Hey all!
This week was another good week. We had some really good lessons, we had another investigator at church, and we had an AWESOME exchange!
I think the exchange was my favorite part...so I'm going to save that for last.
We met with Susan Emory this week. She's been really hard to actually meet with. She has all sorts of heath problems, and she's been out of town (the curse of summer, for missionaries) and just super super busy. So, we finally meet with her, and she opens up her heart. She tells us about all of her addictions, and how she wants to start going to the church's addiction recovery program with us, so she can overcome these addictions. She had quit alcohol before, but she relapsed in recent months, and she knows it's possible to quite again, but she knows she needs to change, first. The entire time she was talking about her desire to change. It was so cool, because that is the message that we share - that the Gospel is the Gospel of change. Conversion IS change. The purpose of life is to learn and gain experience that will help us to change to become more like our Heavenly Father. To end it all, she talked about how she kept getting drawn back to us - she's dropped us once, ignored us, all sorts of things - but how, recently, she just can't seem to stop coming back to us. It was amazing! The Spirit of the Lord has been working with her, much more than WE have been working with her. Which is the way it usually goes. The Lord works the change of heart, not the missionaries. That's why it's HIS work!
We also had another really good lesson with Luis. He actually read the Book of Mormon! And he understood it! And he liked it! We taught him the Plan of Salvation, and the spirit was so strong! We had a member with us, and she commented on it, afterwards. His favorite parts of it were the spirit world and the three degrees of glory. Which is what most people kinda struggle with. It was so cool! Definitely a tender mercy. He wasn't able to come to church, again, but he told us he would come next week - and we're pretty sure he's not just bailing on us, because he lets us know ahead of time.
We weren't able to meet with Rainy this week - she got called into work - but she promised us she would be at church, but she didn't show up, and we haven't been able to get in contact with her...we're a little bit worried she's been anti-ed, but we're keeping our hopes up. She probably just got caught up with something!
Our exchange this week was with Sister Crosby and Sister Allred. Planning this one was actually a little bit stressful! We kept changing it, and we just couldn't seem to get a solid confirmation. But, we went for it! I went with Sister Allred, and I went to their area, and I had one of the best exchanges ever! A few days before the exchange, I had the prompting that I needed to start praying for that exchange right then! Which was weird. I normally don't start doing that until maybe the day of. So, I started praying that this exchange would be exactly what Sister Allred needed. The minute I get in the car with her, and we start driving to Lakewood, she just opens up, with some of the things she's dealing with; she just has been having a hard time mentally/emotionally with something. Pretty typical, for a missionary. Often times you just need a little reboot. but, because of everything, she just would become so exhausted all the time. I immediately was grateful that I had been praying days before.
So, we go throughout the day, and we just have a blast. The entire time, I'm just thinking about her and how I can help her, and what she might need. When I went home the next day, I was just so happy! I spent that time trying to help Sister Allred have more energy, more motivation, and to just be happy, and it ended up helping ME, and it ended up boosting me the rest of the week. It was just a really neat experience, and I realized that I was helped a lot by that exchange too. Man...I don't even know if this even expresses how much that exchange impacted me...I don't think it does. But it was just really neat to learn how, by me thinking and focusing totally on Sister Allred, I was helped, myself. It's true that when you lose yourself in service, you find yourself! It also is really neat just to see how the Lord brings people into your life. This is the second exchange I've gone on with Sister Allred - I went with her last transfer - and I've never served around her before being an STL. But, we've become really good friends, just from 48 hours of working together. We didn't need to be companions to become friends, but we needed to become friends, so the Lord just allowed us to go on exchanges.
Anyways, it's been a good week. I've learned a lot! I hope everything is going well back home and that you're happy and enjoying the summer! I love you all! Thank you so much for everything you guys do for me! LOVE YOU!!
Sister Beth Ann Root!
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