This week was...spaztasic.

Mon, Mar 2, 2009

Hello.
I just want to first start off by telling my family that Sister Davenport is a very big Stargate fan which obviously makes her very cool. She mostly has a crush on Jack, but who wouldn't, right?

This week was...spaztasic. First, the weather was crazy. Going from 90 degrees down to 35 degrees in one night is not normal. Inconsistency in weather is the only constant right now, but I love it. I love the weather!!!!!!!! I don't know how you did it Anna, but I am so glad I didn't get sent to North eastern Europe...or anywhere North for that matter. If it's warm I'm really good at going out of my way to talk to everyone I can see, but when it's cold I can only think about one thing: "get warm, get warm, must get warm NOW." You'd think that I'd be a little less whimpy here in Texas because I grew up in Idaho, but no. If it's below 60, I'm chilly.

Okay, missionary work: The other day we met a lady in the parking lot. We introduced ourselves and she immediately gave us the look that says, "Stay away."

"Oh, you're Mormons...Well, I'm going through a crisis right now and I don't want to talk." I don't remember what we said. All I could remember was how sad she looked. She told us that she had been a Jehovah's Witness for 20 years, but now she's decided that all organized religion is wrong. "I don't think anyone knows the truth and I don't think anyone can know the truth." We tried to offer comforting words, but what I remember most was how she looked at us. You could tell she was a kind person and that she meant nothing towards us personally, but as she looked at us, everything that we represented to her (organized religion, I guess) brought her so much pain and anger. All I wanted to do was give her a hug and tell her everything was going to be okay, but of course I couldn't then. The anger that people have had with religion is sometimes thrust on us because of who we are to them. I know I'm not the cause of their pain, but it hurts to have people look at you like that.

That whole day was bad. All the investigators we taught were having tough days. Unbeknown to us, one of our investigators was having a very difficult time financially and it all came to a head the day we decided to teach tithing. But you know what? That investigator is still getting baptized and is still going to pay tithing because they knelt down after we left and asked if it was what the Lord wanted them to do. They received the answer they needed and they are pressing forward. Very cool.

The day after the bad day was amazing...I'm telling you, these weeks are like rollercoasters. We met a lot of people that listened to us and want us to come back to teach. One lady in particular just shown so bright as we talked to her. I'm excited to see what happens with her and her family.

We met another lady getting out of her car. She smiled warmly and I said, "Hi! we're missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm sister-" All of the sudden she stuck a huge cross in my face. "Um...yeah...I'm sister Johnson.........." Then Sister Davenport piped in, "And I'm Sister Davenport. What's that?" I was sure she was going to say it was her relic to ward off vampires, but she explained that she was a lay nun for some catholic order so she was showing us that she was a sister too. I started into our message, but she suddenly waved her hands to cut us off and then pulled us both into a big double hug. Sweet...But then she held us there and started praying out loud. It was a beautiful prayer... a little awkward :) Great lady