Two funny stories that have highlighted my week:
1) We went to an appartment complex to try and find a former investigator that we felt had some good potential. We got in to see her, everthing went great, we set up a return appointment and left. As we were walking down the stairwell, Sister Ririe (yes, I will point fingers on this one!) said that we should go back and knock on the door accross the hall from our investigator. She even had a nice "welcome" sign on the door. We knock. A frail, "golum" (from Lord of the Rings) looking, 60ish year old woman answers. We ask her if she or someone she knows could use an uplifting message. She looked confused. So we told her that we teach about how following the example of Jesus Christ can help us to find happiness in our lives. I could not have prepared myself for what happened next..."I still don't know what you mean" she said, "I used to have 48 names, but now I have 84. Will you come in and write my names down for me?" PEOPLE! these are the kinds of things you read about in text books, or see in movies...not in real life! We totally lied to her (This was also the day that I learned that it's sometimes okay to lie. But ONLY if the Spirit tells you to!) and told her that we couldn't come in because we had an appointment. "You don't want to come in?!" Oh no, I was going to lose it. So we told her that IF we came back we would bring a friend from church named Heidi...wrong thing to say. "OH! One of my names is Heidi! Heidi, Holly, Brittney, Chelsey..." Off she went, then... "I have 16 personalities too." Great, one of them is BOUND to want to kill us! We told her that we would try to come back next week, and as we sprinted down the hall she yelled, "I LOVE YOU!"
I was so sure she was going to stalk us and kill us. Or something worse. For a good 45 minutes I was totally shaken up. And wanted to be in the same room as a priesthood holder, ASAP! Man, there's no coming back from that. (Please tell Amy C. how much I love and admire her!)
2) *Names have been changed to protect the innocent.* Last week we were at the Smith's house for dinner. Bro. Smith is a member of the bishopric and we were talking about how helpful it would be to have a ward FB page. I'd brought it up in ward counsel a month or so ago and totally got shot down. Let's just say that 2/3 of the bishopric is not pro social media. Bro. Smith said that I should bring it up again next time we have ward counsel. So there we are yesterday, sitting in ward counsel...they'd been discussing the ward mission plan for a good hour when they finally got to the part where they were trying to figure out how to put it on a bookmark. Then, all of the sudden, Bro. Smith says, "I think the Sisters have something to say about facebook..." I then stammer out a marvelous, "Uhhhhhh..." and thankfully the YW president chimed in with, "Yeah, why don't we have a facebook page?" Whew, saved by the bell. Afterward we ran into Bro. Smith in the hall and I said, "Thanks for throwing us under the bus! We weren't even talking about anything remotely related to Facebook!" Bro. Smith replied with, "They started talking about bookmarks! I don't even use paper! We need to have a facebook page!" Let's just hope we get a facebook page soon...
I want you to know that I love being a missionary. There's nothing more tiring and more fulfilling. When you're on the Lord's errand you cannot fail. When you're on His side you'll always succeed. God, our Heavenly Father has set us up for success. His way isn't always easier, but it's always better. Never forget that. When you make the decision to be on His side, you'll recieve help from both sides of the viel. And just because you set your foot on the right path does not mean that He'll smooth it out for you. Life will always be hard, bask in the refiner's fire. You're being fitted for the Kingdom of God. I love you all so much. Your love and support means the world to me.
Onward and Upward,
Sister Kadee Elise Taylor
No comments:
Post a Comment