Elder Bednar reads blogs. I know. I freaked out too. And I am pretty sure he quoted mine for freaking out about ipads in front of the entire mission considering the fact that he said it and three people turned around and looked right at me. Between that and the plentiful comments afterwards with associated fist pumps... oh boy. Not sure if my blog is up to general authority status but if you are reading this Elder Bednar you are great. You're conference was great. You're tarzan chest bump was great. Pretty much everything was just great. And you changed this little missionary's mindset. Thank you. Elder Bednar is working his way into my heart as one of my favorite apostles. Man no doubt in my mind that man is called of God.
I learned so much. So much. I wish I could express it all. But pretty much every question I ever had was answered and then some. And I walked out of there feeling on cloud 9. One thing I have really been thinking about lately is how the mission really isn't the end of hard things in our lives. It is only the stepping stone towards other tough things. I think about the progress of missionary work. My freak out being a trainer. My freak out becoming a sister training leader. My freak out being transferred. Basically I am just a freak out mess. Elder Bednar told us that 'it the Lord's plan for you and I to be eternally clueless' I will just go ahead and give a little amen to that one. Seriously. I feel like the more I learn about missionary work the more clueless I feel. But that is totally okay because this is the Lord's church and he wouldn't call us to it if he didn't know we could do it. And the only way we are going to learn is to go through our little clueless tunnel and then come out on the other side and look back and think ' hey that wasn't so bad after all.' We got this guys.
My latest progression in regards to missionary work is trying to get all these wonderful people that we teach movin and a groovin. It started off not even having potentials. And then it was tough to get all these potential people who have interest and gave us their number to actually schedule an appointment. And then we had troubles getting the people to actually show up to their appointments. And then we had trouble getting people to commit to more than one appointment. And now the next step is getting them to fan that little flame of theirs and actually progress.
Gabriel. Right after we found out his name Sister Parker turned to me and said 'well with a name like that he has got to be a golden' ummm yes. I don't know if I have ever met someone more prepared. His devotion to God and Jesus Christ is amazing. As soon as we sit down and say a kneeling prayer he turns to us and says 'I was always wondering why there are so many churches in the world and how I can know which one is right? Can you help me with that?' Woah. How perfect is that? I felt like we were straight out of the District or something. He had such a desire to find the truth and to pray and ask god if he had a church on the earth that was right for everyone and how he could know. Oh man. I love missionary work. Now it is just getting him from that level to the next. The flame is there. The desire is there.
okay. I know you are all dying to hear the update on egg lady huh? Well we taught her the Restoration and as we were watching the video in Albanian she just told us how she felt so peaceful every time we came and how she wanted to read the Book of Mormon. The whole lesson she couldn't put it down and as we talked to the rest of the family I would see her out of the corner of my eye soaking in the words of that wonderful book. She told us how it is going to be hard for her to change because she has believed what she has believed for so long and this is so new but she definitely has a little flame burning in her heart and she can and will come around. I have faith in her.
time to fan the flame.
xoxoxo
s. heywood
comp pickles. the sign of true friendship.
smashin' ward BBQ.
