This week has been a great one for us! The numbers are a low, but we expect all the work we put in to yield better results over the next few weeks.
I think the coolest thing about this week was that the Lord really provided for us. There were several times when all the plans we had made totally died, and our backup plans died and it was only then that we were able to do what the Lord really had in mind for us. One of the top experiences from this week was when my companion and I were a little lost while trying to contact a referral. We just couldn't find the address, so finally we pulled over and just poured over our map. Then this lady pulled up next to us and asked if we needed help. This somehow lead to us finding out that ten years earlier she and her daughter had been baptized into our church, but had since gone inactive. She had suffered some rough trials, divorce, her daughter being taken by her husband, etc. Now she is living with the father of her eight year old son, both of whom are not baptized. She said that lately she has been thinking on if she should take her son to church since he is eight and should probably be baptized. It really was Heavenly Father reaching out to her that we were there. We took down her information and looked at our ward roster that we had been updating in because we were curious as to if we had visited/called her already. We found that while her name was still on the record, all of the information was wrong! Now we have that information updated and we hope to start meeting with them very soon. This is not going to be an easy return to the church, but I know that the Lord loves her and He will let us know how best to help her come back and to bring her family too.
Lately we have been doing a lot of LA work because the ward asked us to and we have been able to find some great part member families that way. We have found a 17 year old boy, an 18 year old girl, several pairs of parents, husbands, and wives. Currently we are holding FHE with the 18 year old girl every Tuesday. Her mother is inactive due to work, but her dad is not a member either. She also has a nonmember friend come every time! We've only met twice so far, but we know that as we help them feel comfortable in a gospel environment and help the mom regain her testimony through helping us teach, the daughter will have a desire for baptism. We are still working on how best to help the 17 year old, C. His father died just barely over a year ago, leaving his Vietnamese mother to take care of their two children. The mom is the member, but inactive because she works every day to support her family. She has such faith and is working on preparing her husband's temple work information. Her daughter is also a member, but the son felt a loyalty to this father, who is Buddhist. Now that it has been a year, we are hoping that as we visit the whole family and bring the spirit into their home, he will have a desire to come to church. He is just the sweetest little kid, adores his sister and is so kind to his mother. He was taught by the Elders before, but felt too much pressure and asked them not to come back. But he loves singing with us and we hope to hold some family scripture time with them and get him reading the Book of Mormon. We are also making postcards and sending them out to all the LA on our ward lists. We just made one real one and copied it a bunch, so it hasn't taken up too much time. But it is nice and with it we hope to contact all of them! It just takes so long to write little notes when we go and visit them, so this way we will be able to not waste as much time.
Our two week Cs are P and Y. P is awesome and brings a notebook when we have lessons together! Her problem is time--she is a manger of an insurance company. She is very down to business and straightforward, so we gave her a baptismal planner with things we need to teach on what days if she is going to hit her baptismal goal. We recently discovered when her break at work is and were able to have a sit down with her there last week. Our problem is we are not able to find peikes for that...but we are hoping to do so this week. She also has a word of wisdom problem (tea and business) but said she was willing to try this week and her word is gold. She has never not kept a commitment...yet. We have faith in her!
As for Y,we are probably going to have to go a bit slower with her...she is just now barley starting to believe in a god and is not the best at keeping her commitments. She likes Church and English for her kids---who absolutely love it. We recently discovered her children's dance teacher goes to a different ward and so we are going to try and have her peike for us sometime this week. I think that with a friend she might be more willing to experiment upon the word.
Also, we have this awesome family! We found them while tracking and they have been meeting with the Jehovah Witnesses every week for two years, but haven't felt like they have been able to answer their questions, so never joined. The father is the main investigator--his 15 year old daughter is a little interested too. She goes to a Catholic school and so believes more in their doctrine. The mom and son come to our English classes though :). We met the family two weeks ago and the dad has already read up to chapter 22 of 1 Nephi! He reads to find questions and sets aside time to read every day! We asked the Elders to help us with him while we work with the daughter since their schedules don't always match up--which doesn't allow us to see the dad as often as he has questions! We have a lot of hope for their family!!
In the gospel study realm, I have loved reading about Knowledge. It is comforting to me that the Lord has promised us over and over again that as long as we ask and do our part, having faith and an sincere heart, he will answer us and through the Spirit we can know all we have to. Sometimes I feel like I don't know what I am doing, or how I can help our investigators. The area is different and it is forcing me to really rely on God. I have to show forth the faith and then the miracles will come!! So that is what I am trying to do.
All for now! I love you all sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!! So happy to hear all about your adventures!
Always in my prayers,
---Sister Brooke Smith
I think the coolest thing about this week was that the Lord really provided for us. There were several times when all the plans we had made totally died, and our backup plans died and it was only then that we were able to do what the Lord really had in mind for us. One of the top experiences from this week was when my companion and I were a little lost while trying to contact a referral. We just couldn't find the address, so finally we pulled over and just poured over our map. Then this lady pulled up next to us and asked if we needed help. This somehow lead to us finding out that ten years earlier she and her daughter had been baptized into our church, but had since gone inactive. She had suffered some rough trials, divorce, her daughter being taken by her husband, etc. Now she is living with the father of her eight year old son, both of whom are not baptized. She said that lately she has been thinking on if she should take her son to church since he is eight and should probably be baptized. It really was Heavenly Father reaching out to her that we were there. We took down her information and looked at our ward roster that we had been updating in because we were curious as to if we had visited/called her already. We found that while her name was still on the record, all of the information was wrong! Now we have that information updated and we hope to start meeting with them very soon. This is not going to be an easy return to the church, but I know that the Lord loves her and He will let us know how best to help her come back and to bring her family too.
Lately we have been doing a lot of LA work because the ward asked us to and we have been able to find some great part member families that way. We have found a 17 year old boy, an 18 year old girl, several pairs of parents, husbands, and wives. Currently we are holding FHE with the 18 year old girl every Tuesday. Her mother is inactive due to work, but her dad is not a member either. She also has a nonmember friend come every time! We've only met twice so far, but we know that as we help them feel comfortable in a gospel environment and help the mom regain her testimony through helping us teach, the daughter will have a desire for baptism. We are still working on how best to help the 17 year old, C. His father died just barely over a year ago, leaving his Vietnamese mother to take care of their two children. The mom is the member, but inactive because she works every day to support her family. She has such faith and is working on preparing her husband's temple work information. Her daughter is also a member, but the son felt a loyalty to this father, who is Buddhist. Now that it has been a year, we are hoping that as we visit the whole family and bring the spirit into their home, he will have a desire to come to church. He is just the sweetest little kid, adores his sister and is so kind to his mother. He was taught by the Elders before, but felt too much pressure and asked them not to come back. But he loves singing with us and we hope to hold some family scripture time with them and get him reading the Book of Mormon. We are also making postcards and sending them out to all the LA on our ward lists. We just made one real one and copied it a bunch, so it hasn't taken up too much time. But it is nice and with it we hope to contact all of them! It just takes so long to write little notes when we go and visit them, so this way we will be able to not waste as much time.
Our two week Cs are P and Y. P is awesome and brings a notebook when we have lessons together! Her problem is time--she is a manger of an insurance company. She is very down to business and straightforward, so we gave her a baptismal planner with things we need to teach on what days if she is going to hit her baptismal goal. We recently discovered when her break at work is and were able to have a sit down with her there last week. Our problem is we are not able to find peikes for that...but we are hoping to do so this week. She also has a word of wisdom problem (tea and business) but said she was willing to try this week and her word is gold. She has never not kept a commitment...yet. We have faith in her!
As for Y,we are probably going to have to go a bit slower with her...she is just now barley starting to believe in a god and is not the best at keeping her commitments. She likes Church and English for her kids---who absolutely love it. We recently discovered her children's dance teacher goes to a different ward and so we are going to try and have her peike for us sometime this week. I think that with a friend she might be more willing to experiment upon the word.
Also, we have this awesome family! We found them while tracking and they have been meeting with the Jehovah Witnesses every week for two years, but haven't felt like they have been able to answer their questions, so never joined. The father is the main investigator--his 15 year old daughter is a little interested too. She goes to a Catholic school and so believes more in their doctrine. The mom and son come to our English classes though :). We met the family two weeks ago and the dad has already read up to chapter 22 of 1 Nephi! He reads to find questions and sets aside time to read every day! We asked the Elders to help us with him while we work with the daughter since their schedules don't always match up--which doesn't allow us to see the dad as often as he has questions! We have a lot of hope for their family!!
In the gospel study realm, I have loved reading about Knowledge. It is comforting to me that the Lord has promised us over and over again that as long as we ask and do our part, having faith and an sincere heart, he will answer us and through the Spirit we can know all we have to. Sometimes I feel like I don't know what I am doing, or how I can help our investigators. The area is different and it is forcing me to really rely on God. I have to show forth the faith and then the miracles will come!! So that is what I am trying to do.
All for now! I love you all sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!! So happy to hear all about your adventures!
Always in my prayers,
---Sister Brooke Smith
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