This week has been super busy. So beware… this letter will be super long.
Monday- We had a member lesson with the Titus family. Brother Titus is on some super cool special assignment in North Africa so Sister Titus said that we can come and teach them the Restoration for Family Home Evening. It was awesome. Sister Titus is Sister Mangum, from Centerville 2nd Ward, sister so I just love going over there. Then we went to Empty Nester’s Family Home Evening in Brother Lee’s basement. There were a lot of non-members. He has a weird, and expensive, obsession with anything Coca Cola. He says that he loves their advertisements. His basement is a replica of a vintage diner. There are soda fountains and coca cola ads and vintage music players. It is actually super cool. Sorry we couldn’t take pictures.
Tuesday- We got two new additions to our district: Elder Payne, new missionary, and Elder Oliverson (one of my favorite Spanish missionaries). We had dinner with Brother Larson (weekly tradition) he is so old and so cute. We went to a Mexican Restaurant. I had a “specialized pizza” with Sprite in a HUGE pitcher. We taught two member families the Restoration with great results. They gave us referrals!
Wednesday- was a day of service. We served at Alternative House and then we helped a sister in the ward clean out her old apartment. She is so wonderful. We then had our first lesson of the week with an investigator. It was awesome. We had the lesson with Glen at the church with Bishop. Bishop bore powerful testimony of the Atonement, which Glen struggles with, it was so amazing.
Thursday- we did service at the Taylor’s and it was so much fun. We did charades and the cute old ladies just laughed the entire time. I did as much Michael Jackson moves as I good in a dress and they still did not get it! Then we had our second lesson of the week with a woman named Mulu. She is from Ethiopia and speaks little English but she is a great friend of the Hubner’s in the ward and wanted to learn about their religion. She is so humble and so teachable. I love her so much. Then… miracle! We felt prompted to go to Great Falls thirty minutes from where our next appointment was. We tried to excuse the revelation and head toward our appointment. Well, we got a phone call and our appointment cancelled! So we headed to Great Falls and then decided to check on a former who Sister Titus had told us to visit two days ago. She was home with two of her friends. One of her friends I knew from SVU (beside the point) and we were able to share a great message with them. During the lesson one of friends gave us a piece a paper. After we left we read the letter which said: “I am so happy that you stopped by. If we were here she may not have answered the door. I am not sure that she will be honest with you about her concerns. Here they are….” Heavenly Father knows us and is in this work.
Friday- During our dinner appointment the Roberts told us to visit a less-active down the street. We have checked on them a million times (exasperation) but no one has ever answered the door. We decided after dinner to check on them again. Well, Sister Bradshaw was home! She told us that she is not usually ever home during that time but for some reason she got off of work and had no errands to run. She told us about the trials in her life. She feels guilt for a lot of things that she has done that has left negative consequences. She knows that church will bless her; however, she just cannot walk into church as a sinner. We taught her the Grace and Atonement of Christ. It was so amazing. She made the commitment to come to church on May 4th and meet Bishop Richardson.
Saturday- was a super busy day. We had breakfast at a counselor in the Stake Presidency, Brother Stuart, with the zone. It was great. There were three young men who just finished the Stake mission preparation class. They asked a few questions and the leaders each bore powerful testimony. If that wasn’t a spiritual high an hour late we had a “Leaders Launch” with Elder and Sister Ritchie. This is their eighth mission. They talked to us about the importance of being like Moroni:
1. Get up early
2. Go to work
3. Get my education (get training)
4. Find my oil (what is my talent)
5. Make my mark (use my talent to make a difference)
6. Get prepared to serve
It was so amazing. I learned so much. Something that he said more than once was:, “Go get life” and “Get ready to get used by the Lord.” Then we had a lesson with a recent convert, Brother Coovert, who has special needs but knows so much and has a testimony of the gospel. Right before our lesson we went to seven eleven to get a slurpee and a non-member who has friends that are members of the church paid for our drink. It was so cool. We then had dinner with less-actives, the Turner’s, and shared a great message with them about the love that Heavenly Father has for us (the dinner was at a restaurant so we were bummed that we couldn’t teach them more as it was loud inside). We had a lesson with a recent convert, Sister Farerro, about family history work. We committed her to a date where she will find an ancestor and take their name to the temple to do the work for them. It was so awesome.
I found pleasure in that we had a TON of less-actives and non-members show up for sacrament. The Bazzarone’s only son is leaving for his mission and he is the first one in their ENTIRE family to go (Brother Bazzarone is a convert and Sister Bazzarone’s entire family is less-active or non-member). Some big names showed up to our church including: Ambassador Korologos, Todd Thatcher (musician), and… Bryce Harper (baseball player). It was awesome and the Turner’s (less active family that we had dinner with) came to church. At the same time the Dayton’s daughter was getting a baby blessing so more nonmembers came. It was overwhelming but so amazing. That night at 8:30pm we checked on a potential investigator named Brendi. Her son is David who we have not got a hold of in over a month. We got a hold of her a few days ago but she was not home for our appointment that we had set-up. We checked on her and she was home! She was in a lot of trouble so we called our ward mission leader, our employment specialist, our Bishop, and then we turned to a ward missionary and she got to work and called the Spanish Ward and they helped.
Spiritual:
On Saturday after the Leaders Launch I felt so overwhelmed. I tend to be a perfectionist so when things are not going the way that I want them to I tend to get overwhelmed. Well, after the meeting there was so much that I wanted to be better at and do better at that I felt imperfect, inadequate, and self- defeated. I was struggling mostly with being a convert. Many people would say that being a convert is great when you are a missionary because you can relate to them. Well, not in Great Falls! These people are so over my head. They make six figures, are super busy, and use big words. The members not only do that but they can quote every prophet and they know every Mormon history fact in the book. I JUST DON”T FIT IN. I hate feeling different. When we go to dinners with members they ask where you from are and I tell them and they get this look on their face like I am from a third world country. So when Brother Ritchie and the Stake Presidency taught us I felt so inadequate. I just felt that I could not accomplish what they want me to. Well, Heavenly Father is so great! During my personal study Sunday morning I said the world’s longest, weeping prayer and he answered me. I felt that I needed to read Alma 55 (about wars) yet it answered. I read it with different eyes:
Heavenly Father does not delight in my sadness, frustration, anger but he delights in my Salvation. I am armed with angels (both on Earth and from within the veil). He wants me to cast my sorrows, pains, anger, and any bad thought at His feet. I am now numbered with His righteous children and will be strength to them as I keep His commandments. I must remember the Lord in all of my afflictions.
It was so touching and was just what I needed. He is so aware of us.
Love,
Sister Diamond Evans
Alma 38:5
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