First, the miracle of the week: we had an investigator come to church this week! It's the first investigator (other than the son of the Primary president) that I've had come to church in Paris so far. I don't know why church attendance is the main struggle here, but there it is. We invite invite invite, and then we just have to wait on Sunday morning... The worst part about being a missionary at church is sitting near the front and getting a crick in your neck from craning it to see if the people you're expecting are walking through the door.
But! The son of a less active member, he's 18 and has been investigating for about 2 months, came! Sister Edgel and I were pretty darn excited :)
I just realized that I left my camera at home. Sorry Mom!
Tuesday was zone conference. Our schedule was as follows: Wake up at 6 AM (half hour early :P). Leave at 6:30. Arrive at 9:00. Get our cars inspected. Meeting started at 10. Ended at 4. Left. Got home at 6:30. So 12 hours total from start to finish. It was a lot of driving for me! But it was a really good meeting. The theme was sacrifice, and I really liked the part where they talked about the sacrifices of early members of the church. They went through a lot of persecution. We were challenged to read "Our Heritage." So, I reread it this week. I really enjoyed the story of Vincenzo Di Francesca. Check out his story here: https://www.lds.org/ensign/1988/01/i-will-not-burn-the-book?lang=eng
What an example of faith and strength in the face of trials! I love his testimony of the Book of Mormon, and it just confirms to me the importance of the Spirit in conversion. When an investigator truly feels the confirmation of the Spirit, to know that this is true, then it doesn't really matter what else gets thrown their way--anti material, opposition, etc.
Fun story of how small towns work! So, at zone conference, we found out that our car's tires's treads are low, so the vehicle coordinator told us to take our car in. Well, we went in. Turns out that the owner's father-in-law is our next door neighbor! Then, on Sunday, the branch president was talking, and he said that his son took his car in to get a tire replaced, and the owner of the car place happened to know the sister missionaries by name! Yup, really small town! Cracks me up though. I love it. Everyone knows each other. It can make it tough sometimes, but it keeps things interesting!
We worked hard to talk to everyone this week, that was the focus :) No new investigators, but we had some really great lessons with the people we're teaching, and we've contacted a lot. The big hope for us is to help less actives come back to church. Many of them struggle to get there, but they know that it's true. That's the hardest.
Love you all! Hope you have a wonderful week! Keep being great missionaries :)
Sister Barret
No comments:
Post a Comment