Dearest family and friends,
I'm staying in Fishers!!! I'm so happy! I expected it, because Sis. McQuivey is still waiting for her Visa so we expected that she would go in a different area to be in a trio. I'm also giving a training on Friday at our zone meeting, so it was kind of weird preparing the training and not knowing if I would actually still be here. But we have been finding so many people and we have a lot of appointments set up this week! Lemme tell you about a few:
At the beginning of this transfer we met a Thai man (I'll call him Jay), and he gave us his phone number and told us that he works at a Thai restaurant. Since then we have stopped by his home several times and called him but he is never home and his phone is always busy. I went to Thailand a couple summers ago, so I really wanted to find this guy again. We were contacting a few people on day and I realized we were close to a Thai restaurant in our area, so we stopped in and asked if Jay worked there. The lady said no, but try the restaurant down the street. I didn't know there was another Thai restaurant in our area, but we started heading home hoping to see it. Sis. McQuivey said, "Hey, it's right there!" so we flipped around and decided to try this one last restaurant. We walked in and asked, "Does Jay work here?" and an older Thai couple said, "Oh, you from the church? You met him on the street in the neighborhood?" We said, "Yes!" and they said, "He is cooking, we go get him." Ah! We couldn't believe it! We sat at a table and then he came out and was so happy to see us! He hardly speaks English, but we managed to set up an appointment for this week and he said he would meet us at the church. He even remembered the address we told him the very first time we met him! So since then we've been trying to find members who speak Thai, but we haven't been able to find anyone. A couple days later we were tracting and met a woman from Thailand who said her daughter might be interested in learning and coming to church. We texted her on Saturday to see if her daughter wanted to come, and she told us she couldn't this Sunday, but she said, "Yesterday I talk to a man named Jay who said he is meeting with you, so I will come with him to the church." What?! That is no coincidence! She speaks much better English and will be able to translate so Jay understands! I truly feel that I was meant to find these people here in Fishers.
We've still been meeting with Sis. D who is 84 and she was referred to us by her niece who joined the church a year ago. I've been wondering if we should continue to meet with Sis. D because she just loves when we visit but has expressed that she doesn't want to be baptized. But at our lesson she was telling us how much of an impact our visits have made on her motivation to get stuff done, and she has really been able to recognize the spirit guiding her. I asked her what she thinks she should do to keep the spirit with her more, and she said, "Read the Book of Mormon more often and be more involved with the Mormons!" So she is having a change of heart, and we are hoping that more interaction with the members and rides to church will give her a desire to be baptized! She called and left a message last night to ask about who is being transferred; she said she is "anxious to know." Before she hung up she said, "I am reading my Book right now, before I go to bed. I just wanted to you know." I love her so much :)
We met a guy a few months ago working on his car and we asked him if we could help. He didn't have much time to talk right then, but he said we could come back and visit later. He didn't actually live at the apartment he was at, but he said his girlfriend did. So we stopped by and called a bunch of times, and met his girlfriend's mom a couple times. We managed to set up an appointment with her, but she had to cancel every time. The last appointment we set up with her, she wasn't home, but her daughter Lily was. She was happy to set up an appointment, and she asked, "Do you answer questions? Me and my friends have a lot of questions!" We met with her last night and taught her about the Restoration, and she accepted it all! She totally had an experience similar to Joseph Smith's and she is so willing to read the Book of Mormon and try it out! We asked if she would be baptized if she learned that all these things are true, and she said she wants to learn more, but if it is true then she feels like she should. So we are meeting with her again on Saturday! Oh people are being prepared!
Jordan is in the MTC. Oh man :) Elder Allen. How cool to be serving with my little bro. I think about him every day and it feels wonderful to know that we are both out serving together.
We taught RS on Sunday, and we have been encouraging members to create their own personal or family mission plans (PMG pg. 220). Members of the church are crucial in finding people to teach. They provide an automatic support system. I hope that when I go home I will be able to continue looking for opportunities to invite people to church activities and share the gospel. I'm so grateful to be serving a mission so I know how to go about things better with my friends and share this wonderful gospel with those who don't have it!
Quotes of the week:
Sister McQuivey: "We should teach him the pirst fart of the Restoration!"
Sister Barrett: "If I could have a lifetime supply of this carrot cake, I would live for the rest of my life!"
Me: "My greatest strength is humility."
Happy summer!!!
Love, Sister Allen
No comments:
Post a Comment