October 14-18,
2013
It seems like we didn't get to visit with very many
sisters this week. Monday the 14th was
spent visiting active sisters that we had not had a chance to visit yet. After we visited our three appointments we
just stopped by the other houses to see if we could catch the sisters at home,
but none of them were home.
Tuesday morning we took a sister to a doctor
appointment in Bowie. She was being
evaluated for an application for Social Security Disability benefits. We drove an hour to the appointment only to
find out that the doctor was out due to a death in the family. We will try again another day. In the afternoon we saw only one out of seven
sisters that we attempted to visit.
Wednesday we saw only two sisters, but they were both
good visits. In the evening we met for
another mission correlation meeting.
Only one more meeting and we should make it through all of the ward
directory trying to identify the ones the Ward leaders would like us to see.
Thursday we went to the temple.
Friday we had one appointment at noon. We spent the rest of the day looking for the
sisters that the ward leaders had asked us to help with. They were all marked as less active sisters
who were either "do not contact" or "moved" status, and
they wanted us to confirm the information.
I don't mind too much going to a house and asking if someone lives there
or has moved, but it is another thing to go to a house where representatives
from the church are not welcome. We were
ignored at one house and treated rather rudely at another, but the rest were
not home. Like the song goes, "Mama
said there'll be days like this…"
I have spent a lot of time this weekend pondering my
mission, my purpose, and my goals. I
guess I have been feeling a little down because it doesn't seem like we are
making much progress. This week we
visited with five active sisters and three less active sisters. The rest were not home when we stopped
by. Sis. Boone and I have talked about
how we can be more effective and what we can do now that we have stopped by
every house in the ward at least once, sometimes two or three times. We are going to continue to try and set
visits during the day, but additionally we will start doing some evening visits. It may be only a couple houses a night,
because it is kind of hard to find some of the houses in the daytime, let alone
after dark.
As I have thought about whether we are making a
difference with the sisters we visit, the Lord reminded me that everyone can
benefit from a friendly smile and a kind word.
There is not one sister here or anywhere for that matter who has not had
their own set of trials, some of them extremely difficult ones. Just this week we have visited with sisters with
health problems, mental problems, financial difficulties, or problems with
their family relationships. (One sister
found out at about age 70 that she was adopted as an infant. She was able to find and meet her biological
mother and siblings that she didn't know she had.) Some have strong testimonies and others have
forgotten what led them to be baptized.
Some have had family members who have strayed from the church. Some are widows who have been alone for a
long time and others for only a year or two.
It never gets easier. One sister's
husband has terminal cancer and is in hospice care right now. I know the Lord is mindful of each of these
sisters, and I also know that He is mindful of my needs.
Just Friday morning when I was seeking for guidance
and direction, I found a quote by Pres. Uchtdorf speaking at a German Mission
Reunion. He said, "We never know
when we do a good deed for someone or say a word of comfort or uplift someone
if that person, at that time, needed that heavenly blessing." I will try to remember his words regarding
our commission as missionaries.
"The missionaries are an essential extension of the Quorum of the
Twelve who were first commissioned by the Savior 'to teach every creature'…wherever
the missionaries share the gospel, they are teaching sons and daughters of the
same Heavenly Father."
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