April 25, 2016

Week 10: Jacob 6:12

Well another week came and went! It went pretty well. We had FHE with a family down in Payson on Monday night and they had pork chops and cornbread so I felt right at home, lol. Our objective with them is to teach their daughter, Abigail, who is 18 and not a member, but we haven't had much success. She seems kinda meh towards us and the gospel, and is kinda immature. Oh well. Her mom and step dad are super awesome. They both converted from the Evangelist church and love missionary work, so we had a Q&A type thing with them for FHE about missionaries and what they do. It was pretty fun. Plus cornbread.

On Tuesday we met with some of our less actives and recent converts, and all the lessons went really well. This one girl we've been working with, Patty, is a pun master, so she always has new puns to share with us when we come over (What do you call a belt made out of watches??? A waist of time!!!! *ba dum tss*). Lately we've felt like we haven't really been getting anywhere with her, and that our lessons have turned more into just visits, so we asked her what her goals were and how we could help her. She said that she really just wants to help people, like her friends because a lot of them struggle with the gospel and stuff, so I asked her if she'd ever thought about serving a mission. She told us she's considered it a little and hasn't ruled it out. I started bearing a simple testimony about missionary work and she just started crying. So I was kinda like  and worried I had said something to upset her, but apparently she was just really touched by the Spirit. She said she really did want to serve a mission, so hopefully we can help her do that and she'll talk to the Bishop. We also met with a recent convert, Jaylen, who is a volleyball coach for BYU, and we're trying to help him get to the temple so he can start doing baptisms for the dead.

We met with a few more less actives this week, and they all went good. We've been working with people from all walks of life lol We're still working with Abby, who has been reading the BOM. Hopefully she's been praying about it as well since we last met with her. Both Sister Saili and I agree that once she gains a testimony of the BOM, everytthing else will fall into place. We're meeting with her tonight, so we'll see!!! We've also been meeting with JD, who is also a nonmember. His parents are less actives, but he knows next to nothing about the church. He's a very interesting person...we can't tell if he's taking what we say seriously or not. But he went to church yesterday, so that was awesome! The third investigator we've been trying to meet with is Oscar...he's the one that is next to impossible to meet with. We were supposed to have a lesson with him on Tuesday, but when we showed up at his house he blew us off because he had to take his girlfriend home. She's a member, but we're worried she's not being a good influence on him. So we've been trying to strategize ways to break them up. Just kidding! (Maybe.)

Anyway, that's about it teaching-wise. We went on exchanges this weekend, which was fun, but our STLs (sister training leaders) are the spanish sisters, and we were both in their area, so everything we did was in Spanish, which I do not speak, so I really can't say I learned anything lol but Saturday night was a lot of fun! The Stake High Councilman of the 19th Stake threw a "Spring Fling" party thing for all the ward mission leaders and we did some pretty fun activities. We played gospel trivia (i really need to brush up on my Old Testament knowledge) and ate food and had a grand ole time. 

Yesterday was pretty nuts. You'd think Sundays would be relaxing, but not so in the life of a missionary. They are craziest and most stressful days. We had to go on splits because we had one stake correlation meeting in Orem and another in Spanish Fork and so that was an adventure. Let's just say working with members can be really frustrating, especially when they're YSAs. With that in mind, I would like to invite all of you to reach out to the missionaries and help them with anything they might need. Will you do that? 

Sorry if this email was random or rambly lol hope everyone has a great week!

Alofa ia te oi!

Sister Wainwright

Sister Wainwright's Mailing Address

85 N 600 E
Provo UT 84606
United States

April 18, 2016

Week 9: Alma 37:36-37

Well, another week has flown by! It didn't feel like it at the time, but every Monday I feel like an entire month has passed by. 

Anyway, I invited 3 people to be baptized this week and they all said yes, but we don't have any of them on date yet. One of them is this kid that  we have literally been trying to meet with for like 2 months; trying to contact him is nearly impossible. He'll meet with us once, and then miss our next appointment, and won't answer any of our calls or texts and it's just really frustrating! so hopefully he'll show up to our next lesson on Tuesday. We asked him to pray about a baptismal date, and if he didn't, we're gonna set one for him (via inspiration from the Spirit, naturally). The next person we invited to be baptized is Abby, the super Christian I mentioned in my last email. Our lesson with her was pretty awesome, and she said yes to our invitation, but she also is kinda iffy on whether or not Christ's church needed to be restored. She thinks as long as people are worshiping God, then they'll be saved--it doesn't matter what church they're in. Baptism and all that is not needed. So I'm just like, then why did Jesus Christ get baptized???? hopefully we'll be able to help her see why baptism is so important. Our third investigator is pretty golden...as in, he already believes that the Church is true, but he's not totally 100% committed to baptism because he wants to be sure that this is the "right path" for him. Excuse me, sir, so you want eternal life?! THEN YES IT'S THE RIGHT PATH FOR YOU!!! Some people just make zero sense to me. So those are our three investigators!

We also (FINALLY!!!!!!!) met Braulio yesterday, who we've been trying to meet since day 1 in the field. He is pretty awesome. He's a Jehovah's witness, but not very active. He's been going through a lot of trials since he graduated high school, so he really started turning to God. He said he'd like to meet with us and learn more, but it's really hard for him at the same time because he feels like by investigating another church he's betraying his church or failing in some way. For pretty much the first time on my mission I really felt Heavenly Father's love for someone else. It's kinda hard not to in those situations, when the grown man you're talking to has literal tears in his eyes!!!

So that's about the highlights of our week. Oh! Almost forgot! I met my first polygamist family! Well technically they're ex-polygamists, but I'm still counting it. They're super nice. Interesting, for sure, but nice. 

This month we did a mission wide fast for miracles and I'm really starting to see the blessings from that. We have a lot of lessons fall through sometimes, but it seems like every time that happens we find someone new to teach. So that's awesome!!! Fasting really works!!! And praying...we've been praying A LOT for miracles.

I'm kinda annoyed that it took me going on my mission to figure all this out. The Gospel truly is a beautiful thing. And it's really the simple things that helps us keep going. CPR! Church, Prayer, Reading the Scriptures! When we're facing the Lord, all of our trials are behind us. 

So that's about it! I'm probably forgetting something, but oh well! Talk to y'all next week!

Sister Wainwright