Hey all!
Fun fact for the week: Kitsap County is known to be the least religious county in the entire United States. Guess where Silverdale is located? Yup. Kitsap county. Something I've discovered? Either people are nonreligious or Baptist. Needless to say, tracting can sometimes be an adventure. We've been doing a lot of knocking, because we're trying to build up our teaching pool. (I don't think I've ever knocked this much, not even with Villatoro!) And, something I've found is that opposition comes in waves. This week was a wee bit rough. A lot of people yelling at us. We were called a cult several times this week (I'm pretty sure the definition of a cult includes any and all religions. I've decided to buy a pocket dictionary, and every time someone says we're a cult, I'll pull it out, read the definition to them, and then say, 'yep! you're right! And you're one too!" But, only if the spirit prompts me, of course...)
Needless to say, I was having a little bit of a rough time this week. But then Thursday or Friday, I kinda sucked it up, and then I was fine. We actually had a lot of fun the end of the week. Sister Bevan is a hoot, and she likes to make everything a party. There were a few times we'd walk away from rude people, and I'd just be laughing because of her reaction to them. A lovely old man started ripping into us, saying we believed in things that...well, we don't. I just stood their silently, with a big grin on my face (that always puts them off) and Sister Bevan, probably more polite than I've ever seen her in my life, told him we didn't believe those things. He started spouting off a few more things, and then she asked if there was anything we could do for him, and he said, "No. but I sure do feel sorry for you." And she was like, "Oh, why?" And he answered, "Because you will be going to hell!" Sister Bevan said, "Oh my gosh! That's so mean! Why would you say that?" and he said, "The Bible makes it very clear.' So she said, "Well, God is the one who judges," And he cut her off and said, "God tell us in the Bible how He's going to judge us!" So she responded with the best thing ever: "Well, I guess then, when I meet God, He'll tell me, and not you." Keep in mind, she was being very polite, and not rude and angry. It shut him up, and we went our separate ways. With me unsuccessfully trying to keep from cracking up.
But, this week just goes to show that the Lord blesses those who persevere. Saturday evening, doing our 5-7's - after an already unsuccessful day of some more knocking and checking up on potential investigators - we found a couple of sweet potential investigators. One whom looked a little rough around the edges, so when we asked him if he was interested in learning more, and in learning how to strengthen his relationship with Heavenly Father, and he responded with, "Yes!" we were both shocked. We'll be meeting with him this week, and we're hoping he becomes a way solid investigator. Regardless, he was a tender mercy. Moments like that just buoy you up hope and help you to keep on keeping on!
So, all in all, things are going good. Still slow, but still moving! There's a lot of good stuff happening; we just have to be patient, and keep working hard, so they don't stop happening! I feel like the past few transfers, we've just been prepping this area, so that it'll just explode. I hope I'm here when it does! Transfer predictions: Bevan leaves, I stay and train. It's a bit off an odd prediction, because the logical thing would be for me to leave, but both Sister Bevan and I feel like I'm staying and she's leaving. But, who knows! Sister Bevan always says she's wrong in her predictions, so I'm just trying to not care about it. and we've still got a couple of weeks, so it's not important right now. It just freaks me out that time is moving by so fast! In 5 weeks, I hit my year mark! I'm kinda hoping i get a greenie, so she doesn't have any idea how long I've been out, and I won't tell her, and I can just pretend it hasn't been that long...
Anyways. Life is great! I love it! I just gotta keep on keeping on, and that really isn't that hard to do, if I remind myself of how much I love it here. It's the best! I can't get enough of this work! It's tough, sometimes - a lot of the time - but I still love it. This work is so important, and I feel like this is simply training me to do this work for the rest of my life. I'm just learning how to be a missionary for forever!
I love you all! Thanks for all that you do and the support you give me. Remember how amazing the Gospel is, and that Jesus Christ loves you SO much!!
Sister Beth Ann Root!
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