Hello family! Oh my goodness! Can you believe that another week has come and gone? The time I feel keeps going by faster and faster. And you want to know the weirdest part of everything? I can now say that I will be home next month! I remember when I received my call, I said, I am so happy that I get to say that I will be home next year.. And now, I get to say I will be home next month. Honestly, I am not so sure that I am super excited about that. Haha. I mean, dont get me wrong, I am super excited to see you all, but I am not super excited about leaving the mission and going into the real world. Lol I think that there will be alot of adjustments that will need to take place and that will take awhile to get use to. :) But, I know that I have done the work that the Lord has wanted me to do, and that I will finish the work that He wants me to. Well, mom as asked me some questions that I would like to answer so... here we go! :)
She asked about our investigators and how they are doing. So, I will tell you a little about them and how they are doing.
Gary: He is doing so well! He just got surgery this week and he is staying strong. He has been in his house all week and has not been able to leave. He was not able to make it to church yesterday. But we hope that he will be able to come to church this next Sunday. He is doing so great and I am so happy for him and the choices that he is starting to make in his life. His family keeps telling us how much progress he has been making and it makes me so happy! :)
Kendra: She is doing good. She actually was having a hard time this past week. We went and saw Kendra this week. When we got there she seemed really sad. We asked her what was wrong and she told us that nothing was wrong and that she was fine. Well, Sister 'Otukolo did not like that as an answer so she kept asking her what was wrong. She kept telling her that nothing was wrong. So, I just went into the lesson and Sister 'Otukolo was upset and was not wanting to teach. So, I pretty much taught the lesson on my own. After the lesson, Sister 'Otukolo asked again what was wrong and Kendra told her... "I cant tell you what is wrong so please stop asking." I felt so bad for Kendra. And Sister 'Otukolo was very upset. So, she left the room and went and put her chair away and while she was gone, I wrote a post it note for her with a scripture to read and a little note that said.. "Always remember that we love you and that Jesus loves you as well! :)" After I gave her that, she opened up and she told me that her sister and brother-in-law were getting a divorce. I felt so bad for her. And I talked with her about it and told her that the Lord has a plan for everyone and that we need to trust in His plan. Its not easy, but as we trust in His plan, we will see that he has something great in store for each one of us. She felt comforted and we decided to leave and I gave her a big hug goodbye and Sister 'Otukolo just walked out of the room without even saying goodbye. I went out and talked to Sister 'Otukolo about what had just happened and told her that it was rude of her to not say goodbye. She said... Well, Kendra was being so rude! I told her that we never know someone situation and we can not judge how they act. She wouldnt talk to be for awhile. She even started crying. I felt so bad for Kendra. and this experience showed me that we can never be quick to judge because we do not know what situation the people that we are visiting with are in. We need to give them the benefit of the doubt and give them a chance to open up to us.
Joslin: She is one of our new investigators and she is doing great! She is so strong and so golden! :) We just set a baptismal date with her this past week for September 27th. Everything that we say to her she just takes it in. And the guy who introduced us to her is right there helping her along the way and she is doing so great. She knows that everything that we teach her is true. :)
Donovan: This guy is so funny. Haha. He is the one that is in the mental hospital. He is so golden as well. he wants to improve his life each and every day and he is really striving to accomplish that. I hope that when he gets out of the mental hospital though that he will be able to stay strong and not give into temptation.
Q. What one thing made you the happiest this last week?
A. I would have to say that the thing that made me the happiest this week is how much love I was able to feel on my birthday. It was so wonderful. Sister 'Otukolo spoiled me. She had a surprise birthday party for me with two zones involved. It was so much fun! And, that night, we were able to go to dinner at a mission moms house and she made me my favorite dinner! It was dads street tacos! They were really yummy! Although, I dont think that anyone could make street tacos quite like dad can! Lol :) I am still looking forward to dads tacos! :)
Q. What did you do to make the world a better place this last week?
A. Ahh, I am not sure how to answer this. But, I dont think that I did anything to make the WROLD a better place, I just think that by teaching so many people about the gospel, we are able to help make peoples lives better. So, in a sense, we are helping other peoples worlds a better place to live in. I hope that made sense... Haha.
Q. How many lessons do you teach in a week?
A. This past week we were able to teach 24 member present lessons and we also taught 6 less actives and recent converts. :) So, all in all we teach about 30 lessons a week. But, our goal, is to get up to 40 member presents in a week and I think that we will be able to do that. We go on splits a lot during the week and that is the key to getting so many member presents! :)
Q. How often do you eat at a ward members house a week?
A. We eat a members house every night except for Mondays. Some times if people really want to feed us, we let them feed us on Monday. And, I am pretty sure that the people we eat with think that we never eat because they cook so much food and they keep telling us to eat more... And I am pretty sure that you will all be surprised to hear this.. But I am tired of eating food! haha
So, I want to tell you all about a little miracle that we had last night. So, our zone is very adamant on inviting someone to be baptized every day. As is our mission. but it is very inforced in this zone. So, last night it was getting to the end of our day and we had not invited anyone to be baptized and we still needed to get another member present lesson. So, we decided to say a prayer so we could be led on where to go. We finished our prayer and all Sister 'Otukolo said was... "I really need to use the bathroom.. Lets go to the Beasleys home so I can use the bathroom. Nothing else came to mind... All I know is that I really need to go." So, we go over to their house and as we were walking over there, I said, "Hey, maybe they have someone over that is not a member!" So, we ask to use their bathroom and they invite us in. She uses the bathroom and I visit with the family and the husbands mom was there. And as I got to know them a little, I found out that the mom was not a member!!!! So, she comes out of the bathroom and we continue to visit and we ask if we could share a scripture and they said yes. So, we do and we invite the mom to be baptized and she said yes! It was so wonderful! :) What a great experience it was!:) Sadly, the mom is not in our area so we are not able to teach her but she was so sweet and she is actually meeting with the missionaries that are in her stake. :)
Well, sadly I had ran out of time. I was really wanting to share a spiritual thought with you all but we have someone coming to pick us up and take us to the fair so I dont have time :( But, I will for sure share one with you all next week. Along with some pictures! :) I love you all! By the way, I get my last transfer call this week! Fingers crossed that I get to stay here! :)
Love,
Sister Ashley Halbison
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