Dear Family and Friends:
It was another great week in
Dubuque! Monday evening we had our first lesson with Sylvia that went
amazing! She loved it all and especially loved the first vision picture
of Joseph Smith. Sylvia accepted the
baptismal invitation and we set up an appointment to do a church tour on
Wednesday. On Tuesday we had interviews with President and Sister Jensen
here in Dubuque. It was so great to see
them again! They always know just what to say and what I need to hear. They
said that as of now we have 278 missionaries in the Iowa Des Moines mission and
we will continue to get 30+ missionaries for the next several transfers.
This past transfer they opened ten new areas, and President said that
this coming transfer they will be opening another 10 new areas. Well this
is putting a lot of missionaries in car shares, which makes things a little bit
more complicated, but as of right now it has been fine. I'm not quite
sure what will happen come winter time, but I guess we’ll fight that battle
when it comes. Tuesday night Sylvia called and she has been looking for
work and a temporary agency called her to come in every day this week so we had
to reschedule the tour for Saturday. We
were way excited for her to find some work. Wednesday afternoon we were able to
teach a Marshallese lady, Thora and her sister is a member. The lesson
went well and we have an appointment to meet with her again tomorrow. Thursday
was a little bitter sweet. We woke up early so we could clean and pack up
everything because that afternoon we would be moving into another home to live
in. I absolutely loved staying with the Beytien's! They were so
good to Sister Whipple and me, but they do have Sunday dinners each week at
their home, so we get to go back each week. When we went back yesterday
for dinner it felt like I was going back home. And I told them that their
home will always be my first Dubuque home. Thursday we had district
meeting and so we went to Olive Garden for lunch before hand and then went to
the church. The Zone Leaders were there on splits with the 1st ward
elders, so the zone leaders did the training which was fantastic. It was
on revelation through the Book of Mormon and revelation through church
attendance. On Friday we coordinated a member to come with us for the church
tour with Sylvia for Saturday, and once we got done coordinating with everyone
including Sylvia literally 30 minutes later Sylvia called saying that she had
been called into work and needed to reschedule the church tour. She said
that she would call us when she got home from work Saturday so that we could
come over and teach another lesson. Well Saturday rolls around and the
Marshallese were having a huge first birthday celebration at the church that
evening so we were over there, and we hadn't heard from Sylvia so we tried
calling and texting her, but no response. Sister Whipple and I were
worried sick that Sylvia was avoiding us, so we decided to go over to her
apartment because the worst thing that could happen is that she would drop us.
Well we leave the Marshallese party and head over to her apartment.
Come to find out her phone had run out of minutes and she wouldn't be
getting anymore until Monday. She was so excited to see us. But it
was hilarious, so when we first got there she told us how the maintenance
person had been working on her window and so quite a few flies got into her
apartment. Well she cannot stand the sound flies make, so since she
doesn't have a fly swatter she grabbed her mop and was trying to kill the flies
using the mop. As she is telling us this story she explained that she was
running all around her apartment chasing these flies and talking to them
telling the fly that it was going to get it. Haha she said she wonders
what the person living above her was thinking because she was hitting the
ceiling with the mop trying to kill these flies. She then grabbed the
broom and tried using the broom, but then ended up going and getting a
newspaper and was able to get the rest of the flies with the newspaper.
Haha she said she thinks she lost 3 lbs killing these flies. Haha
oh how I wish I could have witnessed this scene. Anyway we were able to
teach her the Plan of Salvation. It was so wonderful and the spirit was
so strong. Sylvia always mentions how peaceful it is when we are
there.
It is amazing that as I study and prepare for the lessons something new always sticks out. And I am always amazed at the love Heavenly Father has for each of His children. At the end of the lesson we extended a baptismal date and Sylvia responded "well how can I say no to that?" We were so excited! But she wants a church tour before coming to church so she wasn't at church on Sunday, but hopefully this coming Sunday she will be there. We went over to her apartment yesterday afternoon and brought a member with us who joined the church about 5 years ago. Sylvia expressed concerns saying she wasn't quite sure if she was ready to be a Mormon and she just doesn't know what to do, so it was so wonderful to have the member with us, because she was able to relate and share the things she did as she was investigating the church. Well keep praying for Sylvia and all the others we are working with.
I am really enjoying serving in Dubuque, but I am getting way worried, because Sister Thompson is my sister training leader so I have been able to call her whenever I have questions, but she flies home on the 22nd so I won't be able to call her. Oh well, I have other great leaders that have helped me out each time I've had a question.
No comments:
Post a Comment