On Tuesday we went to visit a lot of people, but it was not a super successful day. We also drove up to Jefferson, Indiana, that night so we would not have to drive all the way to Louisville for new missionary training in the morning. We spent the night with the Jefferson Sisters. It was funny because Sister Gunderson (one of the Jefferson Sisters) was Sister Bayne's trainer, who was Sister Bastian's trainer. Within the mission we jokingly have family trees for trainers and their trainees. So with that explained, Tuesday night we stayed at Grandma's house (my Great-grandma's house) :).
On Wednesday we woke up at 5:30 am instead of 6:30 because we switched time zones by driving to Jefferson. We had a pretty calm morning followed by new missionary training. It was really cool because all the new missionaries around the mission came together and got to talk about how the last 5 weeks had gone. We also got new tips on how to improve. It was a really good meeting, but the last hour seemed like it was never going to end. Right after training ended we left to drive back to our area. Shortly after we got back to our area we had a member dinner. The member dinner was followed immediately by a lesson with one of our newer friends. I still do not know what was going on during that lesson. I could not decide if they were bashing us or genuinely wanted to learn more about our beliefs. They kept pulling out Bible verse about why we were wrong. We would calmly explain the verse and they would come up with different question/arguments (do not know what to consider them). The lesson went super long, which made us late to a song recording my companion and one of the Elders were making for a Facebook post. We went immediately to the Church to record and they did not finish until 15 minutes before 9 pm (our curfew). We drove to our apartment and sprinted upstairs to not miss curfew. I do not know if we made it. At least if we were late it was only by a few minutes. Wednesday was a super long and exhausting day, but there were many good things during it.
On Thursday, we had weekly planning. I think it is one of the first times on my mission that we actually had two hours set aside that we could work on it. Normally we are scrambling around and lucky to have an entire hour dedicated only to weekly planning. Thursday night we had a lesson with our friends, Dane and Ashley. It was a really good lesson where we focused on different commandments. We also finally got a member to be present at one of their lessons! We have been trying for three or four weeks and none of our prior attempts to have a member at their lessons have worked. We had a member meal after Dane and Ashley's lesson. One of my new favorite things is to grab random objects from around our apartment and make object lessons using them. I am getting really good and coming up with short, fun object lessons quickly.
We have some members who must think we never get fed, because they will have us over for a meal and then give us all the leftovers. Last week (maybe two weeks ago) we had a member give us a plastic ice cream bucket full of beef and noodles. They were pretty good, but did not freeze well and were way more than two people could eat in a week. We ate them for like 6 different meals, but only got about half way through. On Thursday I opened the fridge and realized they were rotting. We dealt with them that night right before taking out the trash. I was cleaning out the bucket (we did not know if the member wanted it back) and I kept gagging. My companion kept thinking I was going to throw up. It was really funny to hear her version of the story after we finished cleaning up.
On Friday we had district lunch and our final district council of the transfer. District lunch was super entertaining because my district is hilarious. We have some Elders who do not always know what is going on and it makes all their comments in conversations super funny. The STLs came to our final district council. They did a training about uplifting people that we come in contact with. They did an object lesson with water and as people gave examples of hurtful things/mistakes we could make they dropped food coloring in. They then related the water back to a person that is being hurt by those around them. They then dumped bleach in the water which turned it white (or cleaned it). The point of the lesson was that we can choose to uplift the people around us or be the bleach. I learned this week that I should be like bleach – corrosive and dangerous. 🤣 After district council we wrote in each other's transfer journals and did device audits. Also, thanks to district council, we are officially over miles again this month.
On Saturday we were supposed to have three lessons back to back. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM CANCELED! One of them texted five minutes before to tell us she was unavailable (we were pulling into her parking lot at the time) and neither of the other ones answered the door. I like tracting, but when you have planned to teach three lessons and instead end up tracting for 4 hours straight it is no longer something enjoyable. I was definitely glad to get back to the apartment at dinner time…and I did not even have to knock for the door to be opened!
This week I learned how to switch colors when crocheting, so I decided to attempt making a bumble bee. He could definitely be better, but I do not think he looks half bad, especially considering that I did not follow a pattern and made him in like 2 hours.
On Sunday we had a lesson with our friend Alan after church. He is super funny. He started the lesson by telling us about his failure to follow a biscuits recipe this past week, because he just saw the list of ingredients and did not realize there were instructions. He then related the missing instructions to the Book of Mormon being our instructions for. I was so proud of myself because he always makes fun of me and I found a way to make fun of him. I told him it was hard to follow the instructions in the Book of Mormon if you only read the front cover. He thought that was super funny. Later in the lesson, we were following up on our commitment to him to read 2 Nephi chapter 9 this past week, he said, "It was good for me" and then paused. We said "that's great." He then finished his sentence, "...to be confused." It was super funny.
On Sunday night we went tracting before we had dinner with a member family. After dinner they let us see their baby bunnies. The babies were only 3 or 4 days old! They did not have a lot of fur yet, but were still really cute.
It is crazy to me that the transfer ends tomorrow. I cannot believe that I have already been here for six weeks!
This week's quote by Jeffrey R. Holland reads, "When making decisions, God expects us to pray, trust, and be believing and then not to give up, panic, or 'jump ship' when something doesn't seem to be going right." I know that often things do not happen in our timing or our way, but that does not mean God does not have a plan. Anytime we do not seem to be having success door knocking or people cancel last minute on lessons my companion says, "The Lord is trying us to see if we will continue to listen." I know that as we listen and follow God's plan everything will work out exactly as it is supposed to.
Pictures:
- Bumble Bee I crocheted
- Last district council of the transfer
- Sister's comp study from last week or the week before
- Sisters at District Council
- Out tracting
(Left to Right): Elder Bagwell, Elder Melby, Elder Pettit, Elder Seely,
Sister Mills, Sister Strong, Me, Sister Smith, Sister Doutt, and Sister Bastian
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