Hello loved ones!
The highlight of this week was Thursday night hands down. We had gone tracting earlier for an hour and we still needed to get one more hour in. We had a lot of appointments and we weren't sure if we would have time. One appointment for 7:30 fell through and we used that time for tracting. It's getting dark at 5 ish 6 ish so it was pretty dark then. And it was pouring. Rain here is so different than rain in California that is for sure. It's like a whole new experience driving and walking in the rain here. Well, we needed to do something and it had to be tracting so we did it. By the way, my jacket came in that morning so it was perfect! We did not getting any really meaningful contacts and most people looked at us like we were crazy. Honestly, it was raining so hard it makes me smile thinking of how wet we were. When we got home we looked at ourselves and wondered what was the point of wearing rain jackets. Our skirts were soaking like we jumped in a pool and our shirts had water on the front and the back. It was stupid ridiculous but so much fun. I don't think we've laughed so hard like we did that night. To top it off this lady called our number, I think she thought the number on our card was for the church as a whole, and made a complaint. She said that it was inappropriate that we were out in the pitch dark in the pouring rain. Little did she notice the smiles on our faces and earnestness for work. Plus, I don't think that people understand that this is what we are doing 24/7. It's our life for 18-24 months. The show must go on. Ahhhh some people.
There's this wonderful family that I could not love more that is in our ward. They are going through some really trying times right now. The wife needs to work while the dad stays at home because he's going through all these medical surgeries and what-not, so he's playing <r. Mom, and the job she has isn't a glamorous job that pays well. Anyway, they've been going through tons of hard things and they are SO giving! Sister Andrus was home in July and August for kidney surgery and she has issues eating certain things, and one of those things is high carbs. So members can't feed us gluten or dairy, let alone high carbs. It's hard for some of them to feed us and our dinner calender isn't filled often. However, this family thinks that is unacceptable and they so willingly feed us. They won't let us deny them the chance to feed us. I love them, they are so stellar. Most people in better situations are so unwilling to serve like they do. I hope that if the Lord blesses me temporally, that I give of myself and not be selfish. I want to make a difference in someone's life, and I can't do that by mainly focusing on myself. Though, of course, I need to work on myself to be the best I can be, but in the midst of doing that, I want to be able to stand before the Lord knowing that I also gave myself to service. It's definitely hard, but I want it so badly. I'm hoping that the mission changes me to continuously serve others for the rest of my life.
There is this other family that is also beyond stellar. They are very well blessed with money and stuff, but they give of themselves so incredibly much. It's amazing. Watching other members give so much of their time and energy to recent converts or new investigators is inspiring.
We taught Josie again. The Haitian french and creole speaking lady. It went really well. It was a humbling experience on my part as well. It's easy to get lost during her lessons because while Brother B. is telling her everything in French I get lost listening to the French and I forget the next point. Plus it made me realize how much I need to keep studying Preach My Gospel. So I've been studying that for the past week and will continue to do so, along with Jesus the Christ. Sadly she will be in New York for the next couple weeks and we have her number so we will continue to text Book of Mormon scriptures to her and hopefully she'll still feel the spirit while she's gone. She definitely felt it while we taught her the plan of salvation. She believed everything we taught her and I think it gave her hope. She used to think that it was just Heaven and Hell and that those stages were permanent, but then of course we taught her the Lord's doctrine and it spoke to her. She's a gem. I hope all is well with her being gone.
We also went to contact an old contact and she let us in her house and we taught her part of the first lesson. The thing is, she works night shifts so she was really really tired and we could tell, so we just left her with a prayer and will hopefully be in with her this week. We're teaching a LOT of single mothers right now and I love them. It's nice having elders and sisters working in a ward because then we can just work with the women, or families, that we find and I really love it.
Yesterday we were tracting and this lady had the door closed basically all the way when she first answered. And then I just introduced myself and said, "Hi, I'm Sister Smith" and Sister Andrus did the same and she opened the door a ton after I said my name and then a ton more after sister Andrus. She invited us in! She has a lovely apartment! It reminded me so much of Georgeanne. Just that really ornate and gold decor with some really nice rugs. She had a really fancy couch with a beautiful painting. She's originally from Paris and came to the U.S. from England. She's just wonderful. She's probably in her 50s? Anyway, she told us her experience with Mormons and it made me a little upset with stupid people who make dumb choices. Her son dated this Mormon girl from Utah that invited him out to Utah and he went. This lady trusted that he would be safe because of her experience with Mormons in the past, she has a wonderful friend that is Mormon and all would be well. Well, I don't know everything that happened, but I do know that this girl's family and herself were not living up to the standards that they have so clearly been taught. This lady's son was disgusted and this lady threw away her Book of Mormon and said she would have nothing to do with Mormons again. Well, she actually really liked us. She said that after we met with her that we gave her hope. We made her feel happy. She's letting us come by again. I'm hoping she can realize that "people are imperfect, but God's doctrine is pure" (I think it was Uchtdorf that said that last General Conference and I'm only paraphrasing it).
I still feel like I have so much to learn and it's both invigorating and scary all at the same time. Because I have this place where I hope to see myself in such and such amount of months, or by the end, and I'm hoping I can achieve that.
anyway.
Love y'all
Jocelyn
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