Hello FAM.
I can't believe another week has already gone by! Time flies when you're serving the Lord! It's official, we got a Christmas tree! All set up and brightly shining...we're so proud. Hopefully we can get Christmas pictures sent out in time. This morning Sister Bambrough and I were studying and all of a sudden she says..."um...Sister Raitt..." (in a really concerned tone, the tone where there's a spider on me and she doesn't know how to tell me...) I'm like..."what is it, WHAT IS IT?" and she says..."I think we have a lizard in our home...." sure enough, a lizard is just laying by our feet, totally normal. We chased it out of the house no worries. He was just a little guy.
We taught one of our investigators this week, she is in her mid-thirties, has a few kids. Super nice lady, she has aboriginal ancestry. After we finished teaching her the Restoration, she shared with us that she had just been thinking about religion and life, and how she knows that there has to be more than a start and a finish, that there had to have been something before, and something for us after, and then that's when we knocked on her door. She said it's no coincidence. I AGREE! Hopefully we'll see some miracles from her soon, great lady.
We visited a couple in our ward, they are converts from England, moved here years ago. He is the greatest old man ever, has tons of different flags, and when he knew we were coming over to visit he flew the "Yankee" flag haha, he's so funny. And he writes down all the missionaries birthdays that he has ever met and flies their flag of choice on their birthday haha. His favorite is the pirate flag...just in case you were wondering.
I told you about the two 17 year old girls we are teaching, we taught one of them again this week and she says to us..."so I started reading that book"...(the Book of Mormon). She read 10 chapters in Nephi! I was so excited, so we talked about it for awhile and towards the end of the lesson, she shared with us that she feels so much more peace now in her life and she's knows God exists, she has started to pray every night. This is night and day difference from when we first met them! They didn't even believe in God and now she's praying, so awesome. Just one of many miracles I get to see every day.
President Howes came down and we had a big zone conference on Friday. It was AMAZING! I am so lucky to have such an awesome mission president and his wife. He is very focused and really tightening up on everything but he is a very good man. Sister Howes gave us each a little rock and she used the analogy to..."be a little boulder..." get it!? So whenever we look at the rock we will remember to be confident and to keep going, keep teaching, and to keep inviting people to come unto Jesus Christ. So cute, I love Sister Howes.
As missionaries, we literally have NOTHING to lose, but everything to offer. What's the worst that could happen? They say "No, I'm not interested"...okay...no harm done. I still have a testimony right? RIGHT! Also, return missionaries probably know all about this but it is called the Process of Purification, or the 40 day fast! What we have been challenged to do is to fast for a day and pray to know of the things that maybe hinder the spirit from being with us more fully...and to make a list of these things. For me, one of mine that I wrote was sarcasm, I'm extra sarcastic when I'm uncomfortable, I think - haha. So that was on my list. And for 40 days, you fast from these things, in return we will have the spirit with us more fully and see greater blessings and miracles. Anyone can do this, I encourage you all to do it with me!
President informed us we will be getting 130 new missionaries here in the next year, that is incredible. A majority of them being Sisters. Right now, there are only about 20 Sisters in the mission. How are we going to train all of them!? Trainers could possibly have to train 2 at a time, President said. Can you imagine!? I'm almost guaranteed to be a trainer as soon as I finish training with her in about six weeks. I am so excited! I get to train the fresh, new 19 year olds! Such a great time to be a missionary!
President Howes is going to introduce another BOM program at the first of the year. We're going to read the BOM together in just a couple months. I invite all of you to join me if you would like when the time comes. But just a heads up, I love reading the scriptures. I'm reading right now in Jacob, but I also read along in the Children's picture book version too so I make sure I understand it all haha.
I have been really praying to see a baptism this month, it's such a special month. We are close with a few, I will obviously keep you posted. Please pray for this area, we REALLY need a real chapel. First, it was that we needed 60 members to have a chapel. Well, we reached 60 but with the new age change for missionaries they have bumped it up to 80. So now we are working towards that; the pressure is on the missionaries! We don't have air conditioning so it is really hard not having a chapel, but we all have a vision in mind and we will have one soon. The members are so strong here, we have one family who put up a Nativity and blast MOTAB out the front window of their house and have a little box that says "please take one." It's a card with information about the church! haha they are so great. I hope all is well with everyone, keep focused on the Savior, remember the importance of this month. I love you all! Have a great week.
Sister Raitt
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