with scripture.” If it does not come
from a living prophet or leader of the church\ called of god, the Bible, or the
Book of Mormon, then it is not from God and is therefore not true.
Moroni 7:13-4
"But behold, that
which is of God inviteth and eticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every
thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve
him, is inspired of God.
Wherefore, take heed, my
beloved brethren, that ye do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that
which is good and of God to be of the devil."
Satan is real and he is
determined. I am so grateful for the knowledge and testimony I have that this
gospel is true and I am not going to be persuaded otherwise. Although it was a trying week, my faith has
been strengthened so much! I know that the Lord has sent angels my way to bear
me up on my right and my left. These are
the Latter days! But I am so glad to be able to participate in the gathering of
Israel. The field is white! There are
many people here that I know that I was supposed to meet and invite them to
join in the straight and narrow path.
The gospel is true! I
love ya'll! (Sorry this email is so long)
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