Mini Missionaries

from 7/21

me, Sister Lavea, and Sister George

This week was crazy because so much happened. We got to go to the Newport temple. We found 2 new investigators. We had our mini missionary. Having Sister Lavea was a lot of fun!! It reminded me of when I was training. We got to go on more splits since we had her and teach her the basics of missionary work. We dropped her off this morning and it was sad. She was crying and was like "You girls changed my life, you are like my big sisters." And Sister George and I were just like "Thanks we didn't think we did all that much." We really did love having her. Doing missionary work totally brings the spirit so we are glad that we could help her strengthen her testimony whether she ends up serving  mission or not. 

I went and had an interview with my mission president this week. I was so glad I did because I haven't had an interview with him in like 6 months. I just wanted some advice from him about how i can better become the missionary I envision myself to be. In a lot of my other areas I have had certain barriers to overcome with the work or my comps. Now that I am in a good area with a capable companion I realized that the only barrier left from letting me reach my potential is myself. I just hold back sometimes or doubt my abilities in some ways. President gave me some good advice and he always has a quotable quote that you go away remembering. He told me "Remember, today is part of eternity too." He talked about how God's name is eternal and so eternal happiness and eternal life is God's happiness and God's life. Our whole time on earth is to learn to have the same happiness God has and to learn to live life the way He would. So that quote meant that we don't have to wait to have happiness or to become who God intends of us. Each day we can work at making small steps in the right direction. It will take time but if we have a willing heart God will help us to change. We can change our very nature to become who we want to be.

This week we also had our zone conference and it was so good. One of the best zone conferences on my mission. The leaders did some really great trainings and talked about how each day we aren't just setting the culture of our mission but we are setting the foundation for the rest of our lives. If we are going to try to be obedient, work hard, and keep trying even when we fall short. Our mission President gave a really great training about change. How we can decide now to change and become the person God sees us as. About how each day we can change for the better or worse. It was just really good because I have been going through some changes lately for the better. Just realizing some of the weaknesses I have and realizing that I can change them and that the Lord wants to help me do that. He talked about how when we build that desire to become more than we are that we need to let it propel us to actively do the things that will help us become better. It was just really good. 

This area has just been really good for me and has allowed me to learn a lot. We got to visit our awesome 93 year old investigator who just got out of the hospital this week. She was as spunky and funny as ever and so It was great to see her. We also visited this really nice Samoan couple. The husband is less active because he has seizures a lot and can't always come to church. But he made it to church on sunday. Also the wife works for a make-up company so she gave us a ton of free stuff. It was really nice of her. Also we had a really good lesson with a recent convert who has been coming to church a lot recently. She doesn't have a super solid grasp on the gospel so we have been reteaching her the lessons. Also I had one of the best lessons of my mission this week! Sister George and Sister Lavea went to another appointment and I went with Sister Mitchell (a sister in our ward) and taught Ellie and Jesse. Ellie is a less active who is trying to become reactivated and Jesse her boyfriend is our investigator. They both told me the stories of how they came to know God. They have both had a rough past so it was cool to see how far they have come. Then I taught about personal revelation and how God wants to continue to guide them in their lives. They both started to realize how God has lead them this far and what they have to do to have Him keep leading them. The spirit was totally there and at the end I told them how they should look at how far they have come and what they can become. That there is great potential in each of them they just have to keep making right decisions and making God a priority in their lives. And I told Jesse how I could see him being a strong member and doing a lot of good he just has to trust God enough to act on an inspired answer that this is His true church. (Jesse thinks too logically and so he has a hard time deciding to get baptized). Anyways it was just so good. And I felt like I could feel a little tiny bit of how Heavenly Father feels about us. He sees our potential and the greatness within us. But he can't force us to make right choices or to choose to change. We have to do that on our own. And if we can do His will and use His strength to help us change, great things can happen.

So all in all it was a great week. This week is the last week of the transfer so we will see what happens!! Have fun in Cali (its weird you all are so close by, and yet so far haha)

Love you all!!
-Sister Washburn