Weekly Update 9-6-11

Hello everyone!

I guess people have already heard the news about Sister B. in my mission passing away this past Tuesday, so I won't mention too much about it. Here is the letter that the mission president sent us this week though;

This week has felt like a month or more, been one of the longest weeks of my life. That seems to happen a lot here in the mission where so much happens each week or several drastic things will happen that it feels forever long. Between hurricanes, bed bugs, and the passing of Sister B. it seems this week has good reason to feel long, haha. So here's the scoop of the week.

Tuesday-

Had interviews with Pres. B. When we arrived at the church for our interviews is when we found out about the accident about Sister B. When we arrived at the church, he was on call with the patrolman and following that call were calls made to the parents of each sister. I can't even imagine what a phone call like that would be like and I hope I never have to be a result of a phone call like that. Incidents like that put things into perspective. There I was that morning being all frustrated about some dumb bed bugs when we go and find out a tragic car accident happened. Putting things into perspective makes one realize that what we are going through really isn't that bad or dramatic. There are worse things and we should just be grateful for what we have now and enjoy it. Take account of the blessing each of us has been given and be grateful for each one. I feel like a lot of times in life people take so many blessings for granted and they don't even realize it until it's gone. Count Your Blessings is not just a song, it is a commandment of the Lord. Remember that Heavenly Father will continually try and test our faith and patience but we have to be willing to let him mold us and shape us how HE wants us to be.

Wednesday- District meeting and found out the sister missionary passed away the previous evening. We were blessed to have President at our district meeting that day to give training- that usually doesn't happen. The training was on dealing with difficult questions, which is kind of ironic given the circumstances. When a loved one passes away, all sorts of difficult questions can spring forward. But President was there to train us on how to deal with those questions along with many other ones as well. Aside from the news given at district meeting, the day went pretty well. We had appointments back to back that day. There was supposed to be a member baptism of an 8 year old girl from one of the families, but it got postponed. No one filled the font, haha, apparently the bishopric was supposed to because neither the elders or the sisters were asked to. Ha I find it funny that when it's up to the bishopric that someone forgets to fill the font, but every time we have a baptism we have never forgotten. Perhaps it is because we thrive on people getting baptized and the bishopric was too busy, who knows. Either way, it is sad but funny at the same time.

Thursday- We had to go mattress shopping for new box springs, mattresses, and a new bed frame. The exterminator was coming the next morning, so we had to find something quick. Although we looked at several different stores, nothing was even close to our budget for the quality we needed. One place was trying to sell us these ugly Dora the Explorer mattresses for $399 a piece. My companion and I were like no thanks, haha. Our budget was about $250 a piece. It made me laugh how this one mattress salesman was really trying to sell us this ugly uncomfortable mattress for way more than what it is worth. Something amazing that happened, we actually finished our weekly planning within the given time we are supposed to. Most of the time, because we have so many people to plan for that we never are able to get done in time and have to finish it during our down times we may have in the week. This time we just really worked hard to get through it all, and we did! Definitely a new record for us, haha.

Friday- Dissembled our bed frames and threw them out. They were covered in bed bugs, it was pretty gross.  The exterminator came and sprayed our entire apartment while we were out doing service for an investigator. After service, we had part 2 of mattress shopping and this time actually found one. It was a little more than our budget but was the best deal we could find anywhere. Got to teach a lesson with an investigator who has a baptismal date, got a member to come with us which was cool. We are really trying to get more member present lessons and build good relationships with the members.

Saturday- Tried a lot of people but no one seemed to be home, ha or maybe they were hiding, haha, who knows. Mattresses got delivered, but we had to stay at our apartment for awhile for when they came and see that everything went smoothly. Planned a few lessons and saw a less active member of the ward. I love getting to know people, they have the best stories! It is amazing what people go through and how different each person is. No one person's experience is the same as another and each has a story to tell if someone is willing to listen to them.

Sunday- We taught the gospel principles lesson. I have never taught a lesson in church before [giving a talk doesn't count that is only 10 minutes maybe, not an hour!] so I was pretty nervous but I think it went pretty well regardless. We taught about the scriptures, and how to cross reference them and really use them to study. It was good, we have several investigators, less actives, and recent converts in there which was basically the entire class. Oh, one cool story from Sunday;

After teaching gospel principles, we went out to get some gum out of our car [it was fast sunday] and as we were walking back into the building we got stopped by this fellow named E. He was African American, probably late 20's I would guess. But he stopped us and was like someone stole my Book of Mormon, can I get another one? We were astounded to say the least that this guy was asking for a Book of Mormon. Apparently, some sisters used to teach him when he had a house but hadn't been taught in a long time. We are pretty sure he is homeless now going from shelter to shelter but since we didn't have any way to contact him [no cell phone] we just gave him our number inside a Book of Mormon we handed him. He said he would call us to set up an appointment, he sounded pretty sincere about it so I hope he does. We got to talk to him for a little bit about the Book of Mormon, which was cool, hopefully something will come from that experience. We'll see. People don't usually call us, but maybe just maybe he will. After church, we tried several people but no luck until we went and saw a member referral we were given. It was a members Dad who was referred to us. It was really neat, we knocked on his door and he knew who we were and invited us in. He is in his early 50's, says he is open minded about learning but that it may take some time for him to accept everything. We taught him the first lesson on the spot which was really cool. He says that it makes sense and that he will read and pray about the truthfulness of The Book of Mormon! Can't wait to talk to him again in the future.

So that's my week as a missionary, wonder what next week will bring? Thanks for all the love, support and prayers!

Love, 

Sister Gifford