September 15, 2015
This week has been a good one- as always. I
feel like every week is a good week in the mission field! Sister Bell and I
have been able to work hard despite a few sick days. Our district leader shared
a quote with us last night that says, "Numbers don't show your hard work,
the wear and tear on your shoes do." I love that. Even though we don't
have a million investigators, we are still working hard to find and to teach.
Monday: P-DAY! We didn't do much. We went
thrift store shopping... fun. And we just hung out with some members. That
evening we contacted a few less active members. At one point we parked our car
in a neighborhood and were walking down a main road to get to a house when
these guys (40s or 50s) yell at us from across the street. "Hey are you
real life Mormons?" We laugh and say yes. THEN the guy looks at the other
one and is like, "quick take a picture." Then me being stupid- not
really thinking- I stop walking and strike a pose. I don't even know where it
came from. But the guys laughed and then we were able to have a good
conversation. Sometimes being awkward has its benefits. They sent us to some
Mormons they know (the ones we were already planning on visiting) and we acted
like we had no clue there were members on that road. That night we also taught
a recent convert, Kristina. I just love her.
Tuesday: We did our studies in the morning
and then we went and did service. I am really bad at telling everyone what I do
during the week so I am not sure if I have talked about Ryan's House. But we
volunteer at this place where homeless kids or kids that have a bad home life
can go to get food or just hang out. Usually they just send us to the back room
to do inventory or help organize things. I love when we get volunteer work that
has to do with clothes! Then we went tracting for a little bit. Sister Bell has
been getting really bad headaches and she got one while we were tracting so we
left and contacted less actives. We taught a lesson to a less active (who is like
completely active now), JC. He is great and I am so excited for the day
he goes to the temple to be sealed to his wife for all eternity. He comes
to week every Sunday. This week he brought his grandsons for the second time!
He is sharing the gospel with his family!
Wednesday: Wednesdays are our crazy busy days
because we have meetings on the mainland so we have to catch the boat pretty
early. We had zone meeting this week and it was great! During the meeting they
dismissed all of us to go tracting and practice some things that we learned. We
were assigned new companions for that half hour and were sent to these random
apartments. Sister Lundeen and I tracted 5 houses. Only 1 was not home. The
first door was a woman, a husband, and 4 daughters! Low and behold we got the
elders a return appointment with this family later that day! Hopefully they
became new investigators for them. The next two doors were also very nice
people and we got return appointments for both of them. The last person we
talked to was NOT INTERESTED. I tried to give her a pamphlet but she said she
would just "toss it" so then not thinking again I asked her if she
would just want to leave the pamphlet lying around her house but before I
finished the sentence she slammed the door in our face. Sister Lundeen just
laughed and laughed like, "what the...? would you mind just leaving this
around the house?" but I told her that even though she didn't want the
pamphlet if she had it in her home you never know who might pick it up to start
reading. After zone meeting we had to get an oil change, stop by the mission
office for ferry passes, and then we went grocery shopping. THEN we waited in
the ferry line, finally caught a boat, and then came back and emailed. The
library was closed Monday for the holiday and closed Tuesday for some sort of
training. Then we contacted a few more people and did studies! OH AND THE BEST
PART OF THE DAY: I GOT PANDA EXPRESS!!!!!!!!
Thursday: On Thursday we spent a lot of time
inside. Sister Bell had some pretty crazy headaches from exhaustion so our
mission doctor said that she needed to get caught up on sleep. We were able to
do some service that day and we were also able to tract a little bit.
Friday: This our weekly planning day so we
did a lot of planning. We also contacted more people and tracted. That's about
what we do all day everyday! Missionary work is the greatest work on earth!
Saturday: WE HAD A BAPTISM! Well kind of.
There is this guy named Francisco and he lives in Pencove (out of area), he is
Hispanic, YSA age, but he comes to our ward. So long story short, he had like a
thousand opinions of where to get baptized. He was being taught by the Spanish
missionaries but he couldn't attend the Spanish branch because of his work
schedule and same with the Pencove ward. He comes to our ward every week
because that is where his fellowship is and that is where his schedule permits
him to go. So weird situation but he was baptized in our ward. We had to plan
the program and get everything ready. We even sang a musical number. I had
decided after the first time I sang in sacrament that it got me out of singing
for the rest of my mission but now that I sung at the baptism - I get out of it
for the rest of my life! The baptism turned out great though and we got to eat
tamales and delicious food afterwards. We got to teach another recent convert
that day named Kirsten. SHE IS GREAT! And then we tracted the rest of the day!
Sunday: Yesterday we attended our meetings
and church. We then went tracting for a few hours. We got to talk to some great
people. One was a former investigator and we got to talk with him about the
atonement. The other was a man who just moved into the area 2 weeks ago from
Texas and is a pastor of a local church. Good thing he didn't bash. Nicest guy
ever and he looked like dad so it kinda freaked me out. Then we talked to a
really nice lady who invited us back for tea. She knows a missionary so we were
able to talk about the things missionaries do! Overall it was successful!
One of the greatest things I learned this
week is on increasing our faith. We can do that by living a life of gratitude,
being obedient out of love, giving of ourselves and serving, know that we
depend completely on God, and being anxiously engaged in a good cause.
I have also realized today how much you
really do change on a mission. However, you only change if you apply the things
you are learning. If you just go through the motions you will probably stay the
same or even become "worse". It's like that commercial that came out
right before I left about toothpaste... "If you aren't whitening, you are
yellowing." If we aren't constantly applying the basic principles of the
Gospel that we are sharing with everyone and we aren't striving to strengthen
our testimony than we are "yellowing". Something else I read in
Preach my Gospel today that I shared with Sister Bell is it says that if we are
doing all the things the Lord has asked us to do, we will still experience
disappointment but we will not become disappointed in ourselves. I have seen
that over and over and over again as a missionary. Sometimes you do question
how effective you are or question what could have been better but you are not
disappointed in yourself because you know that in that moment of time you did
your very best. So you go home, study harder, pray harder, and brush your teeth
and when you get put in a similar situation you apply those things and
show your white pearls off with a smile. That's the great thing about missions
(or life)... you are constantly improving.
I love being a missionary. I am sad to know
that I only have 8ish months left but I am so excited to take the things I have
learned home and apply them to the rest of my life and my future family! Let's
be real though... I still have 8 months. That's a long time! I still have so
much to learn and so many skills/attributes to acquire. Missions are hard to
describe but they really do change who you are and change your perspective on
what truly does matter!
I am grateful for the Atonement of my Savior
Jesus Christ and the comfort it brings to me. I know that the Church of Jesus
Christ has been restored to the Earth. I know that we can live with our
families forever as we keep the commandments and live righteously. I know that
we can be used as instruments in the Lord's hands as well.
Have a great week my favorite people! I love
you all and I am so grateful for all the love and support you give to me and
all the other missionaries throughout the world. FAITH BEFORE FEAR.
#HoldtotheRodda There is sunshine in my soul.
Love,
Sister Rodda
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