Planting Seeds

Well, today is the start of another transfer and because I'm a new missionary and doing a new program they have, I get to stay in my area for another six weeks! I'm so happy! I don't feel like I have accomplished much here yet. But thank goodness that we have another six weeks that we will be in this area and we are going to get something accomplished by the end of these six weeks! I know that it doesn't seem like we are doing much but I also know that every person we talk to, we are planting a seed for somewhere down the road that will bloom into a testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Not a whole ton happened this week so this might be a short email. To get started, last Monday (the 31st), we went to a home that we decided we wanted to contact this week. Mr. Smith is the man who lives there and he was taught in the past by missionaries and we saw him in our area book and thought maybe we should go see him. So when we got to this house, this guy came out and started to get kinda mad at us for being there. I guess Mr. Smith was staying at this other guys home and he said that he didn't want anyone coming and bothering them. Well, there was no note of that in our notes so that's why we went there. So after the home owner talked to us for a couple minutes about how he didn't want us there, he said he would go get Mr. Smith. Well, we stood there for a couple minutes longer and I asked Sister Davidson how she was feeling and we both weren't feeling very good. So we walked away. A couple seconds later we heard someone yelling from the house but we kept walking. I felt bad for ignoring them and walking away but neither of us felt good about staying. I'm so thankful to my Father in Heaven for the gift of the Holy Ghost so that I can know when I'm in a bad situation or not. It is such a blessing to be worthy and have the Holy Ghost. It is so important in our daily lives, especially at this time in my life as a missionary.

Then on Thursday, Sister Davidson and I decided to go to this place at the edge of our mission and visit a former investigator. The only problem with this is that on the map we have, we saw the name of the street but we weren't sure what street it was off of because there was a hole punch in the paper... But we decided to go anyway and just hope that we would be guided to where this lady was. Well, after making a wrong turn and going up this super scary one way road on the side of the mountain, we found a place to turn back and when ended up going to another road across the main road, Carbon Canyon Road. We didn't know where we were because of the hole punch in our map but after driving for a couple minutes, we finally found the road we were looking for! Can you say, guided by the spirit?! There was no possible way that we would have been able to find that road without guidence. So we found a parking spot (it was on a mountain side so there was very limited parking spots) and we walked up to this house. Well, the lady wasn't available at that time so we decided to go exploring and see where one of the roads would take us. We went past a home and Sister Davidson felt like we should go there. Well we kept walking but we were going down a road that we didn't feel particularly good about going down so we turned back. When we went back past this house again, we decided to knock on the door. The lady at home was very nice and we talked to her for about 15 minutes and she seemed really interested in what we were telling her. She had a few questions here and there and we tried our best to answer them. She asked at one point if she could buy a Book of Mormon somewhere so that she could read it. Well, we had some in our car so we hurried back down to get one. When we got back to her house, she was once again listening to what we had to say about the Book of Mormon and she said she would read it. We also gave her a DVD called Finding Faith In Christ and we thought that would be something she would like too. She told us that we could come back again this week! We called her yesterday (Sunday) because we wanted to check up on her and see if she had read the Book of Mormon or watched the DVD. She said she hasn't yet but she's planning on it. So we bore our testimonies again just to give her another reassurance and that was that. We will call her again this week and hopefully be able to go up and see her. I think it's interesting how we had no clue where this road was and when we found it, the lady we went to see wasn't available. The Lord really does work in mysterious ways. But I'm so grateful that we were led to her!

On Friday we went to the funeral for a lady in our ward, Vi Poh. It was such an amazing funeral. Her son and his family are not members of the church and almost everyone else there are non-members as well so it was nice that her son let our ward take charge of everything during the services. It was such a nice service. They told amazing stories about her when she was growing up and other things and it was just so nice to be there and feel her presence there. She was a very amazing lady and I'm sad that I didn't know her besides meeting her a couple times. It was also nice to be able to sit there and know where she is right now. To know that she is in the presence of her Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, that she is back with her husband who she is sealed for eternity with and also with her parents, her grandmother who raised her, and many other relatives who have passed on. It's so comforting to know that there is life after death. And especially to know that because of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, we can be with our families forever.

On Saturday we had Transfer calls. Sister Davidson and I knew that we weren't going to get a phone call because of the 12-week program I am doing. But when the phone rang and the ringtone was the one set specifically for the Assistants to the President, our heart sank! Luckily they were just calling to tell Sister Davidson that President Becerra has called her as the new Sister Trainer. So that's kind of like being a Zone Leader but for the Sisters. That just means that when we do exchanges from now on, she will be the one that goes to an area and teaches new ways areas can be successful. So she's excited about that. And I'm excited that I'm not a Sister Trainer LOL It sounds fun but at the same time, a little hard.

For lunch that day, we went out as a Zone. There are a couple changes happening in our Zone, one of the ZL's is being transfered, an Elder is going home on Tuesday, and we're adding another Elder to a tripanionship. So there are some things being changed so we all went out to lunch. The ZL that is being transfered decided he wanted to go to Buffalo Wild Wings... I think he just wanted to go for the sports games that would be on LOL That's the only time he would be able to watch sports on his mission... It was a ton of fun! And yes, there were a couple baseball and basketball games on! haha The Elders really enjoyed those! And I'll admit, I watched a little as well... But for the most part, it was just fun being together as a Zone! It was funny because all of the Elders got some kind of BBQ wings and Sister Davidson and I got Chicken Quesadillas LOL We are so cool! ;) Like I said, it was just an enjoyable time!... Until we got the bill.... It was $160! That's a whole months worth of money! It was funny because one of the ZL's thought it could all go on one check and we would just pay them back. Well, when the bill came and we realized how much it was, that was not possible. So at that point it took us almost 15 minutes to figure out how we were going to pay for it because they could only split a check in four ways, so that was hard. But we finally figured it out after much frustration and laughing! Good times!

On Sunday night we called Momma J at the hospital to see how she's doing. She's waiting for the surgeon to come and decide when she can have surgery. She is really not liking staying in the hospital but if she hadn't been there, she could have died. So she's thankful for that fact. She's not sure when she will be able to come home but hopefully it is soon. It's really lonely walking in the house at night and her not being there, kinda like the Elders said a couple weeks ago about their place when Vi Poh had her stroke... And also, Momma has a dog, Cassie, and she's been at a friends house for a week and it's sad to come in and not her her barking and her little feet running to the door. I never thought I would say that about a dog but it's true... We miss it! But she keeps asking for prayers and we of course say them and we just hope that she will come home soon. We know that whatever happens, will all be part of God's plan but we hope that His plan is to let her stay here a while longer and be healthy again.

On Sunday after church we went on a "tour" of the Family History Center here because we learned that that's another way we can get investigators. There are so many people interested in Family History these days that we need to start talking to people about that. Anyway, it was really cool to get a tour of it! It really got me thinking about Family History! And I just scanned over your email today and saw that you said something about Family History and doing your families! I think with your experience and mine and thinking about your family while I was at the Family History Center, that's saying something! I think it's time you (and I when I get home) start doing some family history! I got super pumped over it! haha

Anyway, that's all the time I have for now! Not a very exciting week but it was fun! I'm really looking forward to these next six weeks! Good things will happen! :)

The pictures on here are of my District (minus the ZL's who are in my district) and of our Zone! We had a little too much fun taking the District pictures haha And the Zone group one isn't the best but it works! Tons of fun!

That's all for now, love you all! And Happy Birthday to Ben and Erin Wheatley this week! Hope you both have a great day!

Love always and forever,

Sister Rachel Wheatley