Monday, September 16, 2013

Week 22 - Aiming to Please

Hey Familia!

Well it's crazy to think that another week has come and gone! A lot has happened so i'm trying to do a little recap so everyone is up to date! But first i wanna thank everyone that keeps me posted on their lives. It's good that for 2 hours every monday i get to hear about what's going on back home, and i can't help but think man, life really does go on without me! haha
 
We spent a lot of time this past week working with the Day girls. And once again it's been such a neat experience to see how things were when we first started going over there to how things are now. We'll knock on the door and you can hear them scream "they're here they're here!"  I used to have to basically pull teeth to get someone to say the prayer and now they're arguing over who gets to say it.  I can see this little light in their eyes that hasn't always been there. They were set to be baptized this Saturday but it's looking like that isn't gonna happen. My Day girls are in a very less active family, their parents and older brothers haven't been to church since they moved here and that was about 6 years ago.  The bishop expressed to us that for them to get baptized he really wanted to see the whole family come to church with them, instead of us getting a ride for them. Well this past Sunday was THEE Sunday for them to come with their parents, and once again they didn't get up in time. I was SO bummed. Especially because now tonight when we go over there I'm gonna have to be the "bad guy" and say "sorry girls you can't get baptized this Saturday..." again.  Ahhh I'm so frustrated with the whole situation, I'm trying my best to be this good, reliable missionary. I want to keep us on good terms with the bishop but man, now I'm gonna have to go disappoint these girls that I love so very much. The other night when we got home after being at their house I was sitting there thinking and this overcoming feeling of love just entered my heart. I thought to myself, wow I didn't know that I could love someone this much.  It was kinda like the whole Grinch thing haha at the end when he grabs at his chest and says "What is this.... are these feelings??"  Haha that was seriously me.  And then my next thought was I wonder what it will be like when I'm a mom. HAHAHA what? since when do I think about my own children? It was just funny to me. But yeah I was feeling pretty frustrated with the whole bishop thing and he came into Relief Society because he was asked to speak about the priesthood la la la. Well for some reason or another he wanted to tell a story about when he was on his mission (and might I add it was completely off topic) but I felt like he was inspired to share it for me. He told how on his mish he really, really wanted to train, so low and behold he was called to be a trainer.  He was working so hard trying to be exactly obedient and just work this new missionary into the ground when one day his trainee said "Thank you elder stiffneckedness."  He said that while it kinda upset him, he realized that he was going about things in the wrong way, that he was being pretty self righteous and it wasn't helping this new missionary at all. I took a moment to think about myself, and how I've been handling things as of lately.  I'm gonna be honest this transfer has been pretty.. rough. But I guess that's no excuse, I should have tried a little harder to work with Possin and make her feel loved.  I think actually the past weekend things have gotten decent.  Not great, but better. So let's just all hope and pray that things may continue like this.
 
Do you remember the lady that i was talking about the other week named Amber Westbrook? The one that said she prayed that I would stay in Fairfield? Well this past week we were over there teaching her daughter Kiley and as we were teaching, I asked her if she had felt that her prayers had been answered. She paused and then looked at me and said you guys know how I was inactive for a really long time.. I said "Yeah you've mentioned that before."  Well the night before you and that other sister missionary came over for the first time I was praying and asking Heavenly Father if I should come back to church, I've thought about it for a long time and I just said "if I need to come back, please let me know."  Wa-la.. me and Tau knocked on her door the very next day! How sweet is that??? But, in all honesty I don't really know if we were "directed" to go over there, we had gotten a call from our ward mission leader saying that he would like it if we dropped by all the new people moving in. I do believe though that Heavenly Father is watching out for us. He does put us in places for a reason and I know that things will come together when we reach out and ask for His help.
 
Todd Henke is planning to be baptized October 26, 2013! Yesterday they walked into church and I was keeping my eye out for them because I hadn't seen them since the last lesson where we had invited him to be baptized and la la la. Well I walk up and Michelle says he's still praying about it. And I looked at him and said, "Ah come on! you're killing me!"  Haha he just started laughing and kinda shook his head at me, but later when they were leaving church I guess that his son Cameron turned to him and said Dad, "When are you gonna get baptized?"  Whammo, he said at the end of October I'm going to. VICTORY DANCE:]  I'm just so happy to know that he is committed and excited about this big day! 
 
I'm constantly learning. I really am just learning to let go, almost everything is basically out of my hands these days. I love being in Fairfield.  It shall be a sad day when I am sent on my way but hey, ya know, I guess that's part of the deal. I hope that everything back home is just kicking away. I love you all and pray for you daily! Let's all just keep on keeping on.

Love, Sista Bowden

No comments:

Post a Comment