Week 11

hellllllorrrrrrr
wow this is nuts. for realz tho. so much has happened this week. and lots of interesting things...
so ill start out like usual.

Monday was a good pday we like usual played basketball and it was good. I have started to like playing that game. I feel as though I have accomplished something great when I contribute to me team of elders... that is a sad life. we had a pot luck with the YSA so that was fun

Tuesday we worked on this list we had to make visits and the dinner appointment we had cancelled so I made glazed chicken and it was soooo good!! made me miss home a little though. haha oh well. then we had a lesson with a family whose (new) dad isn't a member and he wanted to meet with missionaries. turns out he has been searching his whole life and went to a lot of different churches but nothing ever added up for him. the rest of the family are members and they had been slowly making changes in their life to get to the point to meet with missionaries and get re activated. anyway we thought we were just going to answer his questions at first but it turned out that EVERY question he had let us PERFECTLY teach the 1st lesson. it was crazy. the spirit was so strong. they live in a home that's a run down trailer dark dingy filled with cigarette smoke and if I didn't know the family I would probably be terrified to be there but as we taught through  the spirit and the spirit was there everything worked out. after that we had a lesson with aubree at the fishers. (the sweet lady that is basically our mother here and works with us more than our WMLs) it went well we talked about the temple and  family and keeping the big picture. her parents are not supportive at all and her dad used to be a pastor of a church that openly bashed Mormons in his sermons and her families current church sometimes the whole sermon is about how bad Mormons are. which is sad. but how ironic that his daughter is becoming one today HA. anyway it was a great lesson and the spirit was so strong. what a crazy part of my life to be able to feel the spirit so strong on such a constant daily basis.

Wednesday we had district meeting and lunch like usual then we went on visits and got a bunch on denials which is okay because people who come out on a mission expecting every experience to be a good one is gonna have a rough time. let me tell you. we just laugh about it. well I do and then the people around me join in. because at the end of the day what else can you do..nothing. its  their choice to accept us and we did our best and tried. it has been my goal to ONLY think positively and have NO discouragement in my life because those two things negativity and discouragement are the devils number 1 tools to bring me down. so I just smile and think what the heck am I doing sometimes and just laugh. I still can believe I am really on a mission. when I do everyday normal people things I sometimes forget. then my tag will hit me or I start singing hymns and im like what the heck?? oh wait im on a mission.

Thursday was weekly planning and we had talks to write our talks because we spoke in the 8th ward on sunday so we were at the library for a little while. then we went out on visits again. meaning we visit less actives. one guy didn't have a shirt on and it was really awkward so he hid behind the door. #lifeofamissionary we had scones for dinner. it must be a western thing to eat chili on your scones. ive had it twice here. its pretty good. but so not healthy at all.

Friday almost ALL our appointments cancelled on us. it was actually pretty funny. this one less active lady we called her the day before to set it up and she was like yes my flu is gone come over tomorrow at 12. so we show up and sees its us and says GO AWAY I AM EXTREMELY SICK! haha she was fine. face full of make up and everything. we were just like what the heckle just happened. and i guess for us its even funnier bc this lady has a lisp and funny accent so it was hilarious. so we ended up making phone calls to get ready for aubrees baptism! we invited so many people so hopefully it will be a good turn out. she needs the support! we also did service with the Spanish sisters for a less active and we painted her hallway! it was fun. i like painting. it reminded me of when dad and i painted my room together with out telling mom and then when she came home she was so shocked haha that was a good weekend.  that night aubrees parents wanted to meet with us to see what she had been learning. so we had sister fisher come along because she is close with aubree she basically went through the same thing when she was younger and its good to have a member with you ALWAYS! so mom go out with the sister missionaries and help! it was an intesnse night. her dad obviously already had all of his answers in his mind and his own beliefs. we taught the 1st lesson to her parents. he had problems with the book of Mormon and didn't know why we needed any more scripture than the bible and he said aubree have you studied this book and you know its true? and you have prayed? and she said yes i have and he said well i know this book is a fallacy and not true. ( but he has never even read it so how would he even know... he wouldn't) and he said i just worry because if you can believe this than you would just believe anything anyone tells you( probably don't put this detailed stuff on the blog) and then he went one to tell us that we were devils disguised as angels and i simply told him that ok that is a valid conern i see where you are coming from. but how can a book that teaches you about Christ and getting back to our heavenly faither and prayer and faith and baptism how could thosebe from the devil? bc im pretty sure the devil wouldn't teach you those things. that's exactly what he Doesn't want us to do. but like i said he already all his thoughts already to say to us so anything we said wouldn't even matter. so i held back A LOT of constraint. and the spirit was so strong. and aubree is so strong. her dad goes we will always love you but we are pretty firm on you waiting and studying it out with us before you make this decision. (and by studying he means showing her TONS of anti Mormon crap) and she said well i am pretty firm about getting baptized on the 14th so i guess we are both pretty firm on that.... and guess what her dad did the next day... made her watch the bible vs the book of Mormon video. she said that she felt sick to her stomach watching that and never wanted to feel that way again. so she can recognize what comes from god and what doesn't. her testimony is so strong. i told her that its moments when i get to see that changes in her life that leaving my home school and family for a year and half make it all worth it. AND she is taking me with her in a year when she goes through the temple, she asked me in advance already if i would go with her! and i will still be on my mission in a year so i get to go with her!!!!!!!! AHHHHHH SO EXCITING.

Saturday we had lunch with sister fisher and talked about the previous night a little more. she made me chicken salad upon request and it was soooo good! just love her! she really is like my mom here. she reminds me so much of mom. then we went on visits again. after that we taught zion a lesson and it was pretty good! he read his assignment but didn't understand it so we went through it again and just talked about moronic 7! our dinner appointment cancelled again so we made dinner on our own. we got ready for sunday and finished our talks.

sunday well as i mentioned so much before we spoke in middleton 8th ward. i talked on how missionary work affects not only the recipient but also the person sharing the gospel. this talk went MUCH better than the YSA talk. idk why but i felt a lot more confident and so many people went out of their way to compliment us and tell us that's exactly what they needed to hear. so that was nice. we had dinnerat the fishers again because we had another dinner appointment cancel. we just amazing fish typical at the "fishers" get it! its always caught by brother fisher and had been swimming the day before haha. we went to this devotional that was amazing all about loving ourselves and not letting the adversary get it there and how everything he puts in our brains is our ego and we need to listen to our heart bc god and the spirit speaks to our heart. it was so wonderful.

Monday well today the Spanish sisters went with us to fishers and we made crepes together and watched a movie for comp study... don't worry it was approved 17 miracles. and now we are going to go shopping and then play sports. tonight is aubrees baptism and we are soooo pumped she is so ready!! i love you all and i hope nobody forgets my birthday...yes my 20th birthday is in 6 days....YOUR BABY SISTER IS GOING TO BE A TEEN NO MORE SO APPRECIATE ME PLEASE PEOPLE... okay love you
xoxo
sister abby wasden