Oi familia!!
It was fun to hear from some of you! I love that Amy is getting excited about missionary work! I also love that the sisters had you right the names down and make specific goals, I think I might have to try that! Sounds like Mom had a fun weekend at Disneyland! One day I want to stay at that hotel in California Adventures!! Jealous! hahaha. Dad, I'm glad that I could be your perfect patient example! hahaha. People talk about getting their wisdom teeth pulled, and I'm like, "Ya, it's not even that bad!" People just need to be more like me! hahaha. Also, I love that you are getting into the Book of Mormon! We go to institute classes, and one of the challenges that the class got was to go a whole week without murmuring. It's harder than you think. You constantly catch yourselves wanting to say something on the more negative side. That might be a good challenge for your students!!
My week was pretty crazy! My companions are the Sister Training Leaders, so we were involved in 2 companion exchanges, one after the other. We are just getting towards the end of the transfer, so they were trying to squeeze them in. But that is one of the neat things about the leadership positions for Sisters, is that Sisters get to be involved in exchanges! They were fun! First we had Sister Griffen come to the area, and she was so spunky and made me feel so pumped up about our area and how much potential our Branch has! Then, we had Sister Waddoups, and that was fun, because Sister Waddoups came out on the same day as me! So, it was fun to get to know these others sisters and learn from them! Mostly, the exchanges helped me feel more excited about my area.
So, we currently have two progressing investigators, meaning that we have two investigators that we "have taught at least 2 lessons two and are keeping their commitments." Both of which we extended the baptismal commitment to, and both of which did not accept it...for now. One of them is a freshman guy, and he has already been baptized in his church, so he hasn't quite grasped the importance of being baptized by authority. The other, is an Indian woman, and she is already active, but it was hard because she said that they reason she has been liking the church is that we haven't been putting pressure on her...then we invited her to be baptized on a specific date...insert pressure. I think she doesn't quite understand what she said no too, so we will hopefully continue to help her progress towards baptism.
It's interesting, because as a missionary, you are encouraged to bring up baptism early, often, and boldly. At first I was unsure about bringing it up so early, because we are encouraged to invite no later than the second lesson. But as missionaries, we don't just invite to baptism because we want numbers, we invite because baptism is essential to us returning to our Heavenly Father's presence. We invite because we love them and we want them to be able to partake of the blessings that the gospel brings. We invite them because we know that Heavenly Father's plan for us is way bigger and better than our mortal minds can comprehend and we want them to receive all the blessings that their Heavenly Father has in store for them.
As a member, if you are sitting in a lesson that the missionary asks the investigator to be baptized, and the investigator says no. Don't panic. It's going to be fine. We as missionaries extend the baptismal commitment to people, even when sometimes we already know what the answer is going to be. Extending the invite allows the investigator to know where we see these lessons going, it allows them to have baptism on their minds throughout the whole teaching process, and it allows them to have something to truly work towards. I feel like often, if the investigator says no, the member feels the need to hurry and pick up the pieces, and everyone starts panicking. But, it's all going to be fine. We prepare for investigators saying no.
Everyone, be a member missionary!! The missionaries truly can't do it without you! The most effective work is through the members. Look for opportunities to share the gospel!
I love you all! Have a great week!
Sister Van Wagenen
Scripture that I love to share with members: Mosiah 2:41. :)
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