Hey everyone!
Well!
Guess what!
TRANSFER NEWSSSSS!!!!!
I'll be staying in Missoula and my new companion will be.... SISTER PEARSON!!!!!!!! I absolutely love her and have been hoping to be her companion someday. She spent Christmas Eve in Billings with me and we were also in the MTC together! :) She's from Nevada and is the hardest worker slash high-fiver I've ever met. Haha But, I'm also suuuuuuper sad to say that Sister Hodgson is headed alllllll the way to WYOMING. Yep. President couldn't even keep us in the same STATE. hahaha She's going to do awesome there :) I'll sure miss her though :) ...a lot....boooo transfers! So many mixed feelings.
Ohhhhhh man.
It was a good week :)
Lots of ups and downs...
yknow...
Sometimes, the mission just breaks your heart.
There were so many moments this week that just were heartbreaking!!! For instance, I was on exchanges in Frenchtown this week and we had this conversation with this man that has a daughter serving a mission. This man is not a member, and he is quite angry with the church for "taking away his daughter." He wants SO BADLY to understand why he can't call his daughter everyday. Why she would choose to leave for 18 months. Why the Book of Mormon is the key to understanding why she
left. Ah. It just BROKE MY HEART. No matter what we said, how much we testified, how much we listened, there was this impenetrable wall up before him that he wouldn't let down. So much bitterness and anger. There was a moment standing there listening to him where tears started to well up in my eyes. I thought about being in his shoes. Seeing things the way he did. What did he want to hear? And I honestly don't know. He just wants his daughter back. All we could do was show him that we love missionary work and we love our families. Yeah of course I wish I could call up my sisters and talk for hours on the phone about everything they're up to. And to send pictures to mom and dad each night. But because I know this church is true, I am willing to be obedient and do what the prophet has asked me to do. And I am SO INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL for my amazing family. They have supported me since day one. I am so grateful for their testimonies of the gospel that I have seen grow throughout the past year. I am SO THANKFUL that my family can be together forever and ever :) Oh, pray for Bob. And his daughter. I can't imagine how she does it...
Okay... Let's talk about the happy things!
We had a testimony meeting in district meeting this Wednesday. So cool. We had two departing missionaries in our district, I absolutely LOVE hearing their testimonies. There was an amazing spirit of joy felt in that district meeting with everyone sharing their testimonies of the Savior. Talking about Him brings the best feeling. :)
We have 3 people on date for baptism right now!! It's a total miracle. We started off in this area with a few new investigators and hardly anyone progressing and now look! We have been praying for miracles and we are definitely seeing them! On Friday we had a lesson with Ken in a members home with one of his other fellow-shippers. Ken is a friend of one of our Ward missionaries. He has been coming to the single adult activities for 2 months and Sara asked him if he wanted to take the missionary discussions and he said yes! He's a pretty strong Catholic, so we set it up to have the lesson in a members home who used to be Catholic and is also good friends with Ken. It was probably one of the coolest moments on my mission. I've never ever had lessons work out that perfectly before! Because we were in a members home, there were almost no distractions. The spirit was SO STRONG. Although there were a few weird moments (another story for after the mish. Hahaha) we were able to invite Ken to be baptized and he accepted! WAHOOOOOOOOO.
Other than that...we spent a whole lot of time in the car. Our mission boundaries span about 12 hours of driving time so EVERYTHING is so spread out. Welcome to Montana my friends! We will be making 3 trips to Helena and back within the next week. So fun... But with car snacks and Nashville Tribute I think we'll make it alright ;)
Oh man... I just love being a missionary. :) And I'm so happy to be staying here in zoo town!!
Love, Sister Fletcher
Driving
to Hamilton eating our "staying awake snack"
Sister
Pepion!
after
transfer calls......
You are amazing Savanna. I am having a few experiences right here with missionary work. The more experiences I have, the more I realize the importance of helping people read and understand The Book of Mormon. A few years ago I was at a neighbors home. Her non-member mother was there. She told me she was afraid to read The Book of Mormon. I didn't take advantange of encouraging her daughter to read The Book of Mormon with her. It has bothered me ever since.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work.
Love,
Grandpa S