Hey y'all.
My technical theatre teacher had a rather odd but funny joke. It goes like this:
What does a German Shepard say?
...
......
.........
NEIN, SHEEPIES, NEIN!
Get it? He's a german.... shepard. Yes, see? It's clever!
We're all considering part of Christ's flock, and unfortunately, this joke that is only hilarious to me is how I've been feeling this past week. But let's start with the good news!!
I'd like to give a quick shout out to some friends who got their mission call! My cousin, Madeliene Sherrat, goin' off to Salt lake City Temple and Ryan Martin who's headed for Ireland/Scotland! You guys are gonna love it, I'm so proud of you! Ah, my cup runneth over.
Harris (my french investigator) was baptized this week! It was a very small, simple ceremony. They say that "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." of course, if that were entirely true, I don't think church would be 3 hours long, but I digress. His wife (who was already a member) couldn't contain her joy. When he came up out of the water, she was jumping up and down and clapping her hands. I don't think any of the members had ever seen that kind of reaction. But I definitely joined in. Oh, to feel that kind of happiness... Ammon fainted from such joy.
So, here's a funny story. It exemplifies how much faith and trust me and my companion have in our ZL's, but y'all have to promise me that you won't think I'm a dumb blonde after I tell it.
Somehow, we thought that our Zone Leaders sent us a text, reminding us that it was Daylight Savings Time, and to set our clocks forward. Clearly, that was sent in March when we actually HAD Daylight Savings. For whatever reason, my comp and I somehow forgot that we'd already had Daylight Savings. So we followed our ZL's instructions and dutifully set our clocks forward. We woke up at what we thought was now 6:30am... showered, studied, got dressed (not necessarily in that order...) and were out the door at a tody 9am to pick up the elders in our district to take them to a Zone Training we had that day. We rolled up to their apartment complex, ready for some learning, only to find out that we'd actually rolled up at 8:15 am...
It was only AFTER all of this did we realize that Daylight Savings was in March and had already happened. Elder Pali walks out, a white shirt and pants hastily thrown on and asked us what we were doing.
We still have no idea, Elder. We still have no idea.
When you go on your mission, you'll find that there have indeed been people that are prepared to hear the gospel. Take for instance, my new investigator Noezzi. He was a referral from the Spanish elders. We knocked on his door and... 5 mintues into the first lesson, after he was excitedly agreeing with everything we were teaching, we extended the baptismal invitation. The which he anxiously accepted!! He's such a solid investigator! Except he doesn't keep commitments.
Now we get to the part of the week where I head-desk repeatedly out of frustration and stress.
A lot of people down here are flaky. Like.... really flaky. Practically all of my appointments fell through this week because they were out or sleeping. There's one investigator in particular that has been meeting with missionaries since last November. They've set date after date after date to get baptized and yet he doesn't follow through with any of the commitments-- except for reading the Book of Mormon. Sister Grimnes and I had just about had enough of the wishy-washyness. So for this last appointment, I wore my boots.
Now, I love my boots because they make me feel like I can do anything. I used to have pants that fulfilled this, but Sister missionaries don't wear pants. If I'm putting my boots on, it means I'm preparing to go to war.
With this most recent lesson, Sister Grimnes pointed out the domino effect that the Book of Mormon has-- if it's true, the LDs church is true. We tried again to set a baptism date (goal, really, at this point) and he said "well... I don't think I've really made up my mind about it."
With as much love as I could muster, I asked him "Alvin, do you know what baptism can do for you?"
"No, I really don't, I was already baptized, why do I need it again?"
"Alvin, do you believe that you can recieve a complete remission of sins? That means everything you've ever done wrong in the eyes of God will be forgotten."
"Yes."
"Do you believe that baptism entitles you to God's constant companionship, spirit, protection and guidance?"
"Yes."
"Do you believe that baptism in the LDS church is the only way you can be with our Father in Heaven once you've died?"
'....Yes."
"Alvin, your mind is made up. You know it's true. Will you pray to know what date God wants you to be baptized?"
"... I will do that. I WILL do that, yes."
"Good. We're gonna bug ya about it, alright?"
"Yes, okay, yes, I will pray."
Our investigators don't come to church, most of them don't read the Book of Mormon, they don't really keep appointments. But I had one investigator who made it all the way to baptism so far. I'm just gonna have to wear my boots every day.
Gotta love Texas's "little flock."
Love, Sister Gunson
P.S. Please send snail mail to Sister Gunson - she loves you and all, but her email time is limited. Plus, tangible paper letters are awesome! Here is her current address:
Sister Hannah Gunson
1008 Willow Dr. #301
Fort Worth, TX 76120
Have a great week! -Lacey
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