Westbank, Transfer 9, Week 6, April 28, 2014

I can't believe how fast this transfer has gone! Holy cow. Six weeks has never seemed so fast. This week has seemed super short as well. It was both good and bad. Lots of finding time. We really didn't have very many appointments this week, which was sad, but we were able to meet some really cool people, so that was awesome. One woman is Buddhist, but she says her son has been asking who Jesus is, so they are going to look into Christianity. Lo and behold, the missionaries show up at her door. Coincidence? I think not! :) Sunday night we had a super cool experience though. We were 4 key indicators short of the standards of excellence, and 31 QGCs (quality gospel conversations) short of the 140 we are supposed to get every week. So we decided to find like crazy and find 4 new investigators and have at least 31 QGCs in about 3 hours of time that we had. Heavenly Father blessed us so much, and we were able to find 4 new investigators and have 36 QGCs, exceeding the goal that we had set for ourselves. It was such a tender mercy, especially considering the fact that the most new investigators we had ever found in a day before was 3. So cool. On the sad side, there was a little boy riding around on his bike where we were tracting. He was probably about 7 or so, and he kept watching us. As we were leaving, he asked us "So what are you doing anyway?" We told him that we were talking to people about Jesus Christ. His response was "Who is that?" It broke my heart, especially since we weren't allowed to talk to him. I just wanted to cry.

We also had a member missionary workshop/fireside to help the members learn how/become more comfortable with talking to people about the gospel. A grand total of 9 showed up. I was kinda disappointed, but it also allowed us to do more one on one and have more of a discussion with them. I wish there had been more people though. Some of the members just don't care, which makes me sad.

Oh, and I gave a talk in church yesterday! Elder Lee was supposed to speak, but because of missionaries going home, Elder Rios was transferred to the Lower Mainland a week early, and Elder Lee is in a tri in Kelowna, so he couldn't speak in church. So they told me on Friday that I was the replacement speaker. My topic was Joseph Smith, a very appropriate talk for a missionary. Unfortunately, that was all they told me, so while very appropriate, it was also very broad, with little time to prepare. So I studied what I could, mostly using Preach My Gospel and Joseph Smith History, and went by the Spirit. Honestly, of the 5 talks that I have been asked to give on my mission so far, 3 of them have been a by the Spirit kind of thing. This one worked out well enough. I felt like I was all over the place, but the members loved it. Over and over, they told me that they felt the Spirit so strongly. One even commented that it made her want to have her friends listen to the missionaries. So, what was the point of me saying all of this? Doing something by the Spirit is the best way to do it. Yes, we should prepare ahead of time, we should do everything we can to complete our task, but when it comes down to it, God knows best, and as we are open to the promptings of the Spirit, we will say exactly what we need to say. It is not so much the words that we say, but the testimony behind our words, and our preparation, our attitude. The Spirit will work through us, if we are prepared. He is the one that touches people's hearts, not us. It is so wonderful!!

I love you all, have a wonderful week!

Sister Peterson