I've
just about gotten used to this new trio. Hopefully it doesn't change all
around on me again :p We've had quite the week together. Our first full
day together, I was actually not even here. I felt bad for that because
the two of them really don't know much about this area and they needed
to work here all on their own. I was on exchanges with Sisters E.
and S. I feel like this was my first real experience with
exchanges because the ones I've done before were spanish spaking sisters and I
definitely was no help when it came to teaching. But this time I got to
help a lot. Sister E. has only been out for about 10 weeks now,
and Sister S. for about 4. They really felt like they were
struggling because of lack of experience between the two of them. But I
thought they were doing so good! Their area is awesome. They have a few
investigators and a handful of less actives they're working with. When
missionaries rely on Preach My Gospel and the scriptures then they wont
struggle no matter how little experience they have.
Do you remember the shootings in Aurora last year? Throughout the
course of my exchanges with them I realized that Sister S. was
there. At the theater! She and her friends were actually in the theater
next door, but walls didn't protect them. Her friend who was sitting
right next to her was shot in the face... through the wall and on the
OTHER side of that theater. Sister S. said she still doesn't handle
crowds of people well and she hasn't been able to go into a movie
theater without panicking since that incident. One of the people we
visited that day has extreme paranoia and I could just tell that Sister
S. was sent to that area because this lady in particular needs her.
Sister S. was able to testify about how blessed we are to attend
church despite the large crowds of people there and the anxiety that
causes. And she was able to testify by experience. I know that God knows
exactly what people are going through and He knows exactly what they
need. And that is why He sends us where He does. These people need us
for who we are.
So Wednesday was the first day we had the three of
us together for the first time and it was a really good day. We taught
four lessons that day (which is good for this area!). And we saw a
couple of great miracles.
1) During our companion study, the three of us talked about the mother and son investigators (F. and C.) who we've been working with for a little over a month
now and how we really needed to teach them separately but didn't know
how to. Each of them are at such different places and every time we go
over there we can only really focus on the one or the other. Well, when
we got there on Wednesday it worked out perfectly. F. was busy
doing dishes and cleaning the kitchen and C. was in the living
room. First we just talked to F. We asked about the baptism she
watched on Saturday and how she had felt. Then we turned and asked the same questions. He started talking, then F. started
talking again. I turned back to the kitchen to answer F. and Sister
Kn. and Sister G. sat down in the living room to talk to
Christian. We were able to focus on individual needs. We discovered that
both want to be baptized, but they don't want to push themselves to do
it too quickly.
2) We finally saw R. again!! It's been weeks. At first we
thought that she dropped us because it was right after the lesson that
we asked if she'd be baptized that we didn't hear from her again. But we
found out that it's actually because her mother has been really sick
that we haven't heard from her. The first part of the lesson was just
small talk because we needed to catch up on how she has been (and my
companions never knew her anyways). We taught a short powerful lesson
and then asked if she would pray. She had never prayed with us before.
Actually I think she had never prayed period (except the memorized
catholic prayers...). We taught and testified on prayer; and after 30
minutes she did pray. :) And it was a great prayer. Simple but sincere.
Sometimes I forget how hard all of this can be for people who aren't
familiar with it. To us prayer is simple and easy but a lot of these
people have never done it before and they are truly mortified to try to
talk to God.
The 4th of July was uneventful here. We did have
permission to go to a firework show if we were with members. But the
members that we live with - are out of town a so we just had
a normal missionary night. We still worked throughout the day. Well as
much as we could, because Sister G. didn't feel good at all that day.
And to be honest, I didn't really either. What did you all do for the
4th? I haven't celebrated a 4th of July with the family in 4 years!! Did
you realize that? And I probably won't be able to next year either
because I'll be at school. Crazy. I'll almost be done with my 7th
semester by this time next year. Hmmm.. I don't want to think about that
right now!
Love you all dearly. Like seriously - a lot!
-Lexi
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