One By One

Sunday, August 25, 2013

We are seeing more familiar faces each week as we meet in Church.  It makes me feel like we are making progress.  This evening we had a visit with the young Elders to go over the ward list and find out what they know about the members; who has moved and which are active or less active or do not want contact.  It helped us a lot to refine the list of the sisters we will want to visit in the coming weeks.  I just feel bad that we have only a few more days to make visits in White Plains 1st Ward and then we will have to move on to White Plains 2nd Ward for the month of September.  I hope we can keep our purpose and direction going when we come back again in October.

Monday, August 26, 2013

We had only 13 visits on Monday.  That means we went to 13 houses.  One sister had moved, and 10 were not home.  We had two appointments which fell through, but we were able to sit and visit with two less active sisters who invited us in.  They were both meaningful visits with good sisters who for one reason or another had stopped coming to church.  If not for a little outside help, we may not have been able to see the last sister.  We were looking for a sister who lives in a gated assisted living community.  We hadn't called ahead of time.  The gate is left open and unattended so we were able to get into the complex.  At the front door we needed to enter the apartment number into an intercom system and wait for the tenant to answer.  Someone had just returned home on the shuttle and was going in so she said, "here, I'll just let you in."  We walked in and then tried to act like we knew where we were going.  We knew it was on the fourth floor so we went to the elevators and just hoped that a pass key was not necessary to access the upper floors.  We were in luck.  We found the room number and knocked.  The sister answered the door promptly and invited us in.  She said "Come on in.  I forgot you were coming."  I guess since we were able to get in the building, she must have thought we had an appointment.  (Generally we don't set up appointments ahead of time with the less active sisters because we don't want to give them the opportunity to come up with reasons to refuse our visits. This way we have a chance to meet them, and they are more likely to invite us back.)  She said she was okay visiting with the sisters but didn't want the "guys" (the elders) coming.  We had a good visit.  She could walk a short distance but used a Hoveround wheelchair.  She had a mild case of polio as a young girl, but that wasn't her problem.  She had been in a car accident about 13 years ago and was seriously injured.  She ran into a tree going about 60 miles an hour because she had blacked out at the wheel.  Her upper body was pretty messed up from the accident.  She needs to be on an oxygen machine and takes medication for her heart.  After enduring an abusive marriage for about 30 years, she separated from her husband about 12 years ago.  It amazes me to think of the hardships some people must endure in this lifetime.  She said we can call on her again.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

We went to Indian Head to visit today so we spent more time on the road and less time visiting as a result.  We went to seven houses; two sisters were home.  The first visit was an appointment, and the last visit of the day was a sister who is less active.  We had a hard time even finding her out-of-the-way house on an 80-acre farm because the house numbers were just on sign posts with arrows pointing in the general area.  We didn't see her house number, however.  But there was a little cluster of mailboxes and one of them had the house number on it.  A man who was just leaving the area tried to help us figure out which house it was.  He looked in the mailbox and confirmed that the name and address matched our information.  We decided today that we would observe the "No Trespassing" signs from now on.  The place we wanted to try was not marked as such, so we drove back to see if we could find the right house; we were successful.  A man was out on the porch talking on the phone, but he stopped long enough to tell us we were in the right place and called his wife.  We stood outside and visited for about 20 minutes.  She was a very friendly lady, and we enjoyed the visit.  One by one they introduced us to their house pets.  First a large German shepherd named Simon came out, then a little Pomeranian named Ovi, and then a cat named Giuseppi,  Then the husband brought out a beautiful goat on a leash.  His name is Leroy Brown.  Another dog, Emma, wanted to come out but they were afraid to let her come out because she is young and rambunctious and barks a lot when strangers come.  She is a beautiful black German shepherd.  Sister Boone said she loves German shepherds and wouldn't mind if she came out so they let her come out.  She came and sniffed at both of us and tried to get us to play with her stuffed rabbit, but she didn't bark once.  The sister was quite surprised.  We asked if we might visit again and said our goodbyes.

A thought about our work:

If you ask any missionary what the purpose of missionary work is, they will say "To invite others to come unto Christ."  That is basically what I am to do.  But our approach is quite different from the young missionaries who approach everyone they meet to see if people are interested in learning more about the Savior.  We, on the other hand, are just trying to find members and see if they are still going to church.  At one time they had enough of a testimony of Jesus Christ to make the choice to be baptized into his Church, but for a variety of reasons nearly half of the people in this ward either attend only occasionally or not at all.  So we are going to them one by one to find this out.

Tonight as I was reading the Ensign, I read a short article about the topic of next year's visiting teaching messages.  Beginning in October, the lessons will focus on the roles and attributes of the Savior, how we can become like him, and how the teachings and example of the Savior can influence our lives.  One statement stood out to me and seemed to answer the question that I have had about what I am doing here and what my purpose is.  It said:

"The Lord showed us how to minister—how to watch over, strengthen, and teach one another.  His was a ministry to individuals, one by one."  It was encouraging to see that we are following that same pattern of service that Christ used in his ministry, serving the sisters one by one.  And it seems that every day we find one special sister.