Worse Than A Jehovas Witness

Worse Than A Jehovas Witness

What A Weeeeek! First off a few thank yous are in order! First to the Reeds for the birthday gift and card! I absolutely love the scarf and I have already eaten all the candies :s hahaha! Next to the Summers for all their letters! You dont know how much it means to know that you all are supporting me :) I am currently working on a letter for you guys! As for my fam jam, thank you for all the birthday wishes! I loved the picture of the horse from Sara haha it made me laugh! I love the hymn of the week from Sandra and the advice on not burning wool socks as well as Dans little picture and message (keep it up Dan, I just about die laughing every time). Thank you to the Bennetts for the card! In response to the singing in a lesson, I'm not sure if that would invite the spirit or detract from it, but I like the idea of singing my testimony to O Canada maybe on the 1st of July... Last but certainly not least, I must thank my dear cousin Naomi for her beautiful cards! They are always so colourful and has such good printing! :D

The Radkes celebrated my birthday with me! Coolest family in Oakville! 

As for this week, lots have happened. I went on an exchange with my Sister Training Leader, Sister Tofa, and headed over to Brampton. Holy moley did we ever have fun together! Oh my gosh I just adore Sister Tofa! She is from Australia (originally from New Zealand) AND she laughs at ALL my jokes! We have a lot in common, her and I. We are both really good at doing things in the dark (the power went completely out for 24 hours... -_-), we LOVE rugby, we enjoy talking to people on the street and getting shut down hard, and we are both easy going. It was a really cool experience getting to serve with her. We have already made plans for me to go over and live with her in Australia. We went and taught a man named Brupinder and I got the privilege to commit him and teach him about the Word of Wisdom AND the Law of Chastity! Yayaya..yaya..ya.... thank you SO much Sister Tofa hahaha! lol I'm over reacting, surprise, it was actually really awesome. We tackled the word of wisdom first and then dove right into chastity. In the end we were able to commit him to live both and all is well in the kingdom :) 

Sister Tofa <3

ANGELA CAME TO CHURCH!!! AHHHHHHH! Ok for those of you who have not served a mission, sometimes *cough 99% of the time* the hardest thing is actually getting your investigators to come to church. Angela has this habit of sleeping in till 10ish in the morning so we made a game plan with her, that we were going to knock on her door at 8:30 and get her up.... flawless right!? WRONG! haha last week we had a member go and do this and he stood outside for 15 min.... But this time we had Angela pray that Heavenly Father would help her wake up anddddddd HE DID! lol she woke up to the 2nd doorbell :) and wham bam uncle sam, she is at church!

This past weekend I was thinking a lot about Sharon. I was really nervous that she would not want to see us again blah blah blah.... anyways I put off calling her until Thursday when I bit the bullet and gave her a call... First thing she said. It's about time you called! (palm in face moment right there). Apparently all weekend she couldnt stop thinking about the 2 missionaries who knocked on her door and she was excited to see us again. So we made an appointment to go and see her and her daughter on saturday.The lesson went great! Once again it is more of a conversation with her. She asks lots of questions and we talk about what she has always believed and then throw some sweet gospel truths on her. 

For Example: She asked us what our take on with baby baptisms was (her church baptizes babies). We opened up to Moroni 8 and discussed the doctrine and she totally agreed with us. Then the question of when we should baptize came up so we told her about the revelation Joseph Smith received about 8 years old being the time to baptize. Her daughter laughed and explained that 8 was her moms favorite age because thats when her kids personalities always changed.... 

->supper cool cause thats straight up doctrine! 

We talked a lot on the plan of salvation, where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going. I asked her a lot about what her church teaches on these topics and was surprised to find that they dont really talk much about them. It was cool to be able to clear up some of those unknowns, like where we came from. Sharon felt like we lived with God before we came here, but no one could ever tell her for sure.

->cool side story: Her daughter when she was a kid, talked about how before she came to earth, she lived with God and she chose them as parents.... being able to affirm what her daughter said was incredible and the spirit was so strong! 

 We talked a little on the steps we need to take to get back to our Father in Heaven (faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism, Receive the Holy Ghost, Endure to the End) and focused in on baptism. We reviewed the great apostasy, priesthood, and Joseph Smith and helped her to realize that one needed to be baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority and then invited her to do the same..... she said she needed to learn more, but that if she found out it was true, she would be baptized.... WHAT WHAT! haha Man do I ever love Sharon! I laugh that one of the first things she said to us was "well you can come in and talk, but i cant promise I will convert..." look at what the spirit and the truth can do! 

->I forgot to mention the fact that she went out and bought us more treats! These little individual cheese cakes for when we had our little talk.... seriously can she get any better?!

I have some really great news for ya'll, I would make a GREAT Gypsie wife! Haha let me explain this one. Last week Sister Ogden and I were looking for a previous investigator and came across this Polish family. The poor mother is going through a lot of health problems and apparently her son is into drugs. We said that we would come back with a Polish Book of Mormon and "talk" (here English is limited) with her more. So this week we came back to see her. She was very pleased to see us and we sat down and gave her the Book of Mormon.... we then find out that she also cant read... temporary set back, right haha... We try and talk with her about the gospel, but our words are too big and we are getting no where, your conversation boils down to "Jesus Christ, Good" and she will nod her head and cry and make hand gestures. We sit there not knowing what to say, I chuckle and think about how Jill was convinced I'd go to Poland and immediately start praying for the gift of tongues (I knew it!!-J). My prayers were answered too, but not in the way I expected, cue her son Marco who speaks English and Polish! We start talking with him about our church, and he is very interested since he has had a lot of problems in his life due to the influences of Satan and really wants to get closer to Christ. We invite them to come to church and they say they will. Then we find out they are actually Polish Gypsies from the Romanoff line

My First thought: Whens your next wedding!
Next thought: SWEET! I am teaching Gypsies!   

Then Marco went on to compliment us Mormons on the way we dress. Apparently we dress the "right way" and we would make good gypsie wives who treat their body with respect!

So we are teaching this less active named John. He is 21 and for the last few years has taken a different path in his life and due to some events, it's caused him to rethink some of his choices. He is meeting with us now, because he wants to find happiness. The things he was doing in his life, drinking, drugs, money etc... they were not bringing him happiness. I want to bear my testimony of the gospel and how it is the only way to find lasting happiness. In the world today happiness is based on how much money you make, the cloths you wear, the kind of body you have, the car you drive... all these things are temporary. I meet tons of people every day and they are all looking for something. They are all looking to fill. Family, friends, and the gospel of Jesus Christ are what will last beyond death. They are the things that should matter most and I can promise that if you make them a priority in your life, you will indeed find lasting happiness. This does not do justice to the entirety of how I feel regarding this topic, but it will have to do for now. 

Be good! 

Line of the Week: 

Me: "Hi, how are you guys doing?"

Lady: "What are you guys selling!!!?"

Me".... Happiness :)"

Lady: "Oh, your a preacher! What are you, a Jehovah Witness!?"

Me: "Actually we are from the Church of...."

Lady: (realizing what I'm saying) "Thats worse than a Jehovah Witness!"

->starts to walk away

Me: "Well that's a new one... God Bless!"    

Scripture of the Week: Matthew 6: 20-21

"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

A Haiku for You:

Happiness

Gospel brings truth and light

Choice is yours 

Sister Hall

Glorious!