You know that scripture that says "God's ways are not your ways, nor Gods thoughts your thoughts" or whatever? Well...it's true. Because I don't know what happened, or what we did to deserve it, or what initiated it, but suddenly this week, after like 8 weeks of being in finding mode, we're just teaching. All the time. every day. It's AWESOME
But the most important news of the week: I got the best outfit ever for a grand total of $2 exactly. Nothing compares anymore. (okay, jk, but it was pretty awesome)
We started the week with the most mature 12-yr-old recent convert ever requesting a blessing because he was a little nervous about getting the priesthood. Man, he's gonna be the best priesthood holder ever. (women's rights mormons have been getting on my nerves this week. They need to have some humility like he did!)
Then we met with the guy that showed up at the church out of the blue last week. He's still 50/50. He has a pretty cool story of finding God, but it seems that he got sucked right into one of those churches that has hardly anything right about Him. And although he probably wouldn't downright admit it, he's trying to prove our church wrong, because that's what they do. But hey, go for it, man. He might just prove it right :) That's what we're hoping for. He came to church yesterday, and it was tough to tell how sincere his search really is. Sometimes he's really nice and sometimes he's throwing anti stuff at us.
FOLLOW THE SPIRIT AND READ THE BOOK. That's all you gotta do. Just read the book. I don't get why people feel they need to read everything else. It's like going to all the secondary sources instead of the primary sources for a research paper. It just doesn't work that way. We might just see some sweet miracles with him :)
Then we helped a lady bake like 5 dozen peanut butter cookies. She says that a mission is to help us become well-rounded, so she's honing the skills that our other investigators might not help us with. Whatever, lol. It was fun.
For some reason, I was in no mood to go to one of our investigators houses cause she tends to be kinda negative. but we got there, and she was actually in a good mood, and our lesson ended up going really well. Missions are a roller coaster indeed.
Then we performed a missionary-stakeout. I would say it was a success, but I guess the stakeout itself wasn't really a success because we just ended up going and knocking on the door after like 15 minutes, and Sam was home! They are going through a rough patch--forever and always--but he might be seeing the whole I'm-not-going-to-church-and-
okay, so here's the story: The Bakers are getting Transferred!! GAHH!! It's breaks my heart because I love them so much, but I would be beyond pumped if I were them, getting to go into a new area that really needs them and will appreciate them more than they have been appreciated of late. We did an Ultimate Weekly Planning Session with them to cover all of our bases. It got us pumped.
We set a baptismal date with a guy over the phone (this was on Thursday) for Tuesday. He accepted the date, and we've been working with him constantly to see if he'll make it. It's been a crazy weekend. Turns out we're gonna have to push the date, but at least it gives us the chance to teach him for real. We hadn't taught him any lessons before Thursday...haha. Might sound hasty of us, but I promise we had our reasons :)
Elizabeth, who has been a constant at church for over 5 months now, was supposed to be able to learn a little bit more about how soon she could be baptized this week, but then on Saturday night she fell and sprained her knee and some other stuff so she couldn't make it to church...of all the weekends to do it. The Lord works in mysterious ways, and I guess all things are supposed to work out according to His timing. But we're praying for her.
We had a going away party for the Bakers, and a bday party from Bro Hohneke, and it was lots of fun. But things are so real now! They leave on WEDNESDAY! I can't believe it. Honestly, preparing for this change (and the changes following it) has been one of the most stretching experiences of my mission. I've never done anything like this stuff. Prepping an area for people leaving, plus, we are hoping to get another set of sister next transfer (in two weeks) so we are trying to prepare for that as well. I've always been on the other side of this stuff--either the one leaving the area, or the one opening it. Never the one doing the preparations and maintenance. It's exciting :)
The situation with the new sisters is really unique. It's main purpose is to occupy the Baker's old apartment as long as we still have to pay for it through August. The anticipated new sisters will only be here for one transfer, and they will not have a car, so we will be sharing ours. We're looking into getting some bikes. We might also end up living together in the Baker's apartment during that time, and we'll definitely be working really closely together. There's some things I'm really scared of about all of this, cause if we don't get along things could go bad really fast, but I'm also pumped. Good thing I can get along with pretty much anyone.
We had interviews with President this week! It was my last one :'( Well, you know, before the mission home, but that's not really something I'm looking forward to. Plus, President was pretty much telling me everything. He normally keeps a lot of things private, but I think cause I'm leaving soon, he was like, 'whatever, she can know'. So that was cool, to just talk and plan for this big change in Sturgeon Bay. Yay for changes :)
Blake knows the church is true. Rock on. But since he's 16, we have to get permission from his parents. I don't think that'll be a huge problem. Plus we actually have to teach him the lessons. But social conversion is GREAT. Spiritual conversion often follows :) This kid is awesome, he's one of my favorite people in Wisconsin. And he's gonna get baptized :)
We taught a bunch of people the Plan of Salvation, which is just the Lesson of Salvation because it has such a HUGE effect on people. We had some investigator family that virtually dropped us last week, but we managed to get this appointment and showed them the Plan, and they were blown away. Loved it. Still unsure, but were really impressed. And that happens every time we share the Plan of Salvation. I just love this lesson.
Church was MADNESS. Robert came, Blake came, a new part-family that needed fellowshipping--a family I taught in GB2, actually--came, and Tori and her investigating brother and sister-in-law came. I have to tell you, it's impossible to sit by that many people at the same time. But we tried our best. President Krehbiel and his wife gave AWESOME talks, and the Baker's gave spirit-powered testimonies. It was perfect. Second hour we fit 12 of us into a room that only should have fit 8 at most. Third hour was combined, but between technical difficulties and someone having a diabetic attack, things were pretty insane. Somehow I loved it anyway.
We spent yesterday evening with the Baker's because I only get two more days of them!! It's so depressing. But exciting for them :) Who are we supposed to go to when we're depressed that our investigator is going all anti without them?
But anyway. This week was full of stuff that probably doesn't sound as exciting as it was. I love being a missionary.
Sister Neal
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