This week has been a hard one.
Right now all of our investigators are so busy and no one can (or wants to) meet with us. Recently Sister Zhang and I have been doing A TON of finding and everyone that we find and start teaching (are all super keen!!!!!) but they don't live in our area so we have to refer them to other missionaries. it has been SO HARD to give up keen people and go back to having no one to teach. Talk about getting every door slammed in our faces :):)):)
This week we did have exchanges with our STLS. I got to serve in the city with my old companion Sister Li!! It was only a couple hours because of some unplanned things that came up, but it was still good to serve with Sister Li again! :)
This week one of the members from the English ward at our branch (the one and only Johnny O'Conner) found out that my birthday was two weeks ago and felt so bad that he missed it. He decided we were going to have another birthday party. I thought he was joking but he actually came to game night on Friday and decorated the tables with streamers and balloons and had bought me a cake! This is the birthday that never ends!
Even though this week has been a bit rough, we did have a miracle!! So a couple months back I met a girl on the street named Wing. We talked for a long time and she was super nice but didn't seem very interested in the church. BUT we exchanged contact information anyways. Well then she went back to China for holiday and I kinda forgot about her (yeah bad missionary moment...). UNTIL this past week she texted me asking about church! She texted me asking about our church and said she wants to come!!! So she came to church and we were able to meet with her and talk about our church! It turns out that she doesn't live in our area and we had to refer her to the Waverley Sisters.. Which is sad because she is super cute and has a lot of potential!! The Waverley sisters are going to teach her, but she might still come to the city sometimes for our activities so when she comes, we will meet with her and help teach her too! So team teaching?
Well to be honest this past week we have felt that we are getting NO WHERE with any of our investigators or in finding new people. We have been a bit down but we know that things will get better. We know that Heavenly Father hears our constant prayers and that He will help us. Right now we are just learning to trust Him and trust in His timing.
I know that missions are not meant to be easy and I really am grateful for the trials and hard times I have here on my mission. It helps me see just how much I have grown and learned so far. I know that the things I am learning now, will honestly help me for the rest of my life and for that I am forever grateful.
I love you all and thanks for the prayers in my behalf. They help more than you know.
Have a good week mates.
xoxo,
张姐妹
Sister Johnson
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| Birthday cake from Johnny. |
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| Celebrating 10 month mark on her mission with Slurpees |
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| Sister Johnson and Sister Zhang |
Super cute cake Alyssa!
ReplyDeleteI bet it's tough when you have weeks like this, where no one seems to want to hear the message of Christ. It reminds me of a message from pres. Bednar about a young couple facing the wife's cancer. He said the couple came to him with all the faith to be healed...and wondered at the resulting cancer not getting better. elder Bednar asked them, "do you have the faith, not to be healed?". In other words...can we still believe in the Savior when our prayers seem NOT to be heard. I was so impressed with your comments Alyssa, that you can see that this time is one in which you are learning to 'wait and see'. YOu are a great example of loving the Lord and having faith in Him, at ALL times. Love you!!!
Aunt Evelyn and i think alike! That's an awesome cake. Hey you found people who ypu could pass along to other missionaries-- yeah i would say you had a very successful week! One message that has helped me out recently was a story i read- probably while studying fir a seminary lesson -- this mom was praying for help to get her baby to sleep more. They were all exhausted and wondered why their prayers wetent being answered. After dhe studied more about prayer she started adding "but if not" to her pleas for help for more sleep, but if not help me to have patience, help me to be able to do ehat i need to etc. she felt the lord andwering her prayers all the time.
ReplyDeleteSounds like youre doing great! Love reading your letters even though I haven't commented much.