I have officially survived a whole transfer in the mission field. Accordingly, my trainer, Sister Thorn, decided to kick things up a notch. For most of my first transfer, we mostly tried to find people to teach by knocking on doors and store contacting. Phase 2 of being trained involves a lot more teaching! There was one day this week when we were planning on teaching 8 people in one day (none of them were mutiple/lesson)! 4 of those ended up not happening, but still, we had 4 whole teaching appointments in one day! No, but seriously. It seems like all of my first transfer we never taught anybody, and suddenly, we have all these people to teach! It is the best! A sign we found in somebody's yard this week put it best: "Harvest time!" As missionaries, we are sent forth to "thrust in [our] sickles with [our] might," "for behold, the field is white, already to harvest" (D&C 4:4). It is the best work in the world!
However much teaching we did this week, we also did some finding, and while we were finding, I (can you believe it) found something! Yes, I found a lizard! Not a big one, but a lizard, nonetheless. Let it be known that Georgia has lots of little lizards running around in the nice warm humidity. :)
There were two days this week where our stake emergency specialist called us and told us to stay inside due to severe weather. He called it flash flooding and tornado warnings, but it just looked like a normal thunderstorm to me, with nice big water droplets falling from the sky. It was great, except that missionaries don't like being inside during the day. The first day was preparation day (not today, but last week), which wasn't too bad, but the second one was Wednesday, when we had work to do! We ended up getting our weekly planning done really early and being able to go out for prime time (6:00-9:00 pm).
On Friday, Sister Thorn had to head to Mission Leadership Conference, so I got to spend the day with Sister Pierre (who came out with me) in the Collins Hill Area. We dared to knock a few doors together and taught a couple of lessons before our trainers came back for us. While we were stuck in lovely Atlanta traffic, Sister Thorn and I got a good laugh out of the car in front of us. Just about everybody here loves Jesus, it's great, but it also makes our job as missionaries that much harder because people don't realize how much more Heavenly Father has in store for them! I guess that's why I'm here though, is to tell them! :)
Besides getting to do lots of teaching, Sister Thorn and I have had some pretty neat miracles this week. I'll tell you about my favorite one: During planning on Sunday morning, Sister Thorn felt very impressed to go tracting on a street we had never noticed before which happened to be nearby our appointments for the evening. When the time rolled around to go tracting, all our appointments had been rescheduled and we considered going somewhere closer to us to save miles and drive time. However, Sister Thorn still felt prompted to go to the previously designated street. Upon our arrival, we discovered that the street was largely made up of abandoned houses, but after the pavement turned into gravel, there was a little trailer park hidden in the trees. We both thought the trailer park looked a bit dodgy, but we didn't want to leave because Sister Thorn had felt really strongly about being on this street. Eventually, we came to an interection of sorts and decided to pray about which direction we should go at the intersection. When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was a sign, pointing to the left, into the trailer park, so in we went! The second person we talked to had lived in Utah and wasn't interested, but kindly informed us of which trailers were inhabited and which ones weren't. After talking to a few more politely uninterested people, one man suggested that his neighbors really need more God in their lives. Hooray for referrals! We went and knocked on their door and a young lady came out to talk to us. She promptly told us that she thinks we are a cult and that she disagrees with our beliefs. However, she asked us our conversion stories and told us hers, which was largely centered around, as she put it, having "the gift of discernment" (which is super cool!). We were able to testify of the Holy Ghost and how it not only led us to her, but has also helped us know the Book of Mormon is true. Upon our bringing up the Book of Mormon, she asked if we had a copy. We handed her one and she asked for a moment to read a few verses, inviting us in as she did so. By the time we left, she had volunteered her phone number and a church swap without us even asking! I truly believe that the Holy Ghost prompted us during every step toward finding this woman and I am really looking forward to not only my first church swap (we go to her church and then she comes to ours), but also getting to share more with her!
Overall, it has been an awesome week! The Lord has work for His missionaries to do and it is awesome that I get to help with it!
With Lots of Love,
Sister Houghton
701 Downsby Lane
Apt. 333
Woodstock, GA
30189
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