Crazy Howling Dog
Monday evening was really strange. We went to the street we
had chosen on the map for our golden hour and it ended up being a trailer park
with campers and trailers. We didn't feel right being there so we just knocked a few doors. No one
wanted to listen to us. We did have a lady tell us to try her neighbor. We left
a note for him and he actually called us back and thanked us even though he wasn’t interested.
Tuesday the Sister Training Leaders came to our district meeting.
They gave trainings from MLC. I really liked the focus on Becoming. Heavenly
Father is more interested in who we are and who we can become than who we once
were. When we try to see others as who they can become too it is easier to
really love them. Right after district meeting we began our trade off.
I've missed going on trade offs so I was really excited. I went to Brunswick
with Sister Coutts. Sister Pasko stayed in St. Marys with Sister
Elliott. I was a sister training leader for both of my current STL's so
it's really fun to see how much they have grown and to learn from their
examples. We had a nice long drive (our zone is geographically huge!) and had a
great discussion about the work and becoming. I learned a lot! We spent the
evening tracting, trying potentials, and we had dinner with a less active
family. They have this dog that howls when you do. Needless to say we had a lot
of fun with it!
Wednesday morning I got to go to Sister Coutts' district
meeting before coming back to St. Marys. Then we actually all car pooled to
Jacksonville. Tuesday night we realized we both needed to go there
for doctor appointments. We had been having a hard time finding a ride and we
didn't have the miles to drive ourselves so that was a miracle. We had a lot of
fun on our road trip too! As soon as we got back we went to an appointment with
Cheyenne. She is learning so much! No one showed up for our scripture class
that night so we went out and tried to find some referrals in the area.
Thursday afternoon we went to do service for Sister Pappas.
We were weeding under her porch and then laying down weed barrier under the
mulch. It was a hot service project, but we enjoyed it. We were supposed to
have a lesson with Miss Blake, but she canceled. So we were able to stay for
dinner with Sister Pappas. Our STL's taught us about planning for miracles.
Each day this month we are to choose one miracle we feel can happen, put it
into the area book as an appointment, and then work to achieve it. We had
planned to have the miracle of inviting someone to baptism, but in recognizing
we wouldn't be out of Sister Pappas's on time to find someone to invite I
realized that wouldn't happen. Then Sister Elliott had a brilliant idea! She
suggested setting a second baptism date with Sister Pappas--a day to go to the
temple to do baptisms for her ancestors. It completely changed our lesson and
helped us see what Sister Pappas needs to do to get back in church and back to
the temple by the day she chose-June 16th. We had a Relief Society
activity that night too. Not too many women came, but Priscilla came with her
girls and Lori came. It was good to have them there and we had a wonderful
evening. We made little purses out of paper bags with quotes and items
like in the "Parable of the Purse." That is the story about the young
women's purse that is left at the church and the leaders look through it and
see what kind of woman the purse belonged to.
Friday was weekly planning of course. Right after weekly planning
we got on our bikes to go to Lori's. It started raining when we started biking.
And of course that was the appointment she decided to cancel. We didn't get her
text until we were at her house and by then it had stopped raining but we were
pretty wet. We were able to try some other people in her neighborhood before
biking home to get some dry clothes on.
Saturday we were determined to bike all day to save up miles on
our car. It was a hot day, but it was really good! We did get to see Lori. She
is doing great! She talked a lot in that lesson when she is normally pretty quiet.
We taught Ronnie that night too. He hasn't been coming to church so we may have
to drop him soon. We explained to him why we leave him with commitments and
told him if he didn't start acting we wouldn't be able to see him any more. We
certainly hope he will start keeping commitments.
It was a wonderful Mother's Day! I got to give a talk in Sacrament
meeting. I used Sister Stephens and
Elder Perry's conference talks. We had dinner with Brother Jarmin who was just
baptized a couple weeks ago. We had just enough time to try to contact a
referral before Skyping home. It turns out the complex had just renumbered their
apartments so it wasn't the woman we were looking for, but the woman who
answered was very nice and was familiar with Elders. They come into her work
all the time. Her name is Latoya. We were able to teach her about the
Restoration. As we were walking away Sister Elliott pointed out that her house
was yellow and the miracle we had planned that day was to teach a lesson in a
yellow house and her house was yellow! So that's why we were a little
late getting online. It was so great to talk to all y'all! I definitely enjoyed
hearing and seeing you!
Love,
Sister
Murray
