The Beach: Temple Week

This week was way better!!! We had zone conference this week which is basically a bunch of trainings from 9:30-3:30. It was really good though. We had a training on teaching while you listen and listening while you teach. It makes a HUGE difference in lessons and teaching situations when people realize that you are truly listening to them and that you are invested in what they have to say. People are able to open up so much more and can really feel Christ's love through you. We also had a training on teaching clearly. This includes a lot of things but the sisters that taught this focused on defining words. A lot of times we throw out words that we hear all the time at church but people don't really know what repentance, atonement, prophet, priesthood, all mean so we have to make sure to explain things better so that we are better teachers. President Tew gave a good training on Christ and how his last lecture and one of his last acts before the atonement was about service. He washed the disciples feet (which was something you just didn't do) and told them that if He would be willing to do this for them they should be that much more willing to serve others. Focusing on others really is what this life is about. The things that make us unhappy are based on us worrying about ourselves. Ultimately everything Christ did was for others so in order to become more like him we need to serve those around us. I also like how president mentioned that Jesus was born into a poor family, in the lowest of circumstances (a stable), and his family was also looked down on since Mary wasn't officially married yet. Jesus was born into a situation where all of the odds were against him yet he rose above it all. I really like this because I feel like some of the people we meet have had a rough past but this shows that anyone can change and that the gospel can bring you peace and happiness no matter what you have been through because Christ has been through it.
We have a new investigator named Lowden. He is 17 and his family investigated the church a while back but then decided they weren't interested. We taught him about the book of Mormon when we first met him and then we met with him again on Sunday. We brought one of the priests with us to the lesson. Lowden seemed like he wasn't really all that interested. He liked learning about our church but he wasn't interested in converting. (he's a musician and he said that all he needs is his music) Anyways Alex (the priest) has had a rough past. His mom left him and his siblings with his aunt and uncle because being a parent was "too much." He had been inactive for a long while but started coming back to church 2 years ago. He bore his testimony that this church changed his life and help him to be happy even through everything he's been through. He said that he isn't as angry anymore and he realizes the important things in life. He said that before he came back to church he wasn't that interested either, he thought he was living life fine without religion. But once he gave the church a chance it completely changed his outlook on life. So members are awesome!!! Alex was able to say some things that Lowden really needed to hear. Sister Reinsch and I bore testimony about how this gospel has helped us. For me I mentioned how if today I lost everything that I have the only thing I would have left is my faith in Christ. Then we taught him the first lesson and by the end of the lesson he seemed so much more open to moving forward with this. He said to give him a few weeks to read some of the book of mormon and pray and then he will decide if this is something he is going to do. So hopefully his heart will be softened to the message and he will be able to receive an answer. Other than that we have just been working with less actives still (four came to church on sunday!!) and talking to people we see and going by potential investigators in our area book.
Also we got to go to the temple this week!!!! (thats why I'm writing on a tuesday, our p-day got switched to a tuesday this week so that we could go to the temple) We get to go every 3 months. The L.A. temple is huge!!! And we also got to go to the visitors center and see the family history and distribution center that are there. I wish we could go to the temple more often but it was really nice to get a chance to go again.
Some good things that happened this week: we were knocking and we met this really nice hindu lady who let us come in and talk to her. Hindus believe that all religions are correct since they all help us find the "way." Anyways it was still nice to talk to her, she was very nice and we talked about some bollywood movies that we've all seen so that was cool. We also have finally been able to contact some less actives that have been out of town for a while and finally meet them. We did some service for a less active lady who is having triplets!!! Her name is Natalie, she is a convert from 6 years ago, and she is the cutest 38 year old I know. We helped her clean out her office which she is going to turn in to the babies room. We also visited a less active lady from the Philippines and got to eat some more phillipino food (phillipino food is kind of hit or miss but they always feed us good stuff). We also gave a church tour to one of our "eternigators." It was a good experience and I still don't think she is ready to change because she has word of wisdom issues that she is not willing to give up, but hey I think we are still helping her testimony grow little by little.The mormon ad you sent me was great because we recite D&C section 4 everytime that we have meetings. This whole section explains what we as missionaries do. We also recite our purpose at every meeting. Our purpose as missionaries is "to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end." As we invite others to learn more and help people come closer to Christ, their faith will grow and they will want to repent and make those covenants that will help them to receive the blessings that the Lord has in store for all of his children who follow Him. So that is what we have been really trying to keep in mind this week. To do the little things like extending commitments and teaching principles that will help members, less actives, and non-members come closer to Christ. I love you all!! Have a good last few days of summer!

-Sister Washburn