Reppin' That Gospel

Oct 6, 2014

Hi!

Another beautiful, sunny week in Florida. Some of the license plates
here say 'Endless Summer' on them and it is so true. Also Florida
definitely has the most variety of license plates.

So to start out the week with a bang, we went to go visit a
less-active woman. Sister Hale explained that with this woman we'll
need to be bold and she'll usually just try to chat and avoid all
gospel conversation. Alright, great. So we go in there and she's this
kind little 83 year old woman. A few minutes in, I started talking
about church. She immediately got a little rigid and the more gospel
comments I made, especially as pertaining to her coming to church, it got worse. It only took about two minutes for her to absolutely
explode. I mean, I have never been torn to shreds like that before,
ever. She goes off saying 'how dare you come into my house and start preaching at me' and 'If I didn't come to church when it was in my backyard what makes you think I'm gonna go when it's way out in Palatka?' and 'I am 83 years old, and I am old enough to know right from wrong and sometimes I just don't do it'. (We had just been talking about in the car how we wished less actives would just tell us they're not interested and don't come back instead of stringing us on, so that's all we needed to hear.) Anyway we proceeded to give our little message (we are also her visiting teachers) and left. She hates me hahaha. But what was funny, was that throughout her entire chastisement and ever since then, I have felt complete and total peace- not one moment of guilt- about everything that happened.

We've been teaching a 70 year old named Frank (apparently I only teach old people wherever I go) and he is hilarious. He's from New Jersey and has this 'whatever' attitude about God. Direct quote: "If I get there and He tells me 'get out of here, you're going to hell' then, I mean, what am I gonna say? I'm not gonna kiss his butt." Oh my gracious. And last night when we were teaching him, we found out that he doesn't and doesn't know how to pray, so we were talking about that. We explained how to pray, how to listen for answers, etc. and he goes "Does God like jokes?" Sister Corbridge says, sure, god has a sense of humor. He says, "Does he like ethnic jokes?" Ahahahahahahaha! I said, "Frank, you can't tell God black jokes!" Ahahahahaha he is a hoot.

I got a missionary Facebook this week! Sorry, I can't be friends with
friends from home and family outside of parents and siblings, but I'm
sure y'all can look at it. I'm just under Sister-Ashley Munro. There
are plenty of rules, of course, but if you all follow that First and Great Commandment (no friends or extended family) then there's really nothing else to worry about.

General Conference was fantastic!!! The first session was my absolute favorite. I had been studying the ordinance of the sacrament and had the question of why do we need the sacrament? If it's to remind us of our baptismal covenants and to remember Christ, why can't we do that by looking at a picture or having silent, thoughtful time, or anything else? Why the sacrament? So first session, I'm in a member's kitchen, eating their food (typical), when I hear Sister Esplin say something like 'I'm going to talk about the importance of the sacrament'. What?! I totally got my answer. It's because you can made a promise with God, just you and him, but to make a real covenant requires and ordinance to be done with the priesthood power. Bam, revelation.

Not too much to say about this week but what did happen was prime! Anyhow, I am loving it, as always. My companions are wonderful. The weather is great. We're finding new people. Revelation is abound. :)