90% Attitude

HELLO! What a week. I am utterly exhausted. But I guess that is the point of missionary work. I just felt the spirit SO strong all week. It is so real. I just really felt like Heavenly Father was guiding us all week to people who needed us. After lots of prayers, and seeking, and not giving up.

There were so many wonderful things that happened this week and I'm just going to have to brush the surface of it all. 

On a less spiritual note Monday we had dinner with the Gantts an older couple in the ward. Their house looks very similar to a museum and they have a very large collection of self-playing mechanical instruments that are quite old and rare. So many that it takes 2 hours to take a "tour" of their home. We took the 20 min version. They have a player piano that plays "rhapsody in blue" the exact way that Charles Gershwin would, a self-playing banjo, violin, and antique music boxes.  It was quite the experience! 

Tuesday we went out with Sister Spencer our Relief Society President to try and visit some less actives we don't know anything about. We had the privilege of meeting the wonderful Nancy Joyner.  She is my new favorite human.  She moved into the ward in April after her husband died.  She is in her 70s and from Wilson, NC.  She is just as southern as it gets and an absolute hoot.  We laughed with her and we cried with her.  She announced to us that she just found out that she has cancer, there's a tumor in her leg.  She is very positive about it and shared with us her husband's advice, "It's 90% about your attitude, so if you go in there with the attitude that it's going to get fixed and everything's going to be alright then it is." She is an incredible, faithful, God-loving woman. 

Zone conference was also this week and it is always just the best.  It is just the pick me up I always need.  I love President and Sister James so much! They have missionaries who are leaving bare their testimony and I was the only one and it was just the weirdest thing I've ever experienced.  I have 9 transfers left right?

We have been tracting, and tracting, and tracting, and we found some of the most ELECT people this week. Some who didn't quite turn into "investigators," but will be soon.  Friday night we were in this apartment complex and a girl probably in her 20s answers.  At first she is pretty stand-offish and just says "I'm more spiritual than religious" but as we just keep talking with her and teaching her at the door you can just see the spirit working with her and she was so excited about the Book of Mormon at the end and even asked if she could give us hugs! 

We were so excited about Saturday because we FINALLY had some actual appointments set up but as it always goes they all fell through except one. So after our 3rd appointment fell through we were just standing in the street bemoaning our luck and we decided to say a prayer and start knocking again and plead with Heavenly Father to just give us one person who will be interested.  Second door we knock is this woman named Marjan who was so incredibly nice and wants us to come back and teach her family.  Last week we were walking down this street and we actually saw her (we didn't know it was her) and her husband loading some stuff in a truck and we stopped and asked if they needed any help, and they declined.  Marjan remembered that we had done that!! Seriously so awesome.

We had 15 minutes before our appointment with Sharon and William so we prayed again to be able to find one person and sure enough the first door we knock lets us in! 

And finally, we had a lesson with Sharon again and her husband William! It was sooo good.  They are so prepared but just haven't been able to recognize that they are yet.  A couple weeks ago they were driving up north and saw the Washington DC temple and took a picture of it because they wanted to know what it was.  And just before we came Sharon had been feeling like she wanted to start her own "Bible study" because she wasn't getting enough out of the one she was going to.  There have just been so many things like that preparing them!  They are willing to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. 

Well this week was Amazing. The Gospel is true and God is good.

Love  ya,

xoxo Sister Dearden