... but we still saw some pretty amazing miracles! Just goes to show that even when things seem dark, you can still find the little (or big) jewels of light!
The reason this week was rough is because we had to drop quite a few people. There were a lot of people that we were never able to find at home, or that just weren't willing to keep commitments or weren't really interested in learning or listening. That was a bummer. It is always sad to walk away from someone after they have said "I have your number", or "I will call when we aren't so busy", because we just want them to be able to know the truth, and they are just letting it slip through their hands. So we spent a lot of time going around making sure that people were actually interested and willing, and a lot of our appointments kept falling through, but thus is missionary life. There are awesome weeks, and there are tank weeks.
We had some really fun experiences though. On Friday we did a ward talent show with some of the elders and it was really fun. It was their ward and they just invited us to go sing with them. We did a mash up of some Disney songs and just changed the lyrics to missionary related things. Someone recorded it and they said they would send it to us so hopefully I will get that soon. It was a total hit. There was this return missionary sitting in the back row just cracking up about everything.
We also had zone training this week where President and Sister Killpack came and the assistants to the president as well. It was so awesome. We talked about becoming a master teacher and the process of learning investigators take. I feel like I learned a lot about myself more than anything. We really just pondered on what we can do personally to change and become better and to align our will with the Saviors. I love having missionary meetings like that because it is like adding wood to my missionary fire, it gets me more and more excited each time haha.
Now for the biggest miracle of the week: We have been teaching a man named Ernesto. Hermana Blackford found him last transfer through a serious of crazy events. When I got here, they hadn't been able to contact him for about 2 weeks, so we tried one more time and were able to get a hold of him. He has had a pretty rough life and knows a lot about the bible. But he is so willing to do whatever he can to come closer to Christ and be a better person. We have met with him quite a few times and he has had a lot of cool moments where he realizes things for himself, which is the best! We had a lesson with him on Friday about the plan of salvation and Sister Killpack came with us. It was so spiritual. We invited him to be baptized at the end of the lesson and he said yes! But for some reason we didn't feel right about setting a specific date. Well last night we invited him to the church to have a church tour and 3 other men from the branch came as well to help out. It was so spiritual from the very beginning. He chatted and got to know the other men for a bit then we walked into the chapel and one of them invited him to church next Sunday and he promised that he would come! We then walked into the room with the baptismal font and sat in front of it and talked about baptism for a little while longer. The spirit was incredible. Both Hermana Blackford and I felt it stronger than we had in a while. Ernesto started tearing up a little bit as we talked about it and then, at the end, we invited him again to be baptized and set a date for the 31 of may, and he said yes. AAAAAAHHHHHHH! It was INCREDIBLE! Hermana Blackford and I are so stoked! He is so ready to make these changes and we are so excited that he understands the importance of being baptized and following Christ! Cant wait to see what this week holds for him as well!
Tomorrow we get to go to the temple and I am so excited. It is killer to drive by almost everyday and only be able to go every 4 months. But I am still thankful to be able to go.
Well, I love you all! We are so excited for this next week. We have a lot of good things set up and know it will be incredible and spiritual! Hope y'all have a good week too!
Hermana Lundquist