Well y'all...I forgot my
planner...That has what I did this week...So. We will see how this goes .~. I
will borrow Sis O's...but no really funny quotes...sorry.
Monday we had dinner with the
Goodies. Their children are so BEAUTIFUL!! I'll have to get a picture of them
soon. Since it was pouring by the time we were supposed to leave, we got a ride
over to the Malo's for another lesson with JR. That night it was on Family
History and temples. We had Bro McLane there to help us assist him in searching
for a family name. Things went awesome and
Tuesday we tried our hand at
tracting...finally. Sister O has written a beautiful description of what
happens:
Here are the 4 door scenarios of
tracting:
Scenario
one: "Nobody's home"
This one is my absolute favorite. You'll hear
"hushed" yells of "Don't answer the door" or "it's
those church people". Or, you'll actually be lucky enough to see the look
on their face before they dart behind a corner. 'cause, you know, we totally
didn't see them.
When this happens I just laugh openly. It's not like anyone
will hear. They're not home, after all!
Scenario
two: They're too nice to slam the door, so you keep 'em going
This is sort of an evil game I like to play. Okay, not evil.
Because sometimes it works. This scenario is when the person opening the door
has this look on their face that says "No". Like, it's sitting right
on their lips, but you never give them a chance to get it out.
I'm not saying I cram a bunch of gospel down their throats,
but I like to catch them with phrases like "We teach about Jesus Christ to
anyone who's willing to listen" in a semi pleading voice, or ask
"What's your relationship with Jesus Christ?". When I do this they
sort of wince. They know I got 'em. This is Texas--they can't rightly
say they don't want to talk about Jesus.
Sometimes this tactic gets them to put their walls down and
turn this into a scenario three situation, but not always.
Scenario
three: You have an awesome gospel conversation
This one is the best. Just think about any old gospel
conversation you have with a pal and that's what this is. You naturally become
close to this person quickly because you're sharing personal things with each other.
And even if they aren't interested, they are willing to accept a BOM and a reading
assignment for us to follow up on.
The Spirit takes over from there, so that's easy.
Scenario
four: Mr. Grumpy Gills
This is the person that briefly
says "I'm Christian" or "Not interested" and
attempts to flee the scene before anything else can occur. The game here is to
slip in as many kind things as possible before they can close the
door. The best I've done so far was a whole "Well thank you so
much for your time, have a great day! God bless you! Wave to us next time you
see us?"
The last part was my favorite
because the guy just looked confused.
Special
Mention: The Couch Potato
I
just had to include this Lady, because this was a first time for me.
She
has a large window on her door and we could see her on her couch. We knocked,
she looked, and then pretended not to see us. What do you do when that happens?
Well, we knocked again. And Waited. For a very long time. Again, I'm laughing
openly. Because she was being so dang funny.
After standing there for at least a
minute she acknowledged our existence by shooing us away. I want to say we
won, but she never did leave her couch..."
I
would like to include a Senario five: Random Entertainment
This week we found a cute little
ant. He was trying to walk up the wall but in his attempts, he failed. We just
stood there and laughed. and laughed. I mean no one was home to answer the door
but we were on some random stranger's front porch, laughing.
This sums up what I mean when I say
tracting throughout the rest of the email or/and the rest of my mission. That
evening we got in with a less active member that no one has ever been able to
get in with. Talk about a miracle!! they have a camera by their door and
he openly admitted to purposely avoiding us. when he walked out, we were
locking our bikes and he was lighting a smoke. we kinda awkwardly stood there
for like 10 seconds when he turned, saw us, and shouted, "AH!! Mormon
girls!". We went in and met his wife and one of his friends. Turns out
he's a professional bar tender. We had a great talk with them and
hopefully we will be able to get in with them again!!
Wednesday morning I cut Momma Ro's
(aka Sis Canfield) hair. After studies, we went to make a couple visits
(tracting between) to members in the ward. not too much to tell about here.
Wait. We have a golden investigator: Mariah!! She sent her info to Mormon.org
(because other missionaries didn't get in contact with her soon enough). Turns
out she lives like one street over and she's in town from college and she
REALLY wants to learn! Her boyfriend is taking the discussions in another ward
and she wants to know what's up with it.
Thursday we had an intense planning
session. That's always draining. By this day, Sis O found out she likes
tracting. You meet so many interesting people. That afternoon we tracted a
street and we were just about needing to go and we were deciding whether to go
or not. I pointed to a house, the last one on the opposite side of
the street, so we made that the last house. In that house, there was
a man who was house sitting who was interested. Talk about being divinely
inspired!! We were able to get an awesome referral! That night we had
dinner at the "Foster Fun House". That's were we heard about the
shooting here in Houston. The family's grandparents live in President's ward.
Our prayers go out to them and all effected by it. After dinner, we had another
lesson with JR at the Sanford's with the Malo's. We went over the priesthood
and prophets. We also gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon to give away.
#tracting. The
umbrella has some use!!
Friday there was district meeting and
bingo. Our Zone Leader (who's in a different district), Elder Bladh
(blade), and his companion came. The prior zone meeting Elder B made super
good cookies (I guess). And when he asked if I had one I told him I couldn't.
He felt bad. So, he brought with him muddy buddies. It was really
very thoughtful!! After those, we went tracting and got a ride up to
cottage garden (for a little more tracting before dinner). We had dinner up
there and after had another lesson at the Mediros. We got to get to the heart
of some things. The spirit was really strong and it was so powerful!!
Saturday we had our first lesson
with Mariah. She is eager to learn!! She read the reading twice because she
wanted to really understand what she was reading. We had some more awesome
contacting (tracting) which did include more laughter at peoples desire to shy
away from us and really not want to talk to us. But there were still a few who
said we could come back...and that was a blessing. That night we really
couldn't think straight or function too well, so we went to Momma R's (Rushing)
and chatted while I practiced the piano. We then went to the Kunz and made
PEN'S!!! mine's a little funny looking...but it works!! and it is cool!!
Sunday we had meetings and church!
Mariah and JR came!! It was great! :) After church we talked with Mariah about
what she thought and to see if she had any questions. She didn't have too many
but she liked it. that afternoon we got a little distracted by making bows.
Momma Ro got a ton of fabric sample books and so we were looking at fabric and
made some really cute bow's!!
Here's one!!
Later we had dinner at the Newman's.
The spare ribs were amazing. Good 'ole Texas barbeque. We stopped at the
Mediros again on the way home.
Today we went shopping at Sprouts.
Now I'm here. That's about it. Gotta go do laundry when we get home.
Have a blessed day y'all!!
--Sister Carling
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