Hey everyone! It's been another week here in the Dinkytown area! What did we do? Well, all sorts of things, but can I remember enough of them to tell ya? Let's find out!
But, first of all, sorry about the house. I know God has a plan and whatever His will, will work out. It'll be grand. The hardest thing is having the patience to wait for it. And not letting patience be idleness. I'm glad that you are enjoying your class! There is a group of girls in the ward here who are really pumping me up for getting back into school...but that's still forever away! As for my birthday, it was perfect. It was probably one of the best birthdays I've had in a long time. Not too much attention on me and just a small gift. :) As for a list for getting home....I have lots of ideas, they are just super expensive. But, it will definitely start with a wardrobe change. No more skirts every day of my life. Or maybe a professional massage... hmmm :)
I'm sorry to hear about Aunt Colleen and Grandpa Burbank. I hope that they are well and they will be in my prayers.
We did not go back to the Jewish center, but hopefully they will check out mormon.org. We had dinner with one of the girls in the ward and her family last night and they talked a lot about Romney and what not. It will be interesting and it sounds like I have a lot of research to do when I get home.
This past week we taught a few RCLA's and we also taught the Who is God class. We had one guy show up who already knows about God- he came because he saw the posters we put up. But, he came with interest of hearing what we had to say. Since he was the only one, and it was week 3 of the class we taught the Restoration. He seemed super excited about having a prophet and we are supposed to meet with him on Tuesday. We'll see if he shows. He told us he didn't have a phone or contact information but then right before he left he pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time before walking out. Oh, how we love people.
The ward is getting excited about missionary work. We have had 5 baptisms in the last 5 weeks with one this coming weekend. (most of which have come from the Elder's) But, the ward is very excited and the auxiliaries are becoming more missionary minded. It's been a huge blessing. On Friday we had a Sister's conference. It was good. They had 3 counselors from LDS Family services come in and talk about how to flip the negative to a positive. They also talked about how successful and happy family relationships have 5-10 positive interactions for every 1 negative interaction. Anyway, so it's ok to express negative emotion, but there needs to be surrounding positive things. One of the office missionaries shared a REALLY embarrassing story and as she said it she pointed out the ways that the Lord blessed her. It was funny :D But we talked a lot about comparing ourselves to others and difficult companions-- but that's an awkward topic when your difficult companion is sitting in the room. So, yeah. It was good.
The ward had a cultural night. One of the Chinese investigators played her Chinese flute, then the Hmong group did a dance, it was cute. We also had several returned missionaries share their mission cultures. It was a good turn out and it was really fun! best of all, people did invite their friends- their friends didn't come, but they have begun the essential step of inviting. President wants to create a "Culture of inviting".
Saturday we were super busy. We taught our Karen investigator-- I don't think it went to well. In their culture they believe if they get baptized a 2nd time they will go to hell. So, we spent quite some time on authority, but that isn't going to do it. It needs to be through the Spirit. Later that day we went to the baptism of the Elder's 1st Chinese investigator to be baptized. We taught the Restoration and hope to teach her 3 friends that she brought. We were also given a referral and so we went and taught Nate and his friend. Nate has taken lessons before, but didn't "do the work to be baptized." He said that he is now ready to do the work and find out. We are excited to teach him, but he didn't come to church like he said he would.
Jenny is doing great. She got called as a ward missionary. She's awesome and is working on a mormon.org profile.
I feel like I never sound like I'm as busy as I feel. But, I promise we are keeping busy! Well, I feel like this is all. I love you, keep on being awesome and know that I'm praying for your success and well being. Oh, but before I close this off I wanted to share a quote that Hermana Hart (my old comp who is now home) sent me:
"To reach, to teach, to touch the precious souls whom our Father has prepared for this message is a monumental task. Success is rarely simple. Generally it is preceded by tears, trials, trust and testimony."
I love you. I know God is there watching out for and protecting you. I know that His angels are round about us bearing us up as we go about His work. I love you and have a great week.
Love, Sister Randall
