Monday, September 15, 2014: Sometimes Doing What You Don't Want to Do Is the Best Thing for You

Good morning! 

I'm going to apologize in advance. This things is going to be long! But there's just so much to say about this week! I don't even know where to start! 

So first off, I hit my year mark this week! Woot! Pretty crazy that an entire year has already flown by. I got lucky because we had interviews that day, so we brought cake with us and got to celebrate with President and Sister McDonough! It was tons of fun. It's always so good to see those two. I feel very lucky to have the mission president (and president's wife) that I have. It has made all the difference on my mission. 

Just a few days before interviews, President had decided to change the music policies in our mission. Before, we were allowed to listen to anything uplifting that invites the Spirit. Now, we have been asked to listen to only what has been played in general conference--so talks, or what the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has sung, as long as it was sung in general conference. To some people that might not seem like a big deal. To me that's a huge sacrifice! I struggled to accept it when I first heard about it, but Sister White and I talked about it and both agreed we needed to be obedient, believing that if we were, the blessings would follow. 

Along with that, we left interviews with a renewed determination to find people to teach. We decided we needed to exercise our faith by making sure to get our seven hours of tracting in for the week. By Sunday we had two hours left. About a minute after we got dropped off in our area I turned to Sister White and said, "I'm not going to lie, I have no desire to tract right now." She said, "Me neither" but we didn't exactly have a way out of it with no vehicle (we'd loaned it to the other sisters for the day) and we were determined to get those seven hours in, so we continued on. 

We weren't very far in when we reached a nice, large house with a glass door. The man inside motioned for us to wait for one second. I don't know why, but when I saw him I thought, "This man is going to listen to us." I wasn't trying to convince myself, I just knew he would. He returned, opened the door for us, and before we even said anything invited us right in. Unfortunately we couldn't enter without a woman home, but he allowed us to share our message on the porch. The Spirit was so strong. We briefly shared the message of the restoration with him and then told him about the Book of Mormon. He said, "I need that book. How do I get a hold of one?" We told him he could have to one we were holding. Then he said, "It's interesting that you came today, because I was just praying to God to give me some direction in my life." We promised him that the gospel of Jesus Christ could give him that. And then I just opened my mouth and invited him to be baptized, and he said yes! I'm pretty sure I walked away from that door with my mouth on the floor. Of all the doors we've been knocking since I got to Meridian and all the people we've met, Timothy is absolutely the one we were meant to find. He's so prepared!

I think that experience alone taught  me a lot. First, it taught me to have a little more faith. Sometimes it's hard to tract in wealthy neighborhoods because I just think, "There's no way these people are going to listen to us anyway." But we found him! He seems to be pretty well off but he was humble enough to listen, anyway. Second, I learned that sometimes, we have to do things we don't want to do. I didn't feel like tracting right then. But I think that's Satan's way of trying to stop good things from happening. If we'd decided to skip it and just go home for a long nap, we might never have found Timothy. One of my favorite companions, Sister Parsons, said that her trainer would always say something along the lines of, "I don't want to _______. You know what that means? We have to _______." I thought of that as I was walking away from Timothy's door. It's completely true! Of course Satan is going to step in right as you're about to find the person you're supposed to find. 

 

Third, obedience always brings blessings. This brings me back to the music thing. I did not want to put my music away. Actually, sometimes I don't particularly want to go to bed at 10:30 or back my companion out of the parking lot or keep lunch under one hour or any of the rules we're asked to keep. But when we follow those rules, somehow, even though it might not make sense, it makes you happier, and it brings blessings! We committed to not listening to our music and we committed to seven hours of tracting and in return God gave us one of the most prepared people I have met on my mission! 

 

Sometimes, it seems like my mission is going by very slowly. It's times like these when I feel like it's going by way too fast! It's been a hard journey at times, but I'm going to be very sad when it's all over. 

Me with my "birthday" cakes! I looked at the picture afterward and was surprised--I thought I was seeing an older version of my sister Ellen!

A nasty spider we found while tracting. I couldn't seem to get a very good picture, probably because I wasn't about to get close to that thing! I thought it was really neat how it stitched its web up, though.

One day we woke up, and something very strange was happening--it was cold! Happiest day of my life! Cardigan weather! It was such a momentous occasion we had to take a picture. It's warmed up again since then but I'm looking forward to it cooling down soon! The worst of it is over!