Mi Familia,
Another good, fast week...and transfer! I'm staying and Hermana Ludeman is leaving. Kind of what we figured. I have no idea who my next companion will be or if she'll be senior or junior. It doesn't really matter though because I'm not training so it's all the same.
We actually figured out transfer changes a day earlier than everyone else. On Saturday President Slaughter was here on the border and gave our district our own 2-hour Spanish training! It was awesome and so helpful. During a break transfers came up and he kind of just told us what was happening. Haha. So that took the nerves off for Sunday. Something cool though: Sister Isham, our Sister Training Leader who lives with me, is going to be a Traveling Sister. This is new for our mission. She's going to travel all over the mission to do exchanges with the other STL's. Sister Hearne, my trainer, is the other Traveling Sister. Cool! They will both be great.
Seth didn't get baptized. We haven't seen him for at least a week and a half. He only texts us back when it doesn't involve any commitments. Like yesterday, we texted him to say that Hermana Ludeman was leaving and we needed to meet with him to say goodbye (I do not feel guilty). He said, "Oh no! When is she leaving?" We told him Wednesday and asked if we could meet that night or on Tuesday. He said he was in New Braunfels, so we asked him if we could meet with him on Tuesday. No response. Agh! Seth! I think he just figures he can get baptized whenever. So he's just putting it off until it's easy. And it never will be. So yeah. Keep praying for him.
So, as I've already ranted, the whole time Hermana Ludeman and I have been together we've had a ridiculously hard time getting member-present lessons. It's not that the members aren't willing, it just never works out for some reason or another. But looking back, we've both been able to see that the incredibly hard time we had allowed us to develop some serious skills. We're SO much better at working with the members now. Like having them invite investigators to conference, having lessons at a member's home, finding members who would actually be a good friend for our investigator...these are things I didn't think a whole lot about in Riverside. It was all just too complicated. And it still doesn't always work out the way we want, but we're both much more confident with our ability to work with members. So that's good!
Like yesterday, we had a lesson with Rudy at the Pomeroy's home. I don't remember how much I've told you about the situation, but Rudy's been taught before and we found him by going through the potentials in the area book. We met him on September 11, the one-year anniversary of his wife's death. He knew that wasn't a coincidence. Anyway, we found out that he already had a Book of Mormon, given to him by his neighbor, Brother Pomeroy.
The Pomeroy's have been praying as a family for a while to have someone to give to the missionaries by October 5th. Technically, we had already found Rudy, but they had him over for Conference and have been an incredible fellowship for Rudy, so I definitely believe this is the answer to their prayer. So cool! And soooo vital. Automatically his odds of getting baptized go up like a million percent. Anyway, yesterday we played this awesome Plan of Salvation game I made (an idea that's been passed down from sister missionary to sister missionary) after teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was so fun for everyone (the Pomeroy's have 6 kids) and Rudy seemed to learn a lot. But when we invited him to baptism, he said that he's just here to learn and if he were to choose one religion over the other he wouldn't be able to learn anymore. We couldn't ever quite get the logic behind that, but it's clear that he likes our message and he loves being included in the Pomeroy family, but he doesn't want to make any commitments. Does that sound familiar to anyone?
Something I came to understand better this week is that Heavenly Father doesn't waste any effort. Every contact, every lesson taught to someone who's not interested, every smile...He's going to use that. He's hastening His work and He's not wasting time. Everything we do as an effort to bring about His work, no matter how small, will be put to use.
I hope you're all feeling the sense of urgency I am. How is your missionary work going? 80,000 missionaries isn't enough. We need the 15 million members! Talk to your friends and neighbors. Open your mouth. I still get nervous to talk to strangers about the gospel, but I can testify that Christ will give you the courage you need to do what He has asked. Time and time again I've felt his gentle gift of courage, even though it still takes me putting in everything I've got. Don't get discouraged when you miss an opportunity; He is patient! Just try again! And pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. He will give you what you need to do what He has asked you to do. Yo les prometo!
Pues, I love you all! Have a semana muy fantastica.
Hermana Lund
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