Dear Family,
As always, it's great to hear about yall's adventures. Mom,
I was able to watch the video about Sister Brock and loved seeing some familiar
sights, but there's no sound in the library, and we're not supposed to use
headphones. As soon as I get a chance, I'll watch it with stereo. We've been
sharing a lot of mormon.org cards
and referring people to watch the videos, so now I'll have a specific one to
reference. J
A lot of our time this week was spent with the mundane tasks
of opening an area. We finally got some boundaries set so that we don't end up
proselyting in someone else's stake again (oops!), bought a map, divided our
area into smaller bites, mapped out which members we cover, visited the mission
office to get Spanish teaching supplies, called all of the English ward
bishops, and took care of some STL stuff too, like coordinating exchanges for
the rest of the transfer (two a week until the end!), calling district and zone
leaders to get info about our sisters etc, etc.
That being said, there were still some great moments to
highlight. This week's focus is FAMILIES!! President Slaughter is all about
finding and teaching families, which I love. That's really what we need in the
church, and families that convert are more likely to stay active than single
people that convert by themselves. The problem is, families are usually harder
to teach, so sometimes, we shy away from finding and teaching them. President
Slaughter was in the mission office the same time we were there getting
supplies, and I realized as we talked to him for a few minutes that normally
when we set goals for finding new investigators, I only plan for one or two.
What family with a father and mother is made up of one person? I can't think of
any. So this week, we've been setting our goal higher, with 3, 4 or 5 new
investigators, trusting that Heavenly Father will help us find families.
So, one evening, we were at an apt complex to knock, but
sitting in the car finishing a phone call. When I looked up, there was a family
of four getting out of their car!! "Sister H!! It's our family!!"
Papers flying, backpacks neglected, we tumbled out of our car and practically
ran over to them. The contact turned into a QGC (quality gospel conversation)
turned into a first lesson turned into two new investigators (their girls are
both under 8). I'm not sure they'll get baptized or even turn into a second
lesson (they've been ignoring our calls), but Heavenly Father helps us meet our
goals when we have faith to find.
In Mission Leadership Conference (MLC) this week (one of the
perks of being an Sister Training Leader, or STL), we talked about blind spots
and fathers. So what's a blind spot? Imagine you're picking raspberries. When
you walk up to the bushes, there are usually one or two ripe ones visible, but
not very many. In order to find the really good ones, you have to dig a little
bit, turn over leaves, hunt around, and often times, the very best, ripest
clumps of raspberries are hidden beneath the surface of leaves where they're
not readily visible. Now imagine that you knock a door, talk to the mother of
the house who is receptive to your message, and in your excitement to teach her
a first lesson, don't think to invite her teenage kids into the room to come
and listen or ask where her husband is and if he might be interested in the
message too. So many times, we walk into a teaching situation and pick the
"raspberries" that we can see off the top and then wonder why we
don't have more investigators. These people have friends and families and
connections. Every data point is a link to a million others, but if you never
follow the links, you never find the other data points. Blind spots. And one of
the usual victims of blind spots are fathers.
Think about this for a minute. Women generally tend to be
more readily receptive to the gospel. But even if you baptize 10,000 women and
no Melchizedek Priesthood holders, can you split the ward? Nope. Can those
women be sealed in the temple and become an eternal family? Nope. Can they
receive all of the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant which is our whole
purpose for being here anyway? Nope, they can't. We need fathers. Fathers are
the backbone of the church. Why does every worthy man hold the Priesthood?
Because the family is the basic unit of the church, and without that Priesthood
link, the family is not connected to the administering agent of the gospel.
Families without fathers rarely last, whereas those that are led by fathers
become converted. J G, again, is a prime example. When he was converted, the
whole family came too. In contrast, many of the women we were teaching in Del
Rio without their husbands didn't make it. Maria wouldn't get baptized, Kfell
out of activity once she was. Whenever we go in to teach a family, we have to make
sure we teach the father his divine role to preside by allowing him to do so.
He has to be invited to participate, and even if he doesn't want to, every time
we come to teach, we should ask his permission to be there. My whole mission
has changed. The invisible walls we kept running into in Del Rio are now
visible. This is something that every missionary needs to understand. Teach
families by teaching them how to be families, and that includes allowing the
father to fulfill his divine role to preside.
No miracles with this one yet, but they're going to come.
Probably this week. Hna H and I have been asked to do a training on this for
the South Zone's zone conference this week, and I'm really excited!!
Another miracle of the week. We were knocking doors in an
apartment complex and had a brief conversation with a young man named A. All we
did was give him a card, invite him to church, and get his number to follow up.
But guess what?!? He came!! He could only stay one hour yesterday, but said he'd
come for all three next week. In the evening, we had a good visit with him and
learned more about his life, some wild years growing up and a big changed that
happened during a period of consequences. We have another lesson tonight, and
I'm really excited to teach him. And guess what? We've checked our blind spots.
He lives with his sister and her kids and he has friends too. Are we going to
hunt them down? Yes we are.
Some good news from Del Rio!! Hermana L and Hermana L went
back to visit M (the mom of J and A that ignored us for a really long time) and
she let them in! They even got a return appointment. A and S are making plans
to not live together, and A's daughter A got baptized last Sunday. S is planning
to be baptized at the end of the month, and asked if I could come down for the
baptism. I don't think I'll be able to, but I'm so excited for him!!!
Funny story. We were talking to two moms and their combined
five kids that weren't very interested in what we had to say, but didn't tell
us no straight out either. So of course, we kept going. When we were done, we
asked if we could come back and set an appointment with the one mom then turned
to the other and asked if she lived in the apartment above the other mom's. She
told us yes without making eye contact, but then their two little boys ratted
her out big time. "No, no!! We live across the street in that building,
first apartment on the right!!" Don't try to lie in front of kids. It's
not gonna work.
Sage advice from a pro: If you don't want people to see you
in your underwear, don't answer the door without your clothes on. A lot of
people haven't seemed to figure that one out yet, so I thought I'd pass it on.
Praying for you all as always. Tons of love!
Emily
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