"I love being a missionary."

Editor's Note: The videos embedded in this post were added by me. :)

Every morning and multiple times throughout the day, this is what my companion says to me: "I love being a missionary." She is going home in about 10 weeks and I will miss her terribly. We had such a great bonding experience last night as we were teaching and on the drive home. I know that the Lord has put us together for a reason and put us in this area for a reason. I have only known this Sister for two weeks, but I have learned so much from her and just love her. Because she is so amazing, I haven't had any major breakdowns. I received a letter from my MTC companion and she mentioned the trouble she was having getting used to this whole thing. While I love and miss you all and think about you multiple times every day, I know that the work I am doing is so important and I know that you love me and will still be there when I return.

Now about that lesson last night. We have been teaching the father of one of the recent convert. He is probably in his 60s and loves his son, daughter-in-law and grandkids (we teach at their house and he lives right next door). But, he has had a lot of troubles in the past - I'm talking prison, drugs, alcohol, abuse, etc. He cannot believe that God is loving or that he is worth anything and therefore choses not to fully accept the atonement in his life. The first time we taught, Sister G. bore her powerful testimony about her experience coming to know the Gospel is true and last night I had that same opportunity. It was not me speaking, but the Lord telling me what to say through the Holy Ghost. I shared some things that I really hate to bring up but I knew that he needed to hear this particular story. He needed to hear how I came to know that I was worth something to God. We even got him to pray!!!! Before, he would only pray by himself, alone, but with some encouragement and a reminder that he is the patriarch of that family and that his son and grandkids want to hear him pray, we got him to lead us in prayer. After our lesson, he was so excited. He wanted to take us out to dinner when he gets paid on Friday. Luckily, his daughter-in-law is in charge of our meal calendar and she scheduled the whole family for a dinner at Golden Corral on Saturday.

We also had the opportunity to receive a taste of our own medicne this week. We contacted this older couple and they invited us back. The second lesson basically ended up being the same argument in circles for an hour and a half and ended with his praying for us to be converted from our ways and turn back to God and the bible, "the infallable word of God." It was so frusterating! He kept insisting that we don't know the bible even though we totally proved that we do and he was so sure that the seventh day is a Saturday, so that's the Sabbath.  We kept having to calm each other down and I had to remind myself multiple times to not use logic, but to listen to the spirit. We ended up just leaving our number and praying that they actually do read and pray and come to understand what the gift we were trying to give him is.

We contact a lot, but I kind of enjoy it. We get to walk around town and meet people and sometimes they are really prepared for us. We met a woman who said that she was just so glad we came to her house and that she was looking for a way to grow closer to God. And the promise of the Book of Mormon is that a man can draw closer to God by abiding it's precepts than by any other book - or something like that. Sister G. decided I was ready to go on splits so I had the opportunity to teach this woman again with a woman from our ward (who is soooo a rockstar. Marine, masters in diplomacy, three young boys, and a strong testimony).

I love this work, I love this place. I'm not a fan of the thin layer of yellow dust (pollen) that covers everything but luckily I am blessed that I don't have allergies too bad.