This has been a pretty good week!
I got to help paint the pinstripes.
It started off a little slow, and with a lot of emotional roller coasters. We share the Camden ward with a companionship of Sister Missionaries. We are fortunate to have awesome sisters who work as hard as they can and we have enjoyed having them here, and sharing the work. So, one of them got really sick, and was sent home this past week. The whole district was pretty upset about it, and we threw a little improve/emergency District meeting so we could bear testimony, sign airplane books, and take district pictures. She went home, and her companion went to be in a 3-pack for 2 weeks until the next transfer, when she will get a new companion. Well, the sister went home is hopefully going to return and finish her mission in about 6 weeks. We are hopeful and praying a lot for her. She and I had a long talk about what it was like to prepare to come back out after being home, and I think it will be a lot easier for her since she'll only be home for a few weeks.
On the good end of the spectrum, while they are gone, we are using their car, and helping them with some of the appointments they had scheduled while they're away. It is extremely nice to have a car on a mission. I know that it is a luxury, and I am not allowing myself to get dependent on it/we are still biking places. It makes it so nice to not have to ask for a ride to go get groceries and stuff like that. Little blessings make a huge impact when you need them.
My iPad hasn't been having a very good week either...haha it has always had a little bit of troubles, but this past week takes the cake. I talked with the mission, Apple, and iPad support down in Salt Lake City...after a few days, and doing anything and everything I was instructed to do on that iPad, including resetting and wiping the entire thing and starting new, it was still broken. I called the Elder in charge of our iPads in the mission and he told me to get it to him and he would take it up to the Apple Store with him when he went. Being in Columbia, this is usually the place you want to be when you need to go to some sort of business, but as it turns out, the closest Apple Store to Columbia, would either be 2 1/2 hours to Charleston, 1 hour 45 minutes to Greenville mall, or 1 1/2 hours to Charlotte, NC...that last one is out of our mission though, so he had to drive to Greenville. Well, he brought it back while I was on exchanges, and it was a new iPad! Brand new, never been used. That was also a great little surprise blessing, because my old case had been putting scuffs in the back of that old one. This one has been doing great :)
We did an exchange this last week. Elder Connolly went to our District Leader's area and I stayed in Camden with our District Leader, Elder Thompson. He's from Bryce Canyon, so we talk about Southern Utah, Wayne County and all that. Since he knows where and what it is. :) I am excited to hang out with him after the mission! He and I had no set appointments and since it was a surprise exchange, and they asked us the night prior, we couldn't set anything up in time. Even though we had little preparation, we had so much success! We stopped by a referral, taught him and then got to teach a less-active family we have been trying to work with and had a lesson at the church with a man who was baptized fairly recently and got the priesthood yesterday during church! We were excited for him. :)
So, backtracking a little, the referral we taught. His name is D, and the sisters were who met him initially. They were looking for another person on his street, and D and his friends (19-21 year olds) stopped the sisters and asked what they were doing, talked about religion a little, and asked them to come to his home sometime. They didn't feel comfortable with it and it happened to be in our area, so they gave us his info and told us to go see him. We were knocking on his door when he and a couple rough looking guys were walking up their street towards us. I had the thought go through my mind "This is gonna be who we are looking for, and he isn't going to be happy that we're here..." See? I need to get rid of the prejudgment mentality that I have...it tends to be wrong a lot, because he walked straight up to us, let his friends go inside, and talked to us for a little while about the church, why he is looking for a new church, and that he is very interested. It surprised me a lot, because you don't meet too many 19 year olds who are that interested in finding a new church. We taught about the Book of Mormon, and the restoration, and asked him if he would accept a copy. It was cool, because when I offered, he lit up! He said "I was going to ask if y'all had an extra I could have, thank you so much.." And I gave him the one I was using to teach since I didn't have an iPad haha It was an awesome thing. Pray for D.
Elder Griffin and I were joking about how I would be without an iPad for a day, and we were saying things like "How will I do missionary work!? What am I supposed to do without an iPad to do all the work for me?? I am gonna have to use....paper...ugh.." Haha so much sarcasm about it. When I got my iPad, I vowed that I wouldn't get dependent on it, and that I would be just as good of a teacher with it as I was without it. That thought helped when I was without it, because teaching with the scriptures was just as affective! There are actually times and places where bringing the iPad would just jeopardize us and our safety, so we leave them home and bring books instead. Keeps us on our toes :)
Church was great too! We were about to head to Elder's quorum, but we were asked if we could go and help in Primary for a little while, and we said sure. As soon as the lady that asked was out of earshot, Elder Connolly and I both freaked out! We were so excited to go help Primary, and we would get to sing the primary songs too! Haha just shows that I'm still a little kid. Anyway, we got to play a certain part, and read a script about how "We" felt when The Savior visited after his resurrection. Sister S was Mary Magdalene, Elder Connolly was one of The Savior’s disciples, and I was a Nephite. The Primary President introduced us as those people, and their guests and one of the little kids said "No, that's sister S and the Missionaries!" Haha it was so cute. Reminded me of my Primary buddy Canyon! :) It was a very fun thing to do.
good week, lots of fun and hard work. Looking forward to another! Today we are meeting as the district and getting lunch at TacoBell, and then we will go to Brother R’s for some pool, ping pong, and air hockey. We are excited for it!
Love y'all! Now that I have a working iPad, I will be sure to take pictures this week!
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