This week was a
POWERHOUSE award goes to the sisters!! Sister Taunima and I were just patiently
waiting for this. On Friday, we were
talking in weekly planning about what we did well and reflecting on the
awesomeness of the week; Sister T. reminded me that last Monday I told her I
felt like this week was going to be the best, and it totally was! I know a huge
part of that was thanks to my mom! So shout-out to Mom for your inspiring email
last week. She shared how Brother and
Sister Ralphs (in my 10-mile ward fam back home) gave talks in church last Sunday
and a part she shared was just what I needed to hear: "We should replace “endure”
with “perform.” If we are performing and
doing each day those things that will bring us closer to Christ, that is
enduring." SOOOO inspired. So thanks Ralphs for being inspired and thanks
Mom for sharing! So I tried to do just
that. We worked harder than ever and turned outward trying to even more fully
do those things that brought us closer to Christ and helped us be that pure example
of Him. Here's a snippet of just a few things we did each day this last week.
Tuesday: President and Sister Johnson came and we had
interviews with P.J. while Sister Johnson taught us. Ahh man, I just love them both
so much! Sister Johnson's training was
about how the refiner’s fire is to test and prove ourselves (fitting for the
week and transfer he, he) and then in my interview with President, it was just
what I needed. I am convinced the Lord
called him to be my Mission President for a reason. He gave inspired comfort and guidance and man,
I just love him and Sister J. so much! I
feel bad not every mission gets to have them. We are lucky ducks! 😜 After
interviews we had an awesome lesson with Asia and Edie (Asia's sister.) The Spirit was strong and at the end they
remarked at the spirit they felt. Something I try to tell people when they are
not interested in learning more is to listen to the missionaries they will come
in contact with in the future, because the message will be the same but they
will be in a different place in life. Something
the missionaries say then will help speak specifically to their situation. To
my surprise that was exactly what Asia told us!
She said "girls, I've had the Elders over many years ago and your
simple message of Christ is the same but it's different... I can relate more
now." Bam! So cool!! Then we had a
powerful lesson with our investigator Char. I've been here a long while and it's been cool
to see as she is in her scriptures daily she is able to have the ultimate
teacher, the Spirit, teach her. This
lesson was great and we were able to set her on date for baptism! It's a long
journey for her but its times like these that I'm so grateful to be a missionary
and be on this journey with these people.
Lastly, we were able to OYM (open our mouths) to this lady named Janet
as we listened we were prompted to teach her about the Plan of Salvation and it
was another powerful lesson!
Wednesday: We had a great
lesson with Mary Lou & Grant and talked about Joseph Smith and the truth of
the restored gospel. It's been so
amazing to see how much their testimonies have grown since I first taught
them. Then we went to help a less-active
member, Pat, clean and move her many boxes. The member we brought with us was
prompted to leave her with a special spiritual thought and it just reminded me
that members bring so much power as well. We were able to get 6 members out
with us this week and I know this work isn't possible without members! So I invite you all to go out as a team up
with the missionaries because you never know whose life you could touch. And guess what?!? I got to exchange with my twinner Sister Roberts!!!
It was so good to be with her one last
time before she "dies" (she's going home in 2 weeks 😭.) We
visited some members who really needed uplifting. One in particular: Sister Badali. The
other sisters showed up too so all 5 of us stood around her bedside as she was
on the fringe of life and sang children's songs to her. It was something I'll
never forget. Sister Badali passed away
Saturday night.
Thursday: Sister Roberts
and I went and helped the Gingeriches weed their lawn in the heat and humidity
having some good laughs! And once again the members left us inspired probably
more than we did for them. Brother
Gingeriches gave us advice to "love each area we are in and make it home."
So inspired!! I love the Pitt 3rd ward. They really are like
family out here J
Friday: We were able to
serve and uplift some members that we felt prompted to help. We also taught a
less-active member, Kristin and her daughter Emily. We have really been able to serve them and get
to know them better and she fed us dinner!
It's been cool to see them make the decision to come back to the fold
and do what they need to do to endure!
Saturday: All of our
plans fell through but we realized that that meant that the Lord needed us to
do something else. We ended up going to Mamma
Z's to help her paint. She was super stressed and had a ton to do and Sister
Taunima and I strongly felt that she needed to feel some love and that we
needed to just help her to the best of our ability. I love being able to remind
people that they are loved. As a
missionary, I've gotten this super sweet gift to see people how the Lord sees
them. And it is so amazing! Today there was an extra touch of that.
Sunday: After dinner we
were walking down the members stairs and Taun rolled an ankle. So we kind of
had to change plans and decided to try a newly received record - for a Brother
McNair that Bishop Snow told us about in ward council this morning. Well Bro. McNair came out and talked with us
for a good hour and told us that (long story short) after growing up in the Church
and much questioning, he is now an agnostic.
The whole time Sister Taunima and I just had the firm impression to just
listen to him. At the end, he expressed
how grateful he was that we respected what he had to say and listened because
people don't normally do that. He told us that we are the first Sisters he's
seen out here- he said that it's just different with us, he wouldn't have
talked to the Elders that much. It was a
super powerful experience!
I know that the Lord
blessed us with so many different experiences to help us push ourselves to be
better. I really learned this week that performing always pays off. The credit
all goes to the Lord and I'm grateful for another week to be on his errand!
Love always, Sister McDonald
Ponderize: Jarom 1: 3 "much should be done among this
people"
Commitment: "Help those around us remember their potential
and worth to the Lord" ~ Elder Anderson
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