Two days before the experience of passing out while writing we had to wake up at 5:20am to get packed for an exchange in Casa Grande with some companionship's there. What we'll do is go into a zone and split up into three other companionship's and spend the day with them. I went with two missionaries that are pretty new to their missions. We had a really successful day and taught a lot of the people they're working with and were able to find a few new investigators too.
Two days later we went on exchanges with the Chandler zones and we had to wake up at 5:20am again to get down and get everyone where they needed to be before an appointment we had back here in Tempe. I brought two zone leaders from one of the Chandler zones with me and we had a blast!
Part of the reason I brought them up was because there was a baptism in my old ward in Tempe that I was asked to go to. The baptism was for the three kids of the single mom I had been working with while me and Elder Belnap were companions. The mother said the closing prayer and she couldn't control her emotions. We were all in tears by the end of her prayer. She expressed her deep gratitude to the Lord for bringing the gospel to her and her family EXACTLY when she needed it.
Those are the moments that make all the trials worth it. At the end of the day we drove back through Chandler to pick up and drop off and didn't get home until 10:15pm. I was driving and I think Jesus took the wheel because I was sooo tired! Yikes! :)
In our area we killed it this week! We set a goal for 30 teaching opportunities even though we had a district leader training we had to prepare for and conduct and 2 exchanges and we still hit our goal! Any time we could we did 3 way splits with members and we found 7 new investigators and put someone on date! It was nuts!
It's awesome to see the fire it is lighting in all the zones of the mission because the assistants area has always been known to not get much done because of all the office work. My biggest desire is to set an example of finishing a mission strong and if I can break the stigma that assistants don't do missionary work I think it will make a big impact. It totally kills a lot of missionaries excuses about why they don't have anything going on in their area too.
One night I was street contacting in an apartment complex with a member and a group of kids ran up to us and asked, "are you the paramedics?" We of course lied and told them yes because it would put us in a great opportunity to teach. Just kidding. We were honest and told them no. They said, "ok, we're waiting for the paramedics because an old guy just jumped of the 2nd floor balcony and broke his ankle!"
Just then an old man hobbled up and asked us who we worked for because he also must have assumed we were the paramedics! We told him that we worked for Jesus and he liked that. Just then the real paramedics showed up and got him to sit down and started asking him questions like, "Why did you jump off your balcony?" I guess he served in Vietnam and used to do stunts like that all the time and thought he could still do it. Always a good story to share each week :)
Love Elder Janis
No comments:
Post a Comment