Week 17

Okey dokey! Hello from Poplar Bluff! In case you're wondering, I'm not apostate (missionary slang for missionaries who are totally disobedient). We received permission to email on Tuesday instead of Monday because libraries were closed yesterday. Happy late Martin Luther King Jr Day!

 I forgot my journal, so I don't know how detailed this email will be, but I'll try my best.

Monday last, we had a dinner at a member's home. They live out in Wappapello, which is one of my new very favorite words to say. Since it's a pretty far drive, they met us halfway and drove us the rest of the way. Well, the parking lot that they chose for us to meet at was a total mud hole, because it had been so rainy the day before. I should have worn my boots. Instead, I was wearing some of my nicer flats, which I then proceeded to lose in the mud. I had to go back and find it, and then they were covered with mud, along with one of my socks. Oops!

 On Tuesday, we had district meeting and President Interviews. He came to Dexter, which was awesome! It saved us 100 miles, so it was really nice of him. While he was interviewing me, I looked down, and he has pictures of the whole district, and over me and my companion he had written "bomb.com." Apparently, Sister Reed had been saying that we were the bomb.com, so he had written it over our names :)

After interviews, we went back to work! We had some appointments, then we went and taught Bible Study. It's a class every week that the elders usually teach, but we taught this time, and it went pretty well. There are only a handful of people that show up each week, so it wasn't exactly a full house. But it was good.

 Wednesday was an AWESOME day at first, which then quickly turned into a really rough day, that then picked up a little at the end.

So.

We had an AMAZING lesson with an older woman, I can't remember if I told you about her before. Let's call her Tracy. She is amazing. Like, probably the goldenest investigator I've had so far on my mission. We have taught her three times as of today, and dang. I can't believe it. She just has been prepared for this! She took lessons from the missionaries in the 80s, then moved to Arkansas and lost contact with them. But we found her because her son stopped Sister Richardson and I on the street and told us to come visit him, but we were really sent there for her at this time! She listens, learns, believes, feels the Spirit, reads The Book of Mormon and understands it... Man, I could go on and on.

Then, later that day, we had a lesson with Abby, the 13 year old girl we've been teaching. That was the rough part of the day. She had a baptismal calendar back in November, but she stopped meeting with us consistently. Then last week she told us that she wanted to get baptized! Then, this week... sigh. She almost dropped us. It was really hard. We think that her mom thinks that we are pressuring her. So, we decided together to slow things down.

We went home and ate mac and cheese and chocolate.

But, good news! One of the young women that we're teaching that is dealing with a lot of things came to the church on Wednesday and met with the bishop! Yay!

So, Wednesday was an emotional day, as you might be able to tell :)

Not much happened on Thursday, except that we had dinner at a member's house and it was kind of intimidating. They're an older couple who just moved in and they're very proper. I had to use the right fork and everything. Sister Reed is used to it, her last area was well-off.

 Friday we found a new investigator! Yay! She's awesome. She's actually a referral from the elders in our area, who were referred to her by the elders in Dexter, who heard about her from some of their investigators.

 Saturday, we drove to Qulin and spent some time teaching our investigator there. She is great. We had some confusion over her phone number, because we had accidentally saved a different person's number as hers because they had the same name.

 Sunday, we had three people come to church! Yay!

So, in my personal study, I've been going a little faster, because I'd like to finish The Book of Mormon in quicker than three years, which is what it would take me if I kept going as slow as I had been.... But I'm in 1 Nephi. So, brief overview: Lehi is a prophet. He has four sons: Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. Lehi is told to take his family and leave Jerusalem. Two of his sons are ok, but the older two, Laman and Lemuel, are angry about this. And they murmur against their father a lot.

Well, as I've been studying this time, I've focused a little on these two. And I was wondering: if your dad  was a prophet, and you see angels, how could you be so angry and rebellious? But I think it boils down to 1 Nephi 2:12: "And thus Laman and Lemuel, being the eldest, did murmur against their father. And they did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them." Laman and Lemuel didn't understand God. They didn't understand how God worked! They didn't respect Lehi as a prophet, because they didn't realize that God had given him authority. They didn't believe that they could get the plates from Laban, because they didn't understand that God is more powerful than any man here on earth. Later, they don't understand the vision of the tree of life, because they didn't understand that God teaches through symbolism. They don't understand the mysteries of God. Why? Because they didn't choose to seek it out! Nephi takes initiative. He goes and prays and asks God to help him understand! Then Sam listens to Nephi! But Laman and Lemuel don't pray for themselves, they won't listen to their father or their brother. They prefer to not understand.

 So, let's all try a little harder to understand God! It's going to make it a lot easier for us to deal with the things that he sends our way.  

Love you all! I'm having a great time here in Poplar Bluff with Sister Reed. I can't believe transfer calls are this Saturday! I'll update you on Monday. I might be leaving Poplar Bluff!

Sister Devynne Barret