"On the other side of that veil there are angels riding with their chariots of fire to be a protection for your child."
- Jeffrey R. Holland
Let me tell you, for those
that have not served a mission, there is no such thing as "normal;" in fact, "normal" is just a setting on the dryer!
We had our serious talk with Tracey on Monday night, and it went so great! Sister Dana watched the kids while Sister Anderson and I talked to Tracey about how we weren’t going to go through with the baptism unless she was going to be there to support them and help them every step of the way. Sister Anderson even laid it out there saying that she wasn’t going to take them to the interview unless Tracey came with them. Well, I will tell you that the Spirit definitely guided that conversation because we were able to be bold but also super loving. There were tears shed between Tracey and I, and we were able to talk to her about the importance of baptism, how this step will change her children's lives forever. She finally understood, and every day this week she has been there for the lessons, she came to the interview, she came to church, and she is now inviting everyone to their baptism this Saturday. She is awesome, and I know that the Lord needed her to hear specific things that evening. I am grateful that Sister Anderson and I could be the instruments that he used that evening.
We also were able to have a great lesson with Sister Price- two actually. She always signs up to feed us, and when we share our messages with her, we are helping the kids learn in a different way and help her as she brought herself back to church. We shared a really powerful message about visions that pertained to General Conference, and that led to the importance of knowing God's Plan of Salvation. She told us that she had forgotten about this Plan and asked us to re-teach it to her and her children. We are going through everything using the scriptures as reference for her and the kids. It has been great and has given me the opportunity to do a lot more studying on it all!
Wednesday night was a great night but also a little scary. The previous Wednesday at our missionary coordination meeting, I was asked by our Ward Mission Leader to make sure that both he and the bishop were adhering to the guidelines in Preach My Gospel. I was so happy that he gave me that responsibility but I also was a little nervous because I know that there were some changes that NEEDED to be made. So I talked to the other missionaries, and we decided that if questions were asked, we would all support one another and I would bring it up by saying, "May I return and report on an assignment given to me last week?" They were responsive to it and really grateful that we all brought it to their attention!
The next day was a little crazy! ... I went to Marion on exchanges, and we had a great day planned with lots of appointments! Well, I will tell you that the reason why missionaries are so exhausted is because they experience EVERY type of physical exhaustion known to man! Not only is there physical, spiritual, and mental exhaustion but also emotional. In one day I was angry, happy, mad, excited, sad, patient, glad, frustrated... and the list can go on and on. It was a day that I will never forget because we had one member who is a recent convert that is literally losing her mind! She was yelling at us because the care home that she was living at was not answering her questions. We had a 6 minute appointment with someone because she pushed back the time, and it took us forever to sit down and get started. We got anti's super bad! (I’ll get to that story in a minute), and we met a lady who also is a recent convert. She started smoking again, and she asked why she shouldn’t be allowed to? What else is there after baptism? We told her that there is the temple to work towards, and she responded, "Oh ya..." Haha it was so funny! Needless to say, she is going to quit smoking and work towards that!
So the anti story... we had to leave our 6 minute appointment on time because we had this appointment planned with someone at the church. Right when we pulled up to the church, we got a text from the investigator saying that they couldn’t make it anymore to which we responded, "Well the member is on his way to your house right now." He texted back saying that he will follow the man to the church then. So when he pulled up, he had two other men with him. Sister Nalls decided that we should give them a chapel tour and everything was going great! We were in the chapel explaining what all went on in this part of the building and then they just wanted to talk in there. Well, we decided that it would be more respectful to go into the other room and talk, so once we got all the chairs set up in a circle we sat down. Within one second they went crazy! I swear they planned to just come in and disrespect the Prophet Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, and everything else that we believed. They jumped to so many conclusions and then would ask questions but not give us time to respond. They also kept quoting things from the Bible, and finally Sister Nalls said "What is the greatest commandment?" They responded, "To love the Lord thy God." And right after that, she said, "And what’s the second greatest commandment?" They just looked at her, and she said "Do you love me right now?" And they just went off saying that she is choosing to feel offended and how the guilty take the truth to be hard... blah blah blah... Sister Nalls said that she wasn’t offended but that she felt completely unloved at the moment. It was getting intense, and the Spirit was completely gone. We are commanded that when the Spirit isn’t there, we shall not teach. I finally had enough of them and said, "You know, this is completely uncalled for. We didn’t invite you into our church building to tell you that you are wrong. We invited you in here to learn about what we love and know to be true. If you don’t agree, that is totally fine and completely your choice, but it is not okay to talk like this or act like this in our church and in front of us. It is time for you to leave." I probably could have said it in a lot nicer way, but I was sick to my stomach of how satanic the feeling was in the room. It was crazy! It was not the greatest experience, but I really felt so sad because I completely love them still. It is so hard when people choose to act like that!
On a brighter note, I got back on Friday, and we had Treyvon and Ake'lee's baptismal interview. They passed with flying colors!!! When they each finished with their interview, they had the brightest light in their eyes. Even Tracey noticed a difference! It is going to be a great baptism this week especially since each companionship will be having a baptism. We have the elders with one, the other sisters with one, and then us with Treyvon and Ake'lee! It is going to be so special and so awesome!
We finished off this week with having interviews with our mission president and then being instructed by his wife. I think that it all went well, and President Daines told me that I would be a great lawyer! YES!!! Haha I really enjoy him as our mission president because he is strictly adhering to Preach My Gospel, and that has made things so much easier!
I completely love this work, and I am so grateful for all that is going on! I know that "all things are done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things." As we constantly follow the Lord's example and do as He instructs, we will not be led astray, and we will do as He did... serve one another and treat others the way that we would want to be treated. I am so grateful for my amazing family! They are truly wonderful and do so much good in this world! Keep up the great work! I truly love this work, and I love my job!
-- Sister Gale
We had our serious talk with Tracey on Monday night, and it went so great! Sister Dana watched the kids while Sister Anderson and I talked to Tracey about how we weren’t going to go through with the baptism unless she was going to be there to support them and help them every step of the way. Sister Anderson even laid it out there saying that she wasn’t going to take them to the interview unless Tracey came with them. Well, I will tell you that the Spirit definitely guided that conversation because we were able to be bold but also super loving. There were tears shed between Tracey and I, and we were able to talk to her about the importance of baptism, how this step will change her children's lives forever. She finally understood, and every day this week she has been there for the lessons, she came to the interview, she came to church, and she is now inviting everyone to their baptism this Saturday. She is awesome, and I know that the Lord needed her to hear specific things that evening. I am grateful that Sister Anderson and I could be the instruments that he used that evening.
We also were able to have a great lesson with Sister Price- two actually. She always signs up to feed us, and when we share our messages with her, we are helping the kids learn in a different way and help her as she brought herself back to church. We shared a really powerful message about visions that pertained to General Conference, and that led to the importance of knowing God's Plan of Salvation. She told us that she had forgotten about this Plan and asked us to re-teach it to her and her children. We are going through everything using the scriptures as reference for her and the kids. It has been great and has given me the opportunity to do a lot more studying on it all!
Wednesday night was a great night but also a little scary. The previous Wednesday at our missionary coordination meeting, I was asked by our Ward Mission Leader to make sure that both he and the bishop were adhering to the guidelines in Preach My Gospel. I was so happy that he gave me that responsibility but I also was a little nervous because I know that there were some changes that NEEDED to be made. So I talked to the other missionaries, and we decided that if questions were asked, we would all support one another and I would bring it up by saying, "May I return and report on an assignment given to me last week?" They were responsive to it and really grateful that we all brought it to their attention!
The next day was a little crazy! ... I went to Marion on exchanges, and we had a great day planned with lots of appointments! Well, I will tell you that the reason why missionaries are so exhausted is because they experience EVERY type of physical exhaustion known to man! Not only is there physical, spiritual, and mental exhaustion but also emotional. In one day I was angry, happy, mad, excited, sad, patient, glad, frustrated... and the list can go on and on. It was a day that I will never forget because we had one member who is a recent convert that is literally losing her mind! She was yelling at us because the care home that she was living at was not answering her questions. We had a 6 minute appointment with someone because she pushed back the time, and it took us forever to sit down and get started. We got anti's super bad! (I’ll get to that story in a minute), and we met a lady who also is a recent convert. She started smoking again, and she asked why she shouldn’t be allowed to? What else is there after baptism? We told her that there is the temple to work towards, and she responded, "Oh ya..." Haha it was so funny! Needless to say, she is going to quit smoking and work towards that!
So the anti story... we had to leave our 6 minute appointment on time because we had this appointment planned with someone at the church. Right when we pulled up to the church, we got a text from the investigator saying that they couldn’t make it anymore to which we responded, "Well the member is on his way to your house right now." He texted back saying that he will follow the man to the church then. So when he pulled up, he had two other men with him. Sister Nalls decided that we should give them a chapel tour and everything was going great! We were in the chapel explaining what all went on in this part of the building and then they just wanted to talk in there. Well, we decided that it would be more respectful to go into the other room and talk, so once we got all the chairs set up in a circle we sat down. Within one second they went crazy! I swear they planned to just come in and disrespect the Prophet Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, and everything else that we believed. They jumped to so many conclusions and then would ask questions but not give us time to respond. They also kept quoting things from the Bible, and finally Sister Nalls said "What is the greatest commandment?" They responded, "To love the Lord thy God." And right after that, she said, "And what’s the second greatest commandment?" They just looked at her, and she said "Do you love me right now?" And they just went off saying that she is choosing to feel offended and how the guilty take the truth to be hard... blah blah blah... Sister Nalls said that she wasn’t offended but that she felt completely unloved at the moment. It was getting intense, and the Spirit was completely gone. We are commanded that when the Spirit isn’t there, we shall not teach. I finally had enough of them and said, "You know, this is completely uncalled for. We didn’t invite you into our church building to tell you that you are wrong. We invited you in here to learn about what we love and know to be true. If you don’t agree, that is totally fine and completely your choice, but it is not okay to talk like this or act like this in our church and in front of us. It is time for you to leave." I probably could have said it in a lot nicer way, but I was sick to my stomach of how satanic the feeling was in the room. It was crazy! It was not the greatest experience, but I really felt so sad because I completely love them still. It is so hard when people choose to act like that!
On a brighter note, I got back on Friday, and we had Treyvon and Ake'lee's baptismal interview. They passed with flying colors!!! When they each finished with their interview, they had the brightest light in their eyes. Even Tracey noticed a difference! It is going to be a great baptism this week especially since each companionship will be having a baptism. We have the elders with one, the other sisters with one, and then us with Treyvon and Ake'lee! It is going to be so special and so awesome!
We finished off this week with having interviews with our mission president and then being instructed by his wife. I think that it all went well, and President Daines told me that I would be a great lawyer! YES!!! Haha I really enjoy him as our mission president because he is strictly adhering to Preach My Gospel, and that has made things so much easier!
I completely love this work, and I am so grateful for all that is going on! I know that "all things are done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things." As we constantly follow the Lord's example and do as He instructs, we will not be led astray, and we will do as He did... serve one another and treat others the way that we would want to be treated. I am so grateful for my amazing family! They are truly wonderful and do so much good in this world! Keep up the great work! I truly love this work, and I love my job!
-- Sister Gale
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