Tim Tam Slam

HELLO. Sister Dearden here! 

How are ya'll doing?  This week was an interesting one.  Some weeks are just better than others!  It was still a good week, just not in the terms of finding people to teach! 

Tuesday we had interviews with President and Sister James.  I just love them.  I had a great interview with President and he gave me some great advice concerning the church policy changes.  Also, I just want to be Sister James when I am older.  She is always so put together and has like 5 different pairs of glasses.  She is also a professional artist!  She did a mural in President Uchtdorf's home!  Ok enough fan-girling over Sister James.  We went on exchanges on Tuesday so I stayed in our area with Sister Muder.  We had a pretty good day, saw some less-actives and met a new part member family and contacted a former investigator.  Then dinner happened... We had dinner with Randy and Angel who is Sister Hill's Son and Daughter-in-law. Randy didn't join us for dinner so that was a little awkward.  So it was Angela, Sister Hill, Sister Muder and I.  We had a good dinner and then planned to teach her afterwards cause she is not a member.  We had planned to do the Restoration and I started us out and somehow Sister Hill started talking about the plan of Salvation so I just went along with that.  That was my first mistake.  Long story short it was a terrible lesson.  Sister Hill, I love her dearly, but she introduced some deep deep doctrine that does not need to be taught to someone on the first lesson.  But hey at least we got a dinner out of it right?? haha some things are just out of your control! 

Wednesday we had a neat experience contacting a referral that someone had given us while we were at Mary Brown's one day.  You never know who you will run into at Mary Brown's!  The woman who gave us the referral was high as a kite when she gave it to us, but it was her mom who was the referral.  We were finally able to contact her on Wednesday and she was incredibly nice and was open to us coming back!  She had been on my mind for a while and I knew that we needed to contact her. 

Leslie and Kenny are doing great as recent converts!  They are so funny.  Leslie's grandma is in the nursing home and they are there quite frequently.  Kenny just loves to tell us how he is sharing Book of Mormon verses with people in the nursing home and teaching them!  Haha, Not sure exactly what he teaches them since he still has a lot to learn, haha.  So Friday we went with Leslie and Kenny to the nursing home and taught someone they had given a Book of Mormon too!  We are going to see her again next week. 

Friday and Saturday were spent trying to contact people on the ward roster and potential investigators.  You'd think people would be home on a Saturday right? WRONG.  Nobody was home.  And the people that were home were not interested.  Funny Story: We knocked on someone's door who was a former investigator and the woman opened the door and was like "Oh I'm not interested in the LDS, but I did vote for Mitt Romney and I appreciate you guys uh.. walking around!" hahahaha Uh thank you for appreciating us walking around?  Another person's door we knocked on who was a potential investigator and in the middle of us talking to them someone in the house yells, "PAM IT'S ON FIRE" And the woman at the door remained completely calm. hah Sister Michael said something like, "Oh well, we will let you attend to that fire" and we left. hahaha It was just crazy! 

On Sunday, we had a really neat experience though.  We finally taught someone something! haha  Mary Browns grandson, Stephen, just got out of jail on Saturday.  While he was in jail he started reading the Bible and had a lot of very spiritual experiences.  He is incredible!  He has such a determination to serve God and do His will now.  You would never believe he had been in jail.  He isn't super interested in the gospel, but we still had a great time with him.  He shared with us some of the poems he wrote in jail and they were beautiful.  Sister Hill was with us and we all piled into her car to go look at a house for Mary Brown to move.  It was probably the strangest assortment of people, but it was just a really good time!  Stephen is incredibly nice and open, so we are hoping with time, he will be more interested. 

I have noticed that I've been feeling a little overwhelmed by my calling.  I am 19 years old with very limited life experience.  Who am I to tell someone that they need to change their life?  Who am I to teach someone about God?  I'm sounding a little bit like Moses aren't I?  I am learning that I, myself, am not capable of converting anyone.  I need Heavenly Father's and Jesus Christ's help.  I am learning that I need to rely on and Trust in God and the Spirit which He gives us.  He will make up the difference.  If I am giving myself to much "prayer and fasting," so that the lord will "grant unto (me) a portion of His spirit to go with (me), that (I) might be an instrument in the hands of God." (Alma 1:9)

I am still learning and that's okay.  Sister Michael has taught me that Heavenly Father cares if you are trying.  I am definitely trying to teach this gospel and I hope that I will continue to improve my teaching as I learn to truly rely on Him and the Spirit. 

Love ya'll!