It has been a crazy week! On tuesday we did another exchange, except this time I was staying in Eden Prairie, and a different sister was coming to my area. Not only that, she was a greenie (new missionary) too. So picture two girls who have only been in minnesota for two weeks trying to figure out where to go, especially when opening an area..Oh and heres the kicker, my trainer accidently took the car keys with her. so we didnt have the car for the day...and our area is huge! and we had an appointment at 2 completely across town...So you know what we did. I mapped the way to her house, (an outdated map we found out) and biked the entire way to her house..which was about 7-8 miles. Also that day I realized that I dislike grasshoppers almost as much as I hate spiders. There were HUNDREDS on the way to her house, and they kept jumping up in our skirts...you can betcha that I shrieked like a little girl. Probably funniest part was when my companion for the day, sister mcrae, wanted a picture of herself near a lake off of the freeway (yeah we biked that too) and so she sets her bike down and about 40 insects just fly and jump up at her...I dont think ive laughed so hard in a long time. hah, Anyways we got there though! and it went amazing! Her name is Sister Pederson, and seriously, I love her. She reminds me of you, mom. (: anyways, this sweet woman has gone through a lot and has been struggling with repentance. We often dont realize that forgiveness is a huge part of repentance. Not only do we need to go to the Lord with a broken heart and ask Him for forgiveness but WE need to forgive ourselves, and those who have hurt us. I was able to share with her the story of "the room" which talks about the atonement, it is super powerful, and one of my favorite stories. Thanks Jackie for sharing it with me when I was investigating, 3 years later and it still impacts me (: So everyone, I would attach it to this email if i could, but were not allowed to. so google it! Other than that, we are still meeting with Beverly, she is the first person I ever taught coming to minnesota and shes been hard to contact, but we were able to meet with her twice this week and its been awesome. She has had a lot of questions regarding the plan of salvation, but the more we are able to meet with her and really simplify it, I notice the spirit working in her. She has been meeting with missionaries off and on for about three years now, and there was a big break when her husband got cancer and then passed away, so its been some time that the missionaries have visited her. We try and have a member come to our discussions and we had a member with us who has participated in the discussions with beverly previously..and she told us that beverly had never prayed with the missionaries before, but she prays with us. I know that she feels the spirit and I know the spirit is working in her. Its been awesome to watch (: Also Allison, the girl I told you about last week, we had an appointment with her, but she cancelled because her mom told her she couldnt go. It seriously broke my heart, because I know Allison has felt the spirit, shes reading the book of mormon, and she has a desire to know...but we cant do much since she is a minor. So we will keep trying to get in contact with her famly. Theres also Estafan, he is 13 and his family are members of the church but he is not. We taught him this week about the plan of salvation and we are meeting with him again tonight. Its been hard to keep him focused so ive been trying hard to figure out how to make the opportunities weve had to meet with him more fun, I think tonight will be really good. Candy has been my go to, but weve got a few other things planned for tonight too (: we shall see! Other than that, its been a hard week, and not with a lot of success. We have been finding, or otherwise known as tracting a lot..one day thats all we did. I personally do not like tracting because its not super effective, but its been interesting because we teach as we find, so its been interesting to figure out what will allow people to open up to you, so you can share something with them that will touch their hearts. If anyone knows the restoration, you know theres a lot of information given, its been fun to simplify it as much as possible and try to apply it to them in a matter of minutes. But its hard! Although it hasnt been a super successful week, Ive seen small miracles. And they usually come right at 9 o'clock..of course they would! hah. Twice, after a long full day of tracting without much success, we decide to knock on one more door before we really have to get home...it was the last house and this sweet single mom lets us into her home and we were able to share the restoration with her and give her a book of mormon. We will be visiting with her again this week (: also a man named Lu who is from Vietnam we were able to teach him the restoration on his doorstep, and we will be meeting with him this week too. So its been great, ive learned a lot of patience this week. Have it be with the work, my companion or with myself. Ive had to be patient with those who reject us, and those who try to cause contention with us, as well as being silent when I get frustrated with my companion. Most of all, the biggest one is being patient with myself. I had to go to urgent care this past week and I swear im scaring my companion to death because of it but hey, its preparing her to be a great mom, right? hah! But its caused me to work through the pain, and i am. my companion keeps telling me we should go home and i tell her no. hah, yeah im frustrating im sure. but its the Lords time, not mine! im going to work until I cant move. but seriously, dont worry. I am still moving, so its all good! hah. (:
Anyways I love you all!
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