Feb. 21, 2011

Hello everyone! I hope your week was as awesome as mine!!! We've had some really amazing things happen this week, and I can't wait to tell you all about them!...

First, we were able to exceed almost all of our teaching goals this week. Our goal for finding new investigators was 1, which is the mission standard... We're all always trying to find one each week. Well, Sister Archer and I have really been working VERY hard, and we managed to pick up 3 new investigators this week! Hooray! Here's the stories:

So first at the beginning of the week, things were running really slow. We got to wednesday and hadn't really been able to teach much at all. Most of our dinner appointments even canceled for most of the week, which was sad. But Thursday was a new day, and we taught like crazy! We had 5 lessons that day, and we were able to meet with Margaret, who is a roommate of one of our members. Margaret is 80 years old, and has attended the same non-denominational church for those same 80 years. Her roommate, Sister Loza (also a very old widow) had given Margaret some mormon fiction to read, which inspired some interest. We stopped by a couple weeks ago to meet Sister Loza, since I hadn't met her yet, and met Margaret instead. She asked some good questions about prophets and we talked for a few minutes, and set up an appointment for this last Thursday. We went on Thursday and taught about the restoration. It was sooo cool!!! As we talked about prophets and the apostasy, Margaret was really interested and understanding and agreeing with us. Then as we shared the story of the first vision, the spirit came into the room so strong I almost couldn't breath! Sister Loza got very teary eyed, and I asked her to share her testimony with us, which went amazing. Margaret was way into the whole discussion. We commited her to be baptized. She said no, this time, but said that she's also very open to hearing more, and wants to know more about our church before she makes any committments. We left her a book of mormon, and Sister Loza will be there for her to answer any quesitons. Our next appointment with her is on Tuesday, and we'll be able to talk about the plan of salvation this time!

Our next appointment after Margaret was with a woman named Patty. Patty had been taught by Sister missionaries over a year ago, but when President Pendleton took the missionaries out, she was missed. So we stopped by to meet her and were able to share the Introduction to the Book of Mormon with her. She's in her 30s with two small children. Her husband works, so we haven't been able to meet him yet. But she's definately still interested, and we're going to keep teaching her as well.

Then, just Saturday, we stopped by a less active's house. Her adult daughter had just moved home from Las Vegas this week. The daughter, Diana, invited us in and had us sit down. Pat, the mom - and person we came to see - wasn't there. But Diana wanted to talk and asked us some questions about the church. We talked about Prophets and the Book of Mormon, especially when Diana said she believed the Bible, but that it was so mixed up because it had been through so many different translations. We were like, "we believe that too!!!" She asked us to come back and teach her some more. SCORE!!!

So three new investigators this week! Plus, we've met over half of the ward list, which is saying more than most of the branch leadership. They were very surprised when we handed them a progress record (which is a record of all our lessons, plus things we think the leadership needs to know about our investigators and the less actives) which was 4 pages long... lol.

We also had to speak in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. President Sorensen gave us the assignment to speak on whatever we thought the branch needs to know about missionary work. Sister Archer taught about the Atonement, and how, as we study the atonement, the more our desire to share the gospel increases. I talked about looking for Missionary Opportunities in unlikely places, and I shared the story of Ammon and cutting off the arms as his answer to fasting and prayer for a missionary opportunity, which led to the conversion of thousands of people. I especially liked sharint Alma 26:22... read it. It's awesome!

The work here really is picking up. We've gone from a single investigator to 6 in just 3 short weeks, and we have some AMAZING potentials that we're meeting with this week. We already have 22 lessons scheduled this week. I guess we won't have time for tracting... oh darn. lol.

That's pretty much it for today, really. I love you all, and I'm super excited to hear from you. I hope that your weeks go well, and that you get to receive the blessing that I pray for you each and every day.

Love, Sister Reid