I'll start with our last pday, which was actually pretty fun. Usually the zl's don't really have an activity planned, but want everyone to go to zone activity..? Doesn't make sense because it's felt like a waste of time, but this time was fun! We played gator ball, which I could not wrap my head around. It's basically soccer mixed with basketball. I just couldn't get myself to catch the ball instead of kick it. Fun tho. After that we all sorta did our own things, some people played basketball and I played soccer with an elder and a sister. Eventually Sister Loring tapped out and Elder De Olivera and I passed and juggled the ball. Which i also suck at....(juggling i mean) but I got better!
On Wednesday we found out about President Monson passing, which I was sad about, but also a little glad for him. I'm sure there was a level of relief involved because of his medical problems. I wrote an entry in my journal about what I remember his key teachings being. I feel like he talked a lot about charity and love, as well as refraining from judging others. One of his most memorable talks for me was his "Dare to Stand alone" conference address, where he spoke about standing up for your testimony, even if you may stand alone. He was a wonderful prophet and he will be missed.
That night we had a sweet experience with the members around here. Our dinner appointment had forgotten she was feeding us and is going through a crazy family/friend time and ended up dropping off a pizza hut gift card to us instead. (it was adorable, her little boy hopped out of the car to hand Sister Thomas the gift card and took off his cowboy hat and everythingxD So cute!!) Anyways well we ate at pizza hut and when we finished, the waitress brings our "check", which was actually a piece of paper that said someone had already paid for us! It was pretty sweet and we had no idea who to thank because the whole place was filled with members. The members here love us though and definitely take care of us.
We also taught a Book of Mormon class that night, (we have 2 a week) and I can testify that the Book of Mormon will make an impact on your life. It's been amazing to see the changes in some of the less-actives that come to our class! One has decided to quit smoking and another, after almost 12 years of no headway from members in the area, mentioned coming to church next week. We don't know if she'll actually show, but the change in her has been amazing to see. She wouldn't keep commitments before, but now faithfully comes to our Wednesday night class each week. The Book of Mormon will change your life and bring you closer to God if you let it.
In his last email, President Hancock (our mission president) spoke about lacking faith, and thus not seeing miracles. So Sister Thomas and I decided to work on having faith. On Saturday we set out to see a ton of people and it was a little discouraging, because most were busy and the ones that weren't aren't necessarily new investigators/less actives. It was almost time for dinner and we had gone through all of our names and back-ups, but still had a half hour. We went by a house we've been wondering about and decided to stop and knock. Well a non member lives there! (this is a miracle in and of itself.) And what's more, she was friendly to us and is looking for answers!!! She asked a pretty hard question, she's had 10 pregnancies and all of them failed. She can't keep babies to term so she was basically asking why. Why God would let that happen to her. Not just 3, but 10 times. Unfortunately, there isn't really a straight answer, and she was a little belittling to us (19 yr olds..."i mean you guys are cute"..) but I felt like Pahoran when he gets torn into by Captain Moroni. I was just happy to find her and discover that she is looking for answers and the is open to us. So we'll see where that goes!! (and to semi answer the question, God lets things like this happen to us to build our faith in him, humble us to turn our hearts to him, or because he knows we can handle it and we'll become a stronger and a better person from it. I also know that If she lives righteously and follows the gospel of Jesus Christ by being baptized and doing the necessary ordinances for salvation, she'll have the opportunity to raise those children in the life to come)
The fact that God is helping us to find those who are interested and ready for the gospel was only further shown to me, when we taught one of our less-actives last night. Holy cow! We taught the commandments and how we are blessed when we keep them. Well he ended up sharing the spiritual experiences that got him wanting to become active again, that he hadn't told us before! Heavenly Father was preparing him with these experiences, and then we showed up and asked to teach him. What was even more interesting to hear was that multiple sets of missionaries had stopped by before, but none had actually asked to teach him the lessons and because we were bold and asked him that straight up, he agreed! He said he wouldn't have been opposed to it before, but none of them asked him. Lessons learned- God is helping us to find people if we act with faith, and be bold because sometimes that's what it takes.
I hope you all had a good week, I miss you and I love you(:
Sister Jensen
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