Hello y'all!! Pay attention because (drum roll) THIS WAS A MIRACLE WEEEEEEEK!!!
Transfers (For Reals This Time)
We really did have transfers this week on Wednesday...and Sister Lotu is officially out of the Fort Worth North zone /: We are missing her a lot a lot a lot buuuuut it's okay, she's doing amazing things in the Hurst Tongan wards! It was super fun to see everyone from other zones though, we had some good laughs and I got to catch up with some of the missionaries I flew in with! We also got a replacement into our trio! Her name is Sister Hollingsworth and she's been out for almost 6 months! She is super sweet and passionate about the work so we're excited to see how she'll contribute to our zone!
German Study (yikes lol)
Okay so Sister Brady and I have been grinding out all the German studies this week. My transfer goal is to be better at making it a priority and she has been so awesome at helping me out with that! She plays a character named Shantell who doesn't know any German but I still speak German to her...? We put on google translate speech-to-text and I speak in German to the phone and she speaks English back to me...unless it's the word "nein" because that's her only and favorite German word haha. But it's actually been super super helpful!! Plus it's a freaking blast. Google translate doesn't always pick up every word I say so the sentences are super funky. Hopefully it will pay off when I get to Germany!! Speaking of which, Frankfurt, Germany (my mission) just got 7 new missionaries on Thursday! So I'm not sure what that means...plus I've heard Germany is closing down again because of COVID, so we'll just have to wait and see. Moral of the story is I don't know anything haha. Your guess is as good as mine!!
Car Wash
We had another car wash on Saturday! The weather here has been super nice lately so we've been able to do more outside service which is awesome! Soooo at our car washes we talk with everyone and give them pass along cards with our number on the back. We've actually had quite a bit of success with this! This last car wash was freaking bomb! We got so many appointments it was crazy. One lady we met was so insistent on giving us something for our service so her and her family are feeding our entire zone this week! She also wants us to repaint her house and to help them move stuff around since they just moved to Texas! Service is officially my favorite.
Teaching!!
Nelly: We are STILL struggling to get a lesson with her. When we call her, she'll chat with us but it's really hard to get the gospel into those convos. Also, we're trying to track her down when she's working (at Chipotle) but we're extremely broke and have limited miles...so we haven't yet. Maybe that's a sign saying don't stalk people at work??? No clue haha.
Bubba: We had an in person lesson with Bubba on Tuesday!! We absolutely loved meeting him in person. He has a very sweet personality and some awesome goals. The only thing holding him back from completely understanding what we teach him is that he can't read. We're going to try and get him to listen to the Book of Mormon, but we will see how that goes. Also...he believes in giants? Soooo maybe the Plan of Salvation would be a good lesson haha. He's very unique and has a short attention span so we're getting creative for our next lesson this week.
Sergio: We had another lesson with Sergio!!! It was totally out of the blue so we didn't really have anything prepared but I think we did pretty good on the fly! He had a TON of questions about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. He was wondering why Joseph Smith was different than Muhammad, so we had a little discussion about the priesthood and the power of it. We also talked about the power of prayer and he told us he STOPPED praying...soooo then we talked about the importance of consistency in our faith. I think it went really well, he even wanted to call the next night! We had another lesson so we rescheduled but hopefully he's been trying out the praying thing!!
Robert: Robert is a newbie and a member referral! We had our first lesson with him last week and I wonder if there will be very many more...he doesn't like a lot of things about our church that are kind of important. Like um the Book of Mormon and temples and Joseph Smith haha. He also is lowkey a Bible basher sooo that's tragic. But we're definitely going to keep working with him. He is really nice! Just sort of less nice when we talk about religion haha!
MIRACLE
SOOOOO we have these amazing members in our ward that are from ireland. They are freaking hilarious! They let us walk their dogs for service and we work with them a lot for referrals which is super awesome. So we went and walked their dogs on Saturday night and we had made a HUGE effort at being super obedient that day. Like up right at 6:30, only unlocking our phones when we have a purpose for it, things like that. So far it didn't seem like it was paying off at all to be so obedient. Wellllll we're walking these dogs and we run into some of their neighbors! There was a 23 year old named Jared and two younger girls around 12 years old. Sooo we ran into them and the girls wanted to pet the dogs so we stopped and chatted for a while. He was SUPER awesome! Very friendly and outgoing. We were trying to squeeze the gospel in there at some point but it just didn't feel natural. So we said goodbye and kept walking and a little bit down the road Sister Brady was like "GUYS I had the thought to invite him to church tomorrow but I didn't!!" so we were kinda bummed that we didn't take that chance. But the Lord was like just hold on a minute. So we turned around to take the dogs home and we ran into Jared again!!! The dog I was walking wiggled out of his collar so I went and grabbed him which gave my comps more time to talk with him. Well it turns out he is super interested and wants to come to church! He offered his number and everything. Even though he worked yesterday so he couldn't make it, we are hoping to get a lesson in this week!! It was SUPER cool.
Weekly Spiritual Dose
This is definitely more directed at missionaries, but I hope you can all feel the same spirit from it that I feel when I read it.
The alarm bell rings at 6:30, I stumble to my feet
I grab my companions bedding and pull off his sheets
A groan fills the room, is it already time to arise?
It seems like just a second ago, I was able to shut my eyes
The morning activities follow with study, prayer and such
When it’s time to leave the apartment, you feel you haven’t accomplished much
“We have a super day planned,”
My comp. says with a grin
I lowly utter a faithless breath,
“Yeah, if anyone lets us in.”
With the word of God and my faithful Schwinn, we ride off in the street
Prepared to face another day of humidity and heat
It’s 9:30 in the evening, the day is almost through
My companion and I are riding home not accomplishing what we thought to do
We ride up to the mailbox, hoping to receive a lot
Only to look inside and hear my echo reverberate “air box”
We go up to our apartment, the day is now complete
The only thing to show for our work is a case of blistery feet
It’s past 10:30 p.m. My companion is fast asleep
Silence engulfs me all about and I begin to weep
In the midst of sadness, I kneel down to pray
I need to talk to father, but I’m not sure what to say
“Oh, Father” I begin, “What happened to us today?
I thought we’d teach somebody, but everyone was away
My hands, my aching hands- worn, hurt and beat;
If our area was any smaller, we’d have knocked the doors on every street”
“Why on missions are the days so much alike?
The only difference about today was the flat tire on my bike
Will you send some cooler weather? The heat is killing me
I sweat so bad, it gets in my eyes, it’s very hard to see”
“Why do I have to wear a helmet, isn’t your protection enough?
People always laugh at me, and call me stupid stuff
Please send us investigators so I may give them what they lack
I want to give them Book of Mormons, the weight of them hurts my back”
“And what about my family, They don’t have much to say
I’m sick of not hearing from home day after day after day
Oh Father, Why am I here am I just wasting time?
Sometimes I just want to go home, I’m sorry but that’s on my mind”
“My companion, Heavenly Father, what are you giving me?”
The way he rides his bicycle, I don’t think he can see
Now you have it, I can’t go on, I don’t know what to do
That, my Father in Heaven, is the prayer I have for you”
My prayer now finished, I stand up, then jump right into bed
I need my rest for tomorrow, we have another long day ahead
Sleep starts to overtake me, I seem to drift away
Then it seems a vision takes me to another time in another day
I’m standing alone on the hill, The view is very nice
A man walks towards me and says, “My name is Jesus Christ”
Tears of joy well up inside, I fall down to His feet
“Arise,” He states, “Follow me to the shade. You and I need to speak”
My attention’s towards my Savior, total and complete
He says, “Your mission is similar of what happened to me
I understand how you feel, I know what you’re going through
In fact, it would be fair to say I’ve felt the same as you”
“I even know how you felt when no one listened to you
At times I felt not quite sure what else that I could do
I know you don’t like to ride a bicycle, for you a car would be sweet
Just remember the donkey I rode wasn’t equipped with 21 speeds”
“I understand you don’t like sweating, in fact it’s something you hate
I remember when I sweat blood from every pore, oh the agony was great!
I see you don’t like your companion, you’d rather have someone else
I once had a companion named Judas who sold my life for wealth”
“It’s hard to wear a helmet and have people make fun of you
Much like when they put thorns on my head and called me King of the Jews
So you feel burdened down by the weight of your pack
I recall how heavy the cross was when they slammed it on my back”
“Your hands hurt from tracting and knocking on doors all day
I guess when they pounded nails into mine, I ached in a similar way
It’s hard not to hear from home when your family’s not there to see
I lost communication on the cross and cried, “Father, why hast Thou forsaken me?”
“We have a lot in common, but there’s a difference between us you see
I endured to the end and finished my mission, so follow and do like me”
He embraced me with His arms and His light filled me with His love
With tears in my eyes I watched as He ascended back to the Father above
I stood with awe and wonder when a beep rang in my head
Listening I heard the alarm, then realized I was in my bed
My companion let out a groan, “it’s 6:30 already, no way!”
I sat up and said, “Come on, I’ll even carry your scriptures today!”
No matter what we go through,
When we feel we can’t take more
Just stop and think about Jesus Christ,
He’s been there before!
By Elder Troy Whittle
Texas Houston Mission
I love you all!!
Sister Rogers
Germany Frankfurt Mission
Kirche Jesu Christi
Texas Fort Worth Mission
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Pictures:
1. Sister Lotu and I at transfers ):
2. Our new and LIT district
3&4. Car wash
5&6. Hermana Miller and I enjoying our post-service treat
7. Sister Hollingsworth, Sister Brady, and I with our Andy's!