This week was definitely a slow one for missionary work. A lot of uninterested people, not to mention I was feeling a little under the weather for a couple of the days and Sister Ure, being the mom that she is, made me rest. I really was not happy about it, but she didn't care. haha And resting did help so now I am good as new and ready to go out and "spit some gospel". (That is what one of our investigators calls it when we teach her lessons.. I LOVE HER)
Sister Ure and I found this cute neighborhood where every house has a white picket fence. The first time we drove through it, Sister Ure said "Aww, look at all those picket fences", and I wasn't really paying attention to her because I had this strong feeling that we needed to knock on one of the doors, but I didn't know which one. So I kept quiet and we drove away. The next day we drove through it twice and Sister Ure was kind of intrigued because in the last few months she has been in Bend she has NEVER driven by this neighborhood, and now we have driven by it 3 times in two days. So we decided that we were going to go tract it on Saturday. Pause.
Side thought: Tracting is something that is kinda controversial in the world of missionaries. If you don't find people to teach, then you won't have people to teach. But also, tracting is very ineffective. (That is my opinion at least.) About a week ago, I asked Sister Ure why we hadn't gone tracting very much, and she told me that she had never seen very much success when tracting and always believed it was better to be inspired tract. So rather than park and walk down a street, knocking every house, we will go and visit less actives and potential investigators, and if the spirit guides us to knock a house, then we do. She told me we could start tracting more if I wanted, so when this white picket fence neighborhood kept appearing, we decided to tract it.
So Saturday came and we loaded up our bags with Books of Mormon and Pass Along Cards and headed out. Here are some exact quotes from that day.
*Opens door* "I have absolutely no desire to hear anything you have to say." *Closes door*
Me: "Do you have a belief in Jesus Christ?"
Lady out raking her lawn: "My beliefs are my own and I would like to get back to raking my lawn so you can just head off somewhere else."
Me: "Okay, thank you! Have a nice day!"
Sister Ure: "Hello, we are missionaries and we are out today telling people how they can strengthen their families."
Man who looks like he thinks he is amazing: "Oh, I am so sorry, I am just getting ready to run out the door, you caught me at a bad time."
Sister Ure: *Almost says something but stops herself.*
Me: "Okay, have a nice day."
.... As we are walking away Sister Ure says, "I was so close to saying, Um no you aren't just getting ready to leave, but thanks."
About 25 miuntes later, that guy was still at home... So looks like he needs to repent.
After we were done knocking all the doors Sister Ure asked me, "So what are your thoughts on tracting now?" My response.... "I think we can find investigators other ways because I would prefer to never tract ever again." Haha
But even with all these crazy people, I LOVE missionary work. I love that Sister Ure and I can just laugh it off and keep on working. We got a couple new referrals that we are going to visit later today. Progress is being made, slowly but surely.
My favorite quote right now is out of Preach My Gospel, but I first heard it from Sister Ure. (Sister Ure is full of good quotes and wisdom. I hope when I am a seasoned missionary I can be half as cool as her.) The quote is "Discouragement will weaken faith." How true is that. If you get caught up in the negative and all the things that aren't going your way, it makes it kind of really hard to believe that good things are ahead. I am so grateful for my opportunity God has given me to be here in OR and preach the gospel to my brothers and sisters.
Yesterday, during our gospel essentials class we talked about Pride. There is a talk by Ezra Taft Benson called "Beware of Pride". (April 1989) I would encourage all of you to read it when you have the chance. Pride is such a destructive thing, but it is also so easy to be prideful. My goal this week is to try and be more humble in EVERYTHING I do.
I LOVE YOU GUYS. You are all in my thoughts and prayers. Missionary life is weird and hard, but the rewards far outweight all of that.
Be happy,
Sister Emery
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