Hey, hey. It's me, Sister McDonald,
reporting live from New Bloomfield, PA! Oh
man this week has been a crazy whirlwind - all over the place but we are
surviving 😜 To catch you up to speed, here's some updates:
Okay so Tuesday after sitting in training
meetings all day I finally found out who my new comp will be! *Drum roll please* Da-Da-Da-Daaaaa: Sister
Roper!! This girl is so legit - she just
graduated high school and is from South Jordan, Utah. She's pretty great, loves
to work hard and have fun - so already we are off to a great start. So after
about a 6 hour car ride to our new home, we made it in at about 9PM,
we were ready to crash. Well the next day as we are meeting our sweet
neighbors, one of the older ladies tells us to “watch out - there's a bear on
the loose roaming around town.” Apparently he had been in our back yard a few
nights ago. We just kind of laughed until we heard it from a few more people.
#NoJokes. So we are keeping our eyes peeled for this lurkin' bear! No sightings
yet, thankfully :)
So, today, I'm going to be real with you.
This week was brutal! It was one of the toughest weeks of my mission. I feel
like everything that possibly could go wrong did. The plans that the previous Sisters left us
were just kind of all over the place. After lots of prayer and some visits, we
decided to drop some of the few investigators we had. It took a lot of faith
but we were determined to find the elect. I was super pumped to take Sister Roper
tracting and the first experience had no real luck. But I was determined to
keep tracting. Side note, I am sooo thankful my trainer, Sister Hansen, helped
me to enjoy tracting - it's made my mission so much better because of that
positive attitude. So we decide a couple days later to tract again because all
of our appointment in this far out city fell through. We pray and start
tracting. Door after door, rejection after rejection. But we laughed it off and
stayed positive. Earlier that morning we had read the "Fourth Floor, Last Door"
talk by Pres. Uchtdorf and we were pumped to find our 'last door' gem. But it
didn't happen. We felt like we should go try this less-active member who wasn't
far but was in the next city over. As soon as we knock her door her son tells
us that she was just rushed to the hospital. We were able to comfort him a
little I hope and let him know we are there.
We prayed again and I felt strongly "go back to Duncannon"
(where we just were.) I sassily thought "are you serious?!...ugh
okay" So we did. After another hour of rejection but still following the Spirit
we decided to walk down the main street. This man in a van yells out to us
"you Mormons?!" I look at Sister Roper and her face shows straight
fear. I laugh and respond 'yes sir!' He yells back something to the extent of
our crazy beliefs. He pulls his van over and I march right up (Sister Roper's
eyes at this point are about ready to bug out) and I asked him what he
believes. He says "well in the restoration of the Lords true church and
that Joseph Smith was a prophet." He said 'sorry to sass you Sisters ha, ha,
but we just saw you out walking and I just wanted you to know how much of an
impact you had on us. Seeing missionaries in action and doing hard things even
if no one wants to listen and boldly defending the faith- it's
refreshing!" Anyway come to find
out he used to be a Bishop out here years ago but now lives in Arkansas. It was
a tender mercy for sure. They came to church yesterday and thanked us again for
our dedication and told us to never give up.
Now even though this week was rough there
were so many little blessings looking back:
-
We survived
-
We worked hard and did our job to invite ALL to come to Christ
-
We were where we needed to be
-
We followed promptings and relied on the Lord
-
We tried to stay positive
-
We were fed so much this week
-
The Lord put people in our path to remind us that he's aware of us.
I
could go on and on but I really am grateful for the lessons I learned this
week. Even when things don't work out how WE want them to, they work out how
the Lord needs them to. Even when we think we haven't touched any lives,
we just might have without knowing it. I was reading Pres. Monson's talk 'The
Call of Duty' from April 1986 and there were so many gems. He said "Do
your duty; that is best. Leave unto the Lord the rest!" So true. I know that this is the Lords work
and for anything to happen we need him. President Monson also shared this
powerful poem:
Father,
where shall I work today?
And
my love flowed warm and free.
Then
He pointed out a tiny spot
And
said, “Tend that for me.”
I
answered quickly, “Oh no; not that!
Why,
no one would ever see,
No
matter how well my work was done;
Not
that little place for me.”
And
the word He spoke, it was not stern;
He
answered me tenderly:
“Ah,
little one, search that heart of thine.
Art
thou working for them or for me?
Nazareth
was a little place,
And
so was Galilee.”
He
ends by saying, and I second this plead by inviting you to this week "listen
for the sound of sandaled feet. Reach out for the Carpenter's hand." Let's
let Christ more fully help us and lead us this week! I’m grateful for the time
I have to serve and labor for the Lord.
Thanks for all your support and love. I
Love you all J
💕Sister McDonald
Ponderize:
"humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you
up"~ James 4:10
This
week I will: "see my potential and rise up" ~ Sister Oscarson
Charity
attribute: not puffed up and envieth not!
