So I was going to start this email by saying:
"The bad news is that one of our investigators died...the good news is that one of our investigators is in jail." But, that is not entirely true. You will have to read on...
Yes, one of our investigators did pass away this week. It was not entirely surprising, but it is still devastating nonetheless. John passed away during dialysis on Monday. He fell asleep and never woke up. It is just so sad, because he really wanted to be baptized before he went. He was a good man and wanted to follow God. Everybody loved him :) We offered to help out at the funeral and the reception next week. Unfortunately they are during District Meeting, so I am kind of torn. But I think it will probably be best for me to get some closure. That is one thing that I know I need from my past life experiences. I need closure or I go crazy and can't move on.
GOOOOODDD NEWS!!!!! Dominick is getting baptized! We put him on date for February 15th. I am so excited and he keeps saying that he is excited too :) This is my first investigator on date for about four transfers, so it feels really good. And there is more good news. Dominick planned to turn himself in and do his jail time today, but he went in and saw a judge and they waived his warrant and gave him community service instead. That is such a relief! Dominick told us his plan last week and so I have been praying extra hard for him all week that he would have the strength and courage to do what he needed to and he was pretty cool headed this morning (we had breakfast with them before Dominick headed out). But Alejandra was really struggling, so we are glad that it worked out in their favor! God blesses us for accepting and acting upon his Gospel and commandments.
We had a miracle of finding a new investigator. A man that previously lived in our ward was visiting and had a referral for us that he wanted to introduce us to after church and before he traveled back to his home. So we went out to visit her, but she wasn't home. It used a lot of our miles to get out there, so we decided that we would stop by a part member family (they weren't home) and another referral that we had gotten last week, but had not had time to visit. And she was home and grateful that we had come. Her mother-in-law called in the referral and we were pleasantly surprised that she was genuinely interested! Our original plan fell through, but the Lord had it all work out for the best.
In our ward and also in the Ensign recently, there has been a big emphasis on enduring to the end. Consequently, I have been thinking a lot about it this week. In Sacrament meeting I was thinking and remembered something that I used to do when I was training to run a half marathon. When I was starting my run and would get to about mile 1.5-2 (which for me is the hardest to endure--still trying to find your groove, but have already run a good distance) I would say in my head "Just run forever." And it always worked! I don't know why, but maybe it was that I was in essence putting it into the "eternal perspective." I was never fast, but I endured. Similarly, the work has been kind of an endurance race for me lately. But I have told my self "Just work forever," or "Just tract forever" and it seems to help. I think making a conscious effort to focus on the work and making it my "forever" has helped me to endure and have a better attitude about it. I have been a lot more diligent and I enjoy the work a lot more.
This week in my studies I came to Ether chapter 2 where the Lord chastens the Brother of Jared for three hours. But reading the surrounding verses, it makes sense. The Lord just wanted to bless the people. But they didn't pray. He wanted to take them to the promised land so they could start building better lives for themselves and be successful and establish the church more fully. But instead, they hung out in tents by the seashore for four years. Had the people be active in praying, they would have been able to receive revelation to continue to the promised land and receive more blessings. He chastened them because He wanted to bless them and He couldn't. Don't forget to pray!
We had some crazy rain on Saturday! It was Monsoon status rain with insane wind. I was on an exchange and Sister Fuge and I could barely take a few inch step in the wind it was so strong. And we tracted in it for about 4-5 hours. I don't think there was a dry spot on our bodies when we finished. And I am pretty sure that my face got windburned. We kept saying that we survived a hurricane. It is supposed to be warmer this week though, so I look forward to that :)
Love you lots!
Sister Turley
Half of the awesome rainbow on Wednesday
The bus flew into the tree.
Tract all the houses! Sister Fuge and I after our adventurous exchange :)
No comments:
Post a Comment