We got a call on Monday from Pam that she was really upset because none of our investigators came to church. She comes out with us everywhere and gives so much to the people that we teach that she is basically our third companion! When she's not with us, she's helping our investigators; cooking them meals, picking them up, buying them nicotine lozenges to cut down their smoking, etc. And she was just upset that this was the second week in a row that they didn't come to church. So we went straight to her house after we got back from Sheffield, and had a message with her about the Atonement and how missionary work can't be easy because then it wouldn't be God's work (Thanks Sister Horne for the "Missionary Work and the Atonement" Video!). It was a great lesson and she cheered up a little, but it was really difficult for her still. So we left with a prayer because the night was over. She promised to come out with us the next day because she knew if she didn't then Satan would've won over her and she didn't want that. She is such an inspiration to us!
So Tuesday, Pam's friend called her and was upset we had called to confirm her appointment and told her that she didn't actually want to learn from the missionaries. So we had a lesson with Janine instead. Janine had also called Pam and told her she was in trouble, so Pam walked all the way over because she didn't have time to wait for the bus, and we rushed over as well. They wound up spending the whole day together and we went to see John. Since Pam was with Janine, we had a lesson in the park with John on Enduring to the End. Then we stopped by another potential we had found in the area who said he was looking for any help he could get. But his mom answered the door and said they weren't interested. We're still planning on stopping by later though.
Wednesday was pretty good! We had district meeting in Sheffield and President and Sister Pilkington came to say goodbye. We had an awesome district meeting and they gave us temple recommend holders with a personal interview on the other side with some of their favorite mantras. There were so many though, they just made us two holders...Then we got a ride with the Zone Leaders to Branch Correlation. Then we met up with Pam and went to John's. Pam was still struggling and so after John's lesson, we went to the park with her and had another lesson with her on the power of missionary work and she asked for a blessing, so we sent the elders over to her house and did street contacting. We had another lesson with Graham and it had to be outside again and it started raining again. We didn't get through the lesson because he has some very deep, interesting thoughts already about the afterlife.
Thursday, we travelled to Treeton to visit a less-active and invite her back to church. She's not sure she wants to, but she said she'll think about it. So progress!?! Then our other lesson cancelled, so we met up with Pam and did a service activity for a lady in the branch. The hard part about service here, is we're only allowed to do it, if we give up our lunch break, so we were starving. We pulled her weeds for her and then had a meal, so we left a lot happier than we came ;) Service really is such a blessing! I honestly wasn't sure how I felt about her before and now she's one of my favorite lady's in the branch! I finally understand her sense of humor and it was actually funny and not as offensive as I originally thought! So that was a great blessing!
Friday was by far our roughest day. Our morning lessons all cancelled, so we read from the Book of Mormon with Pam instead. Then we went to John's. John has completely stopped smoking, but has become increasingly angry with God and as a by-product, women. He was really upset and kept calling us witches with a B and saying we were all alike-ganging up on men. ANYWAYS. We wound up having to pass him on to the elders. Which was so painfully hard! He's made such great progress! But we're thankful we have elders in our area that we can pass him on to. He's at the point now where I think he needs that male influence to help him and they'll be able to help him more than we can now (which is really painful to admit...). But then the miracle of our next lesson happened! Our lesson was with a man named Ephraim who is from Ethiopia and he was so receptive to what we had to say and his only concern was his English wasn't perfect and the Book of Mormon is kinda in "old language", even in his native language, he thought it would be too hard to understand. We came home and had another lesson with Graham and actually got through the Restoration!
Saturday we street contacted all day. We met some super nice, super scary, and everything in between people. Then we had another lesson with Ephraim on the power of the Book of Mormon. He read four chapters last night! What a stud! So we read chapter 5 with him and it was a great lesson!
Sunday was amazing! First of all, Ephraim showed up! So third week's the charm apparently! ;) Also, President Pilkington came and shared some thoughts on the power of missionary work and the miracles he's seen of God protecting His missionaries. It was so great! After church, we made a sandwhich and promptly fell asleep. Then we woke up and went to visit a less active who is having a hard time wanting to go to church because there's no other kids there and her kids can be pretty noisy and don't like to sit still. That's kinda a hard challenge to help overcome! SO pray we meet some families!!! ;) Then Nathan called and wanted to go follow-up with some of the Elder's investigators because he was bored. So, since our lesson fell through, we did! And it was great! They said they were impressed we had the same answers as the elders did for their questions. So that's good the elders aren't teaching false doctrine ;)
So in our District Meeting, Sister Pilkington gave us 30 quotes from conferences that can help give us a boost, so I figured I'd choose one a week and send them out :)
"Hard as things seem today, they will be better in the next day if you choose to serve the Lord this day with your whole heart."-President Eyring "This Day"
Love you all!
Sister Hope
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