How are y'all doing this week? Life is crazy. The missionary field is legit. I have tons of stories this week, so I hope I can remember all of them. I've been able to hear a lot of Portuguese. We have a few investigators who only speak portuguese who are from florianopolis, and a less active who is from sao paolo and a PLETHORA of RMs at Church, who see us and are like.. "Tudo Bem?" so I just scream back, "Tudo Bom!" It's how we do.
On Tuesday, we went to a retirement home to visit this old lady named N. She has memory loss, so we got to hang out in the memory loss ward. I want to be there all the time because the people are so funny. There was this old lady walking in our direction screamiing, "I can't walk! I can't walk!!!!!" But she was walking. It was pretty funny. So we go and talk to N, and she is this really sweet old lady, so I say, N. Are you from here? And she says "No. I'm actually from Ashland." So I said, "really? I'm from Medford!" And she lit up and said, "oh wow! My last 30 years have been in Medford!" So we were talking about the valley... and she legitimitely thought that she was in Medford still. She was like..." I love this rogue valley! I'm going to live here for the rest of my life and die here! I've been in this home for so long. Is there still only one church on the corner?" So I told her about how there are several stakes and even a temple in Central Point. She lit up and was so happy. She was like... I need to sneak out of this retirement home and see that temple. I didn't want to break her heart and tell her she was actually in Michigan. I don't even know what she's doing here. It's kind of funny. So we're leaving, and that crabby old lady who thought she couldn't walk was sitting on a couch looking really sad, so Sister Jory Miller was like... would you like a picture of Jesus? and she just frowned and said, NO! I'M GOING TO DIE!! I wish I could say it wasn't funny, but it really was.
So last week I kept hearing people talk about this place, Safe House. I felt like we really needed to go there, because its a shelter for abused women. So after going to the retirement home, I felt really prompted to find out more, and maybe do some service projects there. So we walk in, and there's a man sitting on the couch, and I introduce myself to him as Sister Marshall. He told me about how he has a catholic nun sister and that they live in Nigeria, and I told him that we were mormon, and we invite people to come to Christ. Then the lady we went to talk to about Safe House called us in to talk to us about service we could do. Turns out there was pretty much nothing that we could do, so we just shook her hand and said PEACE (Not really), but I was so confused because I felt like we really needed to be there. So we're leaving and this Nigerian man kind of gets up and is like... I'm leaving right now too (he was really just waiting for us to come back)! So he tells me about how he was having a really hard time because he's been studying the bible but can't find the right church, so naturally I tell him about Joseph Smith. I said James 1:5 to him, and he was like.... hold on, let me go grab my Bible. SO he goes to his car and grabs his Bible. His bible is more marked up than any missionary set of scriptures I had ever seen, and he talked to us about how he saw that we talk of Christ and that all we do is serve others, and as we were leaving he told us that we were angels sent from Heaven, and I was like...no, we're just servants of the Lord, and we gave him a book of mormon and our number. We haven't heard anything from him since then... But I'm glad we planted that seed.
On Friday, we were making visits to less actives we had never met before. I love visiting them, because they seriously see missionaries and run as fast as they can. Like literally run away. It's kind of funny. So we are going to visit some family and there's this guy sitting on some steps, I look over, wave, and say hi. He says, "are you guys missionaries?" so I say "Yeah, we like Jesus!" and so we get talking to him all about the Book of Mormon and church and all of these other topics. We burnt through a lot. His name is D, and he told us this story from a while ago. He was driving with his uncle, and got shot 4 times in the arm with an AK47, and his uncle died. He just kind of hobbled off into someone's backyard, and thought for sure he was going to die, but then didn't. He decided then to base his life on integrity. Then he pulled out these brown pieces of papers, rolled up and was like.. "these are my scrolls" so its like... how he loves jesus written on these brown peices of paper. Sister Hoskisson is so cute, she was like..."Did you make that at a church activity?" And he was like... "Nah, I wrote them in prison because they wouldn't give me paper, so I had to write them on brown paper bags." He was put in jail for a few weeks because he had marijuana on him, and he had a medical marajuana card on him, but he was put in jail anyway. After that experience he gave of all of that because he realized it wasn't worth it. But he's super receptive. He came to church yesterday, and he's seriously loving the lessons. Today, we taught him the plan of salvation, and he told us about when he was 4, he had a dream he was looking down at earth with bright beings surrounding him, and two bright beings were telling him a plan, and he didn't remember what it was, but he remembers saying, "that's all I have to do?" And the two men looked at eachother like... oh no. he thinks this is going to be easy. That's all he remembers, but once we told him about the pre-earth life, he was so excited. He doesn't smoke. He doesn't drink. We just need to make sure he doesn't do any of the other things. So we're teaching him the gospel and word of wisdom tomorrow. We gave him a baptism date, but he was concerned because he has a court date before then and wants to get baptized, but we have to wait until after his court date to find out if he can get baptized or not. It was funny because in his prayer he was like.... "please don't let me go to jail...if it be thy will. And if I do, let me share this word with those who haven't heard them before. I know you love those people too." that was kind of funny. So we just need to go through a few things and make sure he can get baptized, but if he does, he'll be baptized on the 31st.
We had exchanges this week, so I was up in Walled Lake for a day. It was aight. We did a lot of contacting with no success. It happens, and thus is missionary life.
2 of our other investigators, M and K came to church on Sunday and some of the members seriously adopted them into the ward. It was so funny. They loved it. We hope to get them on date too, but we have to talk to them about the Word of Wisdom. Woooo!
Anyways, those are the stories of the week!!! I got the package thanks so much. I love the skirts and shirts! They rock!! Love you guys.
Sister Marshall
On Tuesday, we went to a retirement home to visit this old lady named N. She has memory loss, so we got to hang out in the memory loss ward. I want to be there all the time because the people are so funny. There was this old lady walking in our direction screamiing, "I can't walk! I can't walk!!!!!" But she was walking. It was pretty funny. So we go and talk to N, and she is this really sweet old lady, so I say, N. Are you from here? And she says "No. I'm actually from Ashland." So I said, "really? I'm from Medford!" And she lit up and said, "oh wow! My last 30 years have been in Medford!" So we were talking about the valley... and she legitimitely thought that she was in Medford still. She was like..." I love this rogue valley! I'm going to live here for the rest of my life and die here! I've been in this home for so long. Is there still only one church on the corner?" So I told her about how there are several stakes and even a temple in Central Point. She lit up and was so happy. She was like... I need to sneak out of this retirement home and see that temple. I didn't want to break her heart and tell her she was actually in Michigan. I don't even know what she's doing here. It's kind of funny. So we're leaving, and that crabby old lady who thought she couldn't walk was sitting on a couch looking really sad, so Sister Jory Miller was like... would you like a picture of Jesus? and she just frowned and said, NO! I'M GOING TO DIE!! I wish I could say it wasn't funny, but it really was.
So last week I kept hearing people talk about this place, Safe House. I felt like we really needed to go there, because its a shelter for abused women. So after going to the retirement home, I felt really prompted to find out more, and maybe do some service projects there. So we walk in, and there's a man sitting on the couch, and I introduce myself to him as Sister Marshall. He told me about how he has a catholic nun sister and that they live in Nigeria, and I told him that we were mormon, and we invite people to come to Christ. Then the lady we went to talk to about Safe House called us in to talk to us about service we could do. Turns out there was pretty much nothing that we could do, so we just shook her hand and said PEACE (Not really), but I was so confused because I felt like we really needed to be there. So we're leaving and this Nigerian man kind of gets up and is like... I'm leaving right now too (he was really just waiting for us to come back)! So he tells me about how he was having a really hard time because he's been studying the bible but can't find the right church, so naturally I tell him about Joseph Smith. I said James 1:5 to him, and he was like.... hold on, let me go grab my Bible. SO he goes to his car and grabs his Bible. His bible is more marked up than any missionary set of scriptures I had ever seen, and he talked to us about how he saw that we talk of Christ and that all we do is serve others, and as we were leaving he told us that we were angels sent from Heaven, and I was like...no, we're just servants of the Lord, and we gave him a book of mormon and our number. We haven't heard anything from him since then... But I'm glad we planted that seed.
On Friday, we were making visits to less actives we had never met before. I love visiting them, because they seriously see missionaries and run as fast as they can. Like literally run away. It's kind of funny. So we are going to visit some family and there's this guy sitting on some steps, I look over, wave, and say hi. He says, "are you guys missionaries?" so I say "Yeah, we like Jesus!" and so we get talking to him all about the Book of Mormon and church and all of these other topics. We burnt through a lot. His name is D, and he told us this story from a while ago. He was driving with his uncle, and got shot 4 times in the arm with an AK47, and his uncle died. He just kind of hobbled off into someone's backyard, and thought for sure he was going to die, but then didn't. He decided then to base his life on integrity. Then he pulled out these brown pieces of papers, rolled up and was like.. "these are my scrolls" so its like... how he loves jesus written on these brown peices of paper. Sister Hoskisson is so cute, she was like..."Did you make that at a church activity?" And he was like... "Nah, I wrote them in prison because they wouldn't give me paper, so I had to write them on brown paper bags." He was put in jail for a few weeks because he had marijuana on him, and he had a medical marajuana card on him, but he was put in jail anyway. After that experience he gave of all of that because he realized it wasn't worth it. But he's super receptive. He came to church yesterday, and he's seriously loving the lessons. Today, we taught him the plan of salvation, and he told us about when he was 4, he had a dream he was looking down at earth with bright beings surrounding him, and two bright beings were telling him a plan, and he didn't remember what it was, but he remembers saying, "that's all I have to do?" And the two men looked at eachother like... oh no. he thinks this is going to be easy. That's all he remembers, but once we told him about the pre-earth life, he was so excited. He doesn't smoke. He doesn't drink. We just need to make sure he doesn't do any of the other things. So we're teaching him the gospel and word of wisdom tomorrow. We gave him a baptism date, but he was concerned because he has a court date before then and wants to get baptized, but we have to wait until after his court date to find out if he can get baptized or not. It was funny because in his prayer he was like.... "please don't let me go to jail...if it be thy will. And if I do, let me share this word with those who haven't heard them before. I know you love those people too." that was kind of funny. So we just need to go through a few things and make sure he can get baptized, but if he does, he'll be baptized on the 31st.
We had exchanges this week, so I was up in Walled Lake for a day. It was aight. We did a lot of contacting with no success. It happens, and thus is missionary life.
2 of our other investigators, M and K came to church on Sunday and some of the members seriously adopted them into the ward. It was so funny. They loved it. We hope to get them on date too, but we have to talk to them about the Word of Wisdom. Woooo!
Anyways, those are the stories of the week!!! I got the package thanks so much. I love the skirts and shirts! They rock!! Love you guys.
Sister Marshall