**names have been changed
2. A spiritual experience you had this week?
Where to begin... Here are some of the highlights.
- Santiago came to church. Here's how we found him. We were looking for a former investigator in a body shop where he supposedly worked. We didn't find him, but we found Santiago, Jose, and Andres working in the shop. We initially didn't plan on spending a lot of time there since it wasn't the right shop and we didn't want to take away time from their work. But they offered us water and asked lots of questions about the Church and really opened up to us. Santiago said he wanted to come to church. We left our contact information and set a return appointment. This is a perfect example of being guided by the Spirit to be in the "wrong" place at the right time. I feel bad for this, but I didn't take Santiago seriously when he said he was going to church. After all, we invite everyone to go to church and they almost never show up, especially not if we've just barely met them. And when we went to church, Santiago showed up! He didn't even have his own car to get there, but he made it! It makes me think about my own faith and what I would do in that situation. If I weren't a member and had just met some missionaries a few days ago, would I make that much of an effort to go to church?
- We taught Enrique the Word of Wisdom. It went really well and the Spirit was really strong, and he committed to live it. We brought a 17 year old member with us who was planning on going on a mission. We didn't think too much of it since we missionaries are relatively used to experiences like that. But later that night, the girl who came with us sent us a text thanking us for taking her with us and helping her feel the Spirit so strongly. It was a great reminder that when we take members with us to appointments, it not just for the investigators. It's also for the members.
3. What successes have you had in reaching your weekly goals?
Well, almost everything has been a success! We had 6 people come to church! I've never had that many people come to church before. It blew my mind and it's another one of those moments where I have to wonder "what did I deserve to receive so many blessings?" I really can't attribute it to anything that I did. The glory is not mine, but the Father's. As always, I feel like I'm a spectator to the success we experience. We also contacted nearly twice as many people as we planned, got twice as many new investigators, and gave out twice as many Books of Mormon. I really am so happy to be here in Lewisville and witness this in a place that I once thought was "dead" or "slow".
4. Have you experienced any disappointments and how did you overcome them?
We found out that Juan is going to be moving next week. It's sad because I really did think he would get baptized in the near future and I would be there when it would happen. But I trust that God cares for him much more than I do and that the missionaries will find him in Mexico. But on the bright side, our last lesson with him wasn't contentious or tense like the last couple lessons. He didn't bring up his doubts fueled by anti-Mormon material. And I have more compassion for him now that I understand that he didn't understand the doctrine as well as we thought.
2. A spiritual experience you had this week?
Where to begin... Here are some of the highlights.
- Santiago came to church. Here's how we found him. We were looking for a former investigator in a body shop where he supposedly worked. We didn't find him, but we found Santiago, Jose, and Andres working in the shop. We initially didn't plan on spending a lot of time there since it wasn't the right shop and we didn't want to take away time from their work. But they offered us water and asked lots of questions about the Church and really opened up to us. Santiago said he wanted to come to church. We left our contact information and set a return appointment. This is a perfect example of being guided by the Spirit to be in the "wrong" place at the right time. I feel bad for this, but I didn't take Santiago seriously when he said he was going to church. After all, we invite everyone to go to church and they almost never show up, especially not if we've just barely met them. And when we went to church, Santiago showed up! He didn't even have his own car to get there, but he made it! It makes me think about my own faith and what I would do in that situation. If I weren't a member and had just met some missionaries a few days ago, would I make that much of an effort to go to church?
- We taught Enrique the Word of Wisdom. It went really well and the Spirit was really strong, and he committed to live it. We brought a 17 year old member with us who was planning on going on a mission. We didn't think too much of it since we missionaries are relatively used to experiences like that. But later that night, the girl who came with us sent us a text thanking us for taking her with us and helping her feel the Spirit so strongly. It was a great reminder that when we take members with us to appointments, it not just for the investigators. It's also for the members.
3. What successes have you had in reaching your weekly goals?
Well, almost everything has been a success! We had 6 people come to church! I've never had that many people come to church before. It blew my mind and it's another one of those moments where I have to wonder "what did I deserve to receive so many blessings?" I really can't attribute it to anything that I did. The glory is not mine, but the Father's. As always, I feel like I'm a spectator to the success we experience. We also contacted nearly twice as many people as we planned, got twice as many new investigators, and gave out twice as many Books of Mormon. I really am so happy to be here in Lewisville and witness this in a place that I once thought was "dead" or "slow".
4. Have you experienced any disappointments and how did you overcome them?
We found out that Juan is going to be moving next week. It's sad because I really did think he would get baptized in the near future and I would be there when it would happen. But I trust that God cares for him much more than I do and that the missionaries will find him in Mexico. But on the bright side, our last lesson with him wasn't contentious or tense like the last couple lessons. He didn't bring up his doubts fueled by anti-Mormon material. And I have more compassion for him now that I understand that he didn't understand the doctrine as well as we thought.
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