2 Nephi 29

Halla!
So this week has been super crazy! and Super Long I don't even know where to start!! well I guess I'll start at the beginning and hopefully be able to get to the end :)

Last Monday 19th of August: It was super great Sister Richards and I were excited to start off P-day. The first thing that happened as we started to drive to the library I hear this thump sound as we pull out of our apartment complex. I turn to Sister Richards and was like "What was that?" and she was like "I don't know?" We pulled out and turned around to see what we hit. There in the middle of the road was a little cat. Sister Richards was devastated "I've killed a kitten *cry*". When all of a sudden it's head pops up and it looks at us. "Oh? it's alive!!" When we started getting close to it, it started to run away... the only problem was that Sister Richards had run over the back half of the cat so it was dragging it's legs as it ran away... It was super sad! We would have felt worse if it was a kitten... Anywho. P-day was pretty great and we got a lot done we also got to eat at Golden Corral - Which is great if you don't eat a lot of food throughout the week and then you feast on Mondays. At 6 PM we went to the Biggs home for dinner. They have a foreign exchange student from Germany, her name is Marie. We had met her on Sunday and told her that we would be coming by to see her again on Monday! She is here to learn English, and see what the schools and such are like. She is a Roman Catholic. The first thing I noticed about her when she started speaking to us, was that I couldn't hear her... She speaks very softly because she isn't very confident in her English yet... Which is terrible for me! because I can barely hear in the first place. She is quite a lovely girl and has so far really enjoyed what we have taught her about the Gospel. We taught her the Restoration that night and it was interesting to explain it to someone who was from a different country. She didn't grow up with Religious Freedom. She lived near the Berlin wall and told us that most of the people in Germany are very hard not very warm people, and that the people here were very happy, and said 'sorry' too much. Which I notice too. Once we left Sister Biggs told us that Marie loved the way we taught and that she was asking questions like crazy. Great!!! After Marie, we went and talked with a lady named Shawna. Oh my goodness I have never been so fired up in my life. In a negative way! She asked us about the Plan of Salvation and our concept of Heaven. We explained to her the Celestial Kingdom, Terrestrial Kingdom,Telestial Kingdom, and the Spirit World . She said she disagreed with us there. She told us that people who live righteous lives and continually repent and who don't die in their sins will go to heaven. And if you have been religious longer in your life then you were going to have a bigger mansion in heaven. That everyone else who died not accepting Christ, or dying in their sins were going to Hell. I asked her about the people in between - what if they live honorable great lives they are wonderful people and they do nothing wrong, but they don't necessarily accept Christ (they don't go to church) what happens to them? She replied that they all go to Hell. I tried to say something else but she cut us off and said "My son is an amazing young man, he serves people everyday, he is respectful, he is kind, BUT he doesn't follow the life of a Christian and doesn't go to Church. So He is going to Hell; and he knows it. I feel bad for him, but at the same time it is not my fault that he is living his life that way. He is going to Hell." I was sooo angry! I wanted to smack her right on the side of the head! How dare you condemn someone else to Hell!?! Especially your own SON!! We tried to point out a few scriptures in the bible (because she refused to hear anything out of the Book of Mormon) and she had a Study bible. Sister Richards shared the scripture on how people will be taught the gospel who have died. and Shawna kept saying 'In their Sins'. No, we are saying what it says in the Bible 'Who have died'... I was so fired up and upset about what she was saying that I was grateful when we left. I was so Upset! grrr.. who can say something like that to another person.

Tuesday: Zone Conference!! So good!! but waayy to long! it was from 9- 4:30! President Pitt told us that our mission numbers have been declining (such as baptisms and such), but we have been getting more missionaries. He said it was our determination and faith that was starting to decrease in the people and places. Oh, and a fun fact that I learned: 1/1000 people are found while tracting that will be baptized. 69/1000 people are no name referrals from members that will be baptized. 79/1000 are name referrals from members that will be baptized. 680/1000 who are introduced to the missionaries by members at dinner or another event will be baptized! Members are so crucial in finding people! Because if they give us someone to teach at their home, and that they are their friends. They will more likely join the church and stay active because they will already have a friend! I never really thought that member support was that important, but now that I do I'm like 'Give us your family, and friends to teach at your homes!!! Members do this and you will be blessed' haha so great. Zone conference took all day so by the time we got home we didn't have time for anything else.

Wednesday: We met with CC today and helped her fill out a form for a job at a local restaurant called Freds. We are trying hard to help CC become more independent but there is only so much that Sister Richards and I can do as missionaries to help her. After CC we went to Barbara's house. As we were walking up to her front door Sister Richards said ,"Do you hear that? Church music?" and when we went into Barbara's house she was watching the Restoration video!! She said that her brother had given it to her and also gave her a Gospel Principles book to look through as well. Saweet!! that is always the best when they do things on their own or their family are members of the church. After Barbara’s we, went to the Fitzers for dinner Sister Fitzer’s husband is not a member and usually doesn't sit in during lessons and such, but we watched the Restoration video and he watched the whole thing with us!! After the Fitzers we went to Shauna's house and watched ‘Finding Faith in Christ’ with Sister Sherman and it was great! We also talked about her baptism and she plans on being baptized on Sept. 14!! Blessing!!!

Thursday: We talked to a lot of people today, but my favorite was Lucy. We started off on talking about Charity, how it is the pure love of Christ, and we read a few scriptures to go along with it. When all of a sudden we are starting to talk about Love and the good ol' days when people sat in buggies and how it was more romantic back then - if it was cold outside you just cuddled closer. AAHHH missionary ears!! haha Lucy is awesome though! She has known about the church for 45 years because her son joined, and he has been trying for the past 45 years to get her to church. She has just recently started coming these past three times!! and she loves it!! I'm not going to lie Lucy is my favorite investigator :) she is such an awesome old lady, she has such a funny personality! It's great! She is super down to earth, and she use to live in the West so she isn't so 'beat around the bush'. After Lucy we went and saw Jaylene and taught her the Word of Wisdom because she was curious about it. We will see how well she does. She Smokes and she Drinks Coffee! like everyone else here.

Friday: I met my first miniature pony today! We were visiting the Spences - they live across the railroad tracks in this super sketch little house that looks like a big bush. They are a nice old couple and they own the miniature horse. Later this night we went to the Ivy's hoping to do FHE with their family... but things went wrong... very wrong. We ended up just sharing a message on Charity and leaving as quickly as possible. It was a rough night... not good to talk.

Sunday: wonderful Church!! I am so grateful to have a church building and a ward! I can't imagine not having people to help out. Anywho the patriarch came with his wife, and they spoke about their mission that they served in Colorado... .There is one thing that I wish people would do differently: Talk more Investigator appropriate. Non-members have no idea what you are referring to when you refer to LDS history, and the joys of serving a mission. It's great for the members to hear... but No one is really learning anything except for a nice life story. They aren't learning anything new about the Gospel. Sister Richards and I taught the Gospel Principles class this week and it was on Charity. It was a wonderful class because we had a lot participation and stories on how people had been charitable to them and how they helped others out. I explained how Fear was the biggest problem with most people. we are afraid of helping people, because we don't know how to help people, we don't know how they will react; we don't know. The Unknown is what scares us away from doing good things. Fear is the opposite of Faith. When we are Afraid, we have no Faith. CC was at church today... and she had another problem at church, she was having a mental breakdown. It was hard but the members are all very supportive and helped us out the best they could. Sad thing of the day: right after we got home from church we asked Jaylene why she hadn't come, Again, she sent us a text saying that she had gone to another church, and really liked it and will probably go to it. There were a few things that she disagreed with that we had taught her. She loves us and does not want us to hate her. It was like a knife to the heart! She was one of our biggest progressing investigators and she just cut everything off. She had never told us about anything she disagreed with. We had no idea what happened. We were devastated! We tried going over and talking to her, but she wasn't home. We hope we can find out what went wrong and help her, because we have seen the change in her life, and it's hard to give up on someone who has been doing so well!! Very emotional end to the day.

To End because I do not have any more time: 2 Nephi 29 - Story of my life out here!!!
Look it up!! (hopefully that is the right scripture haha)

I love you all and I hope you are all doing well!! Read the Book of Mormon, Ponder about it and ask Specific questions, and Pray to know! The Answers are in that Book!! I promise you!!

Love,

Sister Karen Call