Oh. my. lanta.
What a crazy week. Crazy good, crazy unexpected.
Bur first.......meet the new comp: SISTER TEARE!!
Gosh, I love this girl!! Off the bat bestie.....woot woot! She's from New Mexico, has a wicked sense of humor, is part Native American, and loves donuts:)
#dunkindate
She's a joy.
Up for the crazies: So the day before transfer meeting, I was at the office with Sis. Stradling, and Elder Taggart (one of the senior office elders) showed me the pictures of all the new missionaries that were coming in. I looked over the list, saw Sis. Teare's pictures, pointed to her, turned to Elder Taggart and said, "That's my new companion."
Sure enough.
At our first planning session (about an hour after getting back to the apartment after transfers), I started us off with the uber long "planning prayer" where we pray specifically for each of our investigators, less-actives, recent converts, PNI's, leadership, members, etc. and as soon as I'd finished the 17 min prayer, I turn to find Sis. Teare's asleep.....yea, my voice has that effect.
#feelingold
Despite jet lag and culture shock, Sis. Teare is such a hard worker and has jumped right into the rigor of mission life and training.
I feel like the luckiest trainer on earth! I love Sis. Teare and we're forging forward together in the work!! Couldn't ask for a better greenie:)
A day or two later, we got to go help out at a member's home, making crackers and meatballs for a party. We'd barely got the ingredients mixing, when we realized that the preheating oven was belching smoke from some spilled roast sauce.
NASTY.
Oh well. We kept on cooking meanwhile the whole apartment is filling with smoke. We soon had to break out the fans, crack the windows, and......yep, eventually a fire truck showed up outside, just as we'd cleared the oven and the apartment lost it's fog.
GREAT. Ok who squealed?......
We obviously didn't volunteer ourselves as suspects and eventually they left but it wouldn't be the first time we've had interaction with the Evanston Fire Department:)
#stillhateelevators
The next day we had our ward Christmas party!! It was a blast! We got to help with one of the "story rooms" for the kiddos, where we gave out Books of Mormon for them to give to their friends.
Oh, if only we still reported how many BoMs we gave away each week. We'd be bomb:)
After helping out there, we booked it to a less-active's to help her move to an apartment one floor down.
Hauling heavy stuff up and down two flights of stairs is somehow appealing to me.....#rugbydays #missionprep #whatcanisay
We were having a good old time till............the POLICE showed up. So.....Sister Teare has a history.........jk:)
Apparently, one tenant called the police on another tenant, who then had to be cleared by a different tenant......OH DRAMA.
Learned that day how to maneuver around two cops and one suspect being interrogated while holding 30+ pounds of boxes, clothing, and furniture, all in a small 5 foot hallway.
#sisterskillz #dayinthelife
On my next trip upstairs to get a load to haul downstairs, one of the men from the ward hands me a gold container and says,
"Here Sister, this is her (our less-active's) sister. Don't drop her."
I just blank starred at him for a second and then.....click. "I'm holding a URN."
JEEPERS CREEPERS.
Ahgeblegheblahgeblegeh!!!!!!
Felt so weird........TOTALLY out of my comfort zone! That was the longest haul of MY LIFE, but hey, gotta do whatcha gotta do.
Basically, I was praying the w.h.o.l.e. time, that I wouldn't drop it, and in doing so, be scarred for life.
Elevator convo with Sis. Teare:
Me: "Agh...this is so wired!"
Sister Teare: [just laughs]
Me: "And it's heavy too!"
Sister Teare: "Well yea, it's a whole body!"
GAH!! This just got 10 X WEIRDER!! Hahahahaha!!! Gotta love moments like that:)
Work-a-thon Wednesday was the start to an amazing week together. We set our goals for the week and rest of the month, and they're high! We prayed that night that The Lord would help us reach our goals as we put in the work, and sure enough, He has!!
We were able to meet our weekly goals in only the three short days we had left!! By the end of the week, we had 2 new investigators and 6 potential investigators as well!!
Hit that pavement, pound them doors! We're...
TRACTING.
We love it, we hate it.
It doesn't always yield results, but this week it did!!
E--- and his father, T---, let us in Sunday night to teach them the Restoration (my all-time favorite lesson:). They're from Nigeria and are currently Pentecostal Christians. They were open to hearing our message though. The spirit was so strong as we began to bear witness of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith as a true prophet.
The more I teach that lesson, the more my testimony of this gospel grows. The church is SO true! SO TRUE! And knowing that, gives me such a capacity to love complete strangers and even those who reject our message.
There is power in being a set-apart full-time missionary. It's not always a physical or outward power, or even the power to teach and testify with eloquence and convincing force.
I believe it's a power to love.
To care so much about the welfare of others' souls that you give up 18 months-2 years of your life to save them.
There's no greater work that comes with greater power.
One if my favorite quotes from our District Leader, Elder Gurney (who's awesome, btw!) is,
"I paid 10 grand for this
small piece of plastic [pointing to the name tag]
and it's the best investment I've ever made!"
#swagginthetag
True dat. I love my tag. LOVE IT. It represents so much more than just a name badge or even a title.
It represents work. Hard work. Sweat, tears, heartache, discouragement, fear, failure, and constant effort. But it also represents success. Love, service, comfort, joy, prayer, and tender mercies.
It represents the Lord. His Atonement, everything He did for me, all that I owe Him.......it's all found in those few words,
SISTER PARKER
The Church of
JESUS CHRIST
Of Latter-Day Saints
I love this work! I love the Lord!
This is His true church!! I KNOW it! I KNOW IT!! There is no greater work to be done on this earth than missionary work!
Keep calm. Stay strong.
Onward and upward,
Sister Anna Parker
