Monday, September 1, 2014: Moving, and the Nicest Street I've Ever Found

Good morning! Happy labor day everyone! Aka, Happy (unhappy?) No Mail Day everyone...not that I mind having to wait an extra day for mail or anything... 

This week Sister White and I moved into our new apartment! I was sad to leave our townhouse--it was so nice--but being in a smaller, not quite as nice apartment will be worth it if it means we can be closer to our area. It was cool too because we'd only texted Brother Pierce about helping us move, but when I answered the door Saturday morning there were three or four priesthood holders there with their trucks, ready to help, as well as the elders, so moving didn't take very long at all. It's just kind of amazing to me how that works. It made me think of the times that my family has had to move, and how the ward has always been there to help us out. It's comforting to me to know that I have that support system, so if I ever needed help I would always have a group of people to turn to. 

We had kind of a cool experience this week. As I've probably said before, most of our area is more wealthy neighborhoods, and can probably guess how well tracting in those areas goes--so finding people can be pretty difficult. So I've been trying to think of some different finding ideas, and this week I decided to try something new. I ordered some family history pass along cards from the media center and planned to use them in place of the usualmormon.org cards we use. I figured they might not be interested in our message of the restoration, but what rich family wouldn't be proud of their heritage and want to learn more about their ancestors? At least we'd be able to spark their interest in something! 

 
And this was the result of my new idea! We went up to this pretty nice looking house and nobody answered the door so we started walking away, and my favorite thing of all time happened--the owner pulled into the driveway. That's the worst! So awkward! The lady rolled down her window and said the usual "Can I help you?" and we told her who we were, and she quickly turned us down. So then I mentioned the family search card I had left on her door. Immediately her interest was sparked! She said, "Oh yeah, you Mormons are all over that kind of stuff, huh? I would love to take a look and see what's on there!" And we just started having a really good conversation with her! We found out she'd just moved in because her husband had passed away and her other house was just too big for only herself and she was still working on dejunking her things. We offered to help and she accepted! Then she said, "If you ever need anything--call me. If you need a ride or you need food or anything, let me know!" She was totally serious too! Crazy, right? It was a pretty big turn around. So we're going back to help her on Thursday. I'm excited to see how that goes!

A few days before that, we had knocked on the door of a man who had already met a few elders before. He offered to let us in and give us some water, but there wasn't a woman home, so instead he let us sit on his porch and he brought some water to us. We had a good chat with him. He told us he had gone to medical school with Dr. Cronin, a man who just so happens to live in my last area! He said he knew he was a Mormon and he was always such a good guy and stuck to his standards no matter what. I had the same thing happen a few times in Clinton thanks to the same Dr. Cronin. He probably doesn't even realize how much of a difference he made by being a good example, but it made a difference to me! Even if they aren't interested in hearing our message right now, they at least know what Mormons are really like and that in itself is an accomplishment. 

In short, so far that street has been one of the nicest ones I've found on my mission, which I wasn't expecting! Can't wait to see who we meet next!