Follow the Plan

Goodness. I never know how to start! There you go. I've started.

All in all, I'm pleased with how this week has gone. First of all, my companion is awesome and is helping me reach my goals of being more confident and talking more. So I've started saying more things in lessons, and I've started to approach people more. I feel like I still want to improve, but I'm just happy to recognize that I've already started to improve. Also, I just am so grateful to know that Heavenly Father is also aware of my goals and helps me everyday. I'm pretty confident that He helps me more than I even realize.

I had grapes thrown at me this week, but that was by a five year old  who was having trouble focusing during our English lesson. Man, did they have a lot of energy this week! I did mention that we're teaching English, right? They are the two daughters of  a woman who we are helping to quit smoking. They're a lot of fun, and they've really enjoyed the activities we've had for them so far (head, shoulders, knees, and toes for example).

We had exchanges this week. I was with Sora Gerhartz, and we contacted some people in a park, which then turned into probably the most hostile contact I've had so far. We were talking to this older man and woman, who I'm pretty sure were Orthodox. As we were talking to them, the woman asked, "If I were to come with you, what would I have to do?" Like what would we require of them. The man started talking with Sora Gerhartz, which distracted me for a moment because I wasn't sure if he was talking to both of us. The woman got mad and said to me, "Why didn't you answer my question? He can talk to her, and you can talk to me." I tried my best to answer her question despite the fact that I was intimidated by the entire situation. I told her that if she came to church with us, she would sing with us and learn about Christ and the scriptures. She asked if that was it. I explained that if she wanted to learn more after that, she could have lessons with us. I found myself testifying, which I didn't even realize until after the fact. I told her that we are here because we know this church and the Book of Mormon are true and of God. We want to share that, and we encourage everyone to find out for themselves. She said she understood. I asked if she had anymore questions and she said no. Soon after that, someone joined the group. I believe it was someone they'd been waiting for since the woman had been talking on the phone asking someone where they were. Anyway, he came right up to us and looked at the Book of Mormon. Sora Gerhartz asked him if he'd heard of the book. He said he knew all about it and that it was the pathway to Hell, that the only true church is the Orthodox church. He was very intense, and thankfully he got a phone call which then made it easier for us to wish them well and head on our way. At first, I felt really bad. I soothed myself with the help of the spirit. I knew that we hadn't done anything wrong, and that not everyone will want to hear our message. It was only then that I realized I had testified to that woman. As I thought about it, I felt like there had been power behind my words. I really meant it, and I still do. I continued to think about it that night. Anyone could easily say that was an unsuccessful contact, but I don't really think it was. I felt that we did everything that was expected of us, that we testified just as we are here to do. They weren't ready for the message. That doesn't mean we were bad missionaries in that moment.

We had some other interesting contacting experiences this week as well. We talked to this guy around our age for at least 40 minutes about how the Book of Mormon and the Bible go hand in hand. He clearly knew the Bible very well, and he was a little skeptical, but he accepted a Book of Mormon anyway. We went chalk contacting a couple of times this week as well. We drew the plan of salvation and met some really nice people. There was a woman who stopped and talked with us for a moment. She was from Hong Kong and she recognized the Book of Mormon. She told us that she knew it was the word of God, and she was just so happy to meet "Christians like herself." I'm coming to realize that there are many times where it would be easy to say we aren't successful. Maybe you go out to contact and only one person will even talk to you, but that doesn't mean you fail. Every effort counts. Every person you talk to matters. We are all children of a loving Heavenly Father.

I hope you are all doing well! Keep the faith!

Love,

Sora Adams