Dear family,
This week was crazy. We weren't super busy but a lot happened.
I think I talked about how we talked to an 89 year old man named
Spencer last week. We went back on Tuesday to see him. He was sitting
on his back porch with two other men. I sat next to Spencer while
Sister Taggart sat next to another man and the third ignored us. After
some time the third guy called us a cult and told us that Brigham
Young wrote the Book of Mormon. Ok. Anyway, Spencer likes to talk but
I managed to squeeze in the restoration. Sister Taggart totally went
to town with the other guy, John, and we got his number and address to
go see him and his wife. We probably aren't going to see Spencer
anymore because let's just say he can't keep his hands to himself. But
that was cool teaching John!
On Wednesday we taught the Velasquez and they're doing super well. We
also taught Francisco on Monday. We didn't put it on date because it
didn't feel quite right but hopefully we will when we see him
tomorrow. He came to church for the first time yesterday. He told his
mom who told us that he feels good when we're around. (: (:
Our family history class went super well again Thursday evening. Two
more people came so we had four members, five non members, and the
Kendricks. It was great. The Kendricks also showed me the completed
family history video. They changed it from an instructional video to
more of an "I'm a Mormon" feel. It's cute and I like it alright for it
being a video of me. Apparently President Cooke showed it to everyone
who was at stake coordination meeting last night. Yay. I think they're
gonna put it on YouTube as well if it isn't already. Also, thank you
Grandma Carol so much for all of the family history papers you sent
me! We have an hour every day to do family history so I've been going
through them like crazy and I love it.
Saturday was cool. We spent most of the day in Poolesville finding. We
were walking down the street when we saw two ladies outside
refinishing an old table. We went and talked to them and they asked
questions and invited us to share our message. We gladly did and sat
on the grass with them and shared the message of the restoration. The
young mom is Catholic and wasn't very interested by the end but the
mother in law was super interested and asked where she could get a
copy of the Book of Mormon to read. We gave each of them one and a
Visitors Center card and our number. The mother in law lives in
Michigan but hopefully she reads it and gets in contact with us again
or other missionaries.
Later, we were walking down Spencer's street because he told us to try
some houses. We knocked one house but they didn't answer so we moved
on. As we started to walk down the street, I started to feel really
hesitant. I also was afraid we'd run into Spencer since he's always
outside. I told Sister Taggart I didn't feel right so we turned
around. Right when we walked near the house we had knocked, a guy
pulled into the driveway. As he got out of the car we went up to him
and started talking to him. He's super nice and he got us water
bottles and then we sat down on his porch and we showed him the
"Because of Him" video and introduced the Book of Mormon. He was super
interested and excited to read. It turns out that his dad is a convert
and is actually a bishop in Seattle. What? We got his number and we're
gonna come by again. He said he's usually pretty busy and we caught
him at one of the few opportune moments. So cool. This really is the
Lords work. He directs us where to go to find the people who are
ready. Good thing we were on that street at that time and I felt
prompted to turn around when I did.
Saturday night was amazing as well. We had a lesson over at a member
couples house with Laura. The members have been married a year and the
wife was baptized last October and the husband used to be less active.
We wanted it to be a spiritual lesson without Laura's dog ruining it
with his squeaky toy. We started the lesson and the members basically
took over. They did such a great job and made what we were learning
totally relatable. This young couple is so cute and nerdy and the
husband is a huge gamer and a fan of cooking really good food. Anyway,
we watched the three part series of David A. Bednar's "Patterns on
Light" and then the husband out of the blue invited her to church and
she accepted! I was inwardly sobbing with joy at this point. Our cute,
atheist investigator who said she'll probably never go to church
accepted their invitation to go! I have prayed and fasted for her so
I'm so so happy. She came to sacrament meeting with them and it was
magical.
I was in a not so happy mood last night randomly. We didn't have any
appointments on a Sunday for the first time in forever so we spent
half the night street contacting and tracting and the other half
searching for less actives. I realized it's not about the doors you
knock or the investigators we look for, it's about the people who God
puts in our path along the way. We talked to some cool people and got
a solid potential for the elders. I was still feeling down and alone,
probably because everyone was enjoying a beautiful Memorial Day Sunday
afternoon with family and friends and I was spending hours looking for
people who don't want to see us. I was wanting God to somehow show His
love for me so I could know me and Sister Taggart weren't alone. We
have to head home by 8:30 every night if we aren't in an appointment.
So at 8:28 Sister Taggart and I parked the car and jumped out in
search of one last person to talk to. We saw a man in front of his car
so we hurried up to him. He didn't speak much English and looked Asian
and so I asked where he is from and I thought to myself "please say
China please say China" and he did! So I immediately started talking
to him in Chinese and told him that we're missionaries for the church
and we're here to teach people about Jesus Christ. My Chinese isn't
that good but he understood a bit and we got his info so we can refer
him to the Chinese elders. I was happy, speaking Chinese always puts
me in a good mood and God knows that. I got the message that He loves
me. And now I need to work on my approaches with people speaking
Chinese.
Today we has a Memorial Day BBQ at the church. It was fun. I really
love the ward, it reminds me a lot do the DC2 ward back home.
That's my week! This truly is God's work! I found myself wondering
this week how on earth am I supposed to teach others about the gospel
and bring them to the waters of baptism? I'm just a 19 year old girl
who 6 months ago was brace faced and on the phone crying to my mom
because I accidentally bought the wrong pair of shoes online. But I
don't have to do this alone. For one, I've got Sister Taggart.
Missionary work is awkward most of the time. I feel awkward knocking
on doors and going up to people and sometimes it's scary, but I always
have a companion who's got my back. I think God gave us companions to
keep us sane. And two, I have God as the third companion. He knows who
is ready and where we need to be and as long as we are being obedient
and doing our part he'll lead us to them. I made sure I was exactly
obedient on Saturday because we were gonna teach Laura and look at
what happened. We gave out 5 Books of Mormon to people on the street
and she came to church. If this was mans work I would've gone home by
now. This is too hard to be out here because of an imaginative,
bored,14 year old farm boy and a fake book. I see everyone being with
their family and friends and doing fun things like swimming and
playing outside this weekend while we never stop working of The Lord.
But it's worth it because I know this is the true gospel of Jesus
Christ and I'm doing His will. I can always swim and have fun next
summer but this summer is for The Lord.
Romans 8:28 (:
Love,
Sister Black
P.S. It happens even out here. Found at the temple parking lot.
This week was crazy. We weren't super busy but a lot happened.
I think I talked about how we talked to an 89 year old man named
Spencer last week. We went back on Tuesday to see him. He was sitting
on his back porch with two other men. I sat next to Spencer while
Sister Taggart sat next to another man and the third ignored us. After
some time the third guy called us a cult and told us that Brigham
Young wrote the Book of Mormon. Ok. Anyway, Spencer likes to talk but
I managed to squeeze in the restoration. Sister Taggart totally went
to town with the other guy, John, and we got his number and address to
go see him and his wife. We probably aren't going to see Spencer
anymore because let's just say he can't keep his hands to himself. But
that was cool teaching John!
On Wednesday we taught the Velasquez and they're doing super well. We
also taught Francisco on Monday. We didn't put it on date because it
didn't feel quite right but hopefully we will when we see him
tomorrow. He came to church for the first time yesterday. He told his
mom who told us that he feels good when we're around. (: (:
Our family history class went super well again Thursday evening. Two
more people came so we had four members, five non members, and the
Kendricks. It was great. The Kendricks also showed me the completed
family history video. They changed it from an instructional video to
more of an "I'm a Mormon" feel. It's cute and I like it alright for it
being a video of me. Apparently President Cooke showed it to everyone
who was at stake coordination meeting last night. Yay. I think they're
gonna put it on YouTube as well if it isn't already. Also, thank you
Grandma Carol so much for all of the family history papers you sent
me! We have an hour every day to do family history so I've been going
through them like crazy and I love it.
Saturday was cool. We spent most of the day in Poolesville finding. We
were walking down the street when we saw two ladies outside
refinishing an old table. We went and talked to them and they asked
questions and invited us to share our message. We gladly did and sat
on the grass with them and shared the message of the restoration. The
young mom is Catholic and wasn't very interested by the end but the
mother in law was super interested and asked where she could get a
copy of the Book of Mormon to read. We gave each of them one and a
Visitors Center card and our number. The mother in law lives in
Michigan but hopefully she reads it and gets in contact with us again
or other missionaries.
Later, we were walking down Spencer's street because he told us to try
some houses. We knocked one house but they didn't answer so we moved
on. As we started to walk down the street, I started to feel really
hesitant. I also was afraid we'd run into Spencer since he's always
outside. I told Sister Taggart I didn't feel right so we turned
around. Right when we walked near the house we had knocked, a guy
pulled into the driveway. As he got out of the car we went up to him
and started talking to him. He's super nice and he got us water
bottles and then we sat down on his porch and we showed him the
"Because of Him" video and introduced the Book of Mormon. He was super
interested and excited to read. It turns out that his dad is a convert
and is actually a bishop in Seattle. What? We got his number and we're
gonna come by again. He said he's usually pretty busy and we caught
him at one of the few opportune moments. So cool. This really is the
Lords work. He directs us where to go to find the people who are
ready. Good thing we were on that street at that time and I felt
prompted to turn around when I did.
Saturday night was amazing as well. We had a lesson over at a member
couples house with Laura. The members have been married a year and the
wife was baptized last October and the husband used to be less active.
We wanted it to be a spiritual lesson without Laura's dog ruining it
with his squeaky toy. We started the lesson and the members basically
took over. They did such a great job and made what we were learning
totally relatable. This young couple is so cute and nerdy and the
husband is a huge gamer and a fan of cooking really good food. Anyway,
we watched the three part series of David A. Bednar's "Patterns on
Light" and then the husband out of the blue invited her to church and
she accepted! I was inwardly sobbing with joy at this point. Our cute,
atheist investigator who said she'll probably never go to church
accepted their invitation to go! I have prayed and fasted for her so
I'm so so happy. She came to sacrament meeting with them and it was
magical.
I was in a not so happy mood last night randomly. We didn't have any
appointments on a Sunday for the first time in forever so we spent
half the night street contacting and tracting and the other half
searching for less actives. I realized it's not about the doors you
knock or the investigators we look for, it's about the people who God
puts in our path along the way. We talked to some cool people and got
a solid potential for the elders. I was still feeling down and alone,
probably because everyone was enjoying a beautiful Memorial Day Sunday
afternoon with family and friends and I was spending hours looking for
people who don't want to see us. I was wanting God to somehow show His
love for me so I could know me and Sister Taggart weren't alone. We
have to head home by 8:30 every night if we aren't in an appointment.
So at 8:28 Sister Taggart and I parked the car and jumped out in
search of one last person to talk to. We saw a man in front of his car
so we hurried up to him. He didn't speak much English and looked Asian
and so I asked where he is from and I thought to myself "please say
China please say China" and he did! So I immediately started talking
to him in Chinese and told him that we're missionaries for the church
and we're here to teach people about Jesus Christ. My Chinese isn't
that good but he understood a bit and we got his info so we can refer
him to the Chinese elders. I was happy, speaking Chinese always puts
me in a good mood and God knows that. I got the message that He loves
me. And now I need to work on my approaches with people speaking
Chinese.
Today we has a Memorial Day BBQ at the church. It was fun. I really
love the ward, it reminds me a lot do the DC2 ward back home.
That's my week! This truly is God's work! I found myself wondering
this week how on earth am I supposed to teach others about the gospel
and bring them to the waters of baptism? I'm just a 19 year old girl
who 6 months ago was brace faced and on the phone crying to my mom
because I accidentally bought the wrong pair of shoes online. But I
don't have to do this alone. For one, I've got Sister Taggart.
Missionary work is awkward most of the time. I feel awkward knocking
on doors and going up to people and sometimes it's scary, but I always
have a companion who's got my back. I think God gave us companions to
keep us sane. And two, I have God as the third companion. He knows who
is ready and where we need to be and as long as we are being obedient
and doing our part he'll lead us to them. I made sure I was exactly
obedient on Saturday because we were gonna teach Laura and look at
what happened. We gave out 5 Books of Mormon to people on the street
and she came to church. If this was mans work I would've gone home by
now. This is too hard to be out here because of an imaginative,
bored,14 year old farm boy and a fake book. I see everyone being with
their family and friends and doing fun things like swimming and
playing outside this weekend while we never stop working of The Lord.
But it's worth it because I know this is the true gospel of Jesus
Christ and I'm doing His will. I can always swim and have fun next
summer but this summer is for The Lord.
Romans 8:28 (:
Love,
Sister Black
P.S. It happens even out here. Found at the temple parking lot.
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