Week on my knees

Family!! What's been going on?!? > > I just decided it's time for some pit and peaks. > > Pit: we weren't able to teach very many investigator lessons this week > because they were either out of town, they have decided not to "choose > joy"/ aren't ready for the gospel of Jesus Christ or they randomly > decided to move to Arizona and Michigan! > > Peak: That means we did a whole lot of time to search for new people..... > > Peak: Saturday night we decided to try one last less active ysa girl > before going home. Her boyfriend, David, answered the door and said > she couldn't come to the door and that he was leaving. We walked him > to his car and found out he had met with missionaries a few years ago. > After a little bit of chit chat he let us show him the "because he > lives" video! We bore testimony and invited him again to learn more > but he said no. Then yesterday before our dinner appointment we > decided to try one more former investigator. We had tried a house a > few weeks ago but the ysa boy we were looking for wasn't home. We > knock on the door and guess who answer!!! David!!! We were all > shocked! After a few seconds he decided that running into us again > must be a sign and told us to come back Tuesday at noon. MIRACLE!! > Coincidence? I think not!! > > Peak: I've got the greatest companion! Sister Reid is really hard > working and knows exactly why she's here! She has so much charity for > the people we teach! I love learning from her. We are the best of > friends. This transfer has flown by WAY too fast. > > Peak: We did exchanges this week!! All went well in the Spanish world! > Learning from the other hermanas during exchanges is such a blessing! > At our dinner appointment the member gave us a bowl and scissors then > sent us to his garden. Meanwhile, he gave the elders all the supplies > for the meat and sent them to the chicken coop..yikes!! He didn't give > us any instruction just gave us tools and asked that dinner be ready > quick. He was hungry. We went to work and made a pretty decent meal. > He started eating and gave us some random thingy that looked like a > dog treat! Turns out it was deep fried pig skin!!!!!!! We each had a > few bites then after like 10 minutes he let us eat what we had > prepared. Everything was in Spanish so I had no clue what was > happening. At the end he told us about growing up in Ecuador with > nothing but deep fried pig skin to eat. He asked us to think about all > of our blessings and how much work it takes to provide for a family. > He's a farmer so pretty much 99% of what they eat started out as a > seed that he grew or an egg that he raised. It was one memorable > dinner. > > Peak: We walked out of ward council to find a less active man waiting > for us. We had visited him early in the week and taught his nonmember > grandson about the plan of salvation. Brother Franks had told us about > how he stopped going to church when his wife died. We invited him to > come to church with a knowledge that his home teacher had been > extending the same invitation for the past 3 years. Well, this week > Brother Franks had a change of heart. His grandson had somehow talked > his grandfather into coming to church! It was so fun to watch him > proudly take the sacrament and renew his baptism covenants for the > first time in 15 years. > > In the moment, this week was honestly really rough. By the time we got > home last night we were exhausted in every way! Even with our most > promising investigators dropping us I know that we were very blessed > this week!! The peaks greatly outnumber the heart break of losing some > investigators. I'm grateful for the pits that remind me to get on my > knees over and over and over again. I'm grateful for the peaks that > remind me how much we are loved. I'm grateful for the amazing work > that I get to be a part of. I'm grateful for deep fried pig skin that > Toby would have loved! I'm grateful for David, Brother Franks and the > missionaries that I get to learn from. I'm grateful for all of you. > Every prayer was very much felt this week! I love you! Have a good > week! > > -Sister Barton