You'd think with more practice, I'd get better at first lines, but experience is proving that wrong. =)
Without
further ado, I am in a new area! I have left Buenaventura to come and
serve with the ward Washington Terrace. This ward hasn't had sister
missionaries in over a year, so the members are extremely excited to see
us. Also, I am training!...again! My new companion is Hermana WiRepa;
she is from New Zealand and had been waiting for her visa. As such, she
served a transfer, in English, in her homeland and then her visa came so
she reported to the MTC in Provo. After spending a transfer there (6
weeks), she finally arrived to the mission field! Her Spanish is already
really good with the pronunciation and she's learning a lot of new
words quickly. I love watching her grow and we are already having a
great time together.
It
has been very interesting opening a new area and training a non-native
speaker. There are both disadvantages and advantages to our predicament;
unfortunately we do not have any investigators currently, but
fortunately we can start off on whatever foot we want with the members
(no one has set a precedent, for good or bad, before us). Neither of us
know the area, but neither of us know the area! so we can learn
together. I know how hard it can be to open an area, I've heard plenty
of horror stories, but I believe that if we view the positives more, all
will be okay.
Another
thing that has helped my transition is the family I'm living with. They
are the Nehrings! (Pronounced the same as "nearing" as in "we are
nearing our destination") As of right now, they are only Br. and Sis.
Nehring, so we have a swell time together. They are both amazing people
and we (my companion and I) refer to them as Ma and Pa, because they, in
many ways, act as our home-away-from-home parents. It is amazing to me
what random strangers will do to help further the work, and these kind
and awesome people have chosen to share their home. They even helped us
decorate downstairs! (I promise pictures)
All
in all, this has been a good move. I miss my old area and I still feel
like I have more to do there, but it's possible I could go back. If I
don't, then I was there for the time the Lord needed me there. I also
wish that I could've had more time with my previous companion, Hna.
Felix, but again one never knows =) Change can be hard, or scary, or
both but if we go at it with Heavenly Father, He'll help us. Life is all
about changing, so the sooner you can learn how to grow with change,
the sooner you will learn how to be happy. As an African saying goes,
"If you have conquered the demons inside, you have no need to fear the
demons without."
Besides the big move, I don't think a lot happened this past week. Oh! That's not true, ok, I have two stories for you.
This
past Saturday, we ran into 2 people who were testimony builders for us,
but not in the nice traditional way. The first person was a woman
visiting a potential investigator of ours. She was there for a bible
study with our friend, and we asked if we could join them. This woman
joined us at the door and I asked what they were studying and she said
"angels." We started talking and it became quite obvious why she had
come to the door. We would ask her about something we hold to be basic
truths, such as we lived with Heavenly Father before this life as
spirits, and she stated that we do not have spirits, we are simply flesh
and of the earth, and that we didn't live before we were born. She
threw in a few bible verses to support her feelings and then said that
if we knew the bible, we wouldn't be so easily deceived.
This
"conversation" continued for a few minutes, mostly her speaking
(whether during her turn or over the top of us, she had no preference)
and telling us what we should believe. I could feel myself starting to
get upset because of the manner this woman was attempting to teach,
though preaching would be a better word, and I had to say a prayer for
peace. I bore my testimony of the savior and of the Book of Mormon
(which she spoke over.....) and then said "thank you for your time," and
we left.
I
learned a lot from this situation: 1) the way you teach and share the
things of Christ greatly affect how well they are received, 2)
purposefully using the Bible to attack others drives away the Spirit and
3) it is more important to make others feel the love of Christ through
you than to prove you're right. This woman was more concerned with
making us feel stupid (by using and quoting specific scriptures after
asking "don't you know the bible?", along with asking questions that had
very specific and uncommon answers) and proving her position than
making sure we felt Christ's (or in her case, Jehovah's) love for us. I
have promised before and reiterate that I will share my testimony of the
gospel with others because I love them and the Savior, not because we
have the correct religion.
Now,
the other person we met that day is Ryan. We were at a restaurant to
meet with a member and he walked in looking for directions. We helped
him out and he left; a few minutes later he returned and said that he
was hungry so he'd eat before he left. He sat a few tables away and
eventually struck up a conversation with us. With our plaques, we
quickly moved into a discussion about the gospel of Christ and why both
of us (us being me, my companion, and him) were here. He is a traveling
evangelist and he walks, or sometimes rides a bus, multiple miles each
day to travel between major cities and share the gospel of Christ.
He
expressed his believes, we did ours, and we were able to have a great
discussion. The main topic we talked on was the nature of the Godhead
(or trinity for some). He believes firmly that God the Father, Jesus the
Son, and the Holy Ghost are 1 God in 3 separate forms. We shared our
testimony of the Godhead, that we know they are 3 separate beings and
that they act in unison having one purpose (Moses 1:39).
It was a great discussion and we eventually had to stop due to time
constraints, but we all left in a courteous manner. He had been very
polite and sincere with us, as I hope he felt we were to him, but we
were unable to reach a point where we all agreed. My hope is that he
will continue to hear this message and one day accept the fullness of
Christ's gospel because he is truly a good man.
We
took a picture (so I could hopefully remember his name later), shook
hands, and said goodbye. This was a much better experience than earlier
that day, and I learned something again. 1) Satan will attack us in many
different ways (not that these two people are of the devil, just hear
me out) Each one attacked my core belief that we are all children of God
and the true nature of our Father and Brother. If I didn't have a sure
testimony, if I wasn't converted, I could've been swayed and lost focus
on my true identity and purpose. 2) We must always be willing to share
our testimonies, even if the other person doesn't want to hear us out or
change. And 3) we will be given opportunities to share the gospel at
any point during the day; we must take advantage of them! How grateful I
am that we took the time to speak with these people even if they didn't
want to listen, for now they have a greater chance of one day accepting
the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
All
in all, we are working hard to get to know members and build that
trust, find new investigators, and help the work to move forward in this
area. I'm grateful that the Lord trusts me enough to have me train and
open an area. I hope this doesn't come across as bragging, but maybe I'm
doing ok. I think it's really easy to get down on ourselves and to not
see our full potential the way God does, so He gives us these important
moments. For me, this is my Father telling me "I love you Rachel and I
know what you are capable of. Trust in me and I will show you how to
become even better." What better feeling could we have than the feeling
of love and trust from our Father?
I
know that He knows each of us individually and personally. He knows
what we are capable of and He has a magnificent plan for each of us to
become like Him. I know we lived with Him before.
I love you all! Be good and remember who you are!
Love,
Hermana Lindh
P.S.
Por mis amigos quién hablan solamente español, lo siento que no escribí
en español. Espero que todavía pueden disfrutar mis electrónicos
correros. ¡Le quiero tanto! Tenga una buena semana y recursos que Dios
le ama =)
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