May 5, 2014
This week was tough. With all the partying, a lot of our appointments were falling through and we couldn't find anybody at home to teach and we don't really do a lot of street contacting because it's not as effective as referrals from members so we were going around asking all the members for referrals after giving them lessons and trying to get to know them better. But none of the members were giving us referrals either. Frustrating!
I was alright, kind of just trekking along, a little bit discouraged but still trying to be positive and hopeful and happy. Then on the last official night of the party we ran into this young man on our way home. We stopped to wish him a belated happy birthday because he had just turned 17. But then he started telling us he was leaving the church, giving up on it. We were like what?? When I met this guy he was bearing his testimony to me and telling me he couldn't wait to be able to serve a mission (side note: so many young men and women here are preparing to serve missions. A lot of them even have their calls and things and they are just waiting for their visas to Brazil or for their call dates to arrive and stuff. So great!). But anyways we stopped and talked to him for like 20 minutes (luckily it wasn't 9:30 yet). He told us he was too weak, that he had broken the word of wisdom and law of chastity at parties the last two nights. And he was on his way to the party again. So we tried really hard to convince him to turn around and go home. I showed him Ether 12:27 and told him that we are all weak but the Lord strengthens us. I also showed him Alma 41 where it says that wickedness never was happiness and told him that the party wasn't going to bring him happiness, but keeping the commandments would. I even started crying and bore my testimony but nothing worked. So it was a pretty sad night. I felt like God gave me a glimpse of the sorrow He feels when we blatantly disobey Him and break His commandments. But we can't force anyone to do what is right, just show them the way and hope they feel the Spirit.
Yeah it was a rough week and an especially difficult experience but I'm grateful to have had it because it just strengthens my testimony that this is God's work! And I am working on having faith and hope in God and in the people I am working with and in myself! We had a great district meeting on Saturday and a training about being happy so that was helpful. I'm so happy here. I love working hard and being tired each night because I know I'm giving my all. I love the feeling of having progressing investigators, even if we don't have as many as we'd like. We have one progressing family and they are absolutely the greatest. We taught them about the word of wisdom this week and they are so willing to give up coffee! It's so incredible. They know it's right. And they have the faith to do it. I am SO excited to see them get married and baptized!
Another great feeling was on Sunday when we had 137 people in church. That's right. The week before we only had 70. We almost doubled it! And it wasn't thanks to us at all, it was because of the members. A bunch of the youth went out on Saturday to do what they called a "mini MTC." They really just split into pairs dressed like missionaries and went out visiting less actives and finding new investigators or old investigators to invite to church. And then on Sunday morning they followed up and brought people to church with them. Oh man it was so helpful. I love helping the members feel the joy of missionary work because it really is such a joy and we missionaries really can't do it all on our own. So for those of you who are not on full time missions right now, help the missionaries! Give them referrals. Invite them to teach in your homes. It will bring blessings for everyone ;)
Okay so some random highlights were when I got to see a monkey! I also saw some really cute baby goats who were following me around haha. We said good afternoon to this one lady who crossed herself afterwards it was hilarious. And some people shut their windows and doors and hid inside their house when they saw us approach. We weren't going over to talk to them anyways though. And last but not least we were fasting but then we had been invited to a member and his less active wife's home that night and little did we know they made dinner for us! We felt so bad because they got all sad when we said we couldn't eat with them so we just ended our fast and re started it haha. We thought it was going to be super hard but it actually wasn't AND that night we went to this birthday party (which we weren’t even invited to haha) they loaded us up with pizza and snacks and cake to take home so we rushed home, broke our fast, and feasted while we planned the next day. Yummy!
I love you guys. I am going to try to send pictures now. Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Corbett
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