Monday, January 13, 2014

1-13-14: Farewells and Hellos

Because that's what we do when transfer calls come. Despite trying to live on a month-to-month schedule like the rest of the world, we missionaries are helplessly locked into six week periods of time when everything changes.

And it's weird getting a new companion. Your companion is like a combination of every relationship ever--your best friend, your sibling, your coworker, your roommate, and your spouse. So transfers are kinda like a traumatic divorce sometimes.

Sister Rasmussen is great though; her sweetness and craft skills are well needed. Plus she makes the world cleaner by picking up trash when we walk places. She leaves traces of pixie dust, sings beautifully, and is very thoughtful.

End of comp section.
In case you wanted a warning before a change of content.

We gonna find you...
We sing that song a lot in case you were wondering. Yes, the song from that YouTube video of that black guy threatening to find someone who broke into his house and then someone made it into a song. We are always looking for people and when appointments fall out, like they often do, we just get to talk with strangers who want to learn more about Christ and happiness and then they forget that they want to be happy so they forget about our appointment but then we keep calling and trying to share joy and sometimes it works out. I wish people would just tell us no if they don't want to learn more about Christ and happiness though, instead of us stalking them for months to try to make an appointment they don't really want. We kind of have a weird program where we have just a bunch of floaters all the time. Maybe Sister Rasmussen's pixie dust will help them stay though.

One of our new investigators this week was a 13-year-old who we actually ended up praying with on the street because she asked us how to pray. Which sounds weird but I think she actually loved it. Our appointment fell through later (probably because of parental concerns), but she knows how to pray now, so...success.

We also found a couple who said they wanted their daughter to grow up with religion and the man asked if we were like holy beings that came to serve people. Alas, we are just people, but we are representatives of Christ and help people to come unto to Him!

Plan B
Because appointments fall through quite a bit, it's important to have backup plans. I read an article in the Liahona [a magazine published by the LDS church] this week that I've been thinking about a lot. It was about what we do when good plans don't work out and I’ve been thinking about it mostly because we've had to use a lot of plan B's lately. But sometimes those plans are better than our original plans and we are able to help or touch people we normally wouldn't have come in contact with. Stephanie J. Burns, the author of the article, said, "Regardless of the turns life's journey may take, the final destination of eternal life is what Heavenly Father plans for His children. We may find that 'plan B' was simply a way of making His 'plan A' a reality."
I know God has a better plan than I have for everything, because, well, God is God and I am not (God, that is). That's always good to remember J.

I thought I'd include a list this week of things I want to do as member missionary when I get home because there are so many things members can do that missionaries can't. Therefore I shall title it:

Member Missionary To-do's
  • say hello to everyone at church and look for visitors
  • invite investigators to eat at my house with the missionaries
  • invite missionaries over when I have friends over to eat. not awkward style though.
  • tell the missionaries I want to be a joint-teach [go with them on teaching appointments] and it's okay if the appointment falls through
  • tell the missionaries I can give rides to investigators or less actives for church and activities
  • have FHE [Family Home Evening] with missionaries and investigators and friends
  • give missionaries specific ways they can help/let them know about visiting friends
  • write missionaries letters. with stickers.
  • pray for missionaries and ask for names of investigators I can pray for
I love you all and hope you have an awesome week! J


-- Sister Claire Michelle Woodward

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