This has been a very interesting week. Probably the greatest
week I have ever had with putting my full trust in the Lord and pleading for
miracles. We saw many miracles too!
First
of all it was a miracle that 14 months ago I decided to pack a random pair of
earplugs in my suitcase. We have these new neighbors... and they like to party
starting exactly at 10:30 every night when we go to bed. It's great, but I
sleep just fine with these purple decorations in my ears!
We were finally after 11 weeks in Mukilteo able to get in
contact with one of the past elders' investigators- Jodi. AND uh, yeah... she
is on date to be baptized on March 26th. It is so far out there because she has
to quit smoking. We are now teaching the lessons and a stop smoking program!
Church is going to be a struggle though... She has one supervised visit with
her son a week. It is 4 hours long and it's on Sunday. Church would take up 3
of those hours and her son isn't allowed to go to church because of the dad.
Lame. We also met with Adolfo that night and he is now on date for February
27th! In our 3 hours of proselyting on Preparation Day we had 3 lessons. This
week we thought it was going to be our biggest struggle to get 2 people on
date to achieve standards... but through much pleading with the Lord, he made
it possible.
We got two new investigators and they are great!
Lisa: A single mom who has a son with disabilities. She is
best friends with a member and that's how we were introduced to her. She has concerns
with the Priesthood. Our concern is that she lives in the sketchiest of all
sketchy apartment complexes- scary stuff happens there. LOL I hate it. Oh AND
she loves playing this online poker game- real people, fake money. Oh and we
get to do the stop smoking program with her as well! I love New Year's
resolutions. Also, she is giving away two free guinea pigs. So if you know of
anyone... no I'm just kidding... i don't think they would ship very well. But
on the bright side one of them is so ugly it's cute and it looks just like
s'mores. I wanted to eat it.
Anita: Is like 86 or something and has over 1000 rubber
stamps. She has this "hobby room" and it is like pinterest in real
life. The most amazing and organized thing I have ever seen. These are her
favorite things: Books, Cats, Chocolate, Music, and Trees. She puts them in
alphabetical order so she doesn't have a favorite of her favorites. She also
has cats (she loves them but they are kind of evil... they wanted to draw blood
so bad- they were like vampires).
Our other investigators: Adam, Maria, Adolfo, Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Benneth, Kathy, Jeremiah, Jorjanna, and Jodi are all doing well!
As well as the less actives we are working with! One will be
returning when they can be fully active- which is after the Super Bowl.
haha.
Unfortunately none of them came to church this week. We
aren't really sure what happened because we thought at least 5 were coming. But
even though none of them came to church we saw some miracles! One of the
families we are working with in our ward to help increase missionary work
brought a friend to church! It was so exciting to see the influence
members have on their friends. Another member brought a friend for the second
time. Her name is Dolores and she is 18 (still in high school). She has
searched out every possible religion and she is trying out this one. We missed
3rd hour- relief society because we were teaching her about the Book of Mormon.
She is only a few chapters in and has really good questions. She wants to start
meeting regularly when she gets further in the Book of Mormon.
This
week we spent a lot of the evenings in member homes helping them with their
missionary work. The very first steps are individual and family prayer and
scripture study. We were talking to our ward mission leader about these steps
and he called them staff commandments. In Numbers 20:5-6 the Israelites
"spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out
of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is
there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent
fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people." Then the people
realized what they did wrong and started crying unto Moses for help and
forgiveness. The Lord told Moses, "Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it
upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he
looketh upon it, shall live." It was simple. All the people had to do to
be healed from the snake bite was to look upon the staff that Moses made with
the Lord's guidance. It was saving their physical lives. In today's world there
are "staff commandments." The commandments that are so simple YET
save us spiritually. We must do all of these simple staff commandments in order
to be spiritually healed - like prayer, scripture study, and church attendance.
I love Alma 19:16-18. It talks about one of the greatest
"hidden" heroes in the Book of Mormon- Abish. She is one of the
greatest sister missionaries. ;) However, something I realized this week in my
personal study is that she has been "converted unto the Lord for many
years." She was converted enough to make it known that she was a believer,
she was converted unto the Lord enough to RUN house to house to gather the
people, and she was converted enough to lead many to "believe in their
words; and as many as did believe were baptized; and they became a righteous
people, and they did establish a church among them (Alma 19:35." There
were so many baptized that they needed to establish a church among them!
However she was converted BECAUSE of "a remarkable vision of her
father." Her father (an unnamed hero) was so righteous that he influenced
generations. This can be applied to my dad and I am sure some other dad's too.
All that I have been able to accomplish in life and especially on my mission is
because of the influence of my dad and the things he has taught me. Although,
he doesn't get the credit he deserves just like Abish's father. Man, this would
have been a great Father's Day email... well uh, Happy Father's Day on
January 18th to all the Dad's out there especially Poppa Husky! However, I know
that just because we don't receive recognition or see the immediate results of
good works they do not go unnoticed in the eyes of God. This father's righteous
living influenced the lives of so many people that enough were baptized to
establish a church. We underestimate the results of righteous living.
I
love you all! xoxo
Sis.
Rodda
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