Week 8

So in reality I'm pretty sure this is week 8.  I'm losing track.  But I survived my first transfer!  It's official!  And there are now "younger" missionaries than me.  It's weird having the Zone change up.  I feel like I just got used to everyone and now I have to get used to people all over again!  The hermanas I live with were not transferred so at least everyone I live with is the same.  With the holidays it has been harder to really accomplish much.  People don't want to meet with us because they want to spend time with their families or something. :)  So it has been a little hard because it feels like everyone stopped progressing. And it feels like I stopped progressing with them.  So I'll be glad for the end of holidays for everything to get back to normal.

I think I mentioned the investigator we added because of the Caroling Activity.  We taught her this week and met her husband, Larry.  Larry seems to be really prepared.  He kept his commitment to read the Restoration pamphlet and was prepared to talk about it.  He was interested in learning more about Joseph Smith so we referred him to Joseph Smith-History.  LaDonna on the other hand is going to require some more patience and tender loving care.  She is very attached to the Bible and in spite of our thorough explanations that the Book of Mormon is a companion to the Bible and another testament of Jesus Christ she keeps wanting to cross-reference the two.  She keeps talking about filtering the Book of Mormon through the Bible.  We showed her the scripture in the Bible when Jesus says, "other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring" and then in the Book of Mormon when he tells the people it was them that he had been referring to, and the Jews understood Him not.  She responded that it wasn't concrete evidence, and he still could have been referring to just other people outside of that particular city he was in at the time and whatnot.  We just responded by saying that there won't be any proof, we are providing her with things to consider, and the only way she can know if it's true is if she prays and asks.  She continued to be skeptical, and Larry even jumped in and said that though it wasn't proof, the Bible certainly didn't have any evidence to exclude that possibility.  It was interesting.  But we're glad Larry is on our side. :)  I'm excited to see how they progress.

We have been making some adjustments to the way we plan and it seems to be more effective so that is exciting.  We've also adjusted how we study, so that our studies are more directly focused on our investigators.  And we are trying to get the members more involved, because we are struggling to have members at our lessons and it is so important to have them there!  I'm going to be the best member missionary ever when I get home. :)

This week for service we have done a lot of cleaning of people's houses.  It's honestly terrifying.  These people are hoarders!  The one house we could barely get in the front door.  There was a thick layer of dust on everything and there was just a ton of clutter.  It's making me really motivated to avoid collecting stuff.   It's such a burden in excess!  I was sneezing up a storm.  Eww.  We have probably 16 people there working on it for two hours and we are going back on Saturday because they still need more help.  But the woman that lived there kept saying how it was like angels had come to help her.  So that was fun.  One thing I learned through this is the importance of cleanliness in the home.  It really makes a huge difference in the presence of the spirit.  It's never been that obvious before because I've never lived in that degree of a mess but with that kind of clutter it becomes pretty clear that there is a darkness there.  That night before bed I did some organizing. :)  I will have p-day again on Monday and then things will be back to normal.  Love you all!  Keep writing!

Sister Robinson