Well hello y'all! If you didn't know I hit my one month mark on Saturday and it is crazy to think that I have already been out here for a month! It has been the most amazing, spiritual, testimony growing, exhausting, joyful times of my life! Really nothing could compare to the missionary life. When we tell people about it they think we are in the arm or something which is completely correct! We are Gods army and there is not a better place to be.
This week has been a tough one we had 3 investigators drop us. Let me tell you I have never felt so upset or rejected in my whole life. It is a terrible feeling knowing that there is nothing you can really do but still love them and hope that you brought them closer to Christ in the times you were able to talk to and teach them! But life goes on and the work is progressing. The area of La Porte is the place everyone calls the Dead zone.... It is actually really sad when people refer to it as that because it is my area and I don't see it as that. Me and Sister Turpin are working our hardest to make sure we are getting things to move and the work is progressing slowly but surly. It takes time and that is the hardest part. A lot of the times we wish that we would just one day wake up and find all these miracles but if we want miracles we have to work for them. The more we work the more we see. Obedience is really key to all of this, and its not always easy but it will always be worth it!
We got a new investigator Norma this week she used to be taught by the missionaries but then something happened between her and the missionaries and she decided that she did not want to be taught anymore. But she agreed to let us come over and teach her. She is pregnant with twins and has a little boy. She knows she needs God in her life but doesn't really know where to find him. PERFECT! We will show her. She has been really sick so tomorrow she agreed to let us come over and clean her house for her! Here in La Porte we don't really get a lot of service because the service opportunities are like giving people rides and massaging peoples feet which we cant do either of those... We were able to go to a members house and paint her brick wall for her.
So exchanges were on Tuesday for the first time and I lead out the area because my companion is an STL (sister Training Leader) but it wasn't actually all that bad we saw a lot of success and were able to meet some good potentials and teach a couple lessons. It was weird not being with Sister Turpin but it makes me appreciate her more then ever! Also this week we had Zone conference! It was amazing President Drake and sister Drake were there and spoke to us on the importance of improving our personal skills to teach. It is so true how important the way you sit or the way you talk of the way you make eye contact can show how much you care about the person you are teaching. I still get kind of shy in front of people but my interaction and finding ways to bring the gospel into conversations is getting a lot better from day one. We met these two old men who retired from the Army and they were the funniest men I have ever met. He kept calling us Jesus lovers and the other one called us Satan lovers. They were arguing more then we could actually talk to them but it was great.
This Saturday we were picking up a package and we ran into these three men who had just smoked briscut and ribs, they invited us over and we pretty much indulged a little to much! BBQ is so much better down here! (sorry dad) but anyways we got a return appointment with them! After we had our Thanksgiving social with the ward and there we also ate too much! They make some seriously good food here! But the deserts are to die for! Homemade pies.... yum.
Sunday the elders had their first baptism in this area! It was a wonderful and such a spiritual experience. But the funny thing is she didn't bring a towel and the church didn't have any. They are now going to invest in some because this incident has happened more then once sadly. Her testimony was amazing and she could feel the weight of all the guilt and pain she had felt before be taken from her. I hope that she will continue to follow in the footsteps of her savior and begin to see a whole new light as she is confirmed on Sunday next week!
This week I have been very grateful for repentance. I feel like when we think of repentance we always think of the bad things that we are doing so repentance becomes something we dread. Repentance is for us, it is not for our Heavenly Father, it is not for our family, it is simple and depends on us. It is a five step process. 1. Accept what you have done. 2. Be sorry for what you have done. 3. Confess to our Father in Heaven what you have done. 4. Don't do it again. If we truly repent it is a complete change of attitude, heart, and mind. 5. Endure to the end. You will continue this process for the rest of your life because we are human and we make mistakes and that is ok but always strive for better. There have been times on my mission with out repentance I don't know how I would have been able to help my investigators because I had held on feelings that were not the best or at times when me and my companion have got into little arguments that really should have been nothing that those feeling of uneasiness between us effects the way we are able to teach with each other! In Alma 13: 27 it talks about do not procrastinate the day of your repentance.... It is true people!!! Stop holding on to those feelings that are not of God and give them to him. Our savior already atoned for them so why are you still holding on to them. You are creating your own weight that you are carrying around. So I invite you all to start repenting of the little things. It doesn't matter what It may be stop feeling guilty and shameful for things that shouldn't be holing you back. You can become fully healed through the atonement of our Savior. I know that this is the True church here on this earth and that with out it I would be lost. I love my Heavenly Father and Savior. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and was written for us. It was written for these later days, the last dispensation before the coming of our Savior and Redeemer. Prayer is important and scripture study will help you through anything you might be going through. We are all brothers and sister and the love God has for us is endless. I am thankful to know that I have an eternal family and that is because of this gospel. This gospel is for everyone because it is the church that Jesus set up when he came to earth. We have a living prophet and his name is Thomas S. Monson. He leads and guides us as well as his apostles. This gospel is about joy and love and finding eternal happiness in this world and in the next.
I love y'all so much! Have a great week:)
Sister Redford
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