Keziah in Kentucky: Can you at least make it to 200?

On Monday evening we were supposed to have a lesson, but it ended up falling through. We ended up contacting a lot of people though and were able to set up lessons later in the week, so that was good! After contacting people we had a call with the Bluegrass Sisters. They are so sweet! After their call we had another call with the Zone Leaders to finish planning ZLC (Zone Leadership Council). After that we did some social media work and called it a night.

On Tuesday we had personal study early in the morning, so that we could drive to ZLC before our weekly mission-wide Zoom call. On the Zoom call one of the main topics was that church policy changes, but not church doctrine. They related it to golf and the change in the club used to hit the ball. The goal of getting the ball into the hole in the least number of swings never changes and yet we change the club to be more effective. I really liked that analogy because God's end goal never changes and yet he makes changes to policy to help us be most effective. Right after the Zoom call we had ZLC. The main topic at ZLC was reverence and receiving revelation. We have some amazing District leaders in our zone, so we were able to have some really good discussions. After ZLC we went to lunch at Culver's. After lunch we flew home, planned our lessons, and had a phone call lesson with our new member KC. The lesson was rather interesting because he was mad at someone and was super stuck on it. The entire lesson he kept bringing back to it, so it was super “interesting.” After his lesson, we contacted a lot of people and had an impromptu lesson with a referral. They had not been answering us, so we were stopping by for the last time, but they ended up being home and we got to teach them about the Book of Mormon and they were super excited. After that we had dinner with the Krebs, did social media work and a device audit.

On Wednesday, we had a walking day! We found 4 potential friends and were able to see a lot of miracles. I love our walking days because we walk between 5 and a half to 6 miles. A kind of funny moment on our walk that was rather unfortunate was when I got a bloody nose (thankfully I had tissues), but we awkwardly stood over by a dumpster until it stopped. We also had two different people ask us for money during our walk. The first person was a teenager (probably around 14) who came up to us and asked how old we were. We told him 20 and he goes, "both of you!!?" When we responded yes he told us he was mad that he had only earned 96 dollars at work because he usually made around 400. He asked if we could make it at least 200 🤣 . We offered him a Book of Mormon… and HE TURNED US DOWN! After walking we decided to drive to pick up dinner from some of our members. Probably a good idea since the member told us they were glad we were in a car because it was not safe to be walking. He told us it was particularly dangerous over on Centre Pkwy…exactly where we spent the entire day walking. We neglected to tell him and his wife about how we had spent the rest of out day (considering that that is our favorite place to go walking).

On Thursday we had a zone comp study about comp study. 🙂 After that we also had a social media training. The training was set up like a Q and A. It was kind of fun and is supposed to prepare us for the mission challenge we have coming up (basically a war between the zones). After that we went street contacting and were supposed to have a lesson but he canceled on us. We even had a member with us. Instead we went with the member to visit one of the elderly members of the ward. After her visit, we visited some other people and had a phone call lesson with our friend Janis. She is a super sweet older lady. After her lesson, we frantically tried to hand out pamphlets (we were having a challenge within the zone and we are kind of competitive). We then had a lesson with our friend Darren. We talked about the first vision and basically the more we talk to him the more convinced he becomes that our teachings are reasonable. After his lesson we had dinner with the Greens at a Greek restaurant. After dinner we had stake correlation and a call with the Danville/Liberty sisters.

On Friday we were supposed to have a lesson, but on the way there realized we dis not have an apartment address. We called them and they did not pick up, so that ended up falling through. We then went to District Council (DC) One set of elders was 30 minutes late, and we could not go in the room until they got there. It was honestly quite funny. At DC we talked a lot about the importance of using the scriptures to teach. After DC, we ate lunch and drove to exchange with the Somerset sisters. I went to Somerset for the day with Sister Hatch and it was definitely weird to be back in the boonies (even though I have only been in the city for 2 weeks). Sister Hatch is a super sweet missionary in her second transfer of training, so it was fun to have her leading out the area. We were able to call some of their friends and set things up. We also went store contacting. I realized that with my great skill we did not take a single picture the entire exchange. 🤦

A highlight was that we got to do service for one of their friends and it was so fun! We were helping move boxes and things because they are slowly unpacking from moving. The Somerset sisters also had an awesome map of the mission in their that shows each area of the mission and I realized my second area was by far the largest area that I have served in! After the exchange we finally got around to reporting the last 3 days. After reporting we visited some people, ate dinner, and had a call with the Richmond ASL sisters.

On Sunday we ended up joining the Cumberland district in a fast for their areas. (They are really struggling to find friends and have lessons.) We went to ward council and then had church. We were frantically trying to find women to join us in lessons because we had 4 lessons scheduled - 3 of which we needed a woman. We asked probably 30 women all of which said it was a bad day and they were not available. 🙁 We ended up canceling two of our lessons, but last minute one of the women said she could join us. We had such a good lesson with a referral we had never met and his wife (turns out we did not need a woman after all 🤦)! They told us all about how they are looking for a church and have met with missionaries in the past. They agreed with everything we were talking about and kept telling us about things the past missionaries had taught them. It was a cool testament that God really does help us find those he is preparing for the gospel. We were supposed to have a video call with one of our new members, but she never picked up. Instead, we contacted people, ate dinner, and went to the Relief Society Devotional. It was a cool Devotional that talked about the need for women in the Lord's work. After the Devotional we finally had personal study! We also had a DL and then called it a night.

One thing I have been pondering on recently is change. God did not send us to this Earth to be stagnant. Just like our friends learn and progress towards our Savior, we too need to learn and progress! I have learned so much over the past year as I have studied and taught. I have learned that Christ truly is by your side through our highs and lows. He will lift us and guide us through! I have also learned that as we work hard and trust God he will make miracles happen. I know that God is there for each and everyone of you. He loves you no matter what!!

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