Can't move my body. Seriously. Actually it has gotten way better but we did the turkey bowl.. MAN.... Brutal. My body is sore in places I never thought could be sore. And we ended up doing yoga for morgen sport everyday... But hey no clutch Kayla caught the ball. twice. I'm actually learning the game of football. Be proud. Teach me your ways Daniel. okay?
Get this. Impromptu general authority mission conference? I think yes. Okay so maybe it wasn't a mission conference but it felt like one as we got to hear from Elder Kearon AND Elder Ballard. Gah. So good. It was supposed to be for all the ward council members and we just got to tag along and hear all the good stuff and walk away on clouds (or stress cases because Sister Litster lost her iPad. It's fine. Counting the blessings ;)) and we basically had backstage passes because he gave Sister Litster and I and two other elders a little fist pump and "hurrah for Israel" smile on his way out of the bathroom. I love seeing the real side of these people. Really though it was so good. I was amazed at how much of what they said applied to me and my situation even if it wasn't directed to missionaries specifically. The biggest thing was just this "lift where you stand" policy of us all working together to strengthen the Lord's kingdom. Love that.
So we have kind of been slacking on our finding efforts lately... Mostly just because we have been way busy and trying to get all the people that we do have more fest. I know. lame excuse. but we repented and decided we need to get back on the talking to everyone you meet about the gospel bandwagon. And it was crazy. One rainy day our activity with the other missionaries got cancelled and we could have easily thought of some good stuff to do around the house but we weren't gonna let a little rain stop us! So we prayed. And decided to go do some good ol' dooring. We made it two steps out the door and talk to the first person we see as usual (that was a goal we made at the beginning of this transfer). And then we just don't stop. And it took us 45 minutes just to get down our street because we had so many awesome conversations. In the rain. Who stops to talk to two 20 year old girls about religion in the rain? SO COOL. finally we get to the actual dooring place and again so many more good conversations then I expected. Heavenly Father was litterally pouring out the blessings! (Get it. The rain? Pouring? Hehe #lamemissionaryjoke) we ended up meeting with one of the people we met, Elizabeth and I already love her. She told us she was atheist which she totally isn't and it was so cool to watch her mindset change as we were talking with her. Oh man I love talking to "atheist" people and finding out what makes them think that way. Just asking a billion and a half question to try to discern where they are coming from and how to build off of that. And then especially hearing them pray for the first time. Never gets old.
We had another similar situation to that when we were teaching Nadia. We knew nothing about her except that she was a cute 18 year old girl. We clicked right off the bat which was helpful but after a few questions we began to see the emptiness in her eyes and how she really was searching for something. She asked us so many questions. It just made me think about how much the gift of discernment is nothing like I expected. I just kinda assumed you would like look at someone and know their whole life story, what makes them tick, what they need, etc. but that is not the case. But I am amazed at how fast Germans open up when they feel the spirit and within 2 hours you know so much about them and how Heavenly Father can really help them. Gah. I love it.
But the real favorite part from this work is just watching these people that we have been teaching make SO much progress. Sometimes the progress is just so gradual that I barely even recognize it but for some reason this time it just seemed like night and day difference. We have been meeting with Mansor for a couple months (he is from that week that we goaled for 10 new people to teach) and he came to our appointment this week and told us how he was feeling pretty down about the world and everything going around him and so he said a prayer and turned to the Book of Mormon for answers. He used to be scared of religion because of all the wars it caused and so to actually turn to God when he has troubles is HUGE. I don't think we ever explained that you could go to the scriptures for peace and comfort because we have been so focused on trying to get him to understand what was going on! Just comparing his mindset to how it was the very first time we met with him? Oh man. He has come so far. I can see this message changing him right before my eyes.
I have been working on making my prayers stronger this week. Mostly in preparation for my annual only-prayers-of-gratitude-the-
Sister Litster and I were discussing last night how this week has been one of our absolute favorites and we couldn't put our finger on why. We just felt like real live missionaries. I really think missionary work is just becoming a part of who I am.
Eat lots of turkey and treasure the moments that matter most.
I am grateful for YOU.
xoxoxo
s. heywood
Ps: did you know they have such thing as purple broccoli? yeah. me either...
