We hadn't seen her in about two weeks, but we were excited about our
lesson with her! We were planning on reteaching the Plan of Salvation,
and putting her on baptismal date for the first Sunday in June. Sister
Wood had never met her so the first part of the lesson was Pam telling
her life story including some things about her mom's passing away that
was setting up for a perfect transition into the lesson we had
planned! She even had another question about the Word of Wisdom and
when she realized the tea she had contained black tea she threw it
right away! And then before we even really got a chance to start
teaching she told us that she appreciated what we do, and that she
knows God sent the missionaries to her to get her really thinking
about religion and wanting to make that a part of her life. And...she
had decided that she was going to stick with the religion she was
raised in and that her family goes to.
Surprisingly we were still able to have a pretty good lesson with her.
We talked about some of the things our church teaches that are
different from hers, and were able to talk about what exactly happens
after we die, etc... She loved it all, said she thinks it is
beautiful, and that as far as she has seen Mormons practice what they
preach better than members of her church; but she feels like the
pastor of her brother's church "has a pretty good connection with
God", plus her family goes there so it is a way to connect with them.
It was definitely disappointing on our part, but we gave her some pass
along cards that she said she would try to give people that need what
we have to say, and I wouldn't be surprised to see her at bible study
sometime! We were able to keep the door from being completely closed,
and there were no hard feelings, so it is just a matter of time before
she realizes that something is missing in her life!
We also had a couple cool lessons with a new investigator named Jose.
We taught him the Restoration and when we asked if he believed it was
possible, he said "who am I to question it?" He seemed to believe it
was just as likely as anything in the bible! He wanted to come to
church and it took some work because the first person who said he
could give him a ride backed out about and hour and a half before
church, the next person who said he could also had something come up,
but the third time was the charm and someone was able to give him a
ride! They were slightly late but that is ok!
The core of our ward was out of town this weekend. At ward council we
had one member of the bishopric and the missionaries. They were
worried about having someone to sit with Brother Villanueva on the
stand and still having people to bless and pass the sacrament. We had
no idea how everything was going to work out but it somehow did! We
had about the same number of people in sacrament meeting that we
normally do because even though the ones that are always there
weren't, the ones who never are were! Plus some visitors and move ins
:) We taught a combined Gospel Principles lesson with the Gospel
Doctrine class because their teacher was sick, the elders taught the
youth sunday school class, and we helped in young womens, but it all
worked out! It was a sure sign that this is the Lord's work and His
work is never frustrated! Plus I got to see Dean Winslow from my
homeward! He was in town for work and it was fun to see someone from
home! It was really weird seeing someone from Bountiful in New Jersey
though! I almost didn't recognize him because it was so out of
context!
Back to Jose...after sacrament meeting he said he was just going to
step outside for a minute but then he never came back in. Fortunately
we found him after church and he had just been sitting outside for the
two hours after sacrament meeting. He said he was grateful for our
taking to time to teach him and he was glad he was able to come and
see what our church is like, but he knows it isn't for him. I think it
was just too different from what he was used to. So that was a bummer
too. But he says he will keep reading the Book of Mormon because he is
curious about it, but that we shouldn't waste our time trying to
continue meeting with him. Bummer. But once again, we invited and it
was a miracle that he was able to come to church! That's all that was
in our power.
This is a pretty long email considering the fact that a good chunk of
the week we weren't able to work the way we wanted to because I got a
24 hr. stomach bug that took a couple days to bounce back from, and
then Sister Wood got it! Wednesday I had been feeling progressively
sicker throughout the day which culminated in me throwing up in the
kitchen garbage can of a member. Good times. But, now I'm feeling
quite better so it's all good!
Love yous!
Sister McConkie