Ola Familia!
Crazy about the UFO. I'm jealous out of my mind.
This week has been really great. We've just been doing a lot of lessons slash meetings and a whole handful of things. Don't worry mom, I get fed here all the time. Ann Arbor isn't quite like Detroit. Members want to feed us. The members here are a lot like you guys. All of them are at U of M. They all have anywhere between 1 and 5 children, and they're all getting PhD's or are in Medical School. They think it's crazy that I have parents gettting PhD's too, and I think some of the wives are freaking out because they think their husbands will be in school as long as you guys. I guess anythings possible. So I think we should make a deal. I know that I'm serving in Brasil, but I'm also serving a mission in the states, so I think I still should be aloud to get walkabout. It seems fair to me. Make dad do something.. like finish his PhD or lose 50 lbs or just do something that will get him motivated. If dad does that, then he can pick me up in Brasil and then we can go visit his mission in the West Indies on the way home. That seems fair to me, since I am serving a state-side mission and all ;)
So here are the happenings of this week. This week, we've been teaching M a lot, but we can't promise him a baptismal date until after his court date, and even then we still may not know. But he's so cool, we've taught him all of the lessons, and he's keeping all of the commitments and comes to church! We taught him about tithing on saturday and asked him to live the law of the tithe after he was baptized, and he said, "No. I have to start living it now." So on Sunday, he paid his tithing! Which was an incredible testimony builder for me because he has nothing but his Pit Bull and the clothes on his back. And he tells all of his friends about the gospel. We've had 3 referrals from him this week, where he calls us and says, "so and so has a few questions" so we go over and talk to his friends about the gospel. It's incredible because he knows he can't be baptized yet, but he's trying to get all of his friends baptized while he's waiting! How incredible is that?
A few days ago, we had a little bit of time for tracting and we happened upon a trailer park. Trailer Parks are golden. Some guy saw us at the door, and we were like... we're missionaries, and he was like... oh! Come in and he told us about how he needs help with his prayers and his faith, so we read alma 32 with him and we're meeting with him again on Saturday. It's pretty cool.
Another guy we talked to yesterday is D. I think D has a disorder. He thinks that people are videotaping his life, and his dad is Eminem. If his dad really was Eminem. He's struggling because he's writing these raps that are really dark and and he clings to dark music. We told him to read the Book of Mormon, and I told him about my old investigator, O, and how he raps about things he reads in the scriptures. So our main thing with him is getting him to read the scriptures and pray.
We were talking to this 17 year old kid the other day and he just got news that he's going to be a daddy. wooo. And so we talk to him a lot but he couldn't believe that we are full time missionaries, and that we would just up and move to detroit to meet people who don't care about us. It's true. There are a lot of people out here who don't care about us. We knock on doors and get more than a days worth of rejection in 20 minutes. But occasionally you do find that one person that makes EVERYTHING worth it. I've been so blessed here on my mission. I've seen so many people progress. I've gone to several baptisms. And it's crazy because D is their first progressing investigator, and he's leading us to more progressing investigators. It. Is. Awesome.
I'm trying to think of anything else that happened this week. We had a training on Thursday to get us more involved with members. I know that is where the success in missionary work is. THROUGH THE MEMBERS. It's just hard solving member concerns because it's SCARY to talk about the gospel to people. But it's as easy as telling people you went to church on Sunday with your family when someone asks you how your weekend was. Or inviting them to a ward barbeque or picnic. And I know that is where the success is. It was the key to success in my last area, and it's the key to success in this area. So what we're doing is getting the members pumped out of their minds about missionary work.
Well, have a great day.
Sister Marshall
Crazy about the UFO. I'm jealous out of my mind.
This week has been really great. We've just been doing a lot of lessons slash meetings and a whole handful of things. Don't worry mom, I get fed here all the time. Ann Arbor isn't quite like Detroit. Members want to feed us. The members here are a lot like you guys. All of them are at U of M. They all have anywhere between 1 and 5 children, and they're all getting PhD's or are in Medical School. They think it's crazy that I have parents gettting PhD's too, and I think some of the wives are freaking out because they think their husbands will be in school as long as you guys. I guess anythings possible. So I think we should make a deal. I know that I'm serving in Brasil, but I'm also serving a mission in the states, so I think I still should be aloud to get walkabout. It seems fair to me. Make dad do something.. like finish his PhD or lose 50 lbs or just do something that will get him motivated. If dad does that, then he can pick me up in Brasil and then we can go visit his mission in the West Indies on the way home. That seems fair to me, since I am serving a state-side mission and all ;)
So here are the happenings of this week. This week, we've been teaching M a lot, but we can't promise him a baptismal date until after his court date, and even then we still may not know. But he's so cool, we've taught him all of the lessons, and he's keeping all of the commitments and comes to church! We taught him about tithing on saturday and asked him to live the law of the tithe after he was baptized, and he said, "No. I have to start living it now." So on Sunday, he paid his tithing! Which was an incredible testimony builder for me because he has nothing but his Pit Bull and the clothes on his back. And he tells all of his friends about the gospel. We've had 3 referrals from him this week, where he calls us and says, "so and so has a few questions" so we go over and talk to his friends about the gospel. It's incredible because he knows he can't be baptized yet, but he's trying to get all of his friends baptized while he's waiting! How incredible is that?
A few days ago, we had a little bit of time for tracting and we happened upon a trailer park. Trailer Parks are golden. Some guy saw us at the door, and we were like... we're missionaries, and he was like... oh! Come in and he told us about how he needs help with his prayers and his faith, so we read alma 32 with him and we're meeting with him again on Saturday. It's pretty cool.
Another guy we talked to yesterday is D. I think D has a disorder. He thinks that people are videotaping his life, and his dad is Eminem. If his dad really was Eminem. He's struggling because he's writing these raps that are really dark and and he clings to dark music. We told him to read the Book of Mormon, and I told him about my old investigator, O, and how he raps about things he reads in the scriptures. So our main thing with him is getting him to read the scriptures and pray.
We were talking to this 17 year old kid the other day and he just got news that he's going to be a daddy. wooo. And so we talk to him a lot but he couldn't believe that we are full time missionaries, and that we would just up and move to detroit to meet people who don't care about us. It's true. There are a lot of people out here who don't care about us. We knock on doors and get more than a days worth of rejection in 20 minutes. But occasionally you do find that one person that makes EVERYTHING worth it. I've been so blessed here on my mission. I've seen so many people progress. I've gone to several baptisms. And it's crazy because D is their first progressing investigator, and he's leading us to more progressing investigators. It. Is. Awesome.
I'm trying to think of anything else that happened this week. We had a training on Thursday to get us more involved with members. I know that is where the success in missionary work is. THROUGH THE MEMBERS. It's just hard solving member concerns because it's SCARY to talk about the gospel to people. But it's as easy as telling people you went to church on Sunday with your family when someone asks you how your weekend was. Or inviting them to a ward barbeque or picnic. And I know that is where the success is. It was the key to success in my last area, and it's the key to success in this area. So what we're doing is getting the members pumped out of their minds about missionary work.
Well, have a great day.
Sister Marshall