Hey all!
Well, it's been another week. Can you believe that I'm in my 12th week out in the field? Sister Douros and I are freaking out that this is the last week of the transfer, but President Weaver very slyly let us know that we'd both probably be staying put, much to our happiness. He said that we're only getting 3 new sisters this transfer, so there wouldn't be a whole lot of sisters moving around. In my letters to him, I had been begging to stay with Sister Douros for another transfer, so I'm pretty confident I'll get my wish. But, we'll find out this Saturday! Transfers are next Tuesday, so I'll let you know what will happen next week!
It's been pretty warm up here - yesterday got to the 90's. And heat here is pretty miserable. Not very many people have A/C, plus it's more humid than Arizona's dry heat, so I'm dying! Plus, Washington people get kinda cranky when it's hot...I've never had such a miserable time knocking doors than yesterday afternoon. I'm pretty sure I picked the worst street to knock, especially in the heat. We had a couple people mocking us about halfway down the street. I haven't had a worse experience knocking, and Sister Douros said in her year out, she hasn't met a whole street of such mean people. Yesterday just wasn't a fun day, after church. But church was amazing! We were asked to give talks, and then spur of the moment, asked to give the lesson in Young Women. It's was awesome. You all know how much I love giving talks; luckily I don't freeze up like I do at doorsteps, so I felt like I was able to give a powerful talk - hopefully with my talk and Sister Douros' combined, we can get the ward pumped for missionary work! Sister Douros and I have made the goal to get the ward as involved in what we do as possible.
We've had a couple of neat experiences, despite the slowness of this week - not much progress happened this week and Sister Douros' allergies were super bad, so it's been a hard week - so it's been pretty cool. Monday, after our P-Day had ended, and we were ready to go out knocking doors for an hour, we had an awesome experience. We had just gotten out of our car, when we saw a young man walking by, a little ways off. Sister Douros calls to him, saying, "Hey! You want to hear a message about Jesus Christ?!" The kid pauses and says, "Why not? I have time?" and walks up to us. We visit with him a little bit, and then Sister Douros looks at me and says, "Take it away, sis!" And, nervously, I delved into the Plan of Salvation. And...it was amazing! Drake LOVED it! He said it made sense. We were able to get him to recognize the spirit, which was so powerful at that time. It was wonderful! Definitely an example of the Lord's perfect timing. This IS HIS work, and He will place missionaries and the elect right where they need to be so they can meet and doctrine can be taught and the spirit can be present, so lives can be changed. It's truly amazing to be a part of it!
Later on in the week, we had another pretty cool experience. We were out knocking doors, and we had pretty much no success. No one even remotely interested. Then, we happened across this lady walking her dogs. We talked to her for a little bit, and came to find out that she was less-active, with two less-active daughters, and another adopted daughter who wasn't baptized. She wasn't very interested...she had a little bit of bitterness towards the church - though, she was very nice to us - but wasn't unwilling to let her daughters participate in some activities we invited them to, if they wanted to go. I'm hoping the daughters will come back, and through them we'll be able to teach the adopted daughter. And I want the mom to come back, too! I think it's silly when people stop coming because they feel people didn't do what they were supposed to, or toes got stepped on. The Gospel is true and perfect - but the people aren't! And people need to accept that. We are given our agency for a reason, and it makes me sad - and a little bit frustrated - when people can't seem to accept that. They ask why God will let things happen to innocent people, and some of them can't grasp it's because God respects EVERYONE'S agency equally. If He's not going to stop you from choosing to yell at someone, He's not going to stop another person from killing. While killing is a horrible thing, it's still a matter of choice, and God respect our choices. And, we have to ultimately hold out on the knowledge, and hope, that people will be judged according to their actions. It's just that today is not that day, and we have to accept God's timing, and have an eternal perspective. I'm SO grateful for having an eternal perspective! It makes life SO much easier, so much less bitter, and the experiences so much more worth it!
We have a couple people on the edge of baptism - we just have to be able to see them regularly, and get them to church! Both things we've been struggling with seeing happen. Hopefully a bit more progress will be made this week. If I do end up getting transferred, I want to see tons of miracles before I leave Shelton! This place is AMAZING!
Well, I love you all. Thanks for your support and your love. And...I have a request...I know you all are busy, but if you could find the time to just send a quick email - or better yet a letter! - I would really appreciate it. Not only from family, but from friends, too. I know my response time isn't the quickest, but I try to respond as quick as possible. Letters are like having a birthday, and make hard days a little bit brighter. Or even, if you can send me an email that's like two sentences long, I would love to hear from you! Love you all! Till next week!
Sister Beth Ann Root!
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