At the temple with my companion)
Hi everyone :)
It has certainly been an eventful week for Sister Davis here in the CLAM. I had the opportunity of meeting the first member of the Church in Sri-Lanka who now lives here. He brought his non-member in for a tour and it was great. She said she wasn't really interested, but I think she really felt the spirit so hopefully a seed is planted. She was definitely under the impression that we are like nuns so I cleared that one up! I'm pretty sure she isn't the only one that thinks that. Anyway, as far as our area goes I think we are beginning to see the light. We really didn't have a lot to go off of when we were flushed in, but we have been working hard with the Bishop and other leaders to get the ward figured out and we have countless less-active and part-member families to work with. I guess the ward hasn't had sisters in six years or something so we're hopeful that some of the less-active women in the word will be more open to meeting with us than they have been with the Elders in the past. One of the Less-active women we met with this last week actually trains and tends Patrick Dempsey's dogs. She says he and his wife are really great. Ha ha. So that's my random "land of fame and success" story for the week. That and we drove past Randy Newman's home yesterday. Well, all we could really see was the gate and walls but ya know. Everytime we tell someone that we are serving in Malibu we get a "Oh I'm sorry," "That area hasn't had a new investigator in who knows how long," or "Good luck knocking on the doors of million dollar homes and convincing the owners that they need anything, let alone divine guidance." Ouch! I really appreciate my companion though because from the beginning she has just smiled and said in her thick spanish accent, "Oh we love our area!" Needless to say I have adopted the phrase. We do love our area. Besides the fact that it's beautiful! (We drive down Pacific Coast Highway most days. The view is phenomenal). The members in our ward are great and we have seen some success already. We have a new investigator that we met knocking doors(go figure) and we are meeting with her this week so we'll see what happens! It has to be one of the most amazing feelings in the world to feel that you should go a certain way and then you meet someone that needs you. We got a referral this week from a woman that supposedly wanted a Book of Mormon. We of course were ecstatic, but she wasn't home when we went by. We talked a lot with a woman who runs her house? something like that. Anyway, she doesn't actually live in our area, but she said that she believes that everything happens for a reason and that perhaps that book was for her. Naturally we were like... YES :) I feel like I have been doing a lot of hand offs to other missionaries but hey, the work goes forth and everyone plays a part. Referrals are vastly important as any Visitors' Center sister will tell you. I had my first really good experience in the call center this week, which was good because if you know me you know that talking on the phone to strangers is not my thing. So I called a woman in Mississippi who was willing to chat with me and it was awesome! We talked about her beliefs and I just related those to what we believe and long story short, by the end of the conversation she was excited to meet with the missionaries in her area and start reading the Book of Mormon. It really is exciting to get people started and the great part is that I can follow up with her to support her, answer any questions, and just find out how things are going. There is never a dull moment here at the VC. The other day a man came in claiming he was the Messiah and proceeded to condemn us all when Elder Hardy (The senior couple Elder who was working the front desk at the time) refused to publish his prophecies in the Church News. To each his own I suppose.
I have to say that my first week I was really homesick as well as MTC sick(my district and Zone there was just too good)... My apartment smelled like Aunt Lisa's house. The same mormonad that's in Grandma's downstairs bathroom was on my cupboard. Everything at the Visitors' center made me miss my siblings and nephews and I was just a wreck I'll be honest. BUT I have truly received the assurance that the Lord needs me right here, right now. D&C 100:4 "Therefore I the Lord have suffered you to come to this place; for thus it was expedient in me for the salvation of souls." When I read that this week I knew that that was the case for me. I don't know if any of you have read The fourth Missionary by Lawrence E. Corbridge, but the idea is to turn yourself over completely. To set aside our desires(even the righteous ones) and completely surrender our will so that we can do only what he would have us do. It's really an amazing talk. I have 18 months to serve a mission, and that isn't a long time. I want to make it count. I want to be obedient and worthy so that I can have the spirit and share the gospel with others, but that isn't all. I want to become something. I want to become someone by serving with all my heart, might, mind and strength. Especially my heart. He talks about how while the fourth missionary is not perfect, he struggles, and he works to do the Father's will and forget himself because it is really the only intelligent way to serve a mission. Wow. I'm here right now and in all reality I don't have that much time to make a difference in the lives of these people or in my own as far as full-time missionary service goes. I really want to make it count. Sorry, this is sounding a bit like a journal entry or something, but this talk really turned my attitude around completely so if any of you are wanting to become better, but struggling to know how READ IT! I think it can apply to everyone. I am really growing to love all of these sisters I'm working with here at the center. I wish you all could meet them. Until next week!
- Sister Jenna Davis
P.S. Random fact- If you go on to mormon.org and click on "Find a church close by" there is a video and the Bishop that speaks at the end is the the Bishop in the ward we're serving in. That's the building I got to as well. Enjoy :)
No comments:
Post a Comment