Hello,
Hope Thanksgiving was good for you
all. I feel like so much happened this week but at the same time like NOTHING
happened this week.
So last Monday began the drama of
the week...it was a hard day, then Tuesday and Wednesday we were in a Trio with
Sister Cone (or “Ray of Sunshine” she should be called) and then Sister LeBaron
got sick and we were stuck in the house for like 3 days, then I thought I was
getting what she had but luckily I am fine. Oh man. I am so sick of sickness.
It is like on and off and I'm like okay. I'm done. And I'm taking my vitamin D
okay? :-) Then we made some trips to talk to president and it has just been
crazy. Okay.
SO. I have just really been
struggling with myself and why I am not seeming to change, or just get over
certain things concerning the way I am. Well Lo and behold Sister Morgan
discovered what we call a brain. And USED IT. Wow. So I was like “okay what the
flip can I do that is in MY control to help me change and be better and also
more effective tool/missionary?”. Well-"Without
charity you are nothing" Moroni 7. Read it. So one day in personal study
I'm just totally ticked and feeling crappy and frustrated and I was like
praying my guts out to be like “WHAT THE HECK should I do so that I can be a
nice civil person?” Well I opened PMG to the Christ like attributes, I had been
thinking charity for a while but I had never really looked at it that much or
made goals. So as I was praying my guts out I was like I will look at that. I
so read through it and read all the scriptures with it and by the time personal
study was over I felt like a million bucks. Then I was like WHAT THE CRAP
SISTER! Why didn't you figure this out sooner?! Geez. Anyway, so I have made
goals and such to help me become more charitable. Hopefully. We will see.
I also started a gratitude journal. The
Rules are - you have to write in it EVERY DAY, at least ONE thing, and you
CANNOT repeat ANYTHING ever. So far so good! It really does help. (Shocker
right?) But when we are so focused on the bad and the negative (which I am PRO
at,) we only find the bad and negative, but when we focus on the good, we find
more good and see how much blessings we truly do have. So that is your job, go
to Walmart, get a tiny notebook and start a gratitude Journal.
We had our last lesson with one of
our members Philip, SO SAAAAD. But now we are teaching his brother so it will
be cool, all is well, all is well!!!
We dropped Brother Pyle this week. Did
I tell you that whole story? Okay here it is BRACE YOURSELVES. (novel coming
up): So, it was during weekly planning like a month or so ago, we were like
what the flip are we going to do with Bro. Pyle? He has some mental illnesses,
and so for that reason things are kinda difficult for him. BUT he is still able
to do plenty. Anyway. He never keeps his commitments and I had been thinking of
just dropping him for a while anyway. So I finally present the idea to my
companion and she was like “no..I don't know..umm”. Annoying. Bro. Pyle's
goal is to be active in the church and go to the temple, he has been taught by
the missionaries for like a year now, and he still hasn't done anything. So we
had started to be more upfront with him. He gets babied a lot and so I was like
I'm DONE with that! So he called and he was making all these excuses and saying
he didn't feel up to coming to church. So
we got all frustrated with him and I was about to throw the phone across the
room so I was like “we need to go now, sorry”. We were both getting angry so we
had to cool off and get the spirit back so we could talk to him. So we would
call him every Sunday to get him to come to church, when he didn't we called
him that night and asked him why he didn't come. So after much frustration and
lessons and phone calls, we are like okay make a plan and pray about it. So
while we were praying Sister Lebaron asked if it was right to drop him. Then
after the prayer she was like I got tingles...that means it is right.. haha! So
I was like well I agree. then we are still trying to figure everything out and
he calls us and tells us to call a lady in another ward because she knows him
better and I was like great, he probably called her and told her we were mean
or something to him and so now she is gonna chew us out. so I call her and she
was like yeah if you need to drop him that is fine I get it, and we were like
what the, she backed us up and was nice to us. Amazing! Brother Pyle has made
Sloooooooooow progress but that is over the course of 2-3 yrs, and then he
calls us and tells us that all the symptoms he is having are because of meds.
and so we are like okay, well that is not his fault and we can't get after him
for that..so now what? do we still drop him or what? so then he actually starts
making an effort to come to church, and we were like what? Now he is trying and
stuff, what the heck do we do NOW? are we still dropping him?? and so, feeling
rather conflicted we pray again and get this whooosh of peace over us when we
asked if that was still the plan basically, so we are like okay we are dropping
him. THEN he is like doing so good, he is like all the sudden keeping his
commitments (still not coming to church though) and we were like oh my heck,
this is not happening, what the heck are we going to do he is doing so good
NOW, but we are told to drop him. Now at the time I was like I don't want to
question the Lord, I had remembered something Bishop Woolley told me when I was
trying to figure out going on a mission, he said "The Lord doesn't just
change his mind. Once he gives you a confirmation, that's it, after that it is
a trial of your faith." I have always remembered that. So I was like
Sister LeBaron, we have had TWO confirmations to drop him, we are dropping him.
end of story. so we were all freaked out to do it and still feeling SO
uncertain and before we went in to that lesson we were so nervous because of
how he could react. well, Joan, his wife was there too, and she is on and off
hating us, and so we are like if she is there are we still dropping him, what
do we do. I realize now as I type this how dumb all my thoughts are..whoops. But
I was like no, I'm done putting things off to the side for her sake, she
doesn't even care, if she is there we are doing the lesson we have planned and
then dropping him. So we prayed our guts out so we could do this lovingly and
that he wouldn't be crushed. Well, to end this, we left and he had a big smile
on his face and no tears were shed. BOOM. The Lord is amazing folks. Holy cow.
We have started teaching Leon and
had an awesome restoration lesson with him. He is super gold, and he studies
like crazy and asked for a blessing and comes to church and asks tons of
questions. But then he read online somewhere about Joseph Smith and his 30
wives, called us and told us to get lost. He didn't even give us a chance to
explain anything to him and he just hung up on us so I was like ...great. That
was this morning. What a great start to the day. People and their dang agency. We’ll
see what happens there. He has an awesome friend that is a member that he
visits regularly, so hopefully she can talk some sense into him.
HOLY!! TOMORROW IS THE MISSION
CHRISTMAS PARTY, and guess where I get to go?!?! THE TEMPLE!!! AH!!! I can hear
the angels singing!! Oh man I can't wait. I CAN NOT WAIT. TOMORROW. you're only
a daaaay away!!!!
Okay so just something I want to
share with you all in closing. I LOVE the Prophet Joseph Smith. I love him. I
didn't always, but before my mission and now on my mission I just love that
man. There is no way that he was not a prophet of God. No way. I could not
imagine what he went through to do the work that God had for him, I have just
been thinking a ton about that lately, but I think Elder Holland sums up some
of my thoughts better, so I will let you listen to him Go here --> http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages/topics/book-of-mormon?v=911029448001
Okay wait one more thing. Tis the
season :-) The Savior is the most important. We just had
Thanksgiving and now Christmas is around the corner. What is the greatest
gift you have been given? Are we thankful for the savior and his life, that he
so freely gave for us? It is his Gospel, his life, his sacrifice that
brings true meaning into anything. I hope we can remember that not only this
time of the year but every day. Watch this one too --> http://www.mormon.org/christmas?cid=HPFR112814529
Okay, that's it, adios!
