So this week has been an insane ROLLER COASTER OF EMOTIONS!
Why?
KAREN. Love her, but she makes me crazy!
KAREN. Love her, but she makes me crazy!
On Monday, right after we got home from emailing, we found
a note in our door, from Karen. Saying she didn't want to be baptized because
her family had talked her out of it and reaffirmed her in her catholic faith.
But she still loves talking with us about religion so feel free to stop by
whenever we are bored. I WAS HEART BROKEN! We both knew it was a very
plausible thing because she was spending Easter with her very catholic family
for Easter, but it still made us sad.
Tuesday
We talked
about charity and loving those we teach enough to want to give them every
opportunity to accept the gospel. As an example of charity Elder Every(yes, that is his name) shined
all of our shoes. I know he shined mine because they are shiny material, some
of the other sisters have cloth shoes so that's where I am stumped...but
whatever!
What the Kansas wind does to my hair.
We then knocked on some doors in Wichita . A fancy neighborhood. But
let's face it, ALL the neighborhoods we cover that are in Wichita are fancy! Because most of the people
on this side of Wichita
are plane engineers for Cessna and own their own planes. And...not very humble. But
hey! You work with what ya got! So we tried doors and there was a giant
spider on like every door! And who got to knock on them? Me. Who didn't get
bit? Thankfully neither of us got bit! Whew! While we were walking this
man pulled up to us and was all "hey Sisters!" and we got super
excited because he wasn't a member of our ward, and hoped he was a non member,
since people only ever stop the Elders
because they don't recognize cute girls in dresses as missionaries. So we were
like "yes! SOMEONE!" Turned out he is a member who works for Vivint
and lives on the east side. Excitement for nothing. THEN a woman
pulled up to us, waved and almost rolled down her window. But didn't L THEN when we were
driving and at a stop light, this woman in the car next to us was looking at us
funny so I waved! She then got super excited and was telling her husband or
something and pointing at us. I almost rolled down the window and chucked a
pamphlet at them! I wish I had, because then they took a picture of us in the
car! Why? NO CLUE! But definitely was
super funny though! We then knocked on this army guy's door (he told us
what branch he is in, but I don't remember. (National Guard I think) and talked
with him for about 30 minutes! He had TONS of questions about differences about
us and missionaries and stuff. So he said he will talk with the Elders. So that
was legit.
WEDNESDAY
We taught Karen. She admitted that she let her family talk
her out of baptism and we invited her to pray about if it is something God
wants her to do. But then when we invited her to pray (after reviewing how) she
prayed in a way that you can't even tell she is praying. But...hey give her an
A for effort! We also set up a church tour with her so she would get
comfortable with the idea of church. Then we went to Golden Corral for
dinner! While I ate their rolls I knew it would make my whole family jealous. :D
it was great. We tried a potential investigator but she just had eye
surgery and told us to come back.
THURSDAY
We did service for some members which was yard work. And we
mowed the lawn. Sister Taylor comes from a well off family where they just hire
people to do things. Which is why she doesn’t know how to cook and I learned
she didn't know how to mow a lawn either. Notice the past tense of didn't. CUZ
I TAUGHT HER! Granted I had only mowed the lawn like 2 times before...so it was
an interesting experience either way. HAHAHA! I hope they aren't mad that it
wasn't the BEST job. BUT WE TRIED! We then went out to Cheney to
have dinner with Sister Galloway and her daughter who is technically active but
HATES the church. So, I used my people skills that I am grateful for more and
more every day that Heavenly Father gave me, to be nice to her and get her to
like me so she would be willing to listen to a message. She actually seemed to
almost like the lesson and made eye contact with me when I spoke Sister Taylor said
it went 20 times better than last time. Apparently she started an argument
about Joseph Smith or something? Dunno, that was before I came here. And
then Sister Galloway said she would love to come with us to the church tour
with Karen and would give us all a ride because she was raised Catholic too! We
were so excited.
FRIDAY
We went
to go see Karen and tell her about Sister Galloway and the ride to the church
tour. Right off the bat she told us she wasn't interested in our church anymore
because she is too old to change and it scares her. I had no idea what to do!
Sister Taylor
was amazing and just pretended she said nothing and went right into talking about
the church tour with Sister Galloway! Karen was all excited to meet her and
then we taught her the Word of Wisdom which she has always asked questions
about since she is a recovering alcoholic and used to smoke. She loves that we
don't do either. Coffee took her aback though.
We then
went to go teach a less active man who live in the sticks of Goddard and he
wanted his daughter (who is in her 20's) who never got baptized to learn from
us as well. So we taught both of them the first lesson and she wants to learn
more, and for us to teach her 9 year old daughter and he wants to pay tithing! He
still won't come back to church though. But hey, it's a step.
We then went to go teach Charee (who is not a member) and
her husband Matt(who is a member but won't come to church). They have been
taught by missionaries for over a year and I was to the point where I was
wondering if they are even worth our time because they both know it is true
just won't come to church. But when we came Charee just had some drama
and she wanted us to tell her scriptures that would give her peace. So we did. And
then they both told us that they are really grateful for Sister Missionaries
being patient with them because is they had pushed too far they would have
wanted nothing else to do with us and if we had stopped they would have wanted
nothing to do with us either. But it has been just enough. And Matt said
that the commandments make him angry but he realized he needs to start at least
doing "good by his wife" because she really wants to get baptized and
not worry about the commandments. So good and bad I guess. He wants to slowly
maybe start coming to church but not keep the commandments...one step at a time
I guess? But I think it went pretty well! They really praised Sister Missionaries,
which I thought was cool because most people when they think of missionaries,
they think of Elders. Sisters they think all we do is give hugs and cry. So
I found that refreshing.
SATURDAY
Karen Knocked on our door at 11 and said she is not interested.
She doesn’t want to meet anyone. And to stop teaching her. We were so
depressed. THEN while we were eating lunch she knocked on our door AGAIN and
said that ever since she told us that, she had been sad and she didn't know
why. She didn't understand why she would feel so good when she was with
us and then get so scared. We told her it was Satan, he doesn’t want her to
keep meeting with us and he plays on her fears. She understood that and wanted
us to go over the word of wisdom again but we had to leave. Then we did a
lot of tracting. WENT TO NORWICH !
That was cool. That place is TINY! We only went there for dinner though. That
family has 12 kids! Insane. They made good hamburgers so that was nice. I
hope they didn't notice I didn't even touch the chips since I don't like chips.
SUNDAY
We had just had Ward Council when Karen called us. She told
us that she read the B.of M. for 3-4 hours yesterday and while she did that it
had made her so happy! She then mentioned that if we were not already at
church she would want to come. Then we were like "it starts at 1:00 and
it's only 11:30! We will come back there so you can follow us here!" She
was game for that. What we didn't tell her is we had not had lunch yet so
we then proceeded to stuff pb and j sandwiches in about 5 minutes (which is
HARD) and drive to go get her! She was at church for 2 hours and would have
stayed for relief society but she had plans with her sister. But she said
she LOVED church and will come next week!
Is she on
date for baptism again yet? No. But we plan on changing that!
After church we taught a woman who is a TOUGH COOKIE! She
threw out all the responses I had been warned of happens here in Wichita , but I had not
experienced yet. It was terrifying! Luckily, Sister Taylor is an experienced Sister
who knew what to say.
Today we received transfers, and I wasn't worried I knew I
would stay. Sister Taylor is going to the middle of no where Kansas and she has
always been in the city. That should be fun for the end of her mission J my companion used to
be a sister training leader so she is experienced so that should be nice. Sister
Payton is going to Colorado !
Her dream come true! It is true that
I KNOW that Heavenly Father gives us miracles when we feel
beaten down. I KNOW that when we have doubts, when we feel sad, when we just
don't know what's up, the Book of Mormon and prayer can help with that.
This week was a test of SO MANY THINGS. When I was ready to stick my head in
the sand, when I was ready to tell Karen peace out, it turned around. For now
at least. J But Heavenly Father is
there and the Book of Mormon is true. I hope you all have a great week!
LOVE
Sister Robyn
Cramer
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