Anyway, done with the sad part of the week... On to more
happier things :) Tuesday the 29th was pretty good! We didn't have much to do
during the day but we had two appointments at 4:00 pm so we went on splits and
that was good. I went and taught the Moon family with the family ward ward
missionary, Mary Ellen. She is leaving on her mission in March (she is going to
Daejon Korea.) And it was really cool to go with her. She shared her testimony
and it was way powerful. She's going to be a great missionary. We taught about
faith and did a really cool object lesson with a tea bag and fire. So we shared
a couple scriptures but the one that we used that is one of my favorites is
Ether 12:6 where it says "...dispute not because ye see not, for ye
receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." And it was really
cool because their son was out while we were there and at the end of the lesson
he said, "I really needed that scripture. Thanks!" It's really interesting
how the Spirit works. I always worry when we go into a lesson with them because
I want to help them come back to church and to have Sister Moon have the desire
to enter the waters of baptism because I know what a difference it can make in
their lives. So when they say things like that, I breathe a sigh of relief and
send up a prayer of thanks to my Father in Heaven. It's just incredible!
On Thursday the 31st we had to wake at 6:15 am because we
were going to teach Sister Whitworth's seminary class again. And it was so
good! We read in Acts 6 and talked about how Christ's disciples chose seven
other people to help out the widows of the church. So we had to talk about why
they needed assistance and how we can be of assistance to the apostles and
prophets in these the Latter-days. It was a good lesson. Although I was really
tired ;)
Then later that night we went to the Relief Society activity
and while there, Sister Hyer grabbed my arm as I walked past and said,
"Pam is taking a break. Something happened and she doesn't want to
continue with taking the lessons right now." I just wanted to cry and fall
to the floor. There's a quote in the Preach My Gospel manual by Elder Holland
that says something about how we, as missionaries, our first reaction when an
investigator says they aren't keeping their commitments, they want to be stop
taking lessons, etc. will be devastation. I have not yet experienced that as a
missionary. I get sad when our investigators aren't keeping their commitments
or they just chose to not meet with us again, but when Sister Hyer told me
that, I finally felt the devastation. I went numb and didn't know what to say
or do. I tried so hard to not cry in the middle of the RS activity. I couldn't
believe it. Auntie Pam was doing so well and was getting so close to baptism,
what could have happened? So that night as I was saying our companionship
prayer, I started to pray for Auntie Pam and I just started to bawl! I was just
having a hard time knowing what happened. The only good thing about this
though, is that Auntie Pam is saying many heartfelt prayers and is doing this
for herself and not for anything else. So that's what's good about all this.
It's just hard because we love Auntie Pam so much and we want her to enjoy the
blessings of the gospel now. But I'm sure with many prayers and fasting
opportunities, Auntie Pam will get the answer she needs at this time in her
life. It was just hard to hear from Sister Hyer.
Well, also that night we had a sleepover at the Whitworth's!
Actually, we had a four day sleepover at their house :) Sister Beck's daughter
and son in-law (who happen to be in David and Valerie's ward in Orem...) were
staying at Sister Beck's before heading off to Hawaii, like everyone else in
Utah from what I hear... Anyway, so we needed to leave for a couple days and so
Sister Whitworth let us stay at their house! We were so happy :) They have a
beautiful home and it was just fun. We really enjoyed our time there, even
though we weren't home most of the day and it was just nights that we were there
haha :)
Well, Saturday the 2nd was a good day. Not a whole ton
happened that day but in the evening, we didn't have anything to do and I felt
like we should go contact a young women in the ward who comes to church almost
every week but has not been baptized yet. Her father in less active and her
mother is not a member. Bishop Whitworth wanted us to contact her and everytime
we tried going to her house, she was never there. We were just going to go to
mutual on Wednesday nights and contact her but the last couple weeks we haven't
been able to go. So we felt like Wednesday was a good night to go visit her and
she was home! So we went in and got to know, not only her, but her mother and
brothers as well. It was nice! She loves coming to church and mutual and so we
are hoping that she will want to take the lessons soon. We just wanted to get
to know her a little the first time meeting her.
Then yesterday, Sunday the 3rd was a VERY good day!
Yesterday was the Glendora stakes conference. I was so excited! I love conference
times and to top it off, President and Sister Becerra were speaking at stake
conference. And it was no different than any other time President and Sister
Becerra speak, just wonderful! Sister Becerra talked about Elder Holland's talk
from General Conference and President...wow I just drew a blank to what
President talked about... Maybe it wasn't that good ;) JK It was! I have my
notes at home, I just can't remember right now...
Then our stake president, President O'Bryant spoke for only
a few minutes (he kept calling people up from the audience to bare their
testimonies.) He said he had a talk prepared but he felt like he should talk
about something totally different (he talked about hesitating.) When he said
that, I held my breathe because I had been praying that our investigator who
was there and who is holding back from being baptized for some reasons, would
have a spiritual experience from one of the talks. So it was just way cool that
I had been praying for a talk like that, and I feel like that was exactly what
needed to be said!
Then after conference, we were standing around waiting to
talk to President Becerra and Bishop Whitworth came up and said, "What are
you Sisters doing at 4:00??" We had nothing set so we told him that and he
said, "Perfect. You have an appointment with the Ding family
tonight." Turns out that this new family who have been in the ward for two
years but their records didn't come with them because they have been inactive
for six years, their two sons, ages 12 and 9, have not been baptized yet. So,
we now have TWO baptism dates for the end of February! We are so excited! Not
just because there are two baptism dates but because that means two more of
God's children who are choosing to follow the example of Jesus Christ, repent
of their sins, and be baptized so that they may one day return to live with
Christ and our Father in Heaven again! So exciting!
And that's about all that happened this week. It was a very
hard day but it turned out wonderfully! This coming week we are hoping that
things look up for the singles ward, which we are still struggling with but
aren't giving up! We have a couple potentials for the YSA ward but have to get
green lights from their friends who are in our ward. So we are praying that
happens this week!
Other than that, not much more to say. Just working hard in
the most important work on the face of the earth! I feel so bless to be apart
of this work! I can't believe that this week I hit 11 months. Time is going by
so fast. I got an email from Mariah today and at the end she said "Go out and kill it
your last few months, it goes by way too fast!!!!!" And it's so true! She
comes home at the end of the month and that's just crazy! I don't have much
more time left before I'm in my last couple weeks and I need to continue
working hard and helping to bring as many people to the truth as possible! It's
hard when people use their agency and turn from the truth but when we see those
ones that enter the waters of baptism, it's just amazing!
Thank
you to Mark Zacheis for your letter this week. And happy birthday to my cousin
EmmaLee today :) Love ya!
Thanks
for everyone's love and support over the last year! I love you all so much!
Love
always, Sister Rachel Anna Wheatley
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