Hey playas! Another great week in Milton. I'm pretty sure I start every e-mail like that but it's because the mission is just too dang good! Can you guys believe it's August? That's just nuts! Last year I was saying bye to everyone. Wow! Well, here are some highlights!
DAD'S ANNIVERSARY: So the other day after planning I was writing in my journal and I wrote the date and remembered it was the anniversary of dad's death. It's August 5th right? Or is it the 6th? I'm awful. Anyways, I started thinking about him and I read his patriarchal blessing (thanks to Becky for putting that in with his missionary journal). I was so touched by so many parts. He truly is amazing. But I especially loved that party that says, "David, I commend you for the sweetness of your life, for your happy jovial disposition, and for the fine qualities that make you admired and loved by all who know you." Isn't that so sweet!
CHURCH ATTENDANCE: This week was a hit! We had all of our recent converts there and 3 less active members. But we were most excited about Eddie!! His wife Rebecca is the one who we've been doing service for and she's been coming the last couple weeks but this Sunday was Eddie's first week back. Oh man, when they walked into church together, as a family, I wanted to cry! I was so happy. The kids were happy to see their friends and the ward did a really good job making both of them feel welcomed and loved.
EILEEN AND CO: Eileen and her family are still doing amazing. They're truly are so prepared. They still haven't come to church, which has been tricky. So our last lesson we talking about the importance of church attendance. They understand that they need to and they want to but they're so shy and they're way scared! So we talked about them in ward council and the members had some awesome ideas. (church tour for family, invite Jessica and Joshua to YW&YM, invite the dad to Wednesday night basketball) We'll try to do these soon and hopefully they'll begin to feel more confident in coming. A member texted the dad yesterday and invited him to come to basketball. He can't this week but was way appreciative and wants to come next week, so that's exciting. It's so cool to see how much more successful missionary work is when the members and missionaries are working together to help the investigators progress.
HAPPY KIDDOS: We were tracting in an area for a couple of hours and pretty much everyone was Muslim and not very nice so we were getting a little discouraged. We sat on a curb for a second to reply to some texts and we were trying to decide if we should go to another area or if we should stay. I felt like we should just do 1 more street so we did and guess who we found!? CHRISTINE AND HER ADORABLE KIDS. She opened the door and I noticed her cross necklace. Yay, someone who believes in Jesus Christ! She was so friendly so we talked to her for a couple minutes then the kids came out and started showing us all their toys and were telling us all of their stories and grabbing our hands to show us their house! They loved us - it was so cute. The kids invited us to move in, we declines. But the lady invited us to come back so we could share a message with her, we gladly accepted! We're meeting with them on Tuesday and I'm so excited!
HOT YOGA: So.... we went this morning after studies. There is a hot yoga studio really close to our apartment and we kept on talking about going and today we finally did. It was awesome. I was dripping sweat and my limbs were a lot more flexible. I'd recommend it to everyone. DO IT. :)
FUNNY JOKE: Why were all of the Lamanites knees sore?
Answer: Because of all the Nephites. HAHAHA get it knee fights!!
ANOTHER FUNNY JOKE: What did the daddy buffalo say to the baby buffalo?
Answer: Bison. HAHAHA get it, bye son!!
PURE IN HEART: We had an awesome zone meeting on Thursday and one of the instructions was on being a consecrated missionary. YAHOO! Everyone needs to be better at that. We were talking about being pure in heart and we discussed how when we are pure in heart we are doing the right things for the right reasons. I love that! We all need to be missionaries who are obedient because we love the Lord and want to be obedient, but just because our companions are being obedient. It motivated me to be a better missionary, that's for sure. I love missionary meetings! The spirit is always so strong and we always leave being PUMPED UP!!
MISSIONARY WORK AND THE ATONEMENT: Elder Holland gave an amazing talk at the MTC in 2001. I read it this last week and loved it. I wanted to share my favourite parts of the talk.
"Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font? I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary."
I've totally had days when I've been discouraged because we are rejected by so many people or having a lot of appointments fall through or having investigators drop us. And I've wondered why it happens. But "salvation is not s cheap experience." Ah, it's so true! I'm so glad I'm on a mission and I'm helping people come closer to Christ. I wouldn't rather be doing anything else.
OK I love you all and hope you have an awesome week!
Sister Dayton
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